OUR GUIDING PHILOSOPHY AT TEN EIGHTEEN UGANDA

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OPPORTUNITY, ACCESS, COLLABORATION

Ugandans know what Ugandans need.

There, I said it.

Let’s be honest, very many (most?) nonprofits define a mission first, then go do it somewhere. Very often, it’s NOT what the beneficiaries themselves think of as their most pressing need.

I have witnessed this first hand:

  • A group that painted a house — without asking permission — because “it needed it”
  • Groups that distribute clothing, shoes, and/or candy AFTER a presentation, and think all the desperate people waiting for the free stuff cared about the presentation
  • Building a clinic when there was no doctor, nurses, or money to pay for staffing or medicines (The organization wasn’t paying, they were just building!)

Okay, these are needs. (Well, not that first one!) These are “good works.” But they are things done TO people, maybe even FOR people, but not WITH people.

Uganda is poor, yes. Desperately so for most people. But Ugandans aren’t stupid. They can look around their communities and see what the needs are.

What they lack are the things Ten Eighteen strives to provide:

  • OPPORTUNITY – Money, yes. Introductions to fellow Ugandans in other areas who are doing similar work.
  • ACCESS – Again, money helps. So does the technology that facilitates communication and research. Bringing in materials and training that can move their programs forward.
  • COLLABORATION – By forming strategic partnerships, instituting regular video meetings (and audio ones when the speed of the internet doesn’t allow video!), and taking advantage of our own life experiences and education, we can collaborate on programs that bring huge success without a huge financial investment.

In order to create lasting change, we focus on the change Ugandans truly want. We all know how being forced into change feels — who wants to be forced to give up caffeine, or live without power thanks to a hurricane, or put on bed rest?? We want choices, and we want to buy in to the changes. We’ve been able to achieve so much with so little over the last 12 years because we’ve trusted our Ugandan partners — and because you’ve seen the impact and wanted to make an difference!

OUR GUIDING PHILOSOPHY AT TEN EIGHTEEN UGANDA Read More »

WHY THE GATE MONTHLY GIVING PROGRAM?

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THIS WEEK WE LAUNCHED THE GATE – FOR A REALLY GOOD REASON!

Uganda is a developing country with the world’s youngest population. Unemployment numbers are a joke* — even young people with university degrees can’t find paying jobs and usually “intern” (work for free, even for the government) for years before possibly getting a paying job.

In our programs, we are dealing with the extreme poor, the uneducated, the orphaned or abandoned, the homeless. Unemployment, other than informal self-employment, is literally 100%.

So outside of our regular budget, we have regular problems come up, like three babies in two weeks getting pneumonia. Transport to the clinic or hospital, medical treatment, daily transport for IV antibiotics… All that adds up. And while it’s very small compared to US standards, our budget is pretty small too!

By joining our passionate supporters together in the Gate, WE get a stable revenue flow, and YOU get to really see the IMPACT of your donations on a monthly basis. We want you to know exactly what your money is doing, who it is benefitting, and how we go about our work.

By joining the Gate, you get:

  • Monthly updates with behind the scenes information, stories and photos
  • Quarterly LIVE video meetings with our US and UG staff where you can ask any questions and get to know us
  • For the first 100 members, you’ll become part of our Founding SUUBI ALLIANCE with extra perks

Nothing changes on your end — you choose your monthly donation and set it up on Donorbox. But you get all the access above so you get to know the people whose lives you are changing and be part of our life-changing community!

JOIN THESE SMILING FACES!

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO WITH ALL OUR PROGRAMS – WE’D LOVE TO HAVE YOU JOIN US IN CHANGING LIVES TODAY!

*Unemployment numbers for Uganda are all over the place, depending on who is reporting it. Government numbers can be as low as 1.84% (an absolute farce which anyone who has ever been to Uganda knows), to as high as 80% – a much more likely number. The truth is, MANY millions of Uganda’s 43 million population have no employment, no way to gain employment, and no safety net to help them.

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IS THE NEXT STEP AFTER HALFWAY HOUSE QUARTERWAY HOUSE?

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THIS IS GLORIA. TODAY, SHE BECAME HOMELESS.

Gloria is 16. Her son Imran is 6 months old. Before she got pregnant, Gloria was using drugs and alcohol, and trading sex for basic necessities like sanitary pads. She lived in a one-room home with 5-6 other girls, who have all now had babies, where the rent was paid by one or other of the girls’ boyfriends.

UNTIL IT WASN’T. NOW THEY’VE ALL BEEN EVICTED, AND GLORIA HAS NO FAMILY, AND NOWHERE TO GO.

Since January, Gloria has been participating in Guardian Angel and Skills for Life programs. She has been in the morning hairdressing class, working extremely hard. She has practiced during breaks and days off, coming in to learn not only hairdressing but also basic reading and writing in Luganda and a little English. She was the subject of our first documentary-style film.

When Ronald messaged me, we were able to have an immediate video meeting – man, do I love modern technology!

These are the daily challenges of working in a slum that has a HUGE population of teen moms who are largely uneducated and unemployed. And let’s be honest, it’s tough.

It’s tough to turn away girls in need. We get multiple calls a week from authorities and other organizations about teen moms in crisis. It’s just HARD. But we could have a house the size of a city block and still have to turn people away…

We do as much as we can and make sure to really invest in each girl we CAN take, making them a part of our family.

So we did the only thing we could do: we moved Gloria into the Ross House.

SO THAT BRINGS US TO THE “QUARTERWAY” HOUSE.

A couple of weeks ago, we realized that Sharon and Shadia, our two Ross House residents, had no family to go to when their stay was complete. Many (most?) of the teen girls in the programs don’t – they are either orphans, were kicked out when they got pregnant, were raped or abused by a man in their home who is not their father, or their family is in a village and unwelcoming. Our previous residents didn’t have this issue, though, so we hadn’t yet figured out the next step.

But by mid-June, we MUST have one! And now Gloria has come to the Ross House, and the need for “the next thing” (we’ll call it TNT) is even more urgent.

When we first realized we need a TNT, we began to plan. We have a lead on a 2-room place close to the Ross House/Guardian Angel/Skills for Life compound. It’s supposed to be available in May, so we are following up on that today.

We planned the HOW:

  • a resident social worker
  • a micro-savings program
  • continued financial/business literacy training
  • small contributions to the house to build the skill of budgeting

We applied for a grant to fund it – but with our accelerated schedule, the expenses will come before the money (if we’re blessed with a yes!).

BUT OF COURSE WE HAVE TO DO IT. THERE’S NOT EVEN ANY QUESTION…

Our goal isn’t a pleasant 3-4 month stay for a young, sick mom, and then to push her back out on the street to be in a worse state than before. Our goal is holistic.

  • Medical care for physical wellness
  • Psycho-social counseling for mental wellness
  • Sexual trauma counseling for emotional wellness
  • Vocational training for financial stability

The girls may not have a family — or a good family — to lean on, but they have us.

WE’RE ALL FAMILY NOW!

To help with the cost to establish the Suubi House , please make a one-time or recurring donation!

IS THE NEXT STEP AFTER HALFWAY HOUSE QUARTERWAY HOUSE? Read More »

TEEN MOM GOES FROM HOMELESS TO HAPPY AT THE ROSS HOUSE!

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We got a call from local authorities in early November about a girl who had just given birth who was living under the small roof of a video shanty. Esther and her baby were very sick.

We got her and her baby to a clinic, where she was diagnosed with a bad infection due to childbirth complications, and the baby was also ill. Both were treated, and we moved them temporarily into a small garage of a now-closed nonprofit who allowed us the space for a short time. Mama Santa visited and brought food several times a day, and made sure that Esther and the baby took their medications.

When we opened the Ross House in mid-November, Esther was one of our first residents.

She cried for an entire week.

After just a month, Esther had gained weight, gotten well, and was full of smiles.

She enrolled in our first Skills for Life, choosing hairdressing. She also learned a “small skill”, how to make samosas, and was given the tools she’d need to start a small business while she learned her “big skill” over four months.

Esther graduated from the Ross House at the end of January, having completed our Sexual Trauma Workbook and our basic financial and business literacy training. When she moved in with her sister nearby, she took a month of food with her for the household, as well as all she would need to run her samosa business in the morning and attend the hairdressing class in the afternoon.

While her brother-in-law eventually decided he didn’t want Esther and Ella living with them (we moved her in with a family from church), Esther continues to thrive. She is excelling in the advanced class, and working extremely hard on her skills and creativity.

ESTHER IS NOW ALMOST UNRECOGNIZABLE!

She’s the one on the left… To be honest, when Ronald sent me this photo, I didn’t realize who was in it!

This is real change, and thanks to S4L, lasting change.

The Ross House family expands with every graduate — and they remain our family, with access to medical care and food, continued counseling, and opportunities.

MAY 26, 2021 UPDATE

On Saturday, Esther taught a skills workshop on how to make and sell samosas to 15 young people!! She did an amazing job, earned some money, and gained a huge amount of confidence. AMAZING!!

THIS IS OUR WHY!

AND THIS IS YOUR IMPACT!

Thanks to you and donors like you, we are able to create dramatic, deep-rooted change that will affect not only girls like Esther, but their children, their extended families, and their community.

AND THAT’S TEN EIGHTEEN’S MISSION: TO CHANGE THE CULTURE OF EXTREME POVERTY FOR THE YOUTH OF UGANDA.

TEEN MOM GOES FROM HOMELESS TO HAPPY AT THE ROSS HOUSE! Read More »

WATER TANK #1 IS COMPLETE THANKS TO YOU!

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WE DID IT!

Thanks to our generous donors, with the administrative support from Equal Aqua Uganda, and construction by The Ichupa Upcycle Project , our first ecobrick water tank is up and running with harvested rainwater!

Check out this video for the whole story:

Now, the kids at Wells of Hope School AND the residents of Rwakobo Village have access to safe water!

WHAT’S NEXT?

This was the kick-off project for our WASH Campaign. Our 2021 goals are ambitious – but that’s good, right?

  1. Ecobrick Water Tanks
  2. Pit Latrines with Handwashing Stations
  3. Deep Water Well
Gideon, school Director, checks out the growing tank

Ten Eighteen has 3 missions in Uganda: vulnerable girls and teen moms, water/sanitation/hygiene for Rwakobo, and food for three schools. In short, FOOD, WATER, SHELTER, AND EDUCATION.

It’s supporters like you, and our partners in Uganda, that allow us to accomplish this big mission, one small step at a time. We are so thankful!!

Boy in Rwakobo village

WATER TANK #1 IS COMPLETE THANKS TO YOU! Read More »

ECOBRICK TANK WORK KICKS OFF OUR WASH CAMPAIGN IN RWAKOBO!

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Yesterday was the official KICK OFF of our multi-year WASH Campaign. A WASH Campaign brings water access, sanitation, and hygiene to a community — and we are kicking off with a 10,000 liter water tank made of upcycled ecobricks for Wells of Hope School in Rwakobo Village.

Created in partnership with Equal Aqua Uganda, the Ichupa Upcycle Project, and Celebration Tabernacle Church in Mbarara, this project is exciting in so many ways!

  • It brings ample clean water to the students and staff at Wells of Hope School for washing, cooking, and (with purification like boiling) drinking.
  • It shows our commitment to this extremely poor and isolated village of nearly 3,000.
  • It involves the students and community by showing them how to fill the bottles with sand and use them to construct a tank.
  • It is a step towards a culture of upcycling and recycling the enormous amount of plastic waste in Uganda.
  • Equal Aqua will also be providing some Skills classes to the community.

We will have more updates, and are so thankful to YOU for your donations that have been this possible!

EVERYONE DESERVES CLEAN WATER!

ECOBRICK TANK WORK KICKS OFF OUR WASH CAMPAIGN IN RWAKOBO! Read More »

A CLEAN WATER SUCCESS STORY! JUST THE BEGINNING…

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BRING CLEAN WATER TO RWAKOBO

Ecobricks for a sturdy water tank!

MARCH 8 – OUR FIRST LARGE WATER TANK WORK STARTS!

Almost exactly a year ago (March 12, 2020), we built a small cistern at Wells of Hope School in Rwakobo Village. Nearly 40 kids were out of school with typhoid due to contaminated water, we didn’t have the funds for a well — but we DID have the funds for a small 200-liter tank that would at least provide cleaner (and on-site) water for hand washing and cooking.

Almost as soon as the work was finished, the Covid19 lockdowns started. I don’t know if the community was able to use this small bit of clean water during that time, but I hope so. It’s still there, and will still be collecting water for the BACK TO SCHOOL students. (School officially started back on March 1!)

BUT NOW…

10,000 liters!

Starting on Monday, March 8, Equal Aqua Uganda will be building a new additional tank holding 10,000 liters of rainwater captured from the roof of the new school building! We’ve written about ecobricks before… They’re made using recycled plastic bottles, filled with sand, and cemented into a large structure to give it strength. The tanks have spigots at the bottom, are fed with rainwater, and covered to prevent contamination.

While technically, that small 200-liter tank was the (unofficial) start of our WASH Campaign for Rwakobo Village, THIS TANK is the official kick-off of a multi-year, ambitious plan to bring tanks, wells, new pit latrines, handwashing facilities, and a hygiene campaign to this village.

OUR GOAL FOR 2021:
1 DEEP WATER WELL
2 PIT LATRINES
3 ECOBRICK WATER TANKS

Access to clean water and sanitation is the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6: “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”

In Rwakobo Village, this goal is 100% a dream right now.

BUT THANKS TO YOU, WE’RE GETTING STARTED NEXT WEEK!

PROVIDE CLEAN WATER!

A CLEAN WATER SUCCESS STORY! JUST THE BEGINNING… Read More »

INTERVIEW WITH GIDEON MUHANGUZI ABOUT WORK IN RWAKOBO VILLAGE

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Today we welcome Gideon, Director of Hopeland and Wells of Hope Schools, and our liaison to Rwakobo Village. I’ve known Gideon for about ten years when he was a teacher/tutor at Father’s House in Kampala. We’ve been working together on the schools since May 2019, when my bakery began a Pound for Pound program to provide food for Hopeland School and the Arise Africa Babies Home. I’m so glad to have a chance to chat with him about Rwakobo Village!

J: When and how did the village at Rwakobo come to your attention?

G: We visited it in 2018 when our church [Celebration Tabernacle Church in Mbarara] was doing outreaches to the poorest and most needy areas in our region.

J. What was the first thing Celebration Tabernacle did in the village?

G: Together, the church fed the hungry, built a few mud houses with iron sheets for those who slept in grass huts or were basically homeless, and talked to the parents about the dangers of forced child marriages and other associated vices.

J: How many people live in Rwakobo Village?

G: Almost 3,000 now!

J: What is life like for those living there?

G: They live hand to mouth, well below the poverty line [so below $2 per day]. They hardly have any clean water, getting food is a struggle, and they have no health facilities so they depend on herbs for the treatment of illnesses.

J: What impact has the school made on the lives of the villagers?

G: They have seen the importance of education! Forced early marriages have been reduced, as well as the behaviors associated with that [like abuse, early pregnancy and related complications]. The value of girls has been resurrected!

J: How will the new school building and the reopening of the school after the Covid lockdown affect the children who attend Wells of Hope?

G: Their lives were being threatened over the last year! Not only were schools closed, but churches were also closed so they began to lose hope. They fell back in their educational achievements [school had only just started its third-ever term], and were giving up! The news of the opening will be amazing to them!

J: What impact did the Covid lockdowns and the loss of the full school year have on the children. What negative effects did you see during the last year, and what negative impacts do you anticipate because of the “lost year?”

G: Some children were starving and malnourished. Some were abandoned by their parents in their houses and left alone. Others were forced into early marriage, early pregnancy, and some girls were exchanged for food. The girls who were forced into marriage will not be able to return to school [Wells of Hope only goes to Primary 6]. We also anticipate that the little tuition some parents were able to pay will be reduced, as the parents have lost what incomes they had during the pandemic. Additionally, the families had to eat any seeds that they were saving for planting after the rainy season, so there is little income on the horizon.

J: What difference would having access to clean water, as well as good sanitation and hygiene, have on the school and village?

G: If the village didn’t have to rely on seasonal wells [ponds] and had clean water, the incidence of disease and illness would be greatly reduced! Waterborne illness is one of the biggest problems in the village and the school and accounts for many lost days of class. Diarrhea kills many children in the village. Handwashing stations and clean pit latrines would also help a lot!

J: What is the greatest need in Rwakobo Village?

G: A bigger school so all the children can attend, and funds to pay the staff. Clean water and water easily available for washing. And improved homes for the families who live in grass huts or mud homes.

J: Thank you so much for all your work in this village — and for introducing us to it last year! We can’t wait to get back there as soon as Covid allows!

INTERVIEW WITH GIDEON MUHANGUZI ABOUT WORK IN RWAKOBO VILLAGE Read More »

HOW DOES 100% OF YOUR DONATION GO TO THE PROGRAM?

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DONATE

Since we started in 2008, we have used 100% of our donors’ money for the programs.

YES, 100%!

Surprisingly, people have argued with me (at length) as to why and how that can’t be true, even while our books and statements clearly show it is. So I thought I’d explain how it can be so.

  • I work from home.
  • We have no paid staff in the US.
  • We do not pay for ads on social media, unless someone donates specifically for them.
  • When I travel to Uganda, we personally donate to cover those expenses (flight, transportation, accommodations, food).
  • We receive in-kind donations that cover our website, accounting and donation software, and business cards.
  • We use an app called SendWave that lets us use mobile money on MTN and Airtel phones in Uganda to send money without any fees on our end. (There is a small tax on their end, which we figure in.)
  • Our donation platform lets donors choose to pay the fees for their card processing.

BUT WHY AREN’T YOU PAID?

I started this as a labor of love, and, to be honest, until 2020, it was a part time (sometimes VERY part time) job. When I’m in Uganda, which was twice a year until we moved to Nicaragua in 2016, it’s 70-80 hour weeks of working, but at most that’s 5-6 weeks a year. Even when I restarted in 2019, the work was less than 4 hours a month.

AND THEN COVID…

When we visited last January, I did feel strongly that we had the groundwork in place to grow. In February, I started getting Ten Eighteen ready to apply for grants. And then Covid arrived on the scene, and all the best planning went out the window. Grants pivoted to all things covid. Uganda locked down in a draconian way, and people began to starve.

So all the “formal” stuff went out the window, and we worked many many hours a week, just trying to keep people alive, provide meals, solicit donations, explain what was happening, and keep going by faith. The aftermath of the lockdowns, school closures, destroyed businesses, and starvation took months to fully realize and to begin to sketch out a way forward.

MEANWHILE, ALL OF YOU STEPPED UP WITH DONATIONS EVEN WHILE YOUR LIVES WERE IMPACTED SO GREATLY!

WE ARE GREATLY BLESSED…

One day, and thanks to (we pray) grants, we do hope to pay people — that will mean that the work has grown to the point that our impact in Uganda is where we envision it. But our belief is that YOUR hard earned money should go to the programs that you believe in. To the work, to feed children in devastatingly poor schools, for vocational training to teens in the slums who have nowhere else to go, to the teen moms at the Ross House, to clean water for Rwakobo.

I am blessed – we are blessed – that life in the US, while difficult over this last year, has let us offer our skills and work as volunteers. I’ve been to Uganda 13 times — we’ve been 29 times as a team — and we understand how great the needs are there and how far even a small amount of money can go.

NO ONE CAN DO EVERYTHING, BUT EVERYONE CAN DO SOMETHING.

HOW DOES 100% OF YOUR DONATION GO TO THE PROGRAM? Read More »

BEAUTY AND DESPERATION IN RWAKOBO VILLAGE

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The road through Lake Mburo National Park to Rwakobo Village

The village at Rwakobo Rock, which we call Rwakobo Village but which doesn’t seem to have a formal name, is about 10km inside Lake Mburo National Park. It was founded as a place to relocate Rwandan refugees, and (apparently) forgotten. While there is another village inside that park that seems to have services, a decent (for a Ugandan village) road, and houses the employees of the various safari lodges, Rwakobo Village is spread out and isolated — by geography, and by culture.

Their isolation has led to an extremely high rate of HIV/AIDS and STDs. Syphilis, in particular, seems to be rampant and largely untreated. No hospice or other medical outreach serves the village. Water-borne diseases such as typhoid, as well as malaria and illnesses related to poor hygiene, are leading causes of sickness and death.

WHAT IS A WASH CAMPAIGN?

WASH = Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene

WATER IS THE FIRST URGENT NEED

But at the same time, Wells of Hope School and Celebration Tabernacle Church outreach are teaching best hygiene practices. Since almost half of people in Rwakobo Village practice open defecation (going to the bathroom outside), there is a great need for education and construction of safe pit latrines for the villagers as well. All of these things are interconnected and vital for health and safety of those living in this village.

Inside a round house in Rwakobo Village

THIS TYPE OF CAMPAIGN IS A MARATHON NOT A SPRINT!

We have been working in Uganda since 2009, and are committed to this project for the long haul. Just before the school closings and lockdown last year, Ten Eighteen Uganda built a kitchen and a small cistern — sufficient for daily use — at Wells of Hope School. Thanks to a generous donor, we now have the funds to install a 7,000 liter eco-brick tank at the new school building. Since Equal Aqua Uganda will be traveling several hundred kilometers from their usual area, we are hoping to raise money for at least one 10,000 liter tank for the village to be built at the same time.

But what are the long term goals in this WASH Campaign?

  1. At least 12 ten-thousand gallon tanks spread throughout the village, to catch rainwater that can be used for washing, cooking, and drinking (with purification techniques such as boiling).
  2. One deep-water well installed by the end of 2022, and four by the end of 2025.
  3. Conduct a village-wide hygiene campaign in 2021 in collaboration with Celebration Tabernacle Church and Wells of Hope School, to teach the importance of using best hygiene practices such as frequent handwashing, especially after defecation.
  4. Construct pit latrines in the community in collaboration with Celebration Tabernacle Church.

If you’d like to donate to our Clean Water for Rwakobo campaign, we’d love to have you partner with us to effect meaningful and lasting change in this devastatingly poor community. 100% of your donations go to the project! And we’d love your thoughts, comments, and prayers as we tackle this job — we can’t do it, but God can accomplish it!

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