This was the catchy message given to 31 girls living in the town of Katikamu this past Saturday as part of the Just Like My Child Foundation’s Girl Power Project.

Girl power helps build self-confidence in girls and teaches them about sex education and life skills like personal empowerment, communication, social survival skills and how to avoid peer pressure.

I think the 7B’s is a funny sounding message, but an important one, since girls are not always encouraged to focus on education, but on preparing for marriage and having children.

One cultural practice young girls are pressured to do is labia pulling, what Ugandans call “pulling,” so named because girls pull the labia minora regularly to lengthen the labia. There are strongly believed myths that a woman will not be able to find a husband or get pregnant without long labia. Long labia are also believed to give the man and woman more pleasure during sex. Who knows, maybe it’s true?

Girls as young as 12 are pressured at home and during school breaks to go off into the bushes and pull on their labia. One concern about pulling is that it increases the girls’ interest in sex at a very young age, possibly increasing their risk of contracting HIV/AIDs, because they may not have received sex and reproductive health education to protect themselves. JLMC’s Girl Power Project facilitator, Monica, teaches the girls that it is important to focus on education first and remember the 7 B’s. She doesn’t say pulling is good or bad, just that a girl should wait to make that decision when she is much older.

Every culture has their beliefs that put pressure on girls to want to modify their appearances to reach the dominant culture’s ideal beauty, like breast implants, Botox, laser hair removal, hair dye, anti-wrinkle cream, diets to reach a certain weight, etc. So, this is not an issue uniquely Ugandan. If girls are educated, they can make informed decisions for themselves like whether or not they want to engage in certain cultural practices.

Be a part of empowering girls in Uganda to make informed decisions about their bodies by supporting the Just Like My Child’s Girl Power Project.

Written by Sara Todd, JLMC Country Director

 

Bishop Asili Hospital Dentist, Jane Mandera, pictured right with Puja Shah and Dental Beneficiaries

Dental care has always been something that I have taken for granted. My mother was adamant that we get our teeth cleaned and checked every six months, and we were lucky enough to always have the insurance to cover our dental care. At 35, I have never had a cavity or any other major problem with my teeth and am probably one of very few people who actually likes going to the dentist.

It’s a much different story for most people living in Uganda. As Jane Mandera, the dentist at the Bishop Caesar Asili Hospital told me, many people can’t afford dental care. She said her patients often shun her advice because they know they can’t afford basic treatment. Many say, “eh, just keep on removing the teeth,” which is much more affordable than receiving annual cleanings, fillings and restorative work.

Jane joined the staff at Bishop Asili in 2009 after completing her degree in public health and general dentistry at the Mulago Paramedical School. At that time, the hospital’s dental unit only had a hard wooden straight back chair for patients to sit in while Jane worked on their teeth and a wooden table for her meager equipment. In 2010 Jane met Vivian Glyck, Founder and Executive Director at Just Like My Child Foundation (JLMC). Accompanying Vivian was a pediatric dentist, Dr Puja Shah, who came to the hospital with her dental instruments and the intention of mentoring and helping Jane perform extractions and other dental work. However, Dr. Puja was unprepared for the poor condition of the hospital’s dental unit. Using the wooden chair and table she spent one week assisting Jane in the clinic. After her touching experience, Dr. Puja went back to the States with stories and photos to start raising money to upgrade the standard of the clinic.

 

Bishop Asili Dental Clinic Before .. and After

Dr. Puja and her colleague, Lidia Trainer, engaged their community and raised the funds to equip the dental unit with a proper dental chair and dental instruments so Jane can comfortably and effectively serve the needs of her patients.

Jane says, “Now with the chair and instruments I receive the greatest joy when clients come back for follow up care and I see that they are following the advice that I gave them.” She says she still faces many challenges. Material for dental fillings is very expensive. So the hospital often runs short of these materials. Jane says right now she doesn’t have any materials for restorative treatments, like fillings. The fillings cost a patient 20,000 Ugandan shillings, less than $10. The materials cost anywhere between $40 and $80 depending on the type of filling material. One package of material could last through 50 people needing fillings.

Jane always dreamed of being a dentist and delivering the best dental treatment. Relieving the clients of their pain and ensuring that they can have good dental hygiene is her ultimate goal. “Oral hygiene is really bad among my clients. I educate them how to maintain and take care of their teeth. I follow up with their care and see that they return for cleanings. They learn to take better care of their teeth,” says Jane. Before Dr. Puja,’s visit, Jane explained she was feeling discouraged working with so many inadequacies. “People needed so much, but we had so little; we couldn’t provide all the treatments. The visit with Dr. Puja, motivated me to reach out to the community and realize my dream again. They [JLMC and Dr. Puja] touched my life so much.”

She hopes in time the hospital will be able to afford a full dental unit. Currently, they do not have the resources to do dentures or crowns. She explains that people don’t like to be referred to Kampala for needed dental treatment. They feel discouraged because the transportation and stay in Kampala are additional expenses they cannot afford. “People come see me and they can’t even open their mouths the infection is so bad,” Jane says.

Contributions to the dental clinic are part of the Keep a Mother Alive program implemented by JLMC. A $100 contribution will help Jane and the Bishop Asili hospital purchase filling materials and other dental equipment for patients in dire need of dental work.

Gyriadda Girls Participate in a Girls Empowerment Workshop 2/12

One of those communities, St. Kizito, Gyriadda faced several struggles over the past two years, which initially had delayed the building of their school. A major challenge was the discovery of a defilement case right before their project was to begin. JLMC found out through its Girl Power Program that the nursery school teacher was sexually abusing his girl students, and had been for several years. When the community members learned of the abuse, they felt they had no recourse since corruption is so rampant within the local justice system and the teacher was so well known within the community.

Another struggle facing the community has been impoverishment. Because of the high poverty in the area, the community members struggled to gather local resources: sand, stones, and clay bricks required as a co-investment by JLMC to construct the school building. In cases like Gyriadda, JLMC must exercise patience and provide encouragement as communities together find solutions to issues that delay their progress. Community contributions are critical to deep development; it builds community ownership over a project, ensuring the community will maintain the project well into the future.

With the help of JLMC, the Gyriadda community has overcome many of their struggles one by one and has made great progress in 2011. Through JLMC’s Project Justice, a human rights workshop was held for community members to promote the rights of women and children and to prevent more cases of sexual abuse. As a result of the workshop, the community was successful in chasing the teacher involved in the defilement out of town with the help of local police.

As of November 2011, the construction of the school is back on track. The roof has just been added to the building, which will have three classrooms and an office for the principal. JLMC also contributed to the construction of a latrine for teachers and students.

Skilled Labourers Work to Add Roofing to St. Kizito, Gyriadda’s School Building 2/12

Teachers, school board members and PTA members received two professional development workshops to improve the learning environment of the school and to help increase student performance.

63 girls participated in three Girl Power workshops to increase their capacities for self-empowerment, leadership potential and social survival skills. When asked during the first Girl Power workshop of 2012, girls reported no cases of defilement since the sensitization campaign. A major success!

Yet, despite these magnificent accomplishments, the Gyriadda community, as well as the four other school communities sponsored by JLMC, still have many challenges to overcome. Many of the schools lack chairs and desks, critical for a conducive learning environment. Instructional materials are also limited in many of the schools.

Access to health care and health education is limited, and income generation activities in the schools to support extracurricular activities like drama and sports is nonexistent.

In 2012, JLMC has exciting plans for its Universal Education Program, which hopes to address the aforementioned challenges.

JLMC will

• Provide furniture and instructional resources to improve learning environments
• Provide the opportunity for schools to generate income  to give students lunch and opportunities for extracurricular activities
• Increase student and teacher’s ability to deal with relevant health issues in their communities
• Increase the capacity of school management committees to manage operations, solve community problems and supervise education through capacity building workshops.
• Increase the capacity of teachers to deliver well planned lessons
• Ensure that schools meet national standards as laid out by Department of Education

However, JLMC cannot reach its goals without your support. Here are ways you can help:

For only $1,000 you can  furnish an entire classroom, so that children are not seated on the floor during lessons.

For only $100 you can help fund a much needed professional development workshop for teachers and school boards.

For only $200 you can help fund dental hygiene outreach.

Donate today to further improve the lives of the thousands of children that JLMC serves through its Project Universal Education.

And a 2010 Amnesty International report shows, between January and June 2009, there was only a 1.83 per cent conviction rate for rape and a 5.89 per cent conviction rate for defilement cases. Defilement is the all-too-tidy euphemism used in Uganda for sexual molestation.

How do you even begin to inject hope and change into a society with those kind of horrific human rights odds? Among many other strategies, we empower the women and unleash the full legal power of attorneys like Ugandan’s Rose Nsenge, a strong ally in our Project Justice program.

For eight years, Rose has proven that “I’ll do anything to help anybody as long as it’s within my power! When I feel justice has to be done, I’m not going to eat. I’m not going to sleep.  I will make sure I follow each task until the very last conclusion.  I don’t mind having sleepless nights if, in the end, I get justice.”

Working closely with legal authorities, Rose helped mobilize our St. Kizito community, identified the headmaster who’d assaulted the girls, and got him arrested. After serving some time, he was released for lack of evidence (all-too common in Uganda). But he was run out of the community – for good. As importantly, Rose sees people in the community rising up with their own sense of empowerment. “Now when we return to St. Kizito we ask, ‘Where are the children?’ And they are in school. And the majority of women? They are making decisions and holding positions in the community.  They are more vigilant about protecting the children.”

A 29-year-old mother of two, Rose grew up in the slums of Kampala. She became outraged when she saw how she and other children had no voices in her culture, even when they were abused or treated as property. Now, she’s an attorney making waves across Africa. Her husband, also an attorney, supports her professional leadership.

Under our Project Justice umbrella, Rose trains paralegals, police officers, social workers, medical personnel, and families in more than 50 communities in rural Uganda about their rights, the need for justice, and how to seek it. She’s made a name for herself throughout Uganda as a legal lightning rod. Rose was the first attorney on the scene when a horrific human rights abuse from Uganda rocked the globe. It’s beyond the pale, but in 2009 it was discovered that a rural Ugandan man had forced his wife to breastfeed puppies for years.

“My role was to initiate, mobilize, and call for action from fellow women activists to travel and visit the woman, who lived about 100 km away from Kampala. I led a team of about 14 women activists to seek justice for her.”

The man, who felt justified in abusing his wife in this manner because he’d paid a “bride price” for her, was arrested, but not prosecuted.

“I have been following up on this case, trying to see to it that this poor woman gets justice.” Rose says. “Actionaid Uganda got the woman funding, and they managed to build for her a house, however, the man is still at large, and up to now, he has never been charged. The case is currently before The Uganda Human Rights Commission. I will work to see that this woman will get justice one day. I think I was the determination and courage to move this case. It might be a matter of time, days, months, but the woman will get justice one day.”

Disease won’t change, poverty won’t change, and illiteracy won’t change—until access to justice increases.

For centuries, Ugandan women and girls have been forced to meekly kneel before men. We are so proud of Nyiraguhabwa Monica, who is teaching our girls to stand proud and treat themselves with the greatest respect.

Monica is helping girls embrace life skills and empowered choices that will help them navigate the rest of their lives. Monica designs and leads our Girl Power workshops, which teach hundreds of young women that they have the right to live their lives without being harassed, exploited, or hurt. And that they can choose to attend school or work without persecution.

Monica’s work couldn’t be more urgent. Save the Children estimates that two children each hour are defiled in Uganda.

One of Just Like My Child’s students was raped and impregnated. The rapist’s family tried to “erase” the abuse by giving the child’s family a cow — and her family accepted it as the only kind of justice available to them.

Vivian Glyck knew in that moment that she had to launch a program that would strengthen, protect, and empower future girls, and convinced Monica to train hundreds of girls ages 9 to 13 via the Girl Power Project. Those girls now are becoming more confident and bold, knowing THEY may be Uganda’s next leaders.

We live for those days when the girls say things like, “I discovered ways of building my self esteem” or “I unlearned the mentality that men are stronger than women!”

Thank you Monica, for making the Girl Power Project a force with which to be reckoned! Monica will be joining us remotely from Uganda for our Hand Up, Never a Handout Celebration!

Join us October 13 for an unforgettable evening of hope, inspiration, education and FUN!!

Nearly 30% of her neighbors were infected with HIV, she was surrounded by dozens of orphans, and she was going to a school that had no books and barely a roof on the structure.

Recognizing her intelligence and drive, Just Like My Child Foundation, through the generous help of one donor, Jim K., began sponsoring Nalubombwe at one of the best elementary schools in Uganda.

Flash forward four years: Nalubombwe excelled so far in school and scored so well on her end of term exams that she was just accepted into THE best high school in all of Uganda.

Left to Right: Nalubombwe’s mother, Namagembe Topista, Nalubombwe Josephine, Tessa Davis

It’s almost incomprehensible to the residents of her village, Kikoiiro that a girl born into such a dim reality could be walking into the brightest future possible.

Thank you Nalubombwe for all of your very hard work to make this happen!

And thank you, Jim, for believing that the fire of knowledge can change the world. To be like Jim click here.

Please start a dialogue with us by commenting on the stories. We want to know what you think and what’s important to you!

Puja Shah graduated from Tufts School of Dental Medicine in 2007 and in 2008 completed her general practice residency at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. She works as a dentist in a pediatric practice in Riverside, CA. On a local level, she is involved in community outreach via public health programs such as the UCSD Free Dental Clinics. She has done grant research on the need for dental treatment in trauma cases for victims of domestic violence, which enabled women of shelters throughout Boston, MA to receive free dental care. Her long-term career goals include international outreach and education.

This past May was Shah’s second visit to Uganda with The Just Like My Child Foundation.

Here’s what we asked, and in Puja’s own words, what she said:

How did you get involved with The Just Like My Child Foundation? Why JLMCF?

Vivian and I met through our husbands, both Internet marketing geniuses. We got together a few years ago, in La Jolla one evening, just the two of us, when I had first moved to San Diego from New York. We hit it off right away. After all, she is a New York girl at heart But we shared more than just similar interests; we shared a passion to want to make a difference in the world around us. I loved hearing her talk about JLMCF, I loved its message of deep development, and loved her story of starting it. It inspired me to take action.

What was your first impression from your first visit to the clinic to now?

The dental clinic has grown in so many ways and we hope continues to grow.

When we first created the dental clinic, we just had a small wooden chair and little table. Now it is two rooms and we have a brand new dental chair! We have state of the art restorative (filling) materials as well. It’s so amazing to know that patients will have high quality dental care. These people deserve the best and that’s what the clinic and Dr. Jane, the local dentist, can offer them since she is equipped with the proper instruments and supplies and of course dental chair unit.

What is your favorite moment/memory from your visits?

There is a mesh of favorites for me. Apart from the stories of seeing patients, and the precious moments I shared while treating them, some of my favorite moments were connecting with Dr. Jane and the people who work in the hospital. It was always intriguing to me to discuss her story and what she had to go through to become a dentist.

Is there a particular patient or visit that stands out most with you?

It’s hard to narrow it down to just one. These kids, their eyes and voices stay with you. I can’t describe what it feels like; the feeling is just so pure. There was one girl, who needed a lot of dental, but she was scared and nervous. She had teeth extracted before when she was younger, as per her mom, by the witch doctors of the area. There is a belief in Uganda that if a child’s canine teeth erupt prior to their incisor teeth (front teeth) then it is unlucky or like the devil. Therefore, witch doctors extract the teeth and it impedes proper development of the other teeth, of jaw relation. She had another tooth that was extracted as well and her mother said she just had bad teeth. We educated her on brushing or proper oral care so that she could save what she had and so her other permanent teeth wouldn’t have the same number of cavities. She was shy and didn’t speak to us the whole appointment. Then at one point, she looked up at me and started singing. Her head was turned down, and she was smiling at me. It was so beautiful.

There was also a 3-year-old boy who needed many extractions. Almost every tooth of his was what we call ‘bombed out’ which means cavities extending so deep that there is no tooth structure remaining and just mainly black stubs remaining. When we told his father who was with him that all his upper teeth were sources if infection due the cavities, the boy responded, “No, that’s not true, only my bottom teeth have cavities.” We laughed because he probably said that because he could not see how damaged his back teeth in his upper jaw were and also since he was so observant and aware that we were talking about him. We needed to anesthetize him via injections so he sat in his father’s lap. He was of course, not happy about that, and when we were done, he climbed off the chair out of his father’s arms with his arms flailing and said “Stop, just stop! Do not give me any more injections! I have been struck with Malaria because I am shaking!” We hugged him, told him he didn’t have malaria; he was just such a character. When we were finished, he was crying from the procedure but stopped, took money out of his father’s shirt pocket and handed us the larger of the 2 bills he found. We started laughing and told him no, it’s okay.   He even smiled at us before he left.

There were kids who would sit and point to areas in their mouth that were painful. I would know when I’d see the teeth that these things were hurting them for awhile and they would sit there so still during the
extractions, that I knew they just wanted to be out of pain finally. Often they would take our hand and say thank you or bend down on knees and kneel to us, their way of showing gratitude. It always warmed my heart.

If you had one story to tell about your most recent visit, which one would it be?

Finally having the dental chair installed! Getting that dental chair implemented was not a simple task, but rather a battle of its own. We had to call engineers every single morning to be sure they were coming, since the track record of many was not good. Finally, at the end of our stay, we got one out there, and our chair was installed and working! It was amazing to see it there, after knowing how hard we worked to get it installed.

What was an average day like for you?

An average day consisted of heading over to the clinic and starting at 9 am. There were already kids who were lined up around the door and down the hospital corridor. The other dentist, Dr. Jane, gave every child a number to hold their place. Lidia would manage the kids outside, teach them OHI (oral hygiene instruction), and bring in the next one and help us get set up for each patient since we were bringing them in and out at a fast pace to see the most children possible. Some kids who were scared or in a lot of pain required more attention and coaxing, so with those, Dr. Jane and I would assist one another and take more time with them. At some point in the afternoon, we would realize we hadn’t eaten lunch and when the instruments were all used and in the sterilizer, we would go eat something and tell all the patients who were waiting to do so also. The sterilizer took one hour to sterilize and cool off instruments so we would return in an hour and resume seeing patients until about 6 pm. On our last day of the clinic, we went until 7 or 7:30 pm, and even that felt like it was not enough. There were so many children with needs and in pain. We ended up treating about 150-200 children as an estimate in the 5 days our free clinic was open.

Did you partake in the May Mango Madness? If so, what was your favorite mango fever moment?

Mango Madness! I love it Lidia and I climbed the mango tree on the day we left and sat on a branch together overlooking our little world we had gotten so used to and had grown to love. It felt like the perfect ending to our trip since we had mangos every morning with breakfast and even started to figure out which types were the stringy
ones vs. sweeter etc. One morning at breakfast, Vivian’s little boy was eating one and probably decided the mango was his science experiment calling it a volcano as it squeezed out onto his face and shirt because it was so juicy. It was so fun to have him there. He made us laugh every morning and even in the evenings after seeing so many sad cases in the clinic, it felt good to come back to the guest house and know that this healthy little boy would be being silly and smiling.

I am just so grateful for JLMCF to continue to inspire me, to search and find meaning in all that I do. This trip was amazing.

~

Thank you, Dr. Puja Shah. For more information about The Just Like My Child Foundation or if you would like to make a contribution, please click here.

Photo by Lidia Trainer-Domagalska

The Nike Foundation and The Girl Effect’s The Clock is Ticking campaign is based on this truth and for the past few years has been reaching out to the world through their beautiful and inspiring animated video. This one is my favorite because the message is clear and honest – to the point.  One day I hope Just Like My Child can work with The Girl Effect and promote the Girl Power Project together.

One of the projects the Just Like My Child Foundation has undertaken is to implement a sponsorship program we call the Mandela Project — the focus is to create leaders who can in turn move their country forward.. It costs less than $1700 a year to send a child to one of the best boarding schools in Uganda. This includes tuition, room and board, and uniforms, health care for the child and the family, vitamin supplementation, transportation to and from school, canteen money, and incidental expenses.

According to Sister Ernestine Akulu, founder of the Bishop Asili Hospital in rural Uganda, sending our first student, Nyangoma Rachel to school will most likely save her life. Many students in this village who are not in school will become sexually active as early as 12-years old. With over 30% of the adult population testing positive for HIV, this is certainly a life-threatening behavior.

Since Nyangoma Rachel received her sponsorship, the Just Like My Child Foundation has focused on building schools rather than sending individual children to select schools making it possible for hundreds of children (boys and girls) to attend school. Previously, it  would have been nearly impossible for these children to go to a safe school. We are focused on building safe schools, educational facilities, empowerment workshops, and trainings to reach more Ugandans. The tremendous efforts have been paying off and now we have so many Nyangoma Rachel’s we almost cannot keep count.

It takes so little to help these children achieve their dream and with your help we can help many more children make their dream a reality. It doesn’t take much; click here to see the different ways you can contribute.

But the most fun and fulfilling part of the trip was spending a lot of time with the six children we are sponsoring in boarding schools as part of our Mandela Project. Just three short years ago, these children were destined to live a voiceless, nameless existence in one of the poorest villages in the areas we serve — they, like so many others, were at risk of death through early pregnancy and marriage. Several of their parents were on the verge of death from AIDS. These six children have grown and have become such an inspiration to their villages and have made me so proud.

Today, our kids are BIG (they’ve grown so much).  They are speaking English, reading fluently and at the top of their classes. Their parents are on AIDS treatment and they are healthy with new income-generating businesses that are alleviating their heavy burden. The students are full of ideas and fun and have a bit of attitude like all good teenagers. Healthy teenagers!

Witnessing their growth and development is like a metaphor for all of our work in Uganda — slowly by slowly the seeds have been planted, the roots are strong, and the fruit of our work is ripening. The communities are thriving, the children are healthy, and the elders are growing stronger. With so much community in the air it makes one realize how small efforts make tremendous differences.

If you would like more information about Just Like My Child and it’s specialized programs, contact Vivian Glyck at info@justlikemychild.org.  To donate please click here

The Just Like My Child Foundation has received crucial donations from the Clinton Foundation in the past, which has provided Uganda with the essential CD-4 Analyzer, a piece of laboratory equipment used in the diagnosis of AIDS. The pleasure of meeting President Clinton along with other celebrities such as Chelsea Clinton, Blake Griffin, Maria Bello, Michael Strahan, and Drake was a great honor for me.

James Malinchak, ABC’s Secret Millionaire has also provided Just Like My Child with a generous donation – a school. Malinchak raised enough funds for Ugandan children in the village of Namumira to attend a clean, bright, and safe school that they previously would never have been able to access. The school has four classrooms, which provides education for 200 students as well as a bright promise for the future.

Through the help of The Clinton Foundation and ABC’s Secret Millionaire James Malinchak the Just Like My Child Foundation is successfully providing holistic solutions to poverty and helping Ugandan families experience the power of potential. I am forever gracious for the donations and contributions from organizations such as the Clinton Foundation and people like James Malinchak.

I started Just Like My Child because I was eager to make a difference in the lives of other mothers and children. The efforts of The Clinton Foundation and James Malinchak enable many people to know the joy of helping to save and enrich lives. Just Like My Child’s commitment is to create a world where all children feel joy and happiness by experiencing his or her full potential.