Photo by Daniel Juare

This past October we celebrated our 5th Annual Gala: A Hand Up, Never A Hand Out at El Cortez in San Diego, California. We are happy to report that we were just shy of reaching our goal of $300,000.  We would love to reach this and even go beyond, please continue to read to see how you can help.

The evening could not have been made possible without the generosity of El Cortez for its fabulous space as well as all guests present. MBK Associates went above and beyond to ensure a beautiful event occurred and Jared Cohen, our keynote speaker and founder of Google Ideas was the icing on the cake.

Mr. Cohen spoke of the huge impact technology is having in Africa and how we will all benefit from the growth of entrepreneurship and creativity on the continent while embracing their innovation. Our Master of Ceremonies Joseph McClendon III was amazing and on fire. Our other guest speakers Brendon Burchard (Global Humanitarian Sponsor) and David Smotrich, MD (Donor of The Smotrich Kitchen) were fantastic and helped emphasize the importance of our Hand Up and Never A Hand Out philosophy in developing countries such as Uganda.

Photo by TRJ Photography

We honored three very talented and important women who have supported Just Like My Child extensively. Dr. Puja Shah was honored as a woman changing the world in the category of children’s health because of the tireless work and effort she has put forth at the Bisop Asili Hospital dental cllinic in Luwero, Uganda; we honored Monica Nyiraguhabwe for her work empowering girls who’s voice would often never be heard without her help; and we also honored Judith Akware, our extraordinary head teacher at The Children’s Academy for the Collective Heart. Judith has chosen, against all odds, to be different, we celebrate the life-saving differences she makes in our communities. We honored these women for their astounding work and contributions to The Just Like My Child Foundation.

Photo by Daniel Juare

Professional entertainment provided by Pro Motion Entertainment and Rezident Management was incredible and the food was memorable.  Fiscal Sponsors and donors of food and beverage include: The Burchard Group, The Collective Heart, Bert Lei Family Jewelers, The Lost Abbey, Bice, Magners Irish Cider, The Cosmopolitan Restaurant and Hotel, Solare, Culinary Concepts, searsucks, Mitch’s Seafood, Catalina Offshore Products, Coast Catering by Barry Layne, Stone Brewery Co., Twin Treats, Nika, Cien Anos, Cupcakes Squared, Sweet Thoughts, Todd Ichinaga, Green Beans Coffee, and Sushi James.

Photo by TRJ Photography

We had the best photographers in San Diego to capture the evening and make everlasting memories: Daniel Juare Photography, Christalle Clear Photography, and TRJ Photography.

I hope I didn’t forget anyone. Thank you everyone for the awesome turnout and supporting Just Like My Child Foundation. Also, please help us reach our final goal of $300,000 by donating here. Small or large amounts go a very long way in rural areas of Uganda and assist us with showing Ugandans how to create sustainable businesses, educate children and adults, and maintain healthcare, to name a few.

Wekembe!

George William

Construction Supervisor

George William was the fabrication Genius behind JLMCF’s Universal Education Program. He worked with our Project Coordinators to create school building plans and then transforms those creations into safe and shining learning environments where eager and knowledge hungry Ugandan children can thrive.

George William was a person whom you would never hear gloat, but we will not hesitate to brag about the wealth of experience that this accomplished man brought to our team. A moment in his presence told the story of an individual with a steady and true wisdom that comes with years of life and building experience. He was well known and respected within the communities we serve and came highly recommended by our Project Coordinators. Before joining us on our first ever school building project, George William worked for decades in building schools with Plan International. He never failed to continually design feasible and appropriate blueprints, budgets and plans that incorporate JLMCF’s methodology and vision. He commanded a quiet respect within every community he worked with, while at the same time setting an essential standard for ethical building practices. George William had a knack for transforming perceived community constraints and limitations into opportunities for creative building solutions. He acted as a professional mentor and guide to both skilled labor and unskilled volunteers, who were contributing to the building process with an aim to achieve capacity building, community ownership and participation. Since joining our team as Construction Supervisor in 2008, he had proven an efficient builder, maintaining quality and safety, while still coming in under budget, which allowed for JLMCF to spread our resources across a larger population of communities in need of school buildings. George William had a gift for turning our big ideas and inspirations into real life sanctuaries for learning. Our favorite grandfather who certainly got the job done will be greatly missed and always honored.

George William’s capacity building contributions to our programs and his expert building plans will continue to be drawn upon by JLMCF. Our school building projects are currently being carried out by his skilled apprentice, Mr. Akwong Janan Wilson, who has now graduated to Construction Supervisor through George William’s guidance and support.

Sara and Maria

Todd was a Peace Corps volunteer in Armenia training and consulting with local non-profits on project management using a gender lens and educating teachers and children on environmental issues.

Todd’s professional experiences inspired her to dedicate her career to serving marginalized groups and advocating for justice, which makes her a perfect fit with Just Like My Child Foundation’s initiatives and goals.

Todd also has a personal blog called My Life in Uganda.

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.

In Luwero district in rural Uganda, we are so excited that a new partnership with Heifer International will bring even more dignity and “wekembe” to our families. Over the next three years 740 families will receive goats and vegetable, bean and nut seeds and fruit seedlings for passion fruit, oranges and mangoes. We can already see those new trees blossoming along with this project!

The 740 families join 20 other families already benefiting from Just Like My Child’s Project Grace Initiative. Project Grace empowers rural Ugandans to create and sustain businesses.

The 740 families help support about 5000 men, women and children in this area of rural Uganda. They will be trained in animal husbandry, building and managing the animal pens, business building/savings, and other skills. As their businesses and animals grow, the families will proudly pass on more goats and business acumen to other families in Heifer’s “Pass on the Gift” model.

Anatolia will be one of our first Project Grace superstars to help other families succeed. When we first met Anatolia, all she wanted was the freedom to live out the rest of her days in peace. Now she has a bright future and enough money to pay for her children’s education. Anatolia has bred and sold two pigs – for a $30 profit. She’s wisely re-invested most of her profits into other pigs and pens to grow her business. She shows her children each day what empowerment looks like.

“My dream now: to build up my project to a level that I can provide for my family for generations to come,” Anatolia says. “I want to ensure that my children and grandchildren are happy and healthy and have the opportunities for a good education. I’d also like to repair my family home, so it’s suitable for my family far into the future. I am now confident that we will all have access to proper hygiene, health care and good nutrition.”

Now that’s what we call “Wekembe!”

Many in Jillian’s community in the Luwero district north of the capital of Kampala have long given up of the hope of any justice. They assume that the laws only exist to protect the wealthier in Kampala, where 95 percent of Ugandan attorneys live.

But Jillian’s wiser and more empowered. She knew about her rights because her community had participated in our game-changing, groundbreaking Project Justice program.

John Baptist provides training to guardians on creating a Will in Kikoiiro

Project Justice provides rural Ugandans with greater knowledge of and access to judicial information and processes to strengthen the legal safety net, especially for vulnerable women and children, like Jillian (not her real name). Now she is protected, no longer living at home and has escaped an early marriage- if not much worse.

In rural Uganda, most people remain ignorant of most criminal and civil laws and how to uphold them. Couples don’t even know if they are legally married. They view their children, as “property” yet does not know if they even legally own their land and homes. They lose hope and are vulnerable to crime, anarchy, and terrorism.

We demand and work for change. With the African organization FIDA, weaving in legal and medical personnel and community members, we’ve helped people protect themselves from crime, fraud, and abuse by investing in:

• Paralegal training of legal and medical personnel (more than 1,000 trained so far in 50 rural communities)
• Processes that allow people to immediately access counseling, medical and legal intervention, and report all crimes to the legal authorities
• Practices that allow the expedition of the collection of proper medical evidence, reporting, documentation, and legal prosecution according to Ugandan laws
• Personal training so people feel empowered, confident and secure in seeking legal help

It’s hard for us to imagine the legal and human atrocities that constitute daily reality in Africa. Yet they also represent an opportunity for widespread cultural change. Where rape is often not considered a crime or women are tossed out of their homes for not cooking well, we have to stop looking away. Where children are often viewed as property, or forced as young as 12 into prostitution—we have to act now.

The world won’t change and people won’t claim and exercise their rights if the legal system and widespread access to it doesn’t. Help us fuel this justice movement at Just Like My Child Foundation.

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!!

We went to many of the holiest cities in the North, including Rishikesh made famous by The Beatles. They wrote many songs during the brief time they were there, including “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road,” – a paean to the many monkeys who do whatever they want “in the road.” We also traveled to Haridwar, and to the ultimate in overwhelming Indian chaos: Varanasi.

Varanasi is famous for its “burning ghats” – funeral pyres along the banks of the River Ganges where holy pilgrims come to die so they can have their ashes released in the Holy (and dirty) Ganges.

It is fantastically surreal and challenges everything we think we know about death, spirit, and the importance of a sanitary environment.

Throughout India, men who have taken a vow of poverty to pursue spiritual transcendence are revered as a national treasure – the soul of India’s collective body.

But my most spiritual moment did not come in the presence of a Holy Sadhu, but rather through the radiance of a simple woman who had likely spent her entire life’s savings to travel to Varanasi. On this day, she joined tens of thousands of women on the banks of the Ganges for “Women’s Day” – a holy day to celebrate motherhood and the power of the feminine.

When I met her, she was freshly bathed in the Ganges, her head just shaved as she offered the only thing of value she owned to the river of life – her beautiful hair.  In her eyes, I saw deep serenity; radiance and oneness that resulted from her pilgrimage and sacrifice.

The buoyancy of her spirit was so large and happy that I imagined she was taller than me as I posed by her to take a photo. I was stunned when I looked at my photos later that night and realized that I dwarfed her by nearly a foot!

She is the spirit that I conjure up each day when I bring attention to my own spiritual core. I won’t leave my yoga practice until I bow to the full radiance of her feminine power.

She is the spirit that I bring to our Project Justice work and our Girl Power Project: fully maternal, fully fierce, fully loving, fully healing. This spirit can, will, and has healed the planet.

On Thursday, October 13, at our fifth annual gala, we will pay homage to this fierce and healing feminine essence as we honor three amazing women who sacrifice and love every day in order to bring joy and empowerment to others. Read below about one of our amazing honorees: Monica Nyiraguhabwa, leader of our Girl Power Project. She is power and grace in action!

Please join us for a Hand Up, Never a Hand Out.

Namaste!

This was your first trip to Uganda, did you have any expectations or fears? Anxieties?

I went to Kenya a few years ago, my first experience in Africa being from busy Nairobi, Mombasa, a small fishing village on the coast and it’s adjacent island just a short canoe ride away. So, I got to see a lot – children begging for coins and food in the city, Nairobi’s slum, the beautiful lush landscape along the coast and the resourcefulness providing many with shelter and food.

Before I visited Uganda for the first time, I didn’t have any expectations, fears or anxieties – mostly curiosity. I was curious how similar (and different) Uganda would be compared to Kenya – both in culture, food, landscape, and the smell. I really looked forward to meeting everyone I’ve seen in photos and video from my three years with JLMC – the scholarship students, the doctors and nurses, the teachers and community leaders behind our school-building projects, and seeing Sister Ernestine in action.

What was your first impression when you finally landed?

My first impression … FINALLY here! The best part of exiting the airport was the smell of Africa. Like warm, dusty earth with a tinge of smoking wood (okay, and a little burning rubber). It is so unique Vivian always says it’s her favorite part about Africa. I’d say one of mine, too.

If you had one story to tell about your visit, which one would it be? (First thought that pops to mind)

Definitely witnessing Vivian’s son’s impression of Uganda (and everyone at Asili Hospital) unfold. When we first arrived, we spent a day recovering from jet lag and prepping for the week ahead of us. I think it was unusual for him to spend the day without an itinerary. He’s used to having a schedule, and does really well when he knows what the day ahead of him looks like. Our first day we had no itinerary and there were a few afternoons like this, when his mama and others were planning strategically and not available to keep him company. But he adjusted quickly, spending many afternoons reading, gathering mangos, exploring Asili Hospital grounds or playing ball into the sunset with neighbor children outside.

Also, seeing Maria de-feather a chicken for dinner. You don’t get to see that everyday. I made the mistake of telling Zak to come watch. He was interested, but then later lost his appetite for dinner that night. hehe.

If someone were to visit Uganda what tips or tricks would you share with them?

1. Bring a reusable water bottle and get your hands on a few gallons of purified water from the local market. It was hot and dusty when we were there, cause for reassurance to know you’ve got hydration in your pocket when out in the bush.

2. Wash your hands and eat the food. It’s delicious, especially the meats!

3. If you want to speak to locals and learn about them – Learn the greetings – either in the local language or what it would translate to be in English. Ugandans have a long greeting sequence, no matter between a formal or casual interaction. It’s like a standard song sung between two people greeting each other, and goes something like this:

asking how was the day,
thanking each other for the work they do,
asking if they are at peace,
asking how is life,
and asking how the family is doing.

This exchange would go back and forth between both parties. And then after, you’d get to what’s really happening in life.

Whether it happens in English or Luganda, it happens. When Ugandans greet non-Ugandans, I noticed that they abbreviate their standard greeting a bit to apply better to visitors. The sisters do this especially well, as they are used to seeing visitors quite frequently.

But I think it’s good to understand how Ugandans greet each other, how to introduce yourself and get a conversation going. It’s not like it is here, where you can say your name and small talk about anything. There’s definitely that formality that occurs.

Was there one particular person, event, or moment from the JLMC tribe that stands out most?

Meeting Muwango and his family. He has AIDS, and lost his wife to the disease. Now it’s just him and his five children. He and his family participate in our Project GRACE program. It was pretty remarkable to meet a family benefitting from our work half a world away. It was the hope and joy in his eyes and his humble graciousness that really touched me. That his young girls and boys wouldn’t go hungry – and even have the chance to go to school. To enter his home and see how proud he was of his work. It was so inspiring.

What was an average day like for you?

Awesome. Waking up early (I had a rooster right outside my window), putting a few chapters down in the (Harry Potter) book I brought to read, Mangos, Bananas and Black Ugandan Tea for breakfast (everything was labeled “Ugandan ___”: Ugandan Tea, Ugandan Milk, Ugandan Cookies, etc… I took an empty Ugandan Coffee can as a souvenir. and then the day’s itinerary – visiting Project GRACE participants, the school sites, the dental clinic, going-ons at Asili Hospital and sometimes just taking the afternoon nice and easy like a Ugandan: mango in hand, sitting on the front step, smelling the sun go down.

Were the mangoes that great? How many did you eat?

Mangos were awesome – even the “stringy” ones as Puja and Lidia called them. I ate at least one a day. Breakfast and dinner were a fun time because we all gathered around the table for a meal like a family.

The beads are selling upwards of 20+ dollars and range from bracelets to necklaces here on that busy coastal street.  Don’t get me wrong I do love those beads and I wear mine everyday. We here at Just Like My Child Foundation sell  (and sometimes raffle) them at our events to use for our program funding and I often give them as gifts but I would rather give the Ugandan women goats. I would rather give them a business they can grow and sell in their own back yard. This way she can depend on her own destiny and her own business prowess, rather than depending on people half a world a way to continue creating demand for inventory.

The beads will become a commodity here and with a lot of inventory the prices will have to plummet to get rid of the extra pieces, which just furthers poverty in Uganda as well as makes the women and young girls dependent on another’s supply chain. Our purchasing habits are at best fickle and the Ugandan ladies have no control over our buying power. This is why we have teamed up with Bishop Asili Hospital and created Project GRACE. Project GRACE is a microenterprise program that provides a small loan (poultry or livestock, and goats) with intensive training to help create a self-sustaining business that will support Ugandan families.

The beads are beautiful, unique, and not always easy to come by; however, neither are goats in Uganda. Take some time and read about Project GRACE and how we have created sustainable businesses and practices for rural Ugandan families.  You can also send a goat to a family in Uganda, check out how here.  Also, please share with us your thoughts on the subject.