Literacy

It’s Giving Tuesday! (woohoo!)

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Jackie is a 16-year-old teen mom in our Literacy class. Sometimes she leaves her daughter in our free daycare, and sometimes she takes her to class. She’s not the only one – every class averages one baby or toddler every day!

But Jackie has never been to school, didn’t know how to read or speak English, and never dreamed she would have the chance to learn. Whatever she has to do to be in class she does.

We have 75 students at Touch the Slum. We are the only organization in Namuwongo that focuses on teen girls, offers free literacy and vocational training, has a residential program, and does community outreach.

How do we do all that?

YOU!

This year alone we have:

  • had over 140 completely projects funded on DonorSee,
  • seen our farm 3/4 funded,
  • increased the number of monthly donors by 50%,
  • received hundreds of pounds of donated clothing, diapers, and sanitary pads,
  • and had the privilege of speaking to several hundred people in person about out our work.

Most of this has happened because you gave, you told people about our work, you invited me to speak, or you thought of the girls while cleaning out closets or shopping.

This year, we have a generous donor who has offered to match all gifts up to $5,000!! That means every dollar you give is doubled!

Can we count on you for a year-end gift?

As always, 100% of your donation goes to the program. You can make sure we’re ready when the next teen mom like Jackie comes to us for help! Just click below, or mail a check to Ten Eighteen, 3500 Rock Creek Drive, Raleigh, NC 27609.

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

Jennings

YES, I want to donate now!

PS I’ll be doing an Instagram Live today with Ronald at 12:30pm EST – pop over and say hi!

What’s Going on with Literacy These Days?

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Y’all, this photo made me laugh when I saw it on the bigger screen. Jennifer, in the middle, is that one kid… The one making a goofy face or holding up 2 finger-antennae behind someone’s head or just overall looking fed up with the process. Raise your hand if you’ve ever sent or received a Christmas card with “that one kid” in it! (I really need emojis right now!)

ANYWAY, these are some of the girls from the current Literacy class. Now, you may be wondering what coloring has to do with Literacy, aside from writing their names on the paper.

Let’s call it “anti-traditional” education, and I’ll illustrate it with a story.

In 2014 we did a week-long basketball camp for 40 kids in the slum. We had some great ideas, one of which was to get a long roll of white paper, tack it to the wall in a continuous piece, and let each child write or draw whatever they wanted in a space of their own. We had markers and crayons and finger paints and were really excited to see how it came out.

How it came out was 40 individual spaces that all looked almost identical to each other… Each one had an airplane, a teacup, a house, and a tree. Each airplane was drawn in an identical style. Same with the other subjects. IDENTICAL. The only differences were colors or medium or finesse due to age.

Frankly, it was really depressing. These kids didn’t all go to the same school. They weren’t related. They shouldn’t be drawing the same four things. Yet there it was.

That sums up Ugandan education: rote learning, with no creativity or individuality allowed.

But not at Touch the Slum!

We believe in creativity. We believe in problem-solving. We believe that each girl is an individual and should be able to express herself. Our girls actually have an advantage over girls who have been to traditional schools, because they were never indoctrinated into the cookie-cutter sameness that their peers were.

Launching the Literacy program this year has been one of the highlights of our work in Namuwongo. The joy it brings to these girls when they find out they can learn, they aren’t stupid, they do have value… It’s truly amazing.

Blessings,

Jennings

PS We have a project up for supplies for the Literacy class. We’d love your support to keep them going full steam ahead for the duration! Click below!

SUPPLIES!

PSS You can still get your free ticket to see me speak tomorrow at the Expat Money Summit!

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Past the Halfway Mark in T3 Skills for Life!

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16-year-old Husinah is having a stellar year! She was in our first-ever Literacy Class, and just graduated a couple of weeks ago from Basic Tailoring. (If you didn’t see the video from that EPIC graduation, go check it out on Instagram!)

But she didn’t stop there — now she’s in Advanced Tailoring, and look what this gal is doing: TAKING NOTES.

She’s TAKING NOTES, y’all… She was totally illiterate at the start of 2022!

I don’t know about you, but I find that absolutely astonishing. And how did this happen?

YOU!

Some of you donated to the Expat Money Community’s fundraiser at the end of 2021 which paid for the Literacy Program to launch and run through this year. Some of you donated on DonorSee for supplies for Skills for Life. Some of you are monthly donors who help us keep the lights on and the electric sewing machines running all day.

When I first saw this picture, I looked at the usual things – Husinah’s pretty dress, her concentration, the machine. And all of the sudden it hit me what a monumental win this is, because it seems so normal.

This isn’t normal for the majority of girls in the Namuwongo slum. Our goal is to change the culture one girl at a time until it is. Thank you for joining hands with us to make it happen!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS We have a project up for supplies for this term’s Literacy class – they go through a lot of notebooks, crayons, pencils, pens, art supplies, and paper! If you can help, just click!

LITERACY CLASS SUPPLIES!

Another Graduation Is Happening Soon!

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Graduation photo time! Don’t they look great?!

Our Advanced Tailoring class made these caps and gowns, which are not only amazing, they save us the cost of renting them each graduation. And more importantly, they’re special. They’re uniquely ours, just like our philosophy that no girl should be excluded just because she’s never had the opportunity to go to school.

They’ve never done graduation photos.

They’ve never been celebrated or had anything to celebrate.

They’ve never done something that they and their families were proud of.

Until now!

Now, no matter if they’ve gone to school, no matter if they are teen moms, no matter if they’ve done things they wish they hadn’t in order to survive, they can be proud. They can party. They can dance and sing and ululate and laugh til they cry.

Because they did this. It’s all theirs. No one can take the accomplishment or knowledge from them.

That’s why we make it a really big deal! And YOU have helped us get these 35 girls here, you’ve helped us put on the past graduations, and you’ve supported the girls’ journeys from start to finish.

It’s really a team effort, and you’re the starting lineup — we can’t thank you enough!

Tweyanzizza nnyo, tweyanzeege! (We are so grateful, thank you very much!)

Blessings,

Jennings

PS To help put on the graduation shindig, just click the button. 100% goes to the graduation!

GRADUATION TIME!

What Day Is It?!

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While we have a fair amount of holidays here in the US, they have a LOT of them in Uganda. All the Ugandan ones, and then they celebrate (take a day off) for a lot of the International ones, like International Day of the Child and Women’s Day.

But the girls at Touch the Slum don’t want a holiday — they want to learn! During our term break last month, most of the girls in the Literacy class showed up anyway. Teacher Martha kept them busy with fun things like Bananagrams (above), art, creating clay pots, movies in English, and more. And yes, we fed them lunch!

Let’s be honest… Most of us in the West never once considered showing up at school on a holiday! We were much more likely to play hooky, right?

When something is scarce, we value it.

For the teen moms and teen girls in Touch the Slum’s programs, they spent their childhoods watching brothers and neighbors go to school. Whenever their family had a bit of extra money that could fund school fees, it went to any male relative first – and to the girls almost never.

They understand the value and the opportunity that Touch the Slum and Skills for Life gives them.

They understand that we are working for a culture shift, not just a quick-fix solution to the many problems that teen girls face in the slum.

And they are beyond grateful for the opportunity to shine! (And shine they do!)

We couldn’t do it without you! Your support – financial and by words of encouragement – are the HOW of how we do it. We can’t thank you enough!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS We’ve now funded 163 projects on DonorSee and are coming up to our 1-year anniversary on the platform. Amazing! Every month we supply 250 girls with free sanitary pads, which they otherwise can’t afford. Our current project needs about $300 to be funded – we’d love your help!

September Sanitary Pad Project!

Term 3 of Skills for Life Starts Monday!

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This week is the end of our first-ever term break. Normally, we end one term on Friday and start orientation the next Monday!

There were a lot of reasons for the break this time, but rising food costs are the number one. It seems like every month we look at the food budget and try to figure out what we can cut or reduce or substitute while still offering a daily meal to all the students — often the only one they get in a day.

Today it was, “Can we cut back on rice and do more posho? How about cutting g nuts and doing more cowpeas?” We try to make sure that the girls are getting a complete protein, and there are foods like silverfish that we need to have for our nursing residential teen moms. Of course, we’d like to offer more variety and fresh fruits and vegetables than we can until the farm starts producing.

Skills for Life is FREE to our students, and that’s not going to change. We provide the instruction, the materials and supplies, and other support that’s needed. Completely free.

But none of it is free to us!

If you’ve been thinking about making a donation and haven’t yet, now is the time! We’ve got some great projects on DonorSee for supplies, medical care, and more. You can also make a donation on Donorbox in any amount, or sign up to be a monthly donor. We use 100% of your donations (minus processing fees unless you donate those as well) on the project, always!

The buttons are below — we so appreciate your support!

Webele nyo,

Jennings

DonorSee Projects Here!

Donorbox Donations – any amount!

It’s “Summertime” But They’re Still Coming To Class!

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Uganda doesn’t have “summer.” I have spent a lot of time over the years trying to explain seasons, daylight savings time, and why our daylight is short in winter and long in summer.

When you’re on the equator, it’s a hard concept to grasp!

Their schools also don’t have a summer break. Typically, a school year starts in January and ends in December, with two breaks. As a vocational school, our schedule is a little different: we have about 5 month terms, with the last few weeks being exams. Other than Christmas, we’ve never actually taken a “term break” until now.

WHY are we taking a term break?

  • Well, first, the staff is TIRED! We’ve instituted a ton of new programs this year, including the literacy class, the computer lab, the daycare, the clinic, and Advanced Tailoring.
  • We went from 20 students per term to 60+. That meant Mama Santa is cooking a whole lot more food each day.
  • We went from 8 residential girls to 12, with the addition of our dormitory.
  • We went from 4 teachers to 9.
  • And finally, and importantly, food-inflation has more than doubled what it costs to feed all these people every day.

Everyone and our budget needed a break!

But we also recognize that we have girls who are particularly vulnerable to voluntary or involuntary sex work, starvation, and abuse. The girls in our Literacy program, both from the first term who are awaiting the start of Term 3 to learn a skill, and from this current term, have no way to make an income yet. For very many of them, the meals they get at the compound are the only meals they get. They are at risk of bad peer groups who influence them on drugs and alcohol use.

We just funded a food project on DonorSee to provide the extra food to keep these girls fed over this one-month break. But they don’t just come for the meals – they come to dance, to practice their English, to watch a movie, and to hang out in a safe place.

Our staff is taking rotating days off during this time so that we can accommodate the girls coming in, and the teachers are even coming up with some games and activities for them. We’re all committed to creating change in this community, and it doesn’t stop because school does!

Thank you for your tremendous support. We couldn’t do it without you! Follow us on social media (links below) to keep up with what’s happening at the compound during this break.

Blessings!

Jennings

PS. WE DID IT! We crossed $50,000 in all-time donations on DonorSee yesterday. That means we went from $30,000 to $50,000 in 27 days! WOW!

Patricia is in the Literacy Class and will start S4L Tailoring on August 15th. Her supplies project is over 60% funded – we’d love your help to get her set up for success! Just click!

Help Patricia with supplies!

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!

Mother’s Day Is a Day To Celebrate

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I’m a mom, although all my kids are adults now. It was great when they were at home! It was also ALL THE THINGS: loud, too quiet (what are they up to now?!), hilarious, emotional, frustrating, wonderful, joyous, instructional, mystifying, magical… Being a parent will certainly expand your emotional repertoire!

This weekend, we celebrate the courage, love, dedication, and hard work of all our girls who had babies too soon.

Who are just kids themselves, but who are dedicated to providing a better life for their children.

Who go to class with a baby strapped to their back, persevere through bouts of crying, stay up all night with a sick baby but get to class the next day anyway.

Being a mom is, well, all the things. We hope that, for our teen moms, it’s mostly joy.

Thank you for your support of the Ross and Suubi Houses, as well as Skills for Life. You are changing lives every day.

Webele nyo,

Jennings

Help Gloria move!

PS Gloria is a 17 year old teen mom who has lived at the Ross and Suubi Houses for over a year. She is saving money to be able to move out on her own soon. We’re so proud of her! You can help us give her a leaving package to help with her independent life.