Teen Mom

Some New Features For Our Great Donors

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ackline is one of the teen moms living in the Suubi House with her daughter Jasmine. She’s just completed Skills for Life and will begin working and saving money towards moving out to independent living.

This is our goal: sustainable self-sufficiency.

But like most worthwhile things, it’s a process. Jackline came to us homeless and destitute. They were both sick. She had nothing and no one.

Over the past nearly-year, she has worked hard in her classes. She’s participated in counseling, mentoring, and peer groups. She’s learned to identify things that are worth working and fighting for, and also the things (and people!) to stay far away from.

During the course of that time, we’ve provided for all her needs. She and Jasmine have been housed, fed, clothed, their illnesses treated, school supplies provided. Our only expectation has been her commitment to her future.

Obviously, free to her isn’t free to us, and you have been amazingly generous and consistent in your support of Touch the Slum over the last 2 years.

Now DonorSee has 2 new features that have opened up to us to make it even easier for you to support us:

Sponsorship — we currently have 2 projects up that need monthly sponsors: the clinic and the residential program.

The clinic is 40% funded, so we need $300 per month more so that the basic costs of running the clinic are covered. You can click here to become a sponsor.

The residential program doesn’t have any sponsors yet, so you can be the first! We house up to 8 teen mothers and their children in the Ross and Suubi Houses plus 4 in the dorm, and provide them with all their needs during their stay. (We currently have 5 teen moms and one teen who will give birth in the coming month, and 5 previously homeless Skills for Life students in the dorm.) It costs us $1,000 per month to care for these children, and we’d love to have your support — in ANY amount! Click here to become a sponsor.

Monthly Donor — Many of you are monthly donors through DonorBox, and we still use DonorBox for unspecified monthly donations and for other campaigns. But now, you can also be a monthly donor on DonorSee! When you click to donate, you will be given the option of “monthly” or one time. If you choose monthly, your donation will go to the largest project we have on the platform at the time of your donation. (Currently, that is the farm!)

Becoming a monthly donor, through either DonorSee or DonorBox, really helps us have visibility for our budget. We love seeing projects funded and one-time donations come in (so please don’t stop!), but we also love knowing that we have a defined amount that will come in each and every month.

Whichever you choose, we are so humbled and grateful that you choose to give to Ten Eighteen and our Touch the Slum project. We can’t thank you enough!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS I’ve got several speaking engagements coming up in September and October. If you’d like to have me share about Uganda and our work at Touch the Slum at your group, just hit Reply and let me know!

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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!

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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!

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

When the Ship Hits the Span

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When I was in grad school in Pensacola many moons ago, a big ship ran into the bridge going over to the beach and broke it. It caused huge issues, since many people commuted to work. Ferries had to be set up, etc. But the “best part” was that, within 24 hours, some bright lad or lass was selling tee shirts that said, “I was there when the ship hit the span.” Brilliant – I’m sure they made a killing!

That phrase has stuck in my head in the nearly 40 years since, as the “nice way” to say, well, the other phrase about bad events.

The last 10 days have been one slow-moving ship aiming at the span.

  • the 16 year old girl raped and impregnated by her father
  • one of our Literacy program students becoming homeless and living in a church with her family
  • another Lit student whose aunt is trying to prostitute her to bring in money for food
  • Now, our landlord didn’t pay his property tax bill in conjunction with a broke KCCA desperate for money which has suddenly “reassessed the value.” The gate to our compound has been sealed and the water turned off until we pay a month’s rent 2 months in advance so he can pay off the debt

My staff is exhausted, Ronald is frustrated, and I am ready to head to the beach and stay there! And then there’s the state of the economy in general, both here and there… Which is better not thought about, to be honest.

In our 13 1/2 years working in Namuwongo, this isn’t the first crappy week. We’ve had people’s homes bulldozed in the middle of the night. Two years of incredibly harsh (and even more incredibly harshly enforced) lockdowns. Primary school girls sold off as brides. Fathers shot and killed for poaching to feed their family.

It’s HARD.

And yet, it’s these hard things, these TIA things (This Is Africa), these frustrations and set backs, that make all the GOOD things so sweet. All the laughter more joyous. All the accomplishments more amazing.

I’m incredibly proud of our team, our work, and how far we’ve come. I’m incredibly grateful for all of you who have come alongside to help us — in the hard things and the great things. We really can’t thank you enough!

Webele nyo,

Jennings

PS We have a lot of “hard things” projects up right now on DonorSee, and we’re close to our June goal of crossing $30,000 raised on the platform. Even $10 goes a long way — please click below to see the projects! 100% goes to the program.

Click Here for Projects!

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We’re Almost At a Big Milestone

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Back in August, we got invited to chat with DonorSee to see about becoming one of their partner organizations. I’d never heard of them before, but Mikkel (our newest board member) had done a podcast with DonorSee’s founder Grett, which led to the connection.

Long story short, we did our trial private project, got that funded, and launched site-wide in September. It was a pretty steep learning curve, but we were determined to figure it all out — and here we are!

TO DATE, we have:

  • Had 117 projects funded
  • Raised almost $29,000 (at the time of this writing)
  • Gotten 5* reviews from all 14 reviewers
  • Engaged 72 dedicated followers
  • Gotten donations from over 400 different donors

Now, we are right at the edge of milestone:

$30,000!

We only need another $310 to fund the desks and chairs for one classroom at Wells of Hope Primary School.

Fauza’s medical project is 15% funded.

And we’ll have our second LARGE project up in a week — a small FARM to provide a sustainable source of food plus giving skills to our girls.

Can you help us cross $30,000 in June??

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS To see all our projects on DonorSee, click the button! And give us a Follow there, so you stay up to date. (A review would be amazing, too!)

Click Here for Projects!

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Wow, You Really Came Through!

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YOU GUYS ROCK!

Seriously, maybe I need to go away more often because just in the time I was on my trip, we raised nearly $4000 on DonorSee!

FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS! Wow. I’m blown away!

What did you accomplish?

  • blackboards for the new Wells of Hope Primary building
  • a substantial start on part 1 of desks and chairs for the building
  • orphan Miriam’s medical care after she was hit by a boda
  • almost 60% of the transportation for Kellen to her father’s burial
  • medical care for teen mom Mabel’s two sick children
  • a metal crutch for Emmanuel, who was born with one leg
  • help for Clare, the teen mom living in the chicken coop
  • an exit package for teen mom Gloria, to set her up for independence
  • restocking food for our teen girls
  • mosquito nets for 25 students in Skills for Life
  • an emergency intake for 15-year-old pregnant teen Sylvia
  • a 4-bed dormitory for homeless students in Skills for Life
  • medical treatment for Jen’s UTI

Y’all, I was only gone 2 1/2 weeks! THIS.IS.AMAZING!!

Your support while I was gone, beyond this amazing giving, was so appreciated. I got emails and messages on social media, and it was so encouraging. Because it’s hard over there…

Great. But hard. Thanks to all of you, the trip was a success in every way. I really can’t thank you enough!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

PS Becoming a monthly supporter is a GREAT way to help our work! As little as $10 a month makes an impact — $10 can provide food for a teen mom and her child for a week! Just click the button to get started —>

BECOME A MONTHLY DONOR

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And So It Ends… Leaving On a Jet Plane

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I leave tonight (Wednesday) at 11:30pm. I’ll check out of the hotel at 10:30 in the morning, grab some of my son’s favorate Kamulali hot sauce, spend several hours at the office, and then go on to Entebbe and the airport. There’s a good lounge in EBB, and honestly, what else is there to do when you’re just sitting around anxious to be on your way?!

The trip has been GREAT. Really great.

After 2+ years away thanks to the pandemic response, I am thrilled to see in person all that we — and YOU — have built.

The Touch the Slum compound is thriving, with 12 residents, 60 students, a clinic, a daycare, 20 staff, and so much enthusiasm.

The Literacy class went even better than we expected, and those girls are ready to sit in on vocational classes and get a feel for what they’ll be doing next term.

Our photography and videography team — which started as a vocational class, too — has been producing the really great work we use in social media and on DonorSee. Their short film was part of the Ugandan Film Festival. They’re also getting outside gigs, and are now “influencers” on TikTok and getting paid just to mention businesses!

We’re reaching even more teens with Teen Talk and Turning Point each week.

And out west, schools are back in session FINALLY, and the students are doing well. The school building at Wells of Hope Primary in Rwakobo Village is almost usable. We’re going to put an ecobrick water tank at Hopeland Primary to help them have enough — and free — water.

Spending time with all the wonderful people we’ve been able to gather to Ten Eighteen Uganda, Touch the Slum, and the two schools has been inspiring and motivating. I’m headed back with renewed energy (okay, maybe renewed AFTER I get over jet lag!).

I’ve been really grateful that we’ve video chats and messaging over the last two years. But there is nothing like sharing meals, walking the slum or village, laughing, chatting, and watching in person. The former will let me come once a year and still be 100% “in the know.” The latter lets me truly KNOW. I’m grateful!

Blessings,

Jennings

PS. We have 2 projects up on DonorSee to allow the Wells of Hope building to open – one is for floors and blackboards, the other for desks and chairs (part 1). (That one is almost 20% funded already.) We’d so appreciate your support to move the kids from the overcrowded mud-and-stick classes to the spacious new ones as soon as possible!

And So It Ends… Leaving On a Jet Plane Read More »

The Girl In the Chicken Coop

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On Monday, we were alerted to a teen mom in a very desperate situation. 

Two years ago, Clare left her village (some 15 hours away by bus) and came to Kampala to work as a house maid. As happens more often than not, she became pregnant. She was fired, and the baby’s father disappeared.

Her family would not pay for her to come back to the village because of the baby.

Now, Clare and her 1 year old son live in what is basically a chicken coop. It’s about 4’ off the ground, and has about 4’ of headspace between the “floor” and the ceiling. The total size is 4’x6’, and someone is raising rabbits in the space underneath her.

When she can, she takes in clothes to wash for 1000 or 2000 shillings. (Her rent is 30,000 shillings.) She can go several days with no customers and no money. 

The social workers visited her in the morning and reported back on Clare’s situation. We took a bigger team and bought some emergency food to get them through a week or so. (Prices have literally doubled in the last two months, which is a whole other post!) 

I have seen some bad living situations in my hundreds of visits to the Namuwongo slum, but I have really never seen anything like this place that Clare has been living in. The only good thing you could say about it was that it is just one home off the open space around the railway, so it isn’t as closed in and awful as many places are. But otherwise… it really was horrifying.

We spoke at length to Clare. When we discovered that her family would take her back with the baby (many Ugandan families won’t) but they wouldn’t assist her in getting home because of the baby, we determined that the best solution was the temporary food, a mosquito net, some soap, and transportation back to the village.

In the next several days, our team will purchase the ticket, escort Clare and her son to the depot and get her safely on the bus with her belongings, and contact her family to let them know she will be arriving and when. We will follow up to make sure she arrived safely.

We have a project on DonorSee to reimburse our budget for this expense — we’d love your help to fund it. It’s already 25% funded! As with all our emergency projects, we solve the problem FIRST, and then seek to repay our budget.

We thank you for helping us continue working with teen moms in the slum!

Send Clare to the village!

Blessings,

Jennings

The Girl In the Chicken Coop Read More »

15-Year-Old Sylvia – Emergency Intake

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Sylvia is 15-years-old and 5 months pregnant. She’s been in our Literacy class since January, so she is aware of our work with teen moms.

Recently, Sylvia and her roommates, who were living together in a one-room home, were evicted for not paying rent. She was temporarily rescued by a lady LC (local community leader) who brought her into her own home, but that only lasted for two days. The LC’s husband kicked Sylvia out, and she was homeless.

After a couple of days of not having food, she came to the office to explain her situation. While we didn’t have any beds available in the Ross or Suubi Houses, we do have an empty room that we’d planned to convert to a dorm later this year.

We were able to get a mattress, bedding, a mosquito net, and some toiletries delivered before the shops closed for the night, and Sylvia was temporarily placed in the daycare room during the nights.

Now she is safe, fed, Nurse Sherry is keeping up with her progress, and she will stay with us until she delivers and then after.

All this came out of our regular operating budget, so we have a project up on DonorSee to recoup the costs. (FYI: We always give the girls the option to NOT have their faces shown, and Sylvia made that choice so her face is blurred.)

Sylvia’s Emergency Intake

We are also going ahead and preparing the room for four girls, since we have two more teen students (not pregnant!) who are in imminent danger of homelessness. We’ll do a little shuffling around of our current residents so all the new moms are together and Sylvia can begin to learn all the things she’ll need to know in a few more months.

You can help with that project with this button:

Dorm project

I’ll be in Uganda this time next week! More on that next time. Thank you SO MUCH for your support — we really couldn’t do our work without you!

Webele nyo!

Jennings

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