Women have bought land, a cow, sent children to school, and made savings through URF programs

“Nakalema Harriet, has been able to buy a plot of land and she is now constructing a house and Nantale Silvia was able to send all her children to school and one of the will be finishing his primary level. She was also able to start constructing a house for herself and her children.”

Greetings to all of you our partners and friends. This year has started out good for us and we have been able to register changes and achievements in all our projects. Below are the updates on all our projects.

The Women’s program has been able to register a lot of achievements in all our projects and 140 women have improved their lives in these first few months of the year. This year in February, we were able to organize training in Small scale business and they were taught how to make laundry soap. We are now equipped with the skills and with financial assistance, we will be able to start our small scale business of soap making hopefully very soon. 

Secondly, the women are still making their baskets and the income they get is spent on meeting their various needs. Through this basket program, Nakalema Harriet, has been able to buy a plot of land and she is now constructing a house and Nantale Silvia, was able to send all her children to school and one of the will be finishing his primary level. She was also able to start constructing a house for herself and her children.

Village Banking: Perhaps, our biggest achievement this quarter is that we were able to round up our village savings and loans cycle for the financial year April2009/April2010. On the 15th -14th of April, 84 women were able to benefit from this project. (When cycle ends, we count all the money we have got from shares and loans and then we give back to the women) One, Nabakooza Milly bought a cow and a pig with this money and she said “This was the best empowerment she got, to be able to save and then get back some money”. Another, Nasuna Milly, used the money to pay for her child’s school fees and she hopes to save enough to send him to university. “She said, this bank has given me a new lease of life and I will be able to save for the future”.

Men’s Project: Similarly, more men (37) have joined the men’s project and at the end of last year, they were given goats and pigs and also village banking and savings scheme was initiated. For those who got the pigs and goats, they have already passed on piglets and young goats to other members and this month, they also round up their bank cycle and will start a new one very soon. One, Mutumba Anatoli, says he is grateful for the pig given to him, when it gives birth, he hopes to buy more pigs and be able to look after his family.

Health Care: Through our healthcare project so far, we have been able to provide eye glasses for some women, men and students, take a girl for surgery and provide walking sticks for a boy who was not able to walk because he did not have walking sticks. We have also been able to make sure that our HIV/AIDS positive children get their Antiretroviral drugs monthly and that they are seen by the doctor every month.

Piggery Project: Our piggery project faced challenges this year and our pigs have reduced to 40 because of a disease outbreak. But for those who lost their pigs, they have replaced them and very soon, we will have more piglets and we will still give out these pigs to other members of the projects that have not yet received pigs, we also hope to do refresher training for all these women and men who are rearing pigs.

Orphan Sponsorship Program: We have added more children to our sponsorship project, thanks to all those who have contributed to the education of these underprivileged children. We now have 19 children in primary school and 26 students in secondary school. However we still have a challenge of Orphaned children and we would please request for more help in this area.

At Hope Integrated academy, we now have a total of 132 students and we are very grateful for the help given in this area. Our second group of senior four students will be sitting for their exams and we are hoping for the best.  More so, this quarter, our students participated in community service scheme by carrying out a door to door campaign to collect  food and clothing for the people who had been affected by mudslides in eastern Uganda which was a success.

The children at Nazareth Orphanage send their greetings to you our partners and are very grateful for the support given to them. At the beginning of this year, we were able to enroll 5 children into Nursery and primary school, we had two children who were severely malnourished but we have been able to nourish them back to health .However more assistance is still required mainly with foods, diapers, education and medical care.

URF Kampala: We have been able to open up an office in Kampala that is run by URF Kampala chapter and we would like support with office supplies. For those in Kampala and other areas, you can reach us through that office.

Child-headed Family Outreach: Lastly, our childrn from child headed families would like to send their gratitude for the help rendered to them so far this quarter. Three have been enrolled into primary school, basic requirements like food, clothing, books, sugar and soap have been given to them and most important of all, they are still in school and three of them joined advanced level and God willing, they will soon join university.

We would like to thank all of you who continually support us and have believed in us to be able to bring about everlasting change in our communities.

Yours,
URF Uganda Crew
Ssemukasa Adrian, Ntale Fred, Kweyamba Thaddeus, Nakalinzi Moreen, and Francis Ssekiwoga