Macedonian Africa Youth Initiative (MAYI)

Started by Nabwire Christine early in 2013, this has grown from a small group of girls – Ladies of Virtue, meeting once a week to talk about sexual and social health, to a much larger group drawn from the local community to study tailoring or hairdressing in the vocational school. This group is now led by Ajambo Betty and mainly consists of young single mothers. As well as learning vocational skills, they meet to talk about self-esteem, their place in society, pressures they face and sexual issues.

One of the issues they face is the fact that most of the girls in Masese slum cannot afford disposable sanitary towels. As a result they revert to other means such as using rags. This restricts their movement, is less hygienic and often impacts on their attendance at school. In 2014, a team of women with Macedonian Vision Africa (UK) taught Nabwire Christine, Ajambo Betty and MAYI how to make washable sanitary towels. This has transformed the lives of many of the girls who are share this skill with other girls in Masese. Click here to find out more about sanitary towel workshops in Uganda and in the UK.

Learning a vocational skill is invaluable for the young mothers and enables them to earn some money to support their family.

Read the latest report from MAYI here.

REPORT ON THE MAYI PROGRAM Feb 2024