Residential

Emergency Admissions – Lives in Crisis

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This week we welcomed 17-year-old Alice and her newborn baby (no name as yet!) into our residential program as emergency admissions. Alice had been given her final eviction notice by her landlord, who didn’t care a bit that she’d just had a c-section.

Earlier this year, Alice fled the conflict in the Congo because a Congolese man living in Uganda told her he could get her a job as a housemaid. She made her way to him in Namuwongo, where — surprise! — there was no job. Instead, he kept her with him, abused her, and got her pregnant.

A week before she delivered, he left to go shopping and never returned.

Alice doesn’t speak any local languages, and had to make her own way to the public hospital when she went into labor. There, she delivered by c-section and was released the next day. She took herself home, where there was no money or food.

After a week, she reached out to a lady who had helped her with food a couple of times. The lady is a women’s leader in the community and knows about our work at Touch the Slum. Fortunately, she called the office right away to let the staff know she was bringing Alice to the compound.

After the interview, Sarah returned to Alice’s home to pack up her meager belongings before the landlord returned to kick her out. She’s now settled into the Ross House, and the baby is being treated for malaria by Nurse Brenda. With food and clean water, Alice is able to nurse again, and they are resting and recovering.

This is, unfortunately, an all too common story.

Teen girls are at the bottom of the social ladder, used, abused, disposable once they get pregnant. Thousands of babies are unclaimed by a father, and there is no governmental or societal pressure to provide for them.

But thanks to YOU and your support, we had room to bring Alice and the baby in. We can feed her, give them clean clothes, provide diapers for the baby, give them medical care, and Mama Santa can teach her to care for her newborn.

You are (truly!) lifesavers, and we can’t thank you enough.

Mwebele nnyo,

Jennings

PS We have a project up to fund the cost of Alice’s entry package, which included a mattress and bedding, clothes, and personal supplies, as well as things for the baby. If you’d like to contribute, just click below!

For Alice

Teen Mom Harriet’s Journey To Small Business Owner

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After her father passed away, Harriet moved to the Namuwongo slum to live with her mother in a teeny tiny home. Her mother didn’t make enough to meet their basic needs, so Harriet “got a boyfriend” who could help provide some of the necessities of life, such as food and sanitary pads.

After she found out she was pregnant, the boy fled. Our social worker Sarah found Harriet in a squalid, bedbug infested, teeny tiny home with a one-week old baby who wasn’t thriving.

Harriet and the baby moved into the Ross House, and she moved through Literacy, Basic, and Advanced Tailoring. She is now running her own small tailoring business in the family’s home village.

This is her story.

It’s your support and encouragement that keep Touch the Slum open and providing such critical care and services to vulnerable teen girls in the slum. We so appreciate all you do for Ten Eighteen and Touch the Slum!

Mwebele Nnyo!

Jennings

PS Just $35 pays for a month for a teen girl at Touch the Slum! 100% of your donation goes to the program, always. To give today, just click the button!

DONATE NOW!

PSS TODAY IS RONALD’S BIRTHDAY! Hit Reply with some well wishes and I’ll forward them to him!

New Large Project Alert!

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I wanted to send this off-cycle announcement because it’s so exciting!

We have a new large project on DonorSee:

We are going to move our 12 residential girls to a new compound, just for them!

We opened the Ross House first, in October 2020, for teen moms in crisis. Since then we have added 2 more residential dorms, five skills, and have over 100 people in the small compound every day. It’s fun, loud, chaotic, and wonderful… but it makes it difficult for the residents to find any quiet time or splace, especially when they first come to us and are in crisis.

The project is $11,500 and will pay for the house, staff (Mama Santa and a security guard), utilities, food, furniture (living and kitchen), and everything else we’ll need for ONE YEAR.

We already have 10% funded — we’d love you to check out the video! Just click the button below.

Mwebele nnyo!

Jennings

MOVE Project!

Better late than… naked?!

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I don’t know about you, but when I go shopping for clothes, I browse, scrutinize, reject, make piles, sort, try on… it’s exhausting! (And let’s not get started on bathing suit season…!)

Did you ever stop in the middle of TJMaxx and think, “Wow, this is quite a luxury?” Yeah, me neither.

When girls who join our residential program get to the point where they are in crisis and come to us, they have nothing but the clothes on their backs. And those are almost always infested with bed bugs, so into the fire barrel they go.

From Day 1, they have to rely on us for literally everything from a toothbrush to shoes to sanitary pads to clothes for their children. Choice, as a concept, is pretty limited — but that’s true for everyone living in the Namuwongo slum.

Donations have been slower this year, and inflation and wars make people justifiably afraid. Some of our larger projects, like clothing for the babies, have been slow to fund.

But YOU!

As you always do, you came through with much-needed clothes for our babies yesterday (hence the belated newsletter). And let me tell you how they shop:

  1. Call a vendor on the phone.
  2. Tell them we have a dozen babies and toddlers who need clothes.
  3. Wait a few hours.
  4. Receive a (literal) vacuum sealed brick of clothing in a tightly wrapped bundle.
  5. Team up with friends to even lift it off the boda and carry it inside.
  6. Carefully cut open the clothes from the UK and see what surprises wait inside. (You can watch the video on our Instagram page!)

It was like an early Christmas, and the clothing spread out everywhere gave the girls plenty of choice for their little ones. We also have some put aside for later needs.

Not every “win” is an exciting gotcha moment, but for girls who have learned to expect nothing from life, what you provide by supporting their basic needs as well as their education is HOPE. In humanity, in their futures, and for their children.

There is nothing else more valuable.

Mwebele nnyo,

Jennings

PS We’ve got some new projects up on DonorSee, like providing a Thanksgiving dinner for the girls in the residential program, November’s diapers for the 20 teen moms in Skills for Life, and more art supplies for the Literacy program. We’ve raised over $116,000 on the platform thanks to you!!

Here’s a THANK YOU video from all of us!

THANK YOU!

International Women’s Day at Touch the Slum

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Sylvia is a 16-year-old mom of one son who lives at the Ross House. She came to us when she was four months pregnant and homeless. She’s worked very hard to become literate over the past 6 months, and will be learning a vocational skill in Skill for Life starting next term.

“I am smart” is not something she ever thought.

She’d never been to school. She’d never been cherished or complimented or taken care of.

But now, that was the sign she chose. We had others for International Women’s Day: I am Brave. I am Powerful. I am Worthy. I am Strong. The girls got to pick the one they wanted to have in their photo.

Sylvia chose I am Smart to describe herself, and that makes me incredibly proud (and a bit teary-eyed!).

For International Women’s Day (which is today as I’m writing, yesterday when you’re reading), I hope you’ll take a minute to check out our Instagram page (link at the bottom) and see the videos of these amazing young women taking charge of their own lives, determining their own destiny, claiming their own strengths.

Teen girls in Uganda are at the bottom of the social ladder, but slowly by slowly (mpolo mpola) we are changing that culture.

THANK YOU for making it possible!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS We launched the ecobrick water tank project on DonorSee last week and just need $130 to get to 10% so it can be visible to the entire DonorSee audience. We’d love your help – just click below!

Bounced Around…

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In early April 2022 we had a referral of a teen girl who was four months pregnant and homeless. (We’ll call her Angela.) Unfortunately, we had no available beds to bring her into Touch the Slum, but we were able to refer her to another program called Wamukisa.

Angela lived at Wamukisa while she was pregnant, and gave birth at Amani, who offers free childbirth to low-risk teen girls.

Unfortunately, Wamukisa doesn’t keep girls once they’ve given birth, and Amani only keeps them for labor, delivery, and a short recovery period.

That left Angela homeless once again, and she’s spent the last 6 months bouncing around between friends and evictions.

Unfortunately, this is commonplace.

Angela is homeless now and came to the compound today. Fortunately, we have a bed this time and are arranging for an at least temporary stay as we work out if she has any family she can return to.

Girls like Angela face a huge amount of fear and uncertainty. They have not been to school and have little or no family (Uganda has a huge population of orphans and the youngest population in the world, with 65% under 18). This leaves them open to exploitation and abuse, disease, and potential death on the street.

While we don’t know yet if Angela will stay with us, we try to minimize the stress and anxiety of a life of homelessness for our girls. Our residents are with us an average of a year, and don’t move out until they have the skills necessary to earn an income they can live on. They have access to Touch the Slum forever – the clinic, the daycare, even dropping by for lunch.

They have a safe place to call home, and a safe community in which to thrive.

I’ll keep you posted on Angela’s story – you are the reason girls like Angela can have a safe place to come for help, whether during an emergency or for a year.

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS You can help us help girls like Angela by becoming a monthly donor today! Just click the button – it’s quick and easy.

BECOME A MONTHLY DONOR

Welcome Two New Girls to the Dorm

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After the lull over the holidays, things have exploded into laughter, light, sounds, dancing, and music at Touch the Slum — and we couldn’t be happier! While everyone enjoyed their time off and it was much needed, having the girls back in the compound causing controlled chaos every day is magic.

Last week also brought us two new residents in the dorm. I wrote previously about 15-year-old Helen, above, who was sent from the village to work as a housemaid in Kampala. She wasn’t paid, fed, or allowed a phone, so it was several months before neighbors became aware and concerned enough to involve us and the authorities.

It turns out that the auntie sent her to Kampala to keep her from being married off by her guardian, and if she were to return to the village, this is what would happen to her. The auntie has agreed for her to stay with us and learn a skill, which will at least delay any marriage. Hopefully, it will instead allow her to stay in Namuwongo at a job or her own business.

Our second new resident is 16-year-old Evelyn, also an orphan, who came to Kampala and the Namuwongo slum from the North of Uganda at the urging of friends who thought they’d find a better life. (Spoiler alert – they didn’t…)

After not being able to find a job, the friends turned to sex work. Evelyn was being pressured into prostitution but says she didn’t go that far. (We usually find out they did but deny it out of shame — either way, she’s safe now.) One of our teachers, Linda, found her and brought her to the compound. Evelyn’s guardian in the village has agreed for her to stay with us and for Teacher Linda to be her temporary guardian while she is at Touch the Slum.

Both girls have settled in well and joined the Literacy Program. Neither speak much English and both are illiterate, so a couple of months in Literacy before the next term of Skills for Life starts the next term will stand them in good stead once they are in a vocational class.

We can rescue these girls because of you!

You all gave sacrificially at the end of the year which put is in a very strong position for 2023. Since 1018 is donor-funded, we can’t do it without you, and we are so grateful for your support!

Mwebele nnyo!

Jennings

PS One of the best things you can do to help us is to become a monthly donor! This allows us to budget well and plan for the future. You can do that on Donorbox or DonorSee – buttons below.

MONTHLY DONOR SIGNUP

SPONSOR THE RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM