Mentorship and Empowerment Program for Scholarship Recipients

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.

Scholarship Parents & Guardians Policy Meeting

I traveled to Kikoiiro for the scholarship parents & guardians meeting. I found all of the mothers & grandmothers gathered with the community leader. I explained that the reason I was here today was to go over a new policy that Just Like My Child Foundation has created for the scholarship program. I explained that our rationale for creating a policy was that after a year of the program being in place we ran into some challenges that we didn’t foresee. The policy ensures that there is optimal parental involvement in the program, that the child is performing at a high academic level and staying out of trouble ensuring a continued scholarship, that the sponsors are getting what they are paying for and that all major stakeholders are giving something to ensure the success and sustainability of the program. I went over the policy with them step by step and gave them all the opportunity to ask questions and give opinions about the policy.

Community Leader, Chati translates for me as I explain the new JLMCF Scholarship Program Policy

Sister Angela of Bishop Asili and scholarship recipient Nankubuge Veronica listen attentively as we go over the new policy step by step

All of the women were so incredibly happy about all I had to share. They expressed that they had been frustrated up to this point that they hadn’t been involved enough in the program. They have felt for a long time that they were being left out of their child’s life. They didn’t want to mess up their child’s opportunity by complaining about it. They were very relieved that the school is now in Kakooge, which they feel is a reasonable and affordable expectation in terms of visiting days. They had all feared that they were missing a major part of the relationship that they once had with their child. Now that JLMC is requesting their involvement they will feel more comfortable with their child and not so out of the loop.

The grandmother of scholarship recipient, Namata Josephine signs the terms of agreement for the new policy

Chati assists all of the participants of the meeting in signing the terms of agreement

This meeting today was without question one of the highest points of my three plus years in Uganda. The parents and guardians of the JLMC scholarship program’s reaction to the new policy we’ve set exceeded every expectation that I could have possibly conjured up. These women are strong, capable and willing to do what it takes to make sure their child is not destined to the same fate they have been unfairly dealt. I had to fight back tears more than once during this meeting because my heart just swelled up with optimism and promise for the future of all women throughout the entire world.

Nankubuge Veronica's mother is especially pleased with the new scholarship policy because it aims to ensure her daughters safety and success.

Scholarship Recipient Home Visit

January 16th, 2009

I went with Cynthia Murray (United States Peace Corps Volunteer) to visit Just Like My Child’s Scholarship Recipient Kiberu William’s home. His mother Grace was so incredibly pleased and grateful that we had taken the time to come to see the place where William calls home. William’s older sister was there as well with her two young boys.

Their home is certainly a humble one. It’s built from bricks, but tiny. Just about enough room for the two beds they have inside and a table. Their roof is tin, with several holes, but they had mosquito nets hung properly from both beds. After all of the necessary greetings were complete, William’s mother took out all of her photo albums and we looked through all of them as she explained in local language who each person was. Every time I visit a Ugandans home, one of the first activities to take place is the viewing of photo albums. I don’t really understand why to this day, but I certainly recognize its significance. I would never ever refuse to look at someone’s photo album. In fact, the last time I was at Ben and Beatrice’s house for a school building meeting in Katikamu, Beatrice pulled out the family photo albums. One whole album was dedicated to Ben’s father’s burial. Most of the photos were of the dead body being prepared for the ceremony. Not an easy thing to swallow from a Western perspective, but I didn’t bat an eyelash out of respect for the viewing of the photo albums ritual.

William’s sister served us cassava with fried eggs. Cynthia and I observed how interesting it was that we were served eggs. Many Ugandans believe that women should not eat eggs. It’s a traditional myth that men throughout Ugandan history have used to their advantage. They told women that they would become barren if they ate eggs, so that left only the men to eat them. It seems that Grace learned from the counselors at Bishop Asili that eating eggs was an important part of her diet as an HIV positive patient.

Grace took us outside so we could see the piggery that Bishop Asili helped her start as well as a sheep raising project she has going for income generation. She is very proud of them.

Cynthia and I thought that the cassava and eggs was our lunch, but they served us another meal of cassava and mukene (tiny little fish with the eyes still in). The smell and taste of Mukene is extremely fishy and it’s pretty much the most difficult thing for me to eat in Uganda. Ask me to eat grasshoppers or ants? No problem!! But Mukene??? However, Cynthia and I were guests and had no choice but to eat every bite whether we enjoyed it or not. The worst thing you could possibly do in Uganda is to refuse a meal served to you. As we were finishing up, Grace said to us in local language that she was embarrassed to serve us such a poor meal, but she was glad that we had enjoyed it. Now imagine if we had refused it!

We talked about how well William is doing in school and how proud Grace and Just Like My Child Foundation is of his eagerness to learn and his determination to succeed. Grace is doing an amazing job of supporting her son’s education in every way that she is capable of doing so. She is a role model and an example that we hope to soon see the other parents and guardians of the Just Like My Child Foundation Scholarship Program follow. The whole family escorted us back to Bishop Asili. It was a lovely afternoon!

Scholarship Program Visiting Day

October 26th, 2008

Today is a visiting day at one of the Just Like My Child Foundation scholarship recipients schools. Kiberu William’s mother came to the guest house early this morning with his older sister Sarah. Night and Lucy who are staff members of Bishop Asili Hospital also showed up because they decided to go and visit their friend Anna today at university. We all packed into the vehicle and headed for St. Peters Primary School in Kampala.

Left to right: William’s mother Grace, Kiberu William, William’s sister Sarah

I went to visit with Williams teacher for a little while and looked at his report. He has improved his marks slightly since the last time I received an academic update. He doesn’t really have very much room for improvement because he’s doing so well. We walked around the school compound for awhile and took some photos. Williams’ school was having a big celebration today and his mother had prepared a home cooked meal for him as well. I decided to give William some time alone with his family. I left them at the school to eat their lunch together and enjoy the celebration while I went with Night and Lucy to visit Anna at university.

Anna is from the same area where Sister Ernestine Akulu comes from. She had a rough child hood and Sister Ernestine took her in and encouraged her to go to school. Anna had a lousy foundation in primary school, but she took Sister Ernestine’s advice and studied very hard. She passed out of several exams without every having gone to school consistently. When I first arrived at Bishop Asili in July, Anna was living and working at the guest house where I live and in the process of applying for university. Her marks in secondary school were exemplary and so therefore she was accepted into the two best universities in the country. I became good friends with her in a very short time and I was eager to see how she was getting along on college campus in Kampala. Anna didn’t know we were coming so she was ecstatic when we arrived at her dorm room. She’s living in a room about half of the size of a typical dorm room in the United States and she shares it with another girl. The room has just enough space for two beds and a small stove for cooking. There is no closet, so they just have to hang their clothing from a few nails that have been hammered into the walls. Their extra clothing stays in their suitcases that barely fit under their beds. I noticed right away that she’s lost quite a bit of weight since leaving Bishop Asili just a few months ago. Anna says she doesn’t really have time to cook for herself. Her classes start at 7a.m. every morning and she has no idea where on campus her class will take place. She has to wake up at 5:30am and immediately head for a message board that will tell her where her class is to take place. If she isn’t one of the first people to reach her class then she has to stand outside the classroom and peak through the windows for the lesson because there are not enough chairs for all of the students. Kyambogo University (second to the best in the entire country) has no books or library for her courses. She can’t afford to buy the books for her courses because there are eight of them and they cost over 100,000/= per book. The best university in the country (Makarere) has the books in a library, but there are few and must be shared by all of the students for two universities. Anna spends any time that she isn’t in class at the library in Makarere, which is easily an hours walk away or more from her dorm room so that she can read the lectures and chapters that are assigned to her by her professors. Most of her assignments must be typed as well, which means she has to spend hours waiting for a computer to open up so that she can complete her work. I’ve never seen her happier!!!! For all of the challenges she has to go through every day she really had no complaints! She’s just happy to be given the chance to study! She’ll take what she can get! Oh how we take so much for granted in the United States!! I was so happy to see Anna! She gives me hope for the future of Uganda! That light I’m always keeping my eye out for just shoots out of her!

Left to right: Toby (the driver’s) daughter Rebecca, Anna, Tessa

Left to right: Anna, Night (cook at Bishop Asili), Lucy (nurse at Bishop Asili), Petra (Anna’s roommate)

Went back to St. Peters Primary School to pick up Williams mother and sister. They had a lovely time eating lunch and catching up with William. We took a few more pictures and said our goodbyes. I love spending time with William and his mother together. I just appreciate how they interact with one another. I like how they have this mutual respect for one another. William is not treated like a child, but as a peer.

Scholarship Program Visiting Day

October 25th, 2008
I visited some of the Just Like My Child Foundation scholarship recipients today at St. Joseph Nsambya Girl’s school in Kampala.
Left to Right: Namata Josephine, Nyangoma rachael, Nalubombwe Josephine

This day was meant to be a relaxing visit with family and friends and so there were no academic reports given. The girls and I hung out in the soccer field and ate lunch. They wrote letters to their sponsors in the United States while watching footballers in the field. We had lots of fun!!

Left to Right: Nalubombwe Josephine, Namata Josephine Nyangoma Rachael writes her sponsor in the United States a letter