March 2024

Seeing red…or maybe pink

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It’s probably hard to tell just how small our compound is from photos and videos (please follow us on Instagram!). Even this photo makes it look pretty spacious — and it is, if it was being used as the single-family home it was built as.

Alas, our single family is over 100 people strong!

And because everyone is from the crowded slum, it all works. Until we get an outbreak of an illness that spreads like wildfire — like pink eye (conjunctivitis).

I had a message on Telegram this morning that we now have 10 girls with pink eye. They’ve been given medicine from our clinic and told to stay home so we can minimize the spread. And to be honest, this is really the first outbreak we’ve had of anything since we opened in November 2020… but that doesn’t make it easier.

The staff has gone back to the “covid protocols” we used in 2021, and I’ve posted an urgent project on DonorSee to restock the medication Nurse Brenda needs to treat pink eye. We’ve got lots of handwashing going on, and we’re very thankful for the liquid soap we make in-house.

Our clinic operates because of YOU. When we opened it on Valentine’s Day 2022, we knew it would save us money in the long run. We really underestimated the huge impact it’s made every single day for every single person in our program.

We can’t thank you enough!

Mwebele nnyo!

Jennings

PS If you want to help with this urgent project, click the button!

MEDS!

PSS You may have noticed you didn’t get a newsletter last week and I apologize! I was under the weather for a few days and totally forgot until Sunday. Hopefully you missed us! 🙂

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Q&A on Mikisa Farm

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Here in NC, spring has sprung! Apple and pear trees are blooming, the Carolina jessamine vines — beautiful yellow flowers — are popping up everywhere, and yes, the pine pollen has started to turn everything yellow.

In just the past few days I’ve had a lot of questions about our little Mikisa Farm in Uganda, so I thought I’d do a Q and A for you. Meanwhile, go out and get your hands in the dirt!

Q: What are you growing now?

A: We’re now in dry season, so the cabbages are finishing up and the wet season’s collards are done. Collards are great nutrition and easy to grow, so Farmer Derrick is putting in a new crop of them for “spring.” He’ll also be planting beans, maize, more eggplants, and some other types of greens. Our fruit trees should start bearing, and we can harvest cassava and matoke soon.

Q: What fruits do you have on the property?

A: We have papaya, mango, oranges, avocado, and sweet bananas. Matoke are a kind of banana but more starchy, like a tasteless plantain.

Q: How do you keep the plants watered during dry season since it’s, you know, DRY?

A: We have two irrigation tanks that are connected to a solar-powered drip irrigation system that waters the fields. The second tank is newer and will help us cultivate more of the property than we have been able to.

Q: Are you training any of the girls or staff on growing food?

A: Yes! Our staff loves (LOVES) to go to the farm and help with all the tasks, even hand clearing brambles and hoeing up the fields. We are going to run a pilot program for five students during the term break and a couple of months following to finalize a curriculum to add to Skills for Life.

Q: The farm cost a lot of money and you have to pay Farmer Derrick. Is it worth it?

A: YES! The farm has helped us tremendously since Derrick started as our full time farmer in January 2023. Every week he is able to deliver fresh produce to the Touch the Slum compound, which has kept our weekly expense for those goods at the market down at manageable levels. The Sunday deliveries are a highlight for the residential girls, who get a Sunday dinner with whatever has been added to our larder.

We want to thank you all for your ongoing support of Mikisa Farm. You not only helped us buy it, finish the farmhouse, dig the well, install the latrine, and hire Derrick, you have come through every time we have needs. It has made an enormous impact, and we honestly couldn’t do it without you.

Mwebele nnyo!

Jennings

PS We have a project up to upgrade our solar at the farm. This will allow us to put in more lights, both for Derrick at the farmhouse and for security farther out into the property. We still need about $300 — if you want to help, just click the button!

Solar Upgrade

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Airplanes fly both ways

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Here in the US, we take travel for granted. Our roads (even the ones with potholes that we complain about) are great. Our interstate system lets us go to any part of the country with minimal effort (but maximum boredom). We have regional airlines that will fly us 700 miles for $17.

In Uganda, there are major artery roads between cities – the Jinja Road, Entebbe Road Bypass, the road we take west to Mbarara. They’re two lanes and have rumble strips and speed bumps in every town you drive through, but you can get, sort of, where you’re going, over a whole day (or two). What they don’t have is regional airports that will get you there for $17 in 55 minutes.

While we were there in January, I told Ronald that he should go ahead and get a passport. (Then it turned out he needed one for the NGO application — for some strange reason! — anyway.) Last week, he got it.

In our meeting this week, we talked about the possibility of him coming here next year instead of me going to Uganda, and the more I sit with it, the more I like the idea.

I’d love for some of you all to meet him in person. I’d love for us to be able to talk to your group and for you to hear from him the hows and whys of our program.

This is still on the drawing board. Ronald is hoping to get married in November (I’ll have to do a whole post on the intricacies of Ugandan courtship and marriage practices!). We’re thinking the first quarter of 2025, so there’s no rush to decide.

What do you think?

Because you are the ones who make this program flourish, and we can’t do it without you. (Y’all are pretty darn amazing, if I do say so myself!)

Blessings,

Jennings

PS We’ve got 3 projects partly funded at DonorSee, and several more, which aren’t in Staff Picks, to choose from. You can also become a monthly donor, either on DonorSee or Donorbox, which helps us so much with our budgeting. Remember: 100% of your donations go to the program, always!

DONORSEE PROJECTS

MONTHLY DONOR SIGNUP

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