I have just got back from an amazing time in Uganda. I have been blessed beyond measure and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know some of the most beautiful people I know. Over the last few weeks I’ve met, in-person, people from 5 different sewing hubs, who have all kindly agreed to contribute in some way to my research in how we should build community as an organisation. I’ve had the honour of training people in enterprise skills and sewing machine maintenance, preaching and making 100s of English pancakes.
I took too few pictures, sorry. But I learnt so much about community…
3 main points about community that I am currently reflecting on is:
- the importance of familiarity and belonging
- the significance of skills and development
- the value of friendship and teamwork
- the importance of familiarity and belonging
I talked with a lot of people and one of the leading themes about community was the need to belong and the importance of familiarity. Familiarity is a funny thing because different things are familiar to all of us. Our meals, our friendships and relationships, our lived spaces, our commutes to work, our sense of place and purpose, but most of all our sense of being known and loved by those around us.
- the significance of skills and development
Christine made an interesting comment whilst I spent time with her. Christine is from Kenya and she is starting our newest hub. Life has not been an easy ride for her, and she reminded me, “There is one thing that can not be taken away from you. You can loose all your belongings, be robbed or abandoned, but you can never have a skill taken from you. A skill is a treasure that should never be taken for granted.” Over the last 12 months we’ve had the privilege of helping 75 people learn a new skill or improve an old one, in dressmaking. That’s 75 people a little more empowered to provide for themselves or their families.
- the value of friendship and teamwork
Whilst visiting people in the slums in Kampala I was struck by how much people cared for those around them and the love and intimacy they shared for one another. Small children played in the streets, yet everyone had a caring eye on them. There was always time to listen to a story, know a person and their needs and dreams. People mattered, possessions did not.
So, if asked, what is important to you, when you think of community?