The campaign starts

We started off the family loan scheme this month by supporting two families with small agricultural loans. They have land but getting seeds to cultivate was a big challenge. They are the families of Adrine Mbabazi and Gerald Mugisha.

For us to be able to serve the families meaningfully and create impact, we have estimated that we need to set aside atleast $600 for this fund. We presently are able to get $300 from our savings. We welcome any well wisher who may wish to contribute towards this special fund to contact us for details.

We caught up with Geralds grandmother at her garden. She used the money to buy bean seeds and planted them. Beans are the major sauce used here, with irish potatoes being the main food crop. When the harvest is good the beans can feed the family for a longer time and even sold at a relatively good price during the next planting season. Its rainy season here and the beans are quickly getting out of the ground. The sticks are put there because the special type of beans commonly known as climbing beans spread their shoots and climb on the sticks. We bring you some images...

Empowering households

Have just had a fruitful meeting with the parents and care givers of our children. Our discussions centred on economic strengthening of our households; supporting them to raise their household incomes. This will be an area of emphasis this year. As we work with these rural families, we are getting to appreciate how much of the problems we are trying to solve, even among the children, are actually rooted in household poverty.
It affects the childrens' self esteem, their ability to concentrate in class, and their general socio-emotional development.
We have therefore agreed to set up a fund among ourselves where we can keep some funds which will be loaned out to families on a rotational basis...interest free! They will be given according to their capacity to manage and business needs. Some will use it to buy seeds for planting and other agricultural inputs. They will then repay little by little in manageable monthly instalments back into the fund so that others may also get a chance to borrow. The parents are so excited because they have been depending on high interest loans which put them at risk of losing their land to money lenders.
We shall use the funds that we have been saving for that purpose and any other that well wishers may contribute into this fund.

We concluded by giving each family a bar of washing soap and some body jelly for the children.. Many times children dont put on uniform because of lack of soap for washing. So this will go a long way to solve that problem.

Family Transformation

We have got a new friend, Jane Manoheri,( putting on a white scarf), a graduate of guidance and counselling, who will be volunteering her time to work with our families through various issues. Here we were visiting the home of Jacky Gato to introduce her to them. Gato's mom has a three week old baby! The family has now grown to 8 children( would have been 9 if it hadnt been for the death of Jackies younger sister last year)

This is a family with deep domestic problems that may not be solved in a day. However, we are seeing some changes since we started getting closer to them with prayer, counselling and moral support. Due to the intense pressure of having to take care of all those children singlehandedly, Jackys mum had escaped from them and stayed away with her relatives for almost a month.

She had left behind a two year old child and, because there was no one to stay with her, Jacky had to go to school with the baby for some days!The school is only 10 minutes walk from their home. Well, thank God she later returned after we persuaded her and talked to her husband to try and make life bearable for his wife. This month we shall again support her to do some small business selling food items near their home so she doesnt have to work on peaples gardens digging the whole day with a one month old baby on her back!

Setting the stage for a better 2017

This is one of our centre days with the children recently. We were helping them with revision, assisted by some trained primary school teachers who volunteer with us. We aim to make this year unique. We target to ensure improvements in their studies, invest more in household income generating projects and give life skills to the children. Pray for our 4 children that will be sitting for their primary leaving examinations at the end of this year: Richard Manirinde, Godson Nsabimana, Kadiya Nyirandashimye and Berina Mujawimana. Next year they should be joining secondary school. This will be a major milestone in our work because most of them would have dropped out of school if it had not been for the support of our sponsors and partners.
God bless you all!