Daycare

Looking Ahead in 2023

/ / , , , ,
image

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!

Looking Ahead in 2023 Read More »

NEEDED: FOOD FOR OUR KIDS!

/ / , ,

As often happens when we have a BRILLIANT IDEA™, 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!

NEEDED: FOOD FOR OUR KIDS! Read More »

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY AT THE ROSS HOUSE

/ / , ,

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!

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY AT THE ROSS HOUSE Read More »

HOW YOU KNOW A DAYCARE IS WORKING

/ / ,

Call me crazy, but I think this is one of my favorite photos ever!

Why? Because this is KID LIFE in a nutshell. These kids aren’t out on the filthy lanes of Namuwongo, crawling around in typhoid-ridden puddles.

They aren’t tied to their mamas’ backs while their teen mom tries to learn.

They aren’t crying because they’re hungry.

They’re just being KIDS. And that’s a beautiful thing!

(BONUS QUESTION: Which kid were you??)

Thanks for supporting us with this daycare. It really is a year-long dream come true!

To help us with the day-to-day like staff, food, formula and milk, please click the button! We so appreciate you!

HELP WITH DAYCARE TODAY!

HOW YOU KNOW A DAYCARE IS WORKING Read More »

HOW WE’RE USING YOUR DONATIONS

/ / , ,

As you know, we had a lot of donations in December. It was truly amazing! So we wanted to let you know how we’re using your money so far in 2022.

Right now – today – we have finished our daycare!

This has been a long-held dream for us. We’ve watched our teen moms go to class with babies on their backs or having to chase a toddler around during lessons, and it was (of course!) obvious what we needed. But we didn’t have the space or the budget. Until now!

Thanks to your donations, both directly and on DonorSee, we got the funds to create the daycare. Our soft opening is this weekend, and we will be open for “business” (it’s free!) on Monday. Our wonderful social worker Sarah, who has a baby of her own, is in charge.

The Literacy class had its last day of “soft launch” today, too. Monday is the official launch, and we’ve got 20 girls ready to learn basic reading, writing, English, and math.

Monday, the great photographer Bob Ditty is coming to spend the day doing a photo/video shoot. I had a Zoom meeting with him yesterday and can’t wait to see his images and videos. He usually works in rural areas of Uganda, so he’s very excited to take his work to the slum.

And then Tuesday, we start work on the clinic! Having a nurse and stocked clinic onsite will save us SO MUCH MONEY, not to mention catch the common illnesses like typhoid, malaria, and pneumonia early. The nurse will also conduct regular health and hygiene seminars, and visit our families in their homes. We are really excited to add this to our compound and community.

We have a DonorSee project up to help with the clinic. If you’re interested in helping us, click the button!

Thanks for all your support and encouragement – know that you are making a HUGE difference everyday!

I WANT TO HELP WITH THE CLINIC!

HOW WE’RE USING YOUR DONATIONS Read More »

ALL THE BABIES!

/ / ,

We have a lot of babies these days!

We first met Jenifer in early 2020, when she was very pregnant and homeless. We were able to refer her to a Namuwongo organization called Amani, which helps teen moms give birth safely. However, they don’t offer care once a baby is born, and Jenifer went back to staying with various friends. Each time, they were chased out of their housing by the landlord for not paying rent.

Jenifer came back to the office when Liz was 18 months old. Once again, she was homeless, malnourished, and sick with malaria.

We admitted her to the Ross House, where she has received medical care, sexual trauma counseling, psycho-social counseling, mentoring, and is enrolled in Skills for Life learning Tailoring.

Liz is one of 5 babies/toddlers living in the Ross and Suubi Houses. There are another half dozen belonging to teen girls in Skills for Life. Most days, all these young moms bring their children to class, tied to their backs or sitting in their laps while they work.

While they make it work, it’s obviously distracting — anyone with a curious child knows how hard this must be!

In early 2022, we will be creating a small daycare for these sweet kids. Moms like Jenifer can leave their child while they’re in class or out working, and know that they are safe, happy, fed, and loved.

Want to help? We’ve got a DonorSee project up to fund the daycare – check it out! As of today, we just need $295 to fully fund this project and have it up and running when classes start back in January! Webely nyo!

ALL THE BABIES! Read More »