SEPTEMBER UPDATE

 Greetings

We thank God for you our dear partners. Many regards from all of us here. Our Children are doing well, though still undergoing home study due to the suspension of schools. In this time, we are having several activities to keep them engaged and support their families.

The lockdown negatively affected work for many peaple; businesses are still struggling to get back to normal operations. For this reason, we started distribution of food and other relief items. This will be an ongoing program as funds allow, we are therefore requesting well wishers to donate to this relief effort so that our children don't drop out of school due to intense difficulty at home.

We are also supporting a few older ones to do small scale business in the market, selling simple items like sugar canes, avocado etc. It helps their mind to stay constructively engaged and many children here are doing it to get little money to keep them going.

We also resumed our regular workshops with our teenage girls. It was necessary to have these interactions with them to keep them focused and get updated on whatever challenges they may be facing.

Finally, on a lighter note...

Today, 5th September, is the birthday of Nathan Kaija!!!

 

 

 

SECOND LOCKDOWN INTERVENTIONS

 Greetings dear friends and sponsors

We continue to thank God for the love and compassion that you have for the children and families of our community.

Nothing significant would have been achieved without your partnership. 

Poor and vulnerable children are getting an education and skills that they would never had attained without your helping hand. Families are getting supported both from a psycho social and economic angle.

We would like to report that there has recently been a fresh surge of Corona Virus cases as Uganda goes through a second wave of the disease. This second wave is proving more fatal as cases are more widespread and more deaths are being recorded.

Due to that, the Government has again closed schools for a period of 42 days and instituted lock down on most activities and businesses. Some markets here in Kisoro have been closed, yet they were a source of livelihood for many peasant women and men.

During this difficult time, we are keeping in touch with the children and families to offer psycho social support and monitor the lives of our beneficiaries. This is done in a limited way to avoid exposure to the disease. In about two weeks we shall resume the home study program where children will be given work and academic materials to read from home.

Just like it was in the first lockdown last year, families are already struggling to get along since most economic activities are either closed or moving slowly.

For that reason we would like to offer some food relief again like we did last year. The plan is to offer a food pack that costs about 200 SEK to each family. We will then need 6,800 SEK to offer this relief to all the registered families.

Your support to this cause will be highly appreciated.

PS: In the pics, we show the distribution of last year and some of the children helping out with domestic activities.

PURSUING FOOD SECURITY THROUGH AGRICULTURE

 We continue with our agriculture project and we are registering success despite a few set backs due to weather fluctuations. We got ready market for our March harvest and the parents preferred to have beans this time round. As we mentioned earlier, for each harvest we save the bigger portion for the next planting and we distribute the rest to the families for food.

So we grew potatoes, sold and bought some beans for the families. Below are some of the children and parents at the distribution. We are now looking for another piece of land for hire to catch up with the next planting season. The period we paid for is over and now we shall hire a different place.

Thanks for your support always!

TEENAGE GIRLS WORKSHOP

 It was a day of fun, sharing, discussion, photoshoots and inspiration.

After a bit of delay because of the political environment caused by the elections here, we finally held the teenage girls workshop that we have been planning. Many thanks to the sponsors who contributed to make this possible.

50 teenage girls attended and testified later that they were so inspired and reminded to take care of themselves, respect and honor their bodies and make wise decisions for their future. This will enable them to stay longer in school and excel in their endeavors

This was the first workshop and our plan was to hold three consecutive ones, we are continuing to request for donations for the next two. Each workshop costs about 4000 SEK.

To have a sustainable, long term impact, we will later have an ongoing mentorship program for that particular group. Under this, we shall divide them into small groups that will be meeting regularly to read books, interact with women mentors and support each other.

Please join this movement and lets nurture and empower the mothers and leaders of tomorrow!

HEALTH WORKER FACILITATING

 Madam Vicky, a Nurse and counselor attached to Kisoro Hospital, held a fun filled counselling session as she taught the girls about self esteem, general well being and health/hygiene.

It was participatory and the girls asked questions and shared their views.

It was so transformational!

DIRECTOR'S SPEECH

 Our director, Nathan Kaija, spoke to the girls about our vision for their empowerment and nurturing. We hope to walk a longer journey with the teens, helping them make wise choices in career, health, education and spirituality. In addition to the workshops, a mentorship program will be designed to achieve this.