Art

Home with a side of Kenya

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Dear {{contact.first_name}},

Hello from North Carolina! Where it is quite chilly and I’m thankful for Ugandan coffee this morning.

It’s hard to believe the trip is over, but wow, what an amazing job this team did last month!

  • Bertie and Harriet, our nurses, did an amazing hand washing campaign in the community, giving away 10 hand washing stations and conducting a very well received workshop on hand washing and hygiene. They also did a lot of small- and large-group work with our girls on baby care, hygiene, personal care, and more; plus helped Nurse Brenda in the clinic a LOT. my favorite story is one of the girls coming in with “arm pain” and wanting medicine. Turns out she’d been carrying heavy jerry cans of water the day before and she was just sore – it was a great lesson that every pain isn’t “bad” and requiring meds!
  • Connie led the enthusiastic girls in making really cute things with a type of paper-based clay she brought. When they were dry, the girls painted them and make 2 amazing collages in frames to hang up. She also had hand-made a bunch of beautiful glass beads which were made into jewelry and decorated picture frames. She worked with Charity, who has been filling in for Mama Santa in the kitchen, and made both mendazi (like donuts) and bolognese for the girls and staff.
  • Susan taught many classes in drawing and painting, and also led the staff in several workshops on stress and stress management.
  • Bertie, Harriet, and Connie went to the farm and were promptly put to work – and they had a blast!
  • I got all the paperwork, reports, and plannning done for our upcoming NGO application, which is now in progress thanks to our wonderful Legal Officer, Jimmy. This is an “upgrade” from our current community organization status and makes us a nationwide organization.

We finished out the trip with 2 nights at Lake Mburo for safari, where we were fortunate enough to be literally in the middle of (on foot!) over 30 giraffes – half of the total giraffe population of the Park! (Including a less-than-2-month-old nursing baby!)

The return journey for me was longer than expected, as my initial flight was cancelled due to technical issues. They put us in a hotel, then rebooked me on Kenya Air the next day. When we flew into Nairobi I was so shocked at how flat it is… Uganda is so beautifully green and hilly, I guess that’s what I expected! I had a long-haul (15 hour) flight to JFK, then home to NC on Tuesday. I’m now in post-trip recovery/regroup mode — and very thankful both for the going and the coming home.

Thank you all so much for your emails and comments on Instagram during the trip. It means so much to all of us! Your pre-trip donations helped us get supplies for art, get soccer balls for Wells of Hope and Hopeland Primary Schools (and have a fund to supply them for a year!), and make sure all the classes had what they needed for exams.

Now it’s back to work here, while missing there…

Blessings!

Jennings

PS. We have some great projects up on DonorSee, including moving the residential program to a separate compound. Check it out and see if something moves you — and also, you can become a monthly donor to either the clinic or the residential program, right there through DonorSee!

To DonorSee!

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Week One in Uganda – TEAMWORK!

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Normally I put one picture at the top of these emails, but I really want to share a few from our first days in Uganda. The ladies are doing such great work and our staff and girls are so happy to have them with us!

Clockwise from the top left, Susan (my mom) teaching watercolor to the Literacy girls; Connie teaching paper clay modeling, also to the Literacy girls; and Harriet (from Karamoja) and Bertie unpacking new medical supplies for our Nurse Brenda.

Yesterday, Harriet, Bertie, and Connie did a community talk on hand washing and hygiene, and they gave out 50 mosquito nets. Connie also taught a class on making glass jewelry. On Monday, Susan did a drawing class.

(And Susan’s luggage is still lost somewhere... so you can say a prayer on that since it’s not just clothes but all her personal and student art supplies, too!)

Meanwhile, I have been doing very exciting things like working with our Finance Officer on accounting software and making spreadsheets for upcoming payroll tax changes (ugh), and putting together what we’ll need in March to renew/upgrade our organizational license (also ugh). We have a dinner meeting tonight with the attorney… I know, my part sounds like so much fun, right?!

I did, however, get one very important visit in — with Mama Santa! She is so appreciative of you all, who funded her surgery within an hour of last week’s email going out. She’s resting and doing well, while her daughter Charity fills in in the kitchen.

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This week we’ll have more community visits, more classes, more laughter, and (I’m sure) more dancing. Our nurses will be making time for individual chats, Susan will be doing a workshop for the staff on managing stress, and Connie will be making cassava mendazi for the girls.

In short – it’s pretty amazing over here!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS We would love to have your support to move the residential program to a separate house just down the road — we’re at 21%! Life is already challenging for teen moms like Anita, who had a c-section 4 weeks ago. Giving them some peace and quiet would be amazing! Just click the button for easy giving.

MOVE Project!

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Our Vision for 2024

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2023 has been a banner year for Ten Eighteen, at Touch the Slum and in the west where we provided the well for Rwakobo Village.

Over a hundred girls have learned to read, write, speak English, and do basic math.

They have learned a skill in Tailoring, Hairdressing, Photography/Videography, or Digital Literacy.

We were selected by Plan International to be one of only two nonprofits in their referral program in the entire (LARGE) district, made up of millions of Ugandans.

We introduced drawing and painting and unleashed creativity in both students and staff — NOT something that’s very common in Uganda!

Every day, girls were rescued, supported, treated, respected, and lifted up, in ways big and small.

And guess what? 2024 is going to be even better!

January marks our 15th year working in the Namuwongo slum and in Uganda!

Also in January, we are taking a team of four amazing women who will bring lifetimes of skills in art, writing, cooking, organic farming, nursing and public health, and psychiatric social work to our staff and students.

In the spring, our “community organization” status will be officially upgraded to a country-wide NGO.

With the funding of our newest large project on DonorSee, we will be able to move the residential girls to a separate nearby house. This will give them more peace and quiet and room to heal, and it will free up space in the Touch the Slum compound to expand our vocational skills program.

As our farm continues to produce, we will start taking teams of girls from TTS who are interested in learning farming skills to get hands on experience. (You can’t grow much in the slum!)

All this and more is thanks to generous donations like the one you made last year. Will you consider making a year end donation to help us again?

As always, 100% of your donations go to the program, and we SO appreciate your support and encouragement!

Mwebele nnyo,

Jennings

YEAR END DONATION

PS If you aren’t following us on Instagram, now is a great time to start. Our home-grown media team does amazing work, and we have new content up every day. It’s a great way to keep up with all we’re doing in Namuwongo and to see all the fun we have on the team trip next month.

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Art in the Slum

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One of the two main reasons my mom, Susan, came with me to Uganda was to teach art classes to our Literacy class girls. (And the staff is begging for their turn, so they’ll get a class on Thursday!)

Susan has been an artist pretty much all of her life, and currently paints in both oils and watercolors. (Find her on Instagram at @susanfloridaartist) She teaches classes in our hometown in Florida, and loves to share her love of art.

When kids are in school here, there are occupations that are acceptable — the ones the parents want their kids to choose — and then there are those that are actively discourages. If you want to be (or say you want to be) a doctor, teacher, or lawyer, that’s great. An artist or musician? Absolutely not.

Since our girls haven’t been to school, they were thrilled to get art lessons. We’ve done one class for each Literacy class, and today they’ll do a combined class (all 20 girls!). As with anything, some girls took to it faster than others, but they all loved it and can’t wait to do more. We’ll be leaving all our supplies here, and Ronald has already started looking for more paint sets, paper, and brushes, for when these wear out.

It’s very important to us that we bring creativity, art, books, music, and fun to our programs. These are things that are rarely seen in the slum, and that are vital to critical and creative thinking.

And the girls love it!

This is our last week in Uganda, and will culminate with graduation on Saturday and Easter dinner with the residential girls on Sunday before we head to the airport.

On Thursday, I’ll update you on our trip west to Hopeland and Wells of Hope Primary Schools! It was long (3 car breakdowns!) but good (except the car breakdowns…!).

Thanks for all your well wishes and comments on Instagram! If you haven’t checked out our videos there, click the icon below.

Blessings!

Jennings (and Susan)

PS We could really use your help for our graduation. It’s the biggest (and therefore most costly) one yet, with 33 girls graduating! Click below to help – 100% goes to the project!

GRADUATION SUPPORT!

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