Ruth Akiru started making rugs for us, then working in our Kampala store, and has recently become our stock manager. “I’ve lived in Kampala for six years; I come from Tororo but I had to look for work. I didn’t have much education but I had the brain to come to Kampala! Before, I wanted to stay at school, but my father died when I was 16 and I had to look after my mother. I had my daughter
when I was eighteen, but her father was killed in a car accident, then I was also looking after my niece when my sister died.
Working here is very, very good because the work is good, there is no pressure and the pay is good too. In the future, I want to build my mum a house, and I also want to get my daughters educated. My niece is called Mary. She’s eight now and says she wants to study until she becomes a doctor. My daughter Sandra is six and she wants to be a lawyer so she can decide who is bad and who
is good! I tell them to pray for me so that I can keep working and support their dreams. Myself, I feel good about Kampala Fair, because fair means pretty and it also means fair to the people who work here. As long as Kampala Fair is here I am here too – I am very happy to be working here.”
Our rug makers receive on average the equivalent of 132 euros/month and our tailors on average 226 euros/month. (The average salary in Uganda is 87 euros/month – Uganda Bureau of Statistics.)