Here’s How Girl Power Can Save the World

Girl Power Can Save the World

Eve Ensler of Vagina Monologues delivers women’s and girl’s empowerment talk at TED conference in India. She’s spent years in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in areas of the planet where girls are deemed and treated with no worth.

It’s explosive, riveting, mind bending. She is unleashed, and I definitely aspire to that!

Click on link below to watch.

Girl Power Can Save the World

Collective Heart Academy - Official Opening Ceremony

Official Opening Day for Collective Heart Academy - The School Looks Beautiful!

The official opening day of the Children’s Academy for the Collective Heart was one of the best days I have spent in Uganda so far.  It was so uplifting to see how the community and school committee members came together to prepare a really wonderful event.  I enjoyed spending the day with this caring and committed group of people, and I had almost as much fun hanging decorations with everyone, as I did attending and being part of the ceremony.    Everyone really pulled together to make it a great day and it made me feel really proud and excited to be part of this initiative. We are especially thankful to the following organizations for their support in building this school as well as our second school project at St. Joseph Magogo: The Collective Heart, The Unstoppable Foundation, and The Mark Victor Hansen Foundation — without these generous and loving organizations, the dream of education would never come true for hundreds of children.

Current students, looking spectacular in their uniforms, prepare for the celebration

The official ribbon cutting takes places!

And a Mango Tree is planted to grow as the school grows

Students give amazing performances, here great Buganda dancing, thanks to the coaching of Head Mistress, Judith and Senior Teacher, Eve

The winner of the first performance does a happy dance with Eve, the Senior Teacher

The students show off all they have learned in school during this performance

A skit by local performers on the importance of sending kids to school

Distinguished guests included Local Government Chairman who provided support and encouraged parents to enroll children in school

Here with hard working and wonderful school committee members of Collective Heart for cutting of the cake

Students are so happy and excited for the gifts as a reward for each of their strengths as students

250 people attending the opening ceremony which consisted mostly of parents and children

Happy girls play on the new playground - children love this new addition to the school

After the ceremony, it's time for some serious dancing and fun, we all had a blast!

Knowledge is Power - Legal Rights

FIDA Attorney Robinah gives a presentation to the Community of Kikoiiro, some topics covered were how and when to file a police report, rape/defilement/domestic abuse, children's rights, rights of those living with HIV/AIDS, women's rights, property and inheritance rights

Last week made me really understand what it means to feel helpless and overwhelmed.  One of our scholarship students is dealing with the lasting trauma of rape, another has a family that is dying of HIV/AIDS.  The mother of another scholarship student, a leader and role model to other HIV/AIDS patients, is brutally attacked in her home and almost killed for no apparent reason.   The community’s response to these situations?  “What can we do?”  Who can blame them when so many people are burdened with these tragedies themselves.

We had earlier met with and invited FIDA Uganda, an organization of Ugandan women attorneys, to provide a workshop to in the village of Kikoiiro, where four of our sponsored children are from.  This fishing village is at one of many landing sites in the country, some of the most under served areas in Uganda.  This presentation from FIDA couldn’t have come at a better time for me and everyone else, including the mother of our scholarship student, Veronica, who sat in front and listened attentively.  It’s amazing what a simple workshop can do when it is provided to a community yearning for knowledge and given by presenters who are role models and change agents themselves.

Robinah Kyamhangire and Sarah Kasanda, the two FIDA attorneys who presented, stayed until all the questions were answered, all the topics covered, without a break, providing information to the community on basic rights and how to enforce them.   Lately it has become evident to me that without this knowledge other initiatives become almost meaningless.  Rights that community members want to enforce in this village are as basic as the right not to be attacked or violated, the right to own and keep property and a child’s right  to education.   The group was so engaged during the presentation that was made up of community members including men, women, youth, leaders and law enforcement.  There were some misconceptions regarding the law and the group was very happy to be given the knowledge and confidence to demand that their rights are protected in the future.

At the end of the presentation, Veronica’s mother stood up and gave me a big hug.  Later, Chati, the community leader called me to tell me how much the people loved the presentation, as a follow-up, each and every person that attended would like to create a legal Will.   I could hear in his voice how appreciative he was.   This presentation motivated, inspired, and gave hope to the the people of Kikoiiro and to me as well!  I am looking forward to our continued partnership and the linkage between FIDA Uganda and the communities we work with.

After the presentation, community members rush to get copies of handouts provided by FIDA on the laws and their rights

Introducing St. Joseph Magogo - Our Newest School Building Project

A tiny pupil at St. Joseph Magogo. A future leader of Uganda?

“How am I going to pay school fees this term?” If there is one question I hear over and over again it is this one.  Like everywhere, quality education is a priority, and here parents feel the urgency of ensuring it all the more, because if children miss out, they will be trapped in the same cycle of poverty and social problems that too many others face.  For the majority of people, especially in rural areas, who are struggling just to feed their families and extended family members, the right of a child to obtain a quality education can seem completely out of reach.  Under a new policy in Uganda, primary education is supposed to be free to all, an excellent objective, but the resources are missing to implement it and schools are hopelessly overcrowded.  Only 1 teacher is provided for every 60 students, regardless of the grade they are in, and teachers lack the support and resources they need to do their job well.   Many of these schools are even missing the school building itself.  With these obstacles to education, one-third are left illiterate.  Just Like My Child has started its newest school building project to address some of these issues.

Ben and Beatrice, our wonderful community partners from our first school building project in Katikamu, are also professors at the local teachers’ college and monitor government schools in the region.  Some of the neediest schools in the area were identified with their help.  One of those schools was St. Joseph in the remote village of Magogo.   Magogo is an example of a community that would not give up trying and hoping for a good school.   Even the road to this farming village is difficult to find, but is hard to imagine that there are many other communities with as much heart and motivation as this one.    When I visited the school in August to see how they felt about partnering with Just Like My Child, at least 100 parents, educators and community members packed into the classroom.  They showed me that they had collected bricks and made more than 25 trips to collect sand and stone–almost enough to complete the entire project– in just one month!  They told me, “we are ready to begin construction today!”  There are more than 300 children in grades 1 to 7 attending St. Joseph School, even though there are only 2 usable classrooms.   The rest of the students study outside under the mango trees, or in two other half built classrooms, that the community built by itself, but was unable to roof or finish.  If it rains the majority of students have to go home, making for an impossible situation in the rainy seasons which lasts several months.  The school was given only 3 teachers for the 7 classes, so parents work hard each term to raise the funds to pay an additional 3 teachers.

This community elder worked hard to collect materials to build and comes every single day to monitor the progress, he wants to know, "will this school be beautiful?" He is committed to having a suitable learning environment for the children of his community.

This is the classroom block started by the community, with the new office, a veranda is built on the front so that it will match up with the two new classrooms

Our community partner, Beatrice, visits the school often to provides the teachers with the support and guidance to ensure quality education

While construction is going on students are still having class, at the end of the day the Head Teacher has an assembly to ask them to help carry bricks for their new school before they go home

And they are happy to help

Current classes, studying outside

Building the staff house which is already up to the roofing level also! This day instead of having the regular parent teacher meetings the community helps with construction.

Children in one of the two existing classrooms clap and cheer, they are so excited for the addition to their school

The Guests Who Came to Uganda to Serve

Dental Outreach

It’s hard to imagine growing up without ever receiving dental treatment — but this is so common in Uganda. Simple tooth decay can progress into life threatening disease when it goes untreated. Visiting dentist, Dr. Puja Shah and Dr. Jane, the new dentist at Bishop Asili, were able to spare countless children from pain and suffering, and they even saved a couple of lives in the process!

Dr. Jane is sure that having dental services available will empower the community to overcome these problems and this is why dental education and prevention from an early age is so important.  I witnessed many adults and children coming into the clinic in pain and leaving happy.  The children LOVED the training on how to brush and I really believe the attention they received will always remind them to take care of their teeth.

Professional Video Journalist

Herbal Supplements

“Women’s” Specialist

When Dr. David Smotrich of www.LaJollaIVF.com decided he wanted to come to Uganda to work with Just Like My Child, he didn’t imagine that women would want to consult with him on his specialty — fertility. Yet not being able to have a baby in Uganda is like not being able to have a baby anywhere else — it’s heart wrenching and wrought with sadness and despair. In addition, since childbirth is equated with wealth and success for the man, there’s a difficult social stigma that’s attached to infertility for a woman.

While patients sought Dr. Smotrich’s advice for many gynecological issues, many women struggling with infertility lined up when they heard that Dr. David Smotrich would be visiting.  One major cause of infertility is damage to fallopian tubes due to infection.  This problem can often be fixed by a simple surgery, but the proper diagnostic equipment must be available.  Dr. Smotrich provided the staff with many helpful tips while consulting with patients, as well as donating much needed surgical supplies.  Dr. Jude, Dr. Charles and Sister Ernestine were particularly impressed with his positive outlook and innovative suggestions on how to use existing hospital resources to increase revenue and the offer to assist with the first ever hospital restaurant for patients and staff, the Smotrich Family Kitchen!