ADVOCACYNET 439, May 21, 2026
From the Jungle to a Sewing Machine
Nighty, a GBV survivor, launches a business in Uganda
May 2026: Nighty Achieng makes and sell dresses and uniforms in Gulu
Nighty Achieng was twelve when she was abducted from her village in 1995 by rebels from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda.
Both of Nighty’s parents were killed and Nighty herself endured five years of torment before she was able to return to her village.
Even then Nighty’s troubles were not over. Her rebel husband died in jail. Neighbors suspected her of collaboration and her family assumed she would use her son to seize the family land.
Friendless, denied an education, and without work, Nighty willed herself to stay afloat. She received basic training to make bags and dreamed of starting her own business. Then along came COVID and lock-down.
Nighty’s dream looks more realistic today. Using money from the sale of her embroidery and donations from well-wishers, she has opened a tailoring shop in the town of Gulu with two other LRA survivors.
So far Nighty has earned 420,000 Uganda shillings ($112) from the sale of her bags, dresses and school uniforms. She is already re-investing and has used the money to purchase fabric and service her sewing machine.
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Nighty’s success is especially welcome to The Advocacy Project because this is the first time one of our partners has built on advocacy quilting to launch a business.
The quilting began after Victoria Nyanyjura, an internationally known LRA survivor, formed Women in Action for Women (WAW) to help other survivors regain their confidence and re-enter society.
In 2021 the ten founding members of WAW met in Gulu to learn stitching and tell their stories through embroidery. We deployed a Peace Fellow from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, Anna Braverman, to help.
The artists described their captivity in harrowing detail. Nighty recalled how her captors used dogs to terrify the girls (photo below). Another tailor, Margaret, showed a wild animal devouring a woman in the jungle.
We brought the stories back to the US where they were assembled into two powerful advocacy quilts by Anne Watson and Peg Sullivan. The quilts have been widely exhibited and always provoke a strong reaction.
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Back in Uganda, being able to express themselves and have their work appreciated had proved deeply therapeutic for the WAW artists. They reconvened a year later to describe yet another terrifying shared experience – the COVID pandemic.
But story-telling does not pay the bills and in 2023 we opened an online store to sell embroidery from our partners in the Global South, including WAW. Bobbi Fitzsimmons, our quilting coordinator, visited the WAW stitchers in Gulu to help them polish their skills.
The following year we commissioned embroidered butterflies from WAW and used the designs to make 500 tea towels. Later in 2023 we commissioned more Ugandan butterflies. These were sent out to art quilters in Canada, the US and Kenya and were turned into 37 striking quilts which we auctioned for $6,955. Nighty’s design can be seen below.
We also launched an appeal for WAW on GlobalGiving which has generated $2,528 in donations so far.
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These initiatives have generated $11,614 for WAW since 2021 and we are deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed. But there is no substitute for a self-sustaining business, which is why Nighty’s tailoring experiment is so important.
Last summer, the WAW team purchased sewing machines and material with help from Aaron Bailey, our 2025 Peace Fellow, and hired a professional trainer. The Gulu Disabled Persons Union (GDPU), another grassroots organization whose older members had also suffered grievously during the LRA rebellion, offered WAW space and friendly advice.
Three WAW trainees signed up and Nighty has emerged as their natural leader. They clearly have a long way to go, but Nighty and her partners are feeling good about their achievements so far. They are making clothes that people want to buy and that makes everything seem possible.
Their long journey from the jungle may be finally reaching an end.
Nighty’s story
1995: LRA rebels use dogs to terrorize Nighty and other captive girls
2020: The COVID lock-down prevents Nighty from working in the informal sector
June 2021: The WAW team meets for embroidery training. Nighty is third from the left. Victoria Nyanyjura, the WAW founder, is in the center.
July 2022: Bobbi Fitzsimmons offers embroidery training to WAW in Gulu
July 2025: Peace Fellow Aaron Bailey hands over sewing machines to Nighty (center)