Feed the Children

Uganda Welcomes All Refugees. But…

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Meet Neema, a 14-year-old in our Literacy class. She and her family are refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has been war-torn for some time.

Uganda has a long standing policy of accepting refugees from neighboring countries, which has led to permanent refugee camps and UN offices in Western Uganda. Rwakobo Village, where we just put the well, was founded by Rwandan refugees that the government resettled there — and promptly forgot about.

Neema, her mother, and her 8 siblings live in a mud and stick house in the Namuwongo slum. Her mother has a hard time getting work because she speaks French but very little English, and none of the Ugandan languages but a little Swahili. None of the children have ever been to school.

You can see the problem…

So people are welcomed in, but to unspeakably hard lives. Less hard, perhaps, than their native lands in war, but desperate nonetheless.

Thanks to you all, Neema is learning to read, write, and speak English. This will not just help her, but it will held her mother learn English and be able to get more work. Neema is learning basic math, which will allow her mother to understand Ugandan shillings and know she isn’t being ripped off. When Neema moves to a vocational skill, she will have the ability to help her family buy food and pay rent and all the other things a family of 10 needs every day.

That is life changing for the whole family!

Every day, we can face challenges like Neema’s because we know that you all have our backs. You’re donating, encouraging, giving suggestions, sending people our way… You’re making the difference in entire families, which leads to change in an entire culture.

In short, you’re doing an amazing thing! We can’t thank you enough!

To help Neema’s family with some household items, food, and toiletries, you can donate to her project on DonorSee. Just click the button!

Help Neema’s Family!

Mweble nnyo!

Jennings

PS I am opening up my January trip to Uganda to 3-5 people. If you are someone with a skill or talent that wants to go to Touch the Slum and help teach kids, teach our staff, work with Nurse Sherry, or do social work in the slum, just reply to this newsletter and we can chat further!

Uganda Welcomes All Refugees. But… Read More »

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!

300 kg of Maize! What a Harvest at Mikisa Farm! Read More »

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!

Girls On the Farm 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 »

Happy Last Day of 2022!

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Time’s ticking! Can you hear it?? It’s almost 2023!

We’re so excited for 2023 and all the exciting things coming for Touch the Slum. Here are just a couple:

Literacy 2.0 will be coming in January! We’ll be able to greatly expand the number of girls we can serve, bringing literacy to more families than ever.

The farm will be fully up and running, ready to supplement our growing food budget.

We will begin our third year and 6th term of Skills for Life in February, and hold our fourth graduation! (Those just get better and better!)

There’s still time to make a year-end donation today!

100% of your donations ALWAYS go to the program. Have questions about that? Hit Reply and fire away!

We thank you so much for your support and encouragement this year and can’t wait to share 2023 with you!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS Here’s the link – and please share with friends and family!

HERE’S MY YEAR-END DONATION!

Happy Last Day of 2022! Read More »

Update on the Farm – We Have Beans (and more!)

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Rainy season is over, for which everyone is (temporarily!) thankful. Of course, now it’s hot… TIA! (“This is Africa!” which explains pretty much everything!)

This fall has been exceptionally wet and cold, so Ronald and Fauza weren’t really sure what they’d find at the farm when they got out for a visit.

They were wowed!

Apparently, it wasn’t too cold, because the plants have done amazingly well. What all’s happening?

Beans are ready to harvest – look how beautiful they are!

The matoke (top photo) is coming along great.

The maize is starting to put on cobs.

The new banana saplings have all rooted firmly in the earth.

The cassava is lush and we can get a second harvest from them soon.

With the latrine done, the house finished, and the perimeter fence up, we’ve accomplished SO much in just 3 1/2 short months!

The project is 64% funded, so we’re at a pause except for planting some moringa, tomatoes, onions, eggplant, and other crops. But once we’re at 100% (well, really, as the funding comes in) we’ll be able to take the project to the next level.

What’s still to do?

  • Build the greenhouse
  • Dig the well
  • Buy the grain mill for the maize
  • Construct the coop for chickens and pen for goats
  • Hire a full-time farmer/caretaker

We are so thankful for our volunteer farmer, Pastor Moses, who has overseen everything so far, cleared the land, planted, and tended the crops. He’s also the one who told Ronald about the land, so we are very indebted to him!

With Giving Tuesday and year-end giving coming up, we’d be honored if you’d consider giving to the farm project as part of your end-of-year giving plan. 100% goes to the project, and you’ll have the benefit of seeing the whole thing unfold here and on social media.

We so appreciate your support!

Webele nyo,

Jennings

PS If you want to give now – $25 can help us buy seeds for the next crops! – just click the button!

FABULOUS FARM FUNDS!

PSS DON’T FORGET to get your free ticket to hear my talk on the 11th at the Expat Money Summit, which started on Monday. The Summit started yesterday and there are loads of other great speakers talking about really interesting topics like investing.

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Update on the Farm – We Have Beans (and more!) Read More »

Update on the Farm – Put a Roof On It!

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Ronald picked a great day to go out to the farm yesterday – look at the blue sky! It’s been SO wet this rainy season in the Kampala area, and even worse in the west.

This is Hopeland School on Sunday! Not good…

Anyway, back to the FARM.

As you can see, the roof work is underway and nearing completion. The doors and windows have been ordered and are being made. The cement was poured for the floors on a dry day – which was followed by NOT dry days, but it’s finally hardened. And look at the beans growing out front!

The rains will last a few more weeks. (Then we’ll be complaining about it being dry, I’m sure!) Meanwhile, they’re pressing on with the construction as the weather allows, and it’s looking so good!

The farm project is 63% funded, which is amazing. We do need the other 37% to come in in order to be able to get everything done that we have planned, like the greenhouse, the grain mill, and the bore hole. But we’ve made HUGE progress since July 11 when we launched (only 2 1/2 months!!), and we’re so grateful to you for your support.

If you know anyone who might be interested in donating to this sustainable farm project, please pass the email along. 100% goes to the project, so even a small donation really goes a long way. We’d love for you to also consider it for some of your year end giving budget (because holy cow it’s almost October!).

Thanks for believing in us and for helping us create lasting and sustainable lives for teen moms and teen girls in the slum. We never, ever take that for granted and are so amazed at your continuing support. Webele nyo!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS Here’s the link for the farm. When you go to DonorSee, make sure to Follow us, too, so you can keep up with all we’re doing there. We always have 12-15 projects up at a time — many more than I can update you on in a short newsletter!

TAKE ME TO THE FARM!

Update on the Farm – Put a Roof On It! Read More »

What’s Next for the Farm?

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When Ronald found this land, the most noticeable WOW was that it had a home already started. It’s a multi-room brick structure with a garage — the former owner had planned to move there before all the pandemic lockdowns and inflation. That’s a HUGE bonus, as we’d planned to have to build a house for our caretaker from scratch, and while it’s bigger than anything we would have built, we will be sure to maximize all the space.

With the cost of things right now, we won’t be able to finish out the whole building at one time, but our next project is finishing the garage area into a home, with a roof, windows, doors, and floor. We’ll also make another room into a store room for tools and supplies.

Moses, who has been helping us with everything out there, is getting the quote together, and hopefully we’ll be able to start this work next week! And that’s all thanks to YOU and your amazing generosity in funding this project. We’re at 63% now, and would love your help to get us over the finish line soon! There’s a button below.

Meanwhile, look at the cassava in the photo above! Once Moses cleared the weeds and invasive plants out (and sprayed for bugs!), we realized we had a LOT more stuff already growing than we thought. There is a lot of cassava (yuca in Central and South America), and Ronald and Fauza were able to bring some back to Touch the Slum for Mama Santa to cook up. Cassava is great, because you yank it up, harvest the big tubers, then replant it and let it keep going.

We also have mature matoke and mango trees and have planted bananas. Moses is getting us free beans for planting, as well as some small trees from a friend. We’re looking into moringa – we may be able to get some small trees free from the government!

This project already means so much to our team, and now we’ve brought home the first produce… It’s truly amazing, and we can’t thank you enough!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

DONATE: FARM PROJECT!

PS I did a one-hour interview with DonorSee for an upcoming Spotlight feature. I edited the footage I recorded on my phone, so if you’re interested in how Ten Eighteen was born and what we’re up to, you can check it out here!

What’s Next for the Farm? Read More »

The Farm Project Has Launched!

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Our FARM PROJECT has launched on DonorSee!

There are some values that we hold at Touch the Slum –

  • Sustainable change
  • Personal responsibility
  • Hope + Growth

This goes for our own work in the community, for what we try to instill in our girls through counseling and education, and for how we plan and dream for the future of the Namuwongo project.

The 50%+ food inflation that Uganda has experienced has really stretched our budget while limiting our food options. We have had to limit our carbohydrates to mostly posho with a little bit of rice, and we’ve also had to reduce our fresh produce to the general population so that we can make sure that our breastfeeding teen moms get all the nutrition they need.

This has led us to the farm project. The farm will be able to provide all of the vegetables that we need, and eventually fruits such as mango and avocado. Girls who are interested in learning about farming and agriculture will be able to visit the project a couple of times a month, which will give them a wonderful skill for their future.

This is a really large project for us, but we know we will be able to fund it on DonorSee thanks to you and our wonderful partners there. Below, I’ve itemized the expenses so you can see where every penny will go. 100% of donations will go to the project (minus processing fees), and we’ll be keeping you updated all along the way.

Click the button to see the project on DonorSee — we need to get 10% of the funding before DonorSee will show it in their feed, so we’d love your help today!

TAKE ME TO THE FARM!

BUDGET

2-3 acres of arable land $11,500

Green house $1,460

Cement fencing poles + wires $2,640

Farm tools $500

Water pump system $1,100

Motorcycle $1,775 (for the caretaker, deliveries, etc)

Caretaker home $2,500

Maize milling system $1,775

Fertilizer & pesticides 1 year $350

Caretaker salary 1 year $500 (plus room, board, transport, etc)

TOTAL $24,100

Webele nyo!

Jennings

The Farm Project Has Launched! Read More »

How a Farm Will Let Us Lean Into the Wind

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Every week day, Mama Santa makes lunch for about 75 teens and adults, with another dozen or so children. The lunch above was on the day we went to the market for fresh groceries, so we go the added treat of eggplant, carrots, and avocado. Most days, we just had beans (made with a little onion and tomato) and posho or rice.

Posho is the least expensive carbohydrate available in Uganda — it’s finely ground maize mixed with water and cooked firm, or else mixed with water or milk and a little sugar for a porridge. On its own, it doesn’t taste like much, but it’s filling and good with beans. However, eating nothing but this day in and day out is not a recipe for optimal health!

For an increasing number of our day students, this is the only meal they get each day. There is no food at home.

Even before the daily price increases of the last 6 weeks, we had decided that we needed a self-sufficient solution for the growing food issues. We’ve spent a few months researching and pricing everything from laying hens to concrete posts to acreage, and will be launching our new farm project on DonorSee on Monday.

This is our biggest project to date, and our second “large” project on DonorSee. We have our computer lab thanks to our first, and we are even more excited about the farm.

Not only will we be able to provide vegetables and fruits, protein from eggs and moringa, and grind maize on site, we will be able to take any girls interested in learning about farming and agriculture out to work the land. While many of our teens’ families came from rural villages, our girls haven’t learned the skills that their parents and grandparents knew — and they are excited to learn!

Monday, you’ll get an email with the project link. For now, you can click the button below to get a preview of our project video. We need the project to be 10% funded from our own donors before DonorSee releases it to the wider platform, so we’d love for you to spend some time over the weekend watching the video, looking at our social media, and committing to a donation for Monday. Any amount will help us, and 100% goes to the project!

Farm Project Video Here!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS We were a Great Nonprofits Top Rated Nonprofit for 2021, which brought in a good number of donations through their site. We have til October 31st to get 10 new 4 or 5 star reviews to continue our status for 2022. We’d love for you to pop over there and leave us a review – it doesn’t take long! Click the button!

Yes, I’ll leave a 5* review!

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