Social Work

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

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And They’re Back (at School)!

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While everyone needed and enjoyed their holiday break, school’s back and we couldn’t be happier! Laughing, dancing, sewing machines whirring, kids playing, huge pots of steaming posho… We love our jobs!

Of course, we exist because of the problems teen girls face.

Yesterday, concerned neighbors notified Ronald and the team of the plight of the 15-year-old girl in the photo above. (We’ll call her Rachel.)

Rachel is a true orphan (meaning both parents are dead) who is under the guardianship of an auntie. The auntie sent her from the village to work as a maid in a house, where she was supposed to be paid 10,000 shillings a MONTH. (That’s $2.69 at the exchange rate while I’m typing this.) However, she has never been paid anything. She was being abused. Many times she was denied food. And last night the woman she works for kicked her out.

For now, she’s safe with us in the dorm. Today we are notifying the LC (Local Community leader) and trying to find her auntie in the village. The LC may get the police involved, but — let’s be honest — it’s doubtful that the police will do anything.

Because teen girls are the lowest in the culture.

We have a second case, identified by one of our teachers, of a 17-year-old girl who is being forced into sex work by her guardian who lost his job. Teacher Linda is working with the authorities for now, but if we need to bring her into the program as an emergency admission, we will.

This is what we do thanks to YOU.

It’s very easy to look at the world and see so much need that we feel paralyzed and numb. There’s no way that we, by ourselves, can fix it, so we try not to look.

But together, we CAN make a difference, each and every day, for girls like Rachel and the others in our program. That starts the slow process of culture change, and small culture changes ripple out to create a better life for teen girls in the slum and beyond.

Thank you for your support and encouragement – you make it all possible!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS Thank you for your donations to the mosquito net project for Wells of Hope after our last newsletter! The project is 54% funded and we just need $220 to get the first 100 mosquito nets to these impoverished children. If you want to contribute even one net ($4!) that would help us so much! Just click below!

YES I’ll buy nets!

And They’re Back (at School)! Read More »

Looking Ahead in 2023

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Over Christmas, we lost two young students at Wells of Hope School to malarial fever. Gideon and Celebration Tabernacle Church, which oversees the school, have launched a campaign to put 400 mosquito nets into the hands of the students this month. We have the first of 4 projects up on DonorSee to help! Since there is no clinic in Rwakobo village – the nearest is 10+ miles away – and since the villagers are shockingly poor, malaria is rarely treated. Nets cost about $4 each, which is more than most villagers make in a week.

We will be expanding our Literacy Program starting with the next term to at least double the number of students in the program. (Thanks Expat Money Community!) We will be hiring a teacher this month who will help our current teacher, Fortunate, as we have more students than usual this term who are struggling.

Thanks to your generosity over the Giving Season, we are bringing our five our full time volunteers on board as paid staff. These great people (one social worker, our finance/accounting guy, our daycare manager, and two teachers) worked all of 2022 free because they believe in our program. We are very excited to be able to pay them what they’re worth in 2023!

My mom is joining me on my next trip to Uganda, March 19 through April 10. She’s a retired hospice social worker and mental health professional plus a great artist and teacher, so we’ll be using all her talents to bring new knowledge to our staff and students. She’s never been to Africa, so we’ll be going on safari at Lake Mburo so she can see all the beautiful native wildlife there.

The farm is 85% funded, and Farmer Derrick has moved into the farmhouse. The water project is underway, and we bought a slightly used boda (motorbike) for deliveries and errands. Next up will be chickens and new planting, plus continuing to harvest our current crops of fruit and veg. This year we’ll get the greenhouse up, a (sturdy!) goat pen built, and increase the volume of what we’re growing. I can’t wait to visit!

And, of course, every day we’ll have classes filled with enthusiastic teen girls learning new skills, our free clinic and daycare running, and Mama Santa’s delicious meals.

We’re so excited – and so grateful that you’ve make this possible. Thank you so much!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS Don’t forget to check out our social media – I post a lot of things there every day that you won’t see anywhere else. Links at the bottom!

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Two Emergency Admissions in 4 Days…

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Brenda, above, is just barely 16. (I know, she looks about 12…) She was admitted in the middle of the night when the local authorities brought her to us with her ONE WEEK OLD baby.

Brenda has been living with her mother, who recently lost her job. On Saturday night, she beat Brenda severely and threw her and the baby out of the house and into the street.

Fortunately, we have a very good relationship with the police and local governmental authorities and they brought her to Touch the Slum. She is now living in the Ross House and receiving food, clothing, medical care by Nurse Sherry, and lots of love and attention from Mama Santa.

I’d love to say this kind of thing is uncommon.

Unfortunately, it isn’t, and the very high inflation and cost of food has caused an increase in domestic violence, child abuse, and teenage pregnancy in the slum.

We are the only program of our kind in Namuwongo, which is home to over 30,000 people. Fortunately, we had room to take in Brenda and another 16-year-old, Leticia, over the last week. And that’s because of YOU.

Your dollars are working 24/7 to keep girls like Brenda safe and to provide them a way out of this cycle of pregnancy and homelessness.

We are so grateful that you choose to partner with us so that we don’t have to turn these girls away. Webele nyo!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS Of course we have projects up on DonorSee for Brenda and for Leticia! When girls like this come to us, they literally have the clothes on their backs and nothing else, so we provide an entry packet with toiletries, sheets and towels, clothes and shoes, diapers, and other items for the baby. We’d love for you to help support one of these girls as they get back on their feet!

Brenda’s Project

Leticia’s Project

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Sometimes It’s So Easy To Make Someone’s Day!

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I used to think it was hard to make a difference in the world. I mean, look around… there is so much going on, so many bad things and depressing news stories and pain.

Then I visited Uganda.

There was one family, a grandmother who was raising 5 grandchildren orphaned because all three of her own children had died from AIDS. One of the younger children was HIV+. They had nothing, and they had no hope.

The social worker from Ray of Hope had taken us around the Namuwongo slum and introduced us to the women in the program. This jaja though… They had no money for food or charcoal, but she was only concerned about not being able to send them to school.

My 13-year-old son, Zeke, turned to me and said, “I’ll do it. I’ll pay for them to go.”

And that was it. That was MAKING A DIFFERENCE. And really, it was so simple. Zeke dug into his little savings (and, of course, my husband and I chipped in), and those kids went to school.

That’s where Ten Eighteen Uganda really started, in that one-room home, with toothbrushes lined up so carefully on one wall’s little shelf, and a jaja who just wanted her grandkids to have a chance.

It really is that simple.

The work isn’t easy… but it’s simple. MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

True, sustainable, actionable change and growth is hard work, but it’s not complicated. It takes small actions and creates great and lasting change.

Simple.

Blessings,

Jennings

PS The photo at the top of this email is from a surprise food and mattress delivery to 16-year-old Shemim, who is in our Literacy program. She and her family became homeless and are living in an open-air church. You can watch the video here — it was pretty amazing!

To help with other DonorSee projects, click the button! We’ve had a huge outpouring of support over the last week and 7 projects funded, but are loading new projects each day. Check it out!

Click Here for Projects!

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The Girl In the Chicken Coop

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On Monday, we were alerted to a teen mom in a very desperate situation. 

Two years ago, Clare left her village (some 15 hours away by bus) and came to Kampala to work as a house maid. As happens more often than not, she became pregnant. She was fired, and the baby’s father disappeared.

Her family would not pay for her to come back to the village because of the baby.

Now, Clare and her 1 year old son live in what is basically a chicken coop. It’s about 4’ off the ground, and has about 4’ of headspace between the “floor” and the ceiling. The total size is 4’x6’, and someone is raising rabbits in the space underneath her.

When she can, she takes in clothes to wash for 1000 or 2000 shillings. (Her rent is 30,000 shillings.) She can go several days with no customers and no money. 

The social workers visited her in the morning and reported back on Clare’s situation. We took a bigger team and bought some emergency food to get them through a week or so. (Prices have literally doubled in the last two months, which is a whole other post!) 

I have seen some bad living situations in my hundreds of visits to the Namuwongo slum, but I have really never seen anything like this place that Clare has been living in. The only good thing you could say about it was that it is just one home off the open space around the railway, so it isn’t as closed in and awful as many places are. But otherwise… it really was horrifying.

We spoke at length to Clare. When we discovered that her family would take her back with the baby (many Ugandan families won’t) but they wouldn’t assist her in getting home because of the baby, we determined that the best solution was the temporary food, a mosquito net, some soap, and transportation back to the village.

In the next several days, our team will purchase the ticket, escort Clare and her son to the depot and get her safely on the bus with her belongings, and contact her family to let them know she will be arriving and when. We will follow up to make sure she arrived safely.

We have a project on DonorSee to reimburse our budget for this expense — we’d love your help to fund it. It’s already 25% funded! As with all our emergency projects, we solve the problem FIRST, and then seek to repay our budget.

We thank you for helping us continue working with teen moms in the slum!

Send Clare to the village!

Blessings,

Jennings

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Big Day In the Namuwongo Slum

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Tuesday was “day 1”, and I had a short office day as I fought sleep deprivation and a 7 hour time difference.

I slept well, and Wednesday was a full and busy day. In the morning, we went down into the Namuwongo slum and visited about a half dozen families/guardians of Skills for Life students to see how they felt their girls were doing. The feedback was amazing!

Without exception, they had seen positive changes in their girls. Better behavior. Less hanging about with questionable friends and getting into trouble. More respect at home.

THIS IS HOW WE CHANGE THE CULTURE.

Traditionally, parents want their kids to go to school and become one of four things: teacher, doctor, lawyer, or nurse.

There is no room in the traditional thinking for musicians or artists, for mechanics or electricians. The way Ugandan schools are set up, to even go to a trade school you have to complete Senior 4.

This leaves most kids behind, especially since the covid lockdowns.

But parents are SEEING now. They see that girls with little or no schooling can still be excellent students in a vocational program.

They see that girls who had no direction or HOPE for the future were headed for disaster, but that those same girls are now focused, working hard, and setting themselves up for future success.

THIS IS VERY ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT THINKING.

But it’s working. And THAT is changing the culture, slowly by slowly. (mpola mpolo)

THANK YOU for your support and encouragement! YOU are changing not only the lives of the girls in our program, but the hearts and minds of the community. That is a huge step forward.

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS Our food restocking project on DonorSee is 84% funded. Prices are going up every day, so we’d really appreciate your support to complete it! Click the link!

FOOD FOOD FOOD!

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