After her father passed away, Harriet moved to the Namuwongo slum to live with her mother in a teeny tiny home. Her mother didn’t make enough to meet their basic needs, so Harriet “got a boyfriend” who could help provide some of the necessities of life, such as food and sanitary pads.
After she found out she was pregnant, the boy fled. Our social worker Sarah found Harriet in a squalid, bedbug infested, teeny tiny home with a one-week old baby who wasn’t thriving.
Harriet and the baby moved into the Ross House, and she moved through Literacy, Basic, and Advanced Tailoring. She is now running her own small tailoring business in the family’s home village.
This is her story.
It’s your support and encouragement that keep Touch the Slum open and providing such critical care and services to vulnerable teen girls in the slum. We so appreciate all you do for Ten Eighteen and Touch the Slum!
Mwebele Nnyo!
Jennings
PS Just $35 pays for a month for a teen girl at Touch the Slum! 100% of your donation goes to the program, always. To give today, just click the button!
What do you think of when you hear the word “entrepreneur?”
For most of us, it’s tech startups and Elon Musk and a new coffee food truck in your town. Things that have a pretty hefty start up cost, and are reserved for the rarified few who are brave enough to enter “nothing ventured, nothing gained” territory.
According to the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs, Uganda is the 2nd most entrepreneurial country for women in the world. And I’m sure you’ve gathered from these newsletters that these women aren’t getting multi-million dollar venture capital investments and renting entire floors of office space in Austin and Raleigh.
But the extremely high unemployment (over 60% when you only count “jobs” with the government or businesses) and very low number of available paid jobs (many do multi-year free internships before ever getting paid!) means that women (and girls) are forced by default to become self-employed entrepreneurs.
Today, I sent the funds for two such young ladies in our program.
Harriet is a teen mom who has been with us for a year and a half. Her mother has decided to move back to their village, and she needs Harriet to go with them because Harriet is the only one with any skill to make money. In short, 16 year old Harriet is about to be the sole breadwinner for her family of 6.
Husinah, also 16, was in our first Literacy class, where she learned incredibly fast. She moved on to Basic and then Advanced Tailoring, where she was a shining star. She graduated when my mom and I were there in April and, as always, her smile was 1000 watts. Her single mother has been sick and unable to make any money for some time, and the family has really struggled.
Harriet is getting an exit package with a manual sewing machine, the supplies she needs to start a small tailoring business in the village, and money for transportation. We are also working with her to make sure she always has a working phone — we want to make sure that if she gets sick, she has a way to contact us. (We are all still grieving Kalunji’s death…)
Husinah is getting a semi-industrial electric machine which she will use at our compound. Our former in-house tailor, Vivian, has gotten a job elsewhere, so Husinah will take her place to fill special orders for items such as aprons and bags that come in. She will receive a small salary for that, and also be able to take special orders of her own for income. Additionally, being at the compound every day means regular food and a safety net for her.
Culture change is slow and requires flexibility and out of the box thinking. It’s very easy to look out at the sea of humanity walking around in bright gomesi dresses and American knockoff shirts and feel that it’s just too big of a job.
When I worked with Hospice Jinja at the very beginning, they had a motto:
Do what you can, where you can, for as long as you can.
We don’t have to do everything. We don’t have to solve Uganda’s problems (thank goodness!). We don’t have to shift from our go-deep philosophy. We just have to do what we can, where we are, for as long as we can.
And we CAN do that because of YOU!
Mwebele nnyo,
Jennings
PS Harriet’s project still has $25 left to be fully funded, although we are getting the items today. Her mom wants to leave for the village this weekend, so we went ahead and funded it and trust the remaining balance will come in soon. If you want to help, just click the button!
Do you remember your first day of a new school year? Even if you knew most of your classmates from the year before, it was nerve-wracking! New teachers, new expectations, a different schedule and flow, the feeling of starting from scratch…
Term 2 started on Monday with 75 students — up 10 from last term — and a lot of nervous excitement. Half the girls from Literacy moved up to a vocational skill, which involves a lot fewer games and a whole lot more equipment!
We also expanded our literacy class so that we have 30 girls, divided into two sessions of morning and afternoon. (No more showing up for both – we don’t have the space!) More than half of these girls have never been to any kind of school in their lives.
THEIR LIVES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME!
In other news –
In case you missed it, we have now funded over 250 projects on DonorSee since we began on the platform in September 2021. We are so grateful for those of you who have given there (and through DonorBox!). If you’ve never checked out our page on DonorSee, click here to see what it’s all about.
Unfortunately, as I’m writing this on Tuesday afternoon, Ronald has emailed me to tell me that a would-be thief knocked him off a boda and tried to rob him on his way home today. His phone screen is broken and his laptop won’t start. Other than a bruised knee, he seems to be okay — I’ll know more tomorrow. We may need to do a project to replace or repair his vital equipment. (He’s using the media team’s basic phone at the moment.)
And also on Tuesday, I got confirmation from Gideon that they have found a location for our well in Rwakobo with an 80% chance of water. (They won’t mobilize until they have a 75% chance, so 80% is great!) The surveyor stayed several extra days and scoured the area all around the school, going above and beyond, and we are SO thankful. They are negotiating with the landowner for the right to use his land, and we should be ready to drill very soon!
We can’t thank you enough for your support and encouragement. You really have no idea how many lives you are changing every single day!
Tweyanzizza nnyo, tweyanzeege — we are so grateful, thank you very much!
Blessings,
Jennings
PS Resident teen mom Leticia has just started in Hairdressing and we have project up for her supplies. You can see it by clicking the button!
I can’t believe we leave in just a few days! The time has flown by, but we’ve gotten so much done while we were here.
Last time I wrote about Susan’s art classes, which continue through today. She taught a group of boys (and Fauza) yesterday, and they painted funky chickens. Today I’ll assist on a class for the staff, who were feeling left out!
Our trip west was great. We had LOTS of dancing and singing presentations by the students at both Hopeland and Wells of Hope Schools. We filmed video for some upcoming projects – one of which is introducing “Sister Schools” to US elementary schools to try to connect and reinforce ties with kids the same age.
We didn’t get to walk Rwakobo Village with Gideon as it POURED down rain all morning that Friday, but we did get to do the boat and driving safaris… And saw a leopard! (Rare!) We were 10′ from giraffes as we walked along a trail, and saw everything from a huge croc to young zebra to an eland at the top of a hill.
Now all the focus is on graduation!
This is our biggest one yet, with 33 girls graduating Skills for Life on Saturday. (See the PS for more!) The ceremony starts at 9am and celebrations will go (literally!) until dark… My mom and I will bow out after lunch and let the girls dance and celebrate to their hearts’ content!
We’re so proud of the work they’ve done, the skills they’ve learned, and the effort they’ve exhibited. We are equally proud of the creativity, compassion, and playfulness they’ve shown –– these aren’t found in great abundance in the slum, but will lead to a gradual change in the culture.
Thank you so much for your encouragement here and on social media during our trip and for everyone at Touch the Slum. We’re very grateful!
Mwebele nnyo!
Jennings & Susan
PS The biggest graduation means the most costly one. We had to make more gowns, and while we’ve limited each girl to one guest only, we also have speakers and staff to feed as well as a very big tent to protect us since it’s rainy season. If you can help with our graduation celebration, click below – 100% goes to the project!
Mildred, above, is still our youngest graduate. She was 12 when she started Skills for Life in Tailoring, and 13 when she graduated. Her family was so impressed with her that they all pitched in to buy her a pedal-powered sewing machine – a big investment for a family in the slum. She was also offered a place at a school!
Now she attends school and makes money in her off-time to help support her family.
This is what it’s about — Mildred’s LIFE was changed, her family’s CULTURE was changed, and Mildred has a SUSTAINABLE way to create income for the rest of her life.
The graduation for Term 2 of Skills for Life, including the first Literacy Class, and Advanced Tailoring (which runs on a slightly different schedule since it’s longer) will be happening on October 1.
This is a really big deal!
We made our own caps and gowns, because it’s a really big deal.
We have a big party with cake and guest speakers, because it’s a really big deal.
We have them walk up by name to receive their certificates, because it’s a really big deal.
These are girls that no one has ever celebrated. No one has ever expected them to “amount to anything” except to repeat the cycle their own mothers were cast into.
But we celebrate them, and we know you do, too. Because honestly, it’s just a really really big deal.
Thank you for supporting us in all the ways that make days like this possible. We can’t thank you enough!
Webele nyo,
Jennings
PS We have a project up to help us pull off graduation. We have 35 girls graduating this time around, a record!! If you’d like to contribute — any amount at all helps! — 100% goes to the project. Just click the button!
When I was a teen, school months seemed to drag on and on, and summer flew by. Other than getting to go back-to-school shopping with my grandmother, I didn’t find a whole lot to be excited about! (Especially since my bus came at 6:45 and we ate lunch at 10:30!)
I’m pretty sure I never looked like Justine does in this photo!
It’s hard to overstate the danger that teen girls face in the slum: starvation, rape, trafficking, sex work, pregnancy, lack of access to education. In short, they all feel hopeless and trapped in the cycle that they see all around them every day. Even their mothers will encourage them into sex work to “contribute to the family.”
We opened the Ross House to help address teenage pregnancy and its challenges. Skills for Life addresses hopelessness.
Culture is changed one life at a time. Our focus is holistic — we don’t just teach a skill, or just provide a meal, or just take in a homeless teen mom.
We teach literacy to those who can’t read, write, or do basic math.
We teach English speaking — believe it or not, English is the official language of Uganda. But it’s taught in schools. No school = no English.
We address trauma through counseling and peer groups.
We provide support through mentoring and teacher engagement.
We do home visits to identify family issues early.
We provide food and a safe space for girls to hang out, off of the streets.
And we teach skills for sustainable self-sufficiency.
We don’t do the easy, high-number, flashy stuff. We do the real, long, hard work to create change, for these girls and for their children and families.
In Uganda, women can’t inherit land. We are giving them a legacy that no one can keep them from passing on.
Thank you for your amazing support and encouragement. We couldn’t do it without you!
Webele nyo!
Jennings
PS We always have a lot of great projects up on DonorSee. We now also have sponsorship opportunities, where you can support us monthly. Two are up right now, for the clinic and for the residential program. Click to check them out!
20 girls in Literacy, 10 in both Hairdressing and Tailoring, the 5 finishing up exams in Advanced Tailoring, the new Literacy class, and some of last term’s Literacy girls in the computer lab. Over 65 in all!
After a month off, the teachers were ready, and the girls were at the gate early.
Touch the Slum has become a hub, a home, a hangout for our teen moms and teen girls.
A safe place out of the Namuwongo slum and its challenges and temptations.
A place of HOPE and OPPORTUNITY.
Those are very, very few in Uganda in general these days, much less in the slum.
This week, Ronald posted a reel on Instagram of girls who have graduated from the Literacy class doing orientation in the computer lab. Someone commented that “they need more than ‘computer skills’. What other non-digital skills are they being taught? The internet is a fictional place full of delusion and requires electricity… when the screens turn off indefinitely what else will they have to fall back on?”
For you, and anyone who actually follows us, the answer is pretty clear – we post all the time about all what/how/why of our vocational program. And the fact that these girls, who were ILLITERATE in January, are actually able to learn to use a computer is nothing short of amazing.
But the positive of the comment is that we can say, “YES!” We believe in holistic literacy. We believe in vocational training. We believe in sustainability and self-sufficiency – whether the internet goes down forever or not!
Thanks to YOU, this vision is a reality, not a dream. We can’t thank you enough for your support…
Webele nyo!
Jennings
PS If you want to make sure that the girls aren’t left with “nothing to fall back on” when the internet goes down forever, you can help us with supplies for Skills for Life! Just click!
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!
17-year-old Vivian, above, designed and created this amazing outfit for her final project in Tailoring last year. That was just before the June 2021 lockdown.
After the lockdown happened, Vivian had a very difficult time coping, and, for her and a few other girls, we re-launched the Ndoto Cooperative. This gave them a small salary, a place to come every day, and the freedom to design and create items to sell in local shops.
Now that the lockdowns are over and Term 1 2022 is underway, we are FINALLY ready to launch an Advanced Tailoring class for girls like Vivian who really have a flair for fashion and design. Our new teacher, Martha, is a professional seamstress, and she is very excited to be spending the next 6 months with such talented teens.
We don’t have an exact date that we’ll start yet, but we are aiming for the middle of March. We have purchased the final 2 electric machines and all the materials and supplies that are needed. Martha is designing a completely new curriculum. The girls are having an orientation and conversations with Marth on what they want to learn to do.
We are SO pleased to be able to offer this opportunity to 5 or 6 girls who have waited and hoped for months! I’m sure you’ll be hearing a lot about it in the coming year – and make sure to check out our social media for great photos and updates.
Thank you for your support – these kinds of opportunities are really and truly changing lives.
Blessings,
Jennings
PS If you want to help with our vocational program, we have several projects up on DonorSee to purchase supplies. Just click the button below! Webele nyo!
