farm

300 kg of Maize! What a Harvest at Mikisa Farm!

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Most have you have followed us since we started fundraising for what is now Mikisa Farm over a year ago. You saw the shell of a brick house, the weeds, and two acres of land with nothing else. You gave, you cheered when we bought the land in August 2022, you’ve supported our projects since then, and have sent many comments here and on Instagram.

Now you can celebrate a huge milestone: our first maize harvest!

Ronald went to the farm on Friday with 3 others from the Touch the Slum team. They were joined by four of our teachers on Sunday. And this is what they did: pulled dry maize off the stalks, bundled the hundreds of cobs into bags, hauled them to the farmhouse, then helped bag the 300 kilograms (that’s 660 pounds!) of maize kernels as they came out of the thresher.

WOW!

This maize will be milled to posho, and will feed our girls (and cut our grocery budget!) for many weeks. We could not be more excited, grateful, and (speaking for the team) tired!

All of us make up the Ten Eighteen Uganda team — you, me, our Board, our staff, our students, their parents and guardians, and the community in Namuwongo who has come alongside our mission to change the culture for teen girls in the slum.

We did good, y’all!

Mwebele nnyo!

Jennings

PS We still need funds for the second irrigation tank at the farm. We’re 25% there, and just need $960 to get it purchased and installed, with the solar and piping. It’s dry season now — that’s why we could dry the maize on the stalks — so it would really help Derrick to have more irrigation to help him every day. Just click below!

FOR WATER!

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Oh, Hey! (Yes, I Forgot!)

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Let me apologize for forgetting to write this blog yesterday… When you work both from home and 7 days a week, sometimes keeping track of the days is a problem!

But lots is going on as we get ready to start up Term 2 next week. Here’s a recap:

  • The Literacy girls did not have a break, and they’ve been working and playing hard with fun activities, games, and puzzles that Teachers Fortunate and Moreen have given them. Some of the girls are moving on to Skills for Life next term, but over half are staying in Literacy.
  • Literacy will expand from 20 to 30 girls next term, thanks to our friends in the Expat Money community.
  • We’ve expanded and updated the clinic during this time between terms, and we’re ready for the new term. We do have a project up to help with this expense, so just click here if you’d like to help!
  • We’ve had a TIA experience on the clinic re-registration. (“This Is Africa” – said when people who work for the government get… creative with their job roles.) First we had 36 hours to find an autoclave, which we will NEVER need since we use pre-sterilized and packaged supplies and instruments and send difficult cases to the hospital. Second, he now wants to hold up the registration over not having a poster outside the door, which he never mentioned before. Ronald reports that he is (so far) remaining calm!
  • Sylvia is mostly back to her normal self after the loss of baby Alpha 6 weeks ago. Obviously, grief is like a wave, and nights are hardest, but she’s fully back to activities and I get video of her laughing and joining in, which is good to see. Thank you for helping us give them a proper ceremony and burial.
  • The crops at the farm are growing like gangbusters – check out the reel I posted on Instagram last week to see the beans and maize in particular. We are so thankful for our little farm!

The new girls will come next week for orientation in Skills for Life – we’ll have an update on the new “class” next Wednesday! (And yes, I’ll remember! haha!)

Thank you for all your support and encouragement!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS Bridget is joining the Literacy class next week. Her project for supplies is over 60% funded and we just need $50 to close it out. Can you help? See her story and donate by clicking the button!

Help Bridget with suppli

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The Girls Are In Love With Farming

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Growing up, my family farmed citrus. I remember going out to the groves with my dad or grandfather, running around the barn, afraid of the ponds because alligators lived in them. One time I had a face to face encounter with a Florida black panther… Fortunately we stared at each other down the dirt road, me terrified and him deciding if I was a snack, and then we went slowly in separate directions.

Even growing up on the Indian River, out of town, the groves were special. Quiet, peaceful, beautiful, full of life.

Four of our staff girls are learning that about Mikisa Farm. These young women are all from the slum. While full of life, the slum is anything but quiet or beautiful. It’s certainly never peaceful.

We have a dorm room set up at the farm to accommodate groups. Right now, we’re taking staff and volunteers out there because we’re in the final “set up” phase: Hoeing, spreading manure and fertilizer on the bananas and other trees, getting beds ready for seeds.

It’s a labor opportunity, not so much a learning opportunity at the moment!

But everyone LOVES it. They didn’t want to leave! I had a meeting with Ronald yesterday and he said, “It’s so quiet, there’s a breeze and fresh air, and you can see so many stars!”

We started the farm as a way to grow food for Touch the Slum. We knew we’d open up opportunities for any girls in the program who wanted to learn about farming, or who grew up in the village and missed it. But we were thinking in practical, problem solving terms.

We forgot the value of peace and quiet. Of space to think and look at the stars and laugh over a fire on a chilly night. Of pride in a physical job well done. Of the healing that happens under the wide Ugandan sky.

I can’t wait to get there next month…

Thank you all for your generous donations to our farm over the last 7 months! Tomorrow is the last day that the farm project will be up on DonorSee. If you can make a donation today to help us with these final infrastructure costs, we’d so appreciate it. 100% goes to the program!

Oh, and visit our Instagram to see videos of the work at the farm this week and the girls smiling and dancing their way through their work. Link below!

MIKISA FARM LAST CALL!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS If you or your group are in the Raleigh or Beaufort NC or Cocoa FL areas and want to donate sanitary pads for us take over next month, please REPLY to this email and we’ll coordinate with you!

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Girls On the Farm

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Monica helping break up the Ugandan clay soil

Last week was a big one! The team was at the farm Monday afternoon til Sunday without much internet, so I got a LOT of video today (check out Instagram over this week for those!). Monica and Fauza, who head our media team, went with Ronald and some of the lads. Everyone had to work hard to earn their keep. (It must have been fun, though, because they’re going back on Wednesday!)

Now we’re in the final stages. I have the irrigation budget in hand, which will be a big help during the Ugandan dry seasons. The gate and sign will be ordered and installed. And we’re discussing the addition of livestock.

There’s a lot of differences in livestock raising methods between the West and Africa, so we’re working out how to do it that (hopefully!) brings in the best of both worlds. We’ll start with a few dozen hens, using the garage as a coop. It will take a few months until they lay, but that will give us time to make sure we have a healthy setup and happy chickens.

We’ll follow later this year with goats, which we will use mostly for milk for the girls at the compound.

I’ve always wanted a farm — I would like one a little closer to home one day! — and am so excited to get out there NEXT MONTH and dig in the dirt. My gardening gloves are already on my “to pack” pile.

Thank you all for your donations for the farm over the last 7 months! As I mentioned last time, this project will be retired on the 15th, whether or not we reach our full funding goal. If you haven’t shared it, we’d so appreciate your word-of-mouth introduction to friends and family who may want to help as we establish Mikisa Farm for Touch the Slum.

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS I became a Jaja for the second time on Friday, which is wonderful! Congrats to my daughter and Board member Ryan and her husband Eric on their beautiful new boy!

FINAL FARM FUNDING!

PSS As always, 100% of your donations go to the project!

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Let There Be Light!

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I’ve lived in hurricane country all of my life, first in Florida and now in North Carolina, so I’m very familiar with the “WOW, is it dark when the power goes out!” feeling. We also lived in Nicaragua which has… let’s generously say an “unreliable” power grid.

Ronald and three friends are at the farm all week, so Tuesday morning my first question to him was, “It was pretty dark out there, wasn’t it?”

His reply was, “My signal is so poor out here and it’s so dark!”

But Tuesday night… voila! There was light!

Thanks to you and our generous supporters on DonorSee, we’ve now got the solar system installed. This gives us some light at the house as well as power to run the well pump. (There is a hand-pump for rainy days that don’t see a lot of power generated.) We’re also going to put a light at the entrance gate for safety.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to be getting the farm project completed. It’s been about 6 1/2 months since we posted it on DonorSee and we’ve raised 88% of the funds. In just a week, we’ll be a fully functioning little farm… That’s just amazing!

We will be taking down this project on the 15th, whether or not we’re 100% funded.

We’ve got some urgent large projects that need to go up on DonorSee — an ecobrick water tank for Hopeland Primary, a well at Wells of Hope, and a culvert enlargement project at Hopeland to mitigate their flooding problems — and we can only have one large project up at a time.

If you want to contribute to this last work at the farm over the next two weeks, we’d really appreciate your support – just click the button below. Either way, we’ll keep you updated on life at Mikisa Farm, including my visit out there in March. (I can’t wait!)

Blessings,

Jennings

PS Gideon just sent me the results of the result for Hopeland’s P7 class national exams, which are a REALLY big deal. If you don’t pass those, you can’t go on to secondary school even if you have the funding. (Yeah, crazy…) THEY ALL PASSED! This is SUCH amazing news. Thank you for your support of Hopeland and Wells of Hope. You’re making a difference every day!

FINAL FARM FUNDING!

Let There Be Light! Read More »

Fun at Mikisa Farm!

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While holes in the ground usually aren’t too exciting, this one really is! (No, really!)

Ronald is standing at our HAND DUG — yes, someone goes down in that hole and physically digs — well. They hit a rock layer which delayed them somewhat, but we are just about finished with the digging. It looks like we will soon have access to abundant, clear water year round!

Check out the banana trees behind Ronald, too. Those were just planted as 2′ high starts back in the fall! I’m telling you, you can literally throw a stick in the dirt and grow stuff in Uganda.

There’s a LOT going on right now, and Ronald will be spending all next week living in the farmhouse with Derrick, getting it coordinated. (God bless his gift of administration!) Here’s where we are:

  • Now that Derrick is moving in, we’ll get the glass in the windows and the water tank installed. Those are things easily stolen if no one is on the property.
  • The house and yard will be cleared and cleaned of construction debris.
  • Household furniture and goods are being purchased this week so the house will be set up for full time living.
  • The goat pen and chicken coop will be started and we’ll be sourcing the animals.
  • The gate and “Mikisa Farm” sign will be ordered and installed.
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  • We’ll make sure that Derrick has all the tools and supplies he needs.
  • The solar system, well pump, and irrigation system will go in.

Then we grow! (More…)

It’s thanks to you and your generous giving that has allowed us to get this far on the farm. We made the decision to go ahead and finish all our projects using money from Year End giving even though the project on DonorSee is at 85%.

We believe we will get the rest of the funding to backfill the budget, but we KNOW that we need that farm to be producing at capacity for our girls and their food as soon as possible. If you can make a donation today to help, that would be amazing — but if not, we are so grateful for all your support since 2009!

Mwebele nnyo!

Jennings

PS Our Board Member (and my daughter) Ryan is expecting baby #2 soon! We’d appreciate your thoughts and prayers. This Jaja can’t wait!

FOR THE FARM!

Fun at Mikisa Farm! Read More »

Look How We Grew in 2022!

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Dear {{contact.first_name}},

Y’all are the best!

After a whirlwind giving season, which I actually started in August with a Masterclass through Donorbox, I just sat down and got the books caught up. (Just as an aside, I really hate bookkeeping! Anybody else?!)

Here’s what I discovered – and it was even better than I guessed:

Y’all donated $83,332 in 2021 and $125,367 in 2022….. Um HOLY COW.

You:

  • purchased a farm
  • provided desks, windows, and blackboards at Wells of Hope
  • started a Literacy program, computer lab, Advanced Tailoring program, daycare, and clinic
  • helped treat countless illnesses
  • bought water bottles
  • funded graduations
  • gave a home to homeless teens with our dorm
  • provided for funerals and burials
  • created a safe place for rape victims
  • provided opportunities for 150 teens in Skills for Life
  • and allowed us to serve over 25,000 meals!

That’s not even all of it, because your generosity pays for the $1.50 a month trash service, water bills, septic pump outs, salaries, certification renewals, community outreach programs, continuing education, and more. It’s all day, every day, 365 days of the year.

Tweyanzizza nnyo, tweyanzeege — we are so grateful, thank you very much!

We’re so excited to see what 2023 brings and so thankful that you’re on this journey with us.

Webele nyo,

Jennings

PS Becoming a monthly donor really helps us with budgeting and it’s very easy! Just click the button!

I want to be a monthly donor!

Look How We Grew in 2022! 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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Quick Update at Year End

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First, we JUST crossed $75,000 in total donations raised on DonorSee – in just 16 months! As a small nonprofit, that’s HUGE!!! (And that’s all YOU!)

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Second, we’re really close to fully funding the farm! And so much is going on out there right now – check out our Instagram page for more.

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And finally, we’re pretty close to our goal for year end fundraising at DonorSee – which was a stretch goal to begin with. We’ve had 6 projects funded in the last 24 hours! If you want to help today or tomorrow, you can go to this page and either make an unspecified donation or see all our project.

We SO appreciate all your support, encouragement, emails, and (of course) donations over this last year — you’re the best!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS What are you doing to celebrate the new year?

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And I’m off to Panama!

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I love to travel. I’ve been to over 60 countries and lived in several. Pre-pandemic days, I was averaging 4-5 international trips a year. (And I miss it!) While all the fun has been sucked out of air travel over the last decade, traveling itself never gets old.

Tomorrow morning, I head back to Panama!

Some of you know that our Board member, Mikkel Thorup, lives in Panama City where he runs his businesses for the worldwide expat community. My husband and I were down there in March for Mikkel’s birthday party and really had a good time. (We like the country and beach more than the city – and Panama City has a whole lot of very tall, very skinny buildings that make me nervous!)

For the Expat Money Christmas party, Mikkel is hosting a silent auction to fundraise for Ten Eighteen. I’ll say a few words and answer questions. Last year, the Expat Money community raised over $8000 to launch our Literacy program!

This year, our goal is $16,000 to launch Literacy 2.0 to triple our reach.

Expanding Literacy to more girls will help them throughout their lives, and more immediately in Skills for Life. Reading, writing, and speaking English will allow them to get jobs or have small businesses that cater to people from other tribes who live in Namuwongo – there are 60 tribes in Uganda and all have representatives living in the slum. English is the common tongue. It will also give them knowledge and skills they can pass on to their own children, giving those kids a head start.

I’ll be gone from tomorrow until the 14th – you can find daily updates on social media (links below) to see who I meet and what I’m doing.

I’m really grateful to Mikkel and the Expat Money community for their ongoing commitment to Literacy for girls who’ve never had the chance to go to school!

More soon!

Jennings

PS Our farm project is now 83% funded! We’ve raised $21,540, with just $4,360 to go. Starting the 15th, we’ll be getting the compound ready for a full-time farmer by installing a small solar system for lights, digging a borehole for water, and getting basic furnishings. You can help us get the farm funded THIS YEAR by donating now! Click the button – every dollar counts!

FUND THE FARM!

And I’m off to Panama! Read More »