When we first met Anatolia she said that all she wanted was the freedom to live out the rest of her days in peace, raise her children and her animals in order to secure a bright future for her whole family. She has done just that and now will have enough money to pay for her children’s education. Like so many mothers, Anatolia wants the best for her children and for them to want for nothing. Anatolia is taking action to break the cycle of poverty and showing her children (and grandchildren) what empowerment looks and feels like.

In my previous blog, Project GRACE: Micro-enterprising to Achieve Self Reliance in Uganda, I shared a video and details about how our program is providing families like Anatolia’s with the tools to create, manage and profit from their own business. For thousands of these families the physical effects of HIV/AIDS and/or the stigma associated with it prevents the adults from being able to support their families.

Through Just Like My Child Foundation’s work with Bishop Asili Hospital, mothers and fathers are provided with the necessary treatment, and Project GRACE empowers them to become self-reliant: through micro-enterprise. Through a loan of poultry of livestock along with training, these impoverished families can create a self-sustaining business that gives them hope and pride.

Project GRACE is giving HIV families a second chance and a step up not a hand out. It brings me great joy to share Anatolia’s heartwarming success story that your funds to Project GRACE have made possible.

Thank you to those of you who continue to support our efforts with your donations.

$300 provides an entire family of 6 with a complete sustainable business. Invest TODAY in Just Like My Child and help us empower communities to achieve self-sustenance and break the cycle of poverty.

You are young, have a family with small children and have contracted HIV.  You cannot work because of the illness or find employment because of the stigma associated with HIV so you are unable to provide for your family. You live in a rural community in on one of the poorest continents. But now, you’ve been given a second chance because you are receiving treatment for AIDS, and you’re feeling stronger, more capable – ready to go back to work. Because of the impact of the illness, your life is in shambles. You have to start all over again. What do you do?  What are your days like?  Do you have a compelling future?

For thousands of families in Uganda this is their life.  This is not a hypothetical situation.  So how do they begin to make a successful transformation?  The answer: With their own businesses.

The solution is not a matter of funds it is a matter of self-reliance.  Imagine being given the tools to create, manage and profit from your own business when there are no other opportunities available.  Now what are your days like?  Do you have a compelling future?

Just Like My Child Foundation is making microenterprise a reality for many families in Uganda through Project GRACE. Microenterprise has emerged as one of the most powerful ways to empower those living in poverty. Just Like My Child worked together with the people in the communities they serve and asked the question: “what do you need to empower yourself, to take the next step in life?” The answer was Project GRACE: Guiding Resources and Creating Empowerment in the most needy communities

Project GRACE provides a small loan (poultry or livestock) together with intensive training to healthy, self-motivated individuals with HIV to create a self-sustaining business that will support their families and send their children to school. They learn how to raise and shelter the animals while budgeting and setting prices for their goods at market.  They are taught how to use their garden and livestock together in sustainable and environmentally healthy ways. The gardens help feed the animals, and the animals provide natural fertilizer for the garden.

Each of the participants help to expand the program in their communities by donating two of their own animal’s offspring back to Bishop Asili’s Hospital in rural Uganda so that another family can become self-reliant.  It is a cycle of transformation rather than a cycle of poverty.

Project GRACE participants support each other and work together to succeed.  They are role models for other members in their community. They encourage others to be tested for HIV at Bishop Asili, raising awareness and hope for others to overcome the virus. By working together, they move closer to eradicating a stigma widely held in Uganda towards individuals with HIV/AIDS.

$300 provides an entire family of 6 with a complete sustainable business. Invest TODAY in Just Like My Child and help us empower communities to achieve self-sustenance and break the cycle of poverty.

To learn more about Project GRACE, watch the inspiring video at the top of this post.

Warning: This video may be disturbing, but it’s worth watching to discover the reality that so many girls live with every day.

Just Like My Child Foundation has partnered with an amazing Ugandan woman named Nyiraguhabwa Monica, who is an expert in equipping young girls with life skills and counseling that will empower them for the rest of their lives.

We had an awesome workshop over the weekend with Monica at Namumira Primary School, which is the community where Just Like My Child Foundation is currently building a much needed classroom block, teachers housing and pit latrines.

Girls empowerment activities are absolutely necessary deep in the village where these girls are often placed in devastating situations and don’t otherwise have any counseling or support. The girls of Namumira ranging in ages 10 to 15 were incredibly engaged and open with Monica! You could see that they clearly looked to her as a guide and a role model. A few major issues came out in this particular training that Monica was able to address. Many of the girls come from a trading center near the school where truck drivers and construction workers are staying while the road is being repaired.

This factor in connection with the fact that there are several discos in the trading center where these men are drinking alcohol, raping and in one case killing a young girl has created a terrible set of circumstances. We learned through the workshop that most of the girls are already really effective decision makers and have managed so far not to be exploited or become victims of peer pressure.

Monica encouraged them to stay on that path and gave them strategies for avoiding risky situations and identifying people who wish to take advantage of them. She equipped them with skills that would allow them to display their confidence and demand respect in order to keep themselves safe.

This group was also struggling with menstruation, which prompted Monica to facilitate a comprehensive session on puberty and menstruation. Private counseling sessions are also given by Monica at the end of the sessions to ensure the girls have an opportunity to express any serious issues that they might be embarrassed to bring up in a group setting. Just Like My Child Foundation in partnership with Nyiraguhabwa Monica will be facilitating twelve similar workshops throughout the year in communities where vulnerable girls will become empowered for life!

15 year old Kiberu William, who is a top performing scholarship recipient of Just Like My Child Foundation was just given his first opportunity to travel outside of his home country of Uganda. William traveled through Kenya recently with several of his classmates and observed many interesting comparisons and contrasts to Uganda.

He was given the opportunity to meet and learn about the Masai people of Kenya and even got to see them perform their traditional dancing. The trip included a safari where William was able to see the wild animals of Africa in their natural habitat for the first time ever. He was beaming as he told us about how he saw a cheetah amongst other interesting wild life. He visited museums, swam in the hotel pool and got a tour of the airport; all experiences that are all too uncommon for the youth in Africa.

The highlight of the trip for William was experiencing the hustle and bustle of Nairobi for the first time. He described some of the vast differences he observed between Kampala and the capital city of Kenya such as the level of cleanliness and security. He expressed his desire to continue traveling the world and seeing other countries in East Africa with his very own eyes. William’s mother Nankinga Grace has expressed how extremely grateful she is for the opportunity to broaden his horizons.

Just Like My Child Foundation is so proud of William’s dedication to studying hard and utilizing his opportunities to the fullest. He truly is an absolute joy to be around and a definite super star!

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

The girls are very happy and doing extremely well with school and in their studies (L to R) Claire, Veronica, Vivian, Nyangoma, Monica, Nalubombwe, Namata, Dena

I have already been working and living here in Uganda for a month and we are moving forward with many exciting projects with our community partners including Bishop Asili Hospital, School Committees at the Children’s Academy for the Collective Heart at Katikamu and St. Joseph School in Magogo (the newest school building project), the staff and patients of Bishop Asili Hospital, our wonderful sponsored children and their parents, and our adult education partners.

One major highlight during Vivian’s recent visit was our conversations with our scholarship students and their parents. During training, I was introduced to Monica Nyiraguhabwa, a young woman that Vivian met at the International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership, Development, International Peace and Security in Liberia. Monica currently works for an organization that mentors and trains young women on life skills and empowerment and has agreed to help us create a mentorship and empowerment training program for our sponsored students. This training is so important, as our students come from extremely vulnerable circumstances and can benefit from life skills coaching on topics such as knowing their rights and responsibilities, social survival skills, safety and security, health and hygiene and becoming leaders and role models to others in their community. Monica, along with her colleague Claire Tusingwire, who lives in the Luwero region, will conduct a weekend training course for the sponsored students during their winter school break. Monica and Claire came with us to the school to meet the girls.

Jenny Hamel interviews the girls at school

Monica and Claire provided mini-training during the visit and did an excellent job of interacting with the girls, we could see that they really responded and related to Claire and Monica as empowered young Ugandan women and positive role models

We visited William before he left for school, here with his mother Nankinga Grace, in their home. Nankinga Grace is a role model for other women and a community volunteer at Bishop Asili. William will also attend the Life Skills and Empowerment training over his winter break.

We also visited the guardians of three of the sponsored girls in their village of Kikoirro. The parents are so grateful for this opportunity for their children and shared their thoughts and opinions with us on the future of their girls. We will conduct a workshop on creating wills/planning for the future and legal rights/empowerment with the parents this fall.

Village children and community leader, Chatti, pose in front of the home of one of our scholarship students, Veronica. The people of the village of Kikoirro are extremely poor and vulnerable, making the opportunity for our scholarship girls that much more valuable.

A special thank you to the sponsors of our scholarship children who have made all of this possible as well as to Dr. Puja Shah, Jenny Hamel, Dr. David Smotrich and Lidia Domagalska for the recent visit and all of the wonderful contributions they made to the people here, more to follow on this and other projects in blogs in the coming weeks.

Foundation for Women welcomes Just Like My Child Founder, Vivian Glyck

After about 30 hours of ridiculous travel, I found my host in Liberia, Deborah Lindholm, founder, Foundation for Women.

I was brought to meet a wonderful group of microcredit (small loan) recipents who welcomed me in true African style: jubilant dance and song.

I was immediately struck by how EMPOWERED the women are — they have a sense of their value, power, and contribution to their families that I’ve never seen. It made me SO happy to be here!

Microcredit creates miracles for war ravaged

Our first stop today was to visit a group of people who had been handicapped by the atrocities of the civil war. Many of the shops along the road sell crutches and wheel chairs to serve the people who have been mamed.

This group of injured people had been formally street beggars, but now are SO empowered due to the small businesses they are building as a result of microcredit.

The leader of the group, a woman who has had polio since she was a child has to hold her knee with every step she takes so that it stays straight and she can move forward. But the fire that came forth from her when she spoke to the group about not being defined by your handicap and proving society wrong about their judgement of your condition completely blew my mind. I’ve never seen such power coming from those who face such adversity.

200 children attend a one-room school while their mothers work

Next we visited another Foundation for Women program that helps women work in a marketplace.

We visited the school that their children attend while they are working.

Over 200 children crowd into one classroom grades K-6 and have one teacher who earns $20 per month to be there from 7 am to 4 pm.

It would take so little to fix this issue! And the kids are amazingly open and fun.

Uganda Health Marketing Group delivered moon beads to Bishop Asili today.

Women use moon beads to help count the days of their cycle, starting with the red bead on the first day of their period. There are different colored beads used to represent the different phases of the menstrual cycle. This helps a woman to understand which days she is most likely to conceive during her cycle.

With moon beads a woman gains the knowledge she needs to keep track of her menstrual cycle and the empowerment necessary to either avoid her husband during fertile days or work with her husband to plan a family responsibly.

UHMG brought literature along with the moon beads that will help educate women about how to use the beads most effectively.

Moon beads are a safe and low cost contraception option for women in Uganda.

SHANTI UGANDA is a Vancouver based organization dedicated to helping children, women and communities in Uganda find peace and health. It is their belief that in order to overcome trauma and conflict within a community, we must first allow individuals to heal and uplift their minds, bodies and spirits. Their programs provide the tools needed to find inner peace and well-being, foster conscious birth and manifest health, happiness and community.  All Shanti Uganda projects combine healing, birth education and community development initiatives. Natalie Angell, founder of Shanti Uganda has been here at Bishop Asili for the last few days training a small group of HIV positive women on how to make paper bead necklaces. The women are to gather for five full days to learn the methods involved in cutting and measuring paper, rolling beads, varnishing beads, hanging them to dry and then finally making them into beautiful pieces of jewelry.

Natalie Angell and her counterpart Julius work together to train the women on the bead making process

Thirty women eagerly gather together in this round hut every day to learn and practice what they've been taught

The paper must first be measured and cut properly in order for it to be rolled into a perfect paper bead shape.

The paper is then rolled tightly around a needle. It takes a great deal of patients and practice in order to ensure that the outcome is a quality paper bead. The process is meticulous and challenging.

Natalie and Julius give the women constructive criticism for improved quality and praise to those beads that are well made.

The beads are placed on strings and covered with a clear varnish. Once they have dried they will be strung into lovely pieces of jewelry, which will be purchased from the women by Shanti Uganda

I stopped by the hut to greet the women and to see how things were coming along for Natalie and Julius. The women were all enthusiastically making beads and are all clearly enjoying their newly learned skill!! Each of them is walking a treacherous path in life that most of us cannot relate to. It’s such a joy to see a hint of hope in these women’ s eyes.

http://shantiuganda.blogspot.com

I traveled to Katikamu today to see if the community was collecting stones as they had determined at their last meeting and to take some photos. There was a big number of the community there when I arrived. Everyone was diligently working on collecting hard core. There were women, men, teenagers and children. All worked for two full hours to collect stones and they laughed and talked and sang the whole way through. All members of the Project Support Committee that were elected at the last community meeting were on site. The Community Mobilizer moved around after the work was complete and wrote down the names of all community members present. He asked the children the names of their parents. This will help us later down the road when we are recruiting children to the school. Those parents involved in the building of the school are already invested and will wish for their child to attend the Just Like My Child Foundation primary school once it’s built. When they finished they agreed that they should meet again tomorrow at the same time to get more work done. It was absolutely lovely!! I just stood on that land taking photos in astonishment. This is really going to happen and I get to be a part of it!! I think in that moment every frustration that I’ve come to feel after years of being here and trying to convince people that education and health are important to the future of their country just melted away. This community cares! This community is willing to do what it takes to ensure that their children are getting a chance to make their dreams come true!! What a relief!!!