Ms. Christine Moini: Recepient of the Vocational Service Award.
Putting Girls on the road to Economic Independence. (Empowering girls to rise out of poverty.)
Ms. Christine Moini is the Managing Director of Blessed Fashion Designers in Makerere.
Christine believes that if her father had not worked so hard both on her mindset and education to make a good foundation for her future she would maybe be begging on the streets and would not be where she was now. She believes that she perhaps inherited that passion from her father, the passion she has of helping girls and skilling them in tailoring and thus putting them on the road to economic independence. “My father did it for me. These girls may not have anyone to pull them up. That is where I come in”. so says Christine.
Christine is always thankful for the love and determination of her father to make a good future for her. He always encouraged her and inculcated in her resilience and working hard and no self-pity. Her passion is to see young girls who are economically independent, not relying on men to provide for them. And being dependent breeds gender-based violence
Having beaten the odds herself, she likes to see success in others. Christine, a sixth born of 11 siblings had normal childhood in Olia village Adjumani district until one day at five years of age when she developed a lot of fever that developed into polio. Her father, a Prisons Officer, had the presence of mind to take her to Mulago Hospital, with her mother nursing her, where she went in a prolonged course of treatments lasting 8 years. That quick response and treatment saved her life but left her paraplegic, disabled and wheel chair bound. She radiates confidence when she says she is able to do anything around her home and had managed to raise her two sons as a single mother. Her first son Comfort Brian has completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree and her younger son Desire Isaiah is in third year civil engineering of Makerere University. She has a thriving business and has built herself a nice home in Gayaza.
At graduation from Kireka School for the Disabled, Christine was given a hand powered sewing machine and started straight away in a one roomed house. She used to prop the machine on bricks and used her hand to power it. With her guiding principle as quality and personal touch, she soon got customers and expanded her business. She has built a clientele from all over Uganda and the world and she also have online customers. She says she has the best fabrics and the best designs and that with customers of class she does compromise on quality and customer care.
“My disability does not stop me from doing what I want. I love what I do. I love skilling girls for economic independence. This is my vocation.” says Christine.
This passion has seen Christine skill women girls and vulnerable women so that they are equipped with skills and earn an income as well as providing for their families. She believes that investing in girls’ economic empowerment and skills is very urgent and necessary in Uganda of today so that girls leave the circle of poverty where they are born and raised as dependent and then marry and then become dependent on a man to provide food, clothing, and send children to school. What moves her is to see someone who can do something for oneself. The girls who have learned skills from have gone ahead to generate prosperity for themselves and their households by earning money. They girls change perceptions about their worth and value within her family and their communities.
By the time Covid struck, Christine had three workshops and they were providing employment to many of her trainees. She has trained a great number of girls but can count twenty successful ones. She waived training fee for some poor girls who have gone ahead and prospered. Some have married and are still bringing some money on that table. Some have workshops and are doing very good work.
She loves what she is doing. “I would like to do more for my community and open up a training school in Gayaza. Especially because of covid, it is becoming too much and many girls are suffering without income. Empowering women and girls to rise out of poverty is essential for the sustainable development my community in Gayaza”
To get in touch with Ms. Christine Moini, reach out to her on email via moinichristine@gmail.com and on 0774347744/075270803.
