Author name: Jen

An Amazing Donation of Medical Equipment from MDF Instruments

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Back in January, another partner on DonorSee who works in South Africa contacted me. We have very similar (and not the usual) definitions and understanding of nonprofit work, and she wanted to connect me to a medical instrument manufacturer who had donated a lot of equipment to their clinics in SA.

This week we got the box from MDF Instruments in Puerto Rico, and it was Christmas in March! This is professional quality equipment: stethoscope, blood pressure cuffs in sizes from baby to large adult, and much more. (Stuff I don’t know the name of, for sure!) And a sweet note to our nurse, Sherry, about being a nurse.

I will be taking all this equipment over with me in May, along with SO MUCH more that has been donated over the past two years. (To be honest, there’s no way I can take it all in one trip!) We’ve got clothes, shoes, reusable sanitary pads, books, toys, laptops, iPads, tote bags, and first aid supplies… Lots of it.

This kind of generosity and commitment to people you don’t know and won’t ever meet is what makes Ten Eighteen Uganda successful. Whether it’s your money, your product, your kids’ toys and clothes, or handmade reusable sanitary pads, YOUR generosity makes us successful.

And we appreciate you more than you can ever know!

If you have things to donate besides money, do me a favor and hold onto it until June! After that, I’ll have some room to store it until the next visit. 🙂

Blessings,

Jennings

PS. Becoming a monthly donor of ANY amount helps us so much. We’d love to have you join us. 100% goes to the programs. Just click the button below!

I want to be a monthly donor!

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Free Health Care Is Crucial To Our Girls

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Since we opened the Ross House in November 2020, providing health care and medical treatment for our girls has been a priority. It is a lot easier to get sick while living in Uganda’s largest slum than it is to stay well!

Up until February, we sent all our sick girls to Dr. Francis, who gave us a discounted rate and didn’t require up-front payment. Still, the cost of an exam, treatment, hospital visits for daily IV injections, and transportation added up. And the bigger we got, the more we spent. (Thank goodness for our partnership with DonorSee that started in September 2021!)

But one day in January along came the idea fairy, who dropped the idea of an on-site clinic in my head. After adding up what we’d averaged per month on medical treatment and comparing it to what we’d have to pay a full-time nurse plus medications and supplies, it was quite obvious that the better solution was to open an on-site clinic.

Lately, we’ve had a run of typhoid in our community, thanks to the rains and dirty, contaminated water that the girls drink at home. Malaria also surges when there are lots of puddles and congested drainage ditches for mosquitoes to breed in.

Because of the Haven Clinic and nurse Sherry, however, our costs are still below what we spent in an average month treating fewer girls. The girls and children are healthier and do better in class. And few are getting very sick now, since we can treat things when they start, not when they’re “bad enough to justify a doctor visit.” It’s been a big win-win!

As always, thank you so much for your support! Please forward this and all our emails to anyone you know who might be interested in our work. I’m available to speak to groups, too! Just use the Contact form!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

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15 Years Old and a New Mom – Kalunji

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Kalunji came to our program when she was 5-months pregnant. She was living with her grandmother (jaja) in a terrible wooden shack in the slum. They didn’t have enough food, but her jaja insisted that Kalunji eat to nurture the baby.

Our team, with help from our donors at DonorSee, provided food, a mattress, bedding, a mosquito net, and a water filter for this small family. Kalunji began spending her days at the compound, even though she wasn’t enrolled in any of our programs. We fed her two meals a day and got her enrolled with Amani, an organization that helps teen moms with prenatal care and childbirth.

In January, Kalunji began learning reading, writing, basic math, and English in our new Literacy Program.

A month ago, Kalunji presented to our nurse at the Haven Clinic with severe malaria. She began an IV treatment and went into labor (about 3 weeks early) that evening.

Unfortunately, Amani was completely full! We also hadn’t purchased the required birthing kit yet. But our nurse, Sherry, called all around Kampala and finally found Kalunji space at the KCCA Hospital, where she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Kareem.

Kalunji moved into the Ross House, our residential program for teen moms in crisis, from the hospital. Two weeks later, her jaja died.

Raheem is a month old now, and doing really well! Sherry gives him all his regular checkups, as well as Mama. Kalunji is now back in Lit class, and she’s even rejoined dancing in Teen Talk on Fridays.

Next term, Kalunji will join one of the vocational classes in Skills for Life.

THIS IS WHAT WE DO, AND WHY WE ARE HERE

Girls like Kalunji, forced to trade sex just to have food or sanitary pads, are forgotten, shunned, ignored. Illiterate, desperately impoverished, and with no living family to help, her chances of even surviving childbirth were low.

But now she is safe, healthy, cared for, and learning.

There are thousands like Kalunji in the Namuwongo slum, and we can’t help them all. But those we can bring into our program are given sustainable skills, counseling, mentoring, and the life skills needed to not just survive but thrive.

These are hard stories… But they are stories of HOPE. OPPORTUNITY. CHANGE. And they are possible because of you.

Webele nyo!

Jennings

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I’m going to Uganda (finally!)!

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FINALLY.

Thanks to our recent global unpleasantness, I’ve had three trips to Uganda cancelled or postponed since our last visit in January-February 2020. What’s remarkable is that we’ve gone from a tiny, claustrophobic 2-room office in the slum with no paid staff to a thriving, bustling compound on the edge of the slum serving 70+ people a day with 14 paid staff!

That’s pretty incredible, and thanks in large part to video meetings being so easy now days. I meet with Ronald, our Managing Director, at least twice a week, and we use Signal to communicate every day. It’s *almost* like being there.

Of course, it’s not actually like being there. My communication is limited to Ronald and a couple of others who work on our videos and photographs. I haven’t ever set foot in our compound. I haven’t personally met most of our staff. I haven’t held the babies living in the Ross and Suubi Houses. We haven’t sat around over a meal and brainstormed.

Those things are so important for CULTURE – that indefinable something that makes Ten Eighteen Uganda + Touch the Slum unique and special and the reason you are reading this newsletter and entrusting us with your hard earned dollars.

I’ll have more in the coming weeks on my schedule and the events we’re working on during my visit. I’ll be gone May 22 through June 9, but will have (mostly) internet to keep you all updated.

THANK YOU for supporting us, sharing us with friends and groups, and sending all the encouragement that you do. We can’t tell you how grateful we are!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS. Of course we have tons of projects on DonorSee – if you Follow us there, you’ll get updates when we post new ones. To be honest, the situation in Ukraine has taken away a lot of fundraising momentum for those of us working elsewhere, so we’d really appreciate you checking out our projects to see if any speak to you. Webele nyo!

Show me the pro

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NEEDED: FOOD FOR OUR KIDS!

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As often happens when we have a BRILLIANT IDEAâ„¢, we underestimated the need. I know… you’d think we’d learn! But when the need is so great, it can truly be hard to put a number on it.

When we opened our daycare last month, we expected a few kids for each session (morning and afternoon) of Skills for Life. Oh, let’s say 6-8. We, of course, made the daycare available for our staff and the moms who have graduated out of the residential program.

Some days, we have as many as 30 kids in daycare. Yep. THIRTY. And they all get 2 meals a day, which is awesome and we wouldn’t change a thing.

Except our budget. We definitely need to change our budget!

We have a project up on DonorSee to restock the food for our little ones in daycare. We need about $200 to fully fund it — CAN YOU HELP?

You can become a monthly donor using the button below. That really helps us know our base budget and things like regular food purchases.

As always, thank you for your support!

Blessings,

Jennings

I WANT TO DONATE!

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THE COMPUTER LAB IS FULLY FUNDED!

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Photo Credit Bob Ditty Photography

YES! YOU DID IT!

Late last year, we posted our first big project on DonorSee – a computer lab for Skills for Life. This $10,000 project was highly ambitious for us, and to be honest, it has been slow going.

WHY do we feel strongly about introducing digital literacy to our community?

Many of Uganda’s government services have moved online, such as National ID registration.

  • Many good jobs require online applications, as well as basic computer skills.
  • Having knowledge of digital applications like Microsoft’s Office Suite vastly broadens the kinds of jobs open to our girls.
  • Digital literacy allows our girls to fully participate in civic life in their communities.

And NOW… thanks to two Roberts who each made a huge donation within 24 hours of each other…

IT’S FUNDED!

For a whole year, including electricity, maintenance, and the teacher’s salary!

We are a small organization — small but mighty! For us, $10,000 is HUGE. And YOU made it happen!

We really can’t say THANK YOU enough! Webele nyo!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS While we no longer have a big project up on DonorSee, we have plenty of small ones, from tailoring supplies to restocking the food for our daycare. 100% goes to the program — if you have any questions, just use the Contact screen and ask away!

TAKE ME TO DONORSEE

Photo credit: Bob Ditty Photography

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ADVANCED TAILORING FOR THE WIN!

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Ever since our first ever term of Tailoring, which ended in June 2021, we have been dreaming of an Advanced Tailoring class. Most of the girls in Tailoring go on to have a small business doing basic designs: school and work uniforms, traditional gomeza dresses, simple skirts, repairs. Some find good work in shops or with organizations like the ones who make Wonderbags in the Namuwongo slum.

But there are some, like Vivian and Jenifer who we’ve written about often, who really have a flair. Their designs are special, and only their skill level has kept them from great achievement.

Not any more!

About 2 1/2 weeks ago, our Advanced Tailoring class launched. Teacher Martha is a professional seamstress with a shop of her own, and she spent a great deal of time assessing the girls for both skills and dreams so she could design a curriculum to launch them into the next level.

Skills for Life currently offers 4 Basic skills and now one Advanced one. These courses are FREE to the teen girls and teen moms we serve. In addition to the actual coursework, they get free medical care at our on-site Haven Clinic, free child care at our on-site daycare, psycho-social counseling, mentoring, and peer groups. They also get 1-2 meals a day.

FREE. No strings attached.

Obviously, this isn’t free to Ten Eighteen! Your support of our projects on DonorSee, or with one time or recurring donations on DonorBox, are what make this possible. We grew 70% last year thanks to YOU.

We’ve got lots of great projects up on DonorSee right now, and you can always make a one time or recurring donation using DonorBox. The buttons are below – we’d love to have you join us!

Blessings,

Jennings

DONORBOX

DONORSEE PROJECTS

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY AT THE ROSS HOUSE

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If you’ve been with us awhile, you know that every month we do a One Fun Thing for our resident teen moms. This started way back in 2009, when my kids and I started going to Uganda and spending time in the slum, because it’s HARD. If it’s hard to visit, imagine how hard it is to live there!

So every trip, we do a One Fun Thing, and every month, our moms get treated to One Fun Thing – like the KFC Christmas party in December.

Since it was International Women’s Day last week, we had a feast to celebrate our girls. (Clearly the kids, like Imran, enjoyed it, too!)

We believe that everyone should have the chance at FUN. At laughter. At celebration. At dancing.

Is the One Fun Thing technically “essential”? We’d actually say yes! When you’re doing hard things, it’s always good to remember what you’re fighting for.

More One Fun Things. More dancing. More joy. More LIFE.

Maybe even more than ONE fun thing every month.

Blessings,

Jennings

PS We’ve got a project on DonorSee to restock the food for the daycare. We are providing 2 meals a day to the children of our teen moms, staff, and teachers. Click on the button to help us with all that food!

LET’S GET SOME FOOD!

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LITERACY IS PRICELESS

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We currently have 20 girls taking Basic Literacy. Some of them had a small bit of school, so they know the basics. Some were completely illiterate. English is “the common language” in Uganda, but many can’t speak it because they didn’t go to school. With 60 tribes and the slum melting-pot, it can be hard to communicate if you don’t know English.

After less than two months, the un-schooled girls know the alphabet and numbers, can read and write 3-letter words, and have done videos for us entirely in English! The other class, with girls who have had some schooling, are writing out the names of numbers and working with bigger words.

In short, they are flying through the course with amazing passion. They know what an opportunity free education is — it’s almost unheard of in Uganda! They know these are skills they will need once they’ve gone through a vocational skill course in Skills for Life and have jobs or small businesses. They are ON FIRE to learn!

Thank you so much for your support! Because of you, teen moms and teen girls in the slum are gaining invaluable skills for themselves and their families.

Blessings,

Jennings

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ROSS HOUSE UPDATE!

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photo credit: Bob Ditty Photography

Last Friday, 15-year-old Kalunji gave birth to her son at KCCA Hospital. She was supposed to go through Amani which had been giving her free prenatal care, but she went into labor early and Amani was full.

Our nurse, Sherry, finally found her a spot in KCCA’s private ward, then stayed at the hospital all night. The baby was delivered at 2am, and Kalunji had only minor complications — a real risk with teens giving birth.

Kalunji and baby (no name yet!) are back at the Ross House and being taken care of by Mama Santa, Sherry, and all the other teen moms who are helping, advising, and loving on mama and baby.

This is why we do what we do. A 15-year-old giving birth in a filthy wooden hut is a recipe for disaster. But because Kalunji has been in our program for counseling and the Literacy class, she is being taken care of — for free. She will stay at the Ross House until she’s completed a Skills for Life course in the second term. She will move to the Ross House to transition to self-sufficiency. She will complete the Literacy Class, counseling, have a mentor group, and learn business skills.

And she will be able to sustainably care for herself and her child. Hopefully she will never have to turn to sex work again.

Your support and donations have made this possible. We are just so grateful for your partnership!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS. We have a project up that was supposed to purchase the birthing kit for Kalunji – but she went into labor early and we didn’t get it in time. However, we do have a project for her Ross House entry package – click the button below!

KALUNJI’S PROJECT

ROSS HOUSE UPDATE! Read More »

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