Risky business: Lawrencian who does business in Uganda faces difficult climate under harsh Anti-Homosexual Law

Kate Von Achen with Ugandan children in 2007.

Sarah, one of Awava's tailors, in Gulu, Uganda.

Auma Lucy, Awava's main tailor, in Gulu, Uganda.

When Kate von Achen first visited Uganda as a student, the East African nation immediately had an impact on her. “I fell in love with Uganda within seconds,” recalls von Achen, who at the time was studying fair trade practices.

In 2008, the Lawrencian combined her background in sustainable business models and affection for the people and culture of Uganda. After having moved to Uganda, she founded her own fair trade business, Awava.

“Awava is a fair trade, but more than that, a socially conscious business working with women artisans in northern Uganda,” von Achen says. “So we work with them on making various crafts, but instead of focusing on kind of kitschy Africa crafts that only appeal to a niche market, we work more on using Western designs out of local materials so that they’re easier to sell in the U.S. – like laptop sleeves out of wax print fabrics.”

Awava – which means “the source” in Luganda, a major local language – attempts to empower women who have been forced to cope with a decades-long civil war in Uganda’s north, a conflict which has internally displaced millions and bore brutalities such as child slavery. Currently on her most recent trip back to Lawrence to promote the business, von Achen is upbeat about accomplishing Awava’s mission.

“It’s going well, actually,” she says. “In January I felt like we were finally at a point where we could think about wholesale clients. The Community Mercantile has been carrying our products since February, and it seems that the items are selling well. We just got a second wholesale client in Kansas City, Pryde’s of Old Westport. There are lots of other potential people – that’s why I extended my trip, because there’s been a lot of stuff happening since I’ve been here.”

‘Odious’ climate

But Uganda-based businesses have seen a pall creep into the economic climate thanks to recent developments in Uganda’s political climate. In October of last year, a bill called The Anti-Homosexual Law of 2009 was introduced into the Parliament of Uganda that would punish homosexuals with imprisonment and, in certain cases of what the bill labels “aggravated homosexuality,” even death.

While homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, the draft bill criminalizes it to an extent that has shocked the international community. The proposed law has drawn condemnation from human rights organizations and most Western governments. President Obama blasted the legislation as “odious,” and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has strongly urged Uganda not to pass the bill.

Global outrage directed at the so-called “kill-the-gays bill” has triggered a backlash toward Uganda that has the potential to harm Awava in the U.S. market.

“One of our wholesalers … said that the marketing manager wasn’t sure it was a good idea to promote us openly right now because of this bill,” von Achen says. “They ended up doing it because I explained to them that a bill doesn’t make a population. Saying that the anti-gay bill, whether it passes or not, defines an entire population is like saying any bill that the U.S. has ever passed defines every American – it’s not true.”

The pending legislation not only jeopardizes the gay community in Uganda, but those who associate with homosexuals. There is concern among charitable and religious organizations that the law would make it impossible to provide aid for HIV/AIDS relief, for fear that those administering the aid would be charged with “harboring” homosexuals.