First few weeks

During the first few weeks, I loved spending time with the children at Ruth Mother Care School and Nabulagala. They have grown up so much in a year! It is so amazing to be able to see the children
grow up as it is now almost three years since I first met them. Barely toddlers are now big children and baby brothers and sisters are now big three year olds themselves. I am so happy to see that
many of the children who were in our catch up education classes for children not in school during our gap year are now able to go to school.

The SCU team do an incredible job continuing to run the catch up education class for two days a week and the children's club on Friday.

Please continue to pray for the community as the families face many challenges there on a daily basis. When helping in catch up class, I had to take one boy out of the class because he was crying
because he was hungry. It made me think back to how just two weeks before I had been at a Cambridge May ball with an absolute abundance of delicious food. Whilst there is nothing wrong with a fun night like that, it brought home again the reality of the inequality in the world and broke my heart anew. Please pray for funding for SCU to be able to give the children a breakfast of porridge before they start the classes as it is very hard for the young children to concentrate and learn anything from the classes on an empty stomach.

The older section of kid's club

Junior

Fatuma

Also, due to plans changing at the last minute I got the chance to visit Wakisa Ministries home for pregnant girls where I volunteered last year. Whilst all of the girls I got to know last year
have given birth and moved on from the centre, it was great to see the staff again and be able to talk to a new set of girls about how God sees them and their baby and the plans He has for them.
It is incredibly humbling and joyful to see the dreams that many of the girls have for themselves and their babies and how God has used tragic circumstances to change them for good. He makes ashes
into beauty!

Raising Teenagers

On my first day working with Raising Teenagers, I was privileged to be able to attend a meeting with the Ugandan government Ministry of Gender and different NGOs that work around the country to
end child marriage at Imperial Royal Hotel in the city with Hope Nakunda, the founder and director of Raising Teenagers. It was so fascinating to see how the government is partnering with these NGOs
to create a national strategy to end child marriage and how they want to be working in every district in Uganda and not just the urban areas where it is easier to reach. I am praying into pursuing a career in development, so this was also a really valuable insight into the role of government and policy makers in tackling the problems that the country faces.

The other few days that I have worked with Raising Teenagers, I have visited several schools to talk to girls about the importance of staying in school and working to achieve their dreams and many
other educational topics. The work of Raising Teenagers is so important because many girls drop out of school, mainly at the end of primary school or before completing secondary school.

One reason for this is that some girls are forced into early marriage by their families for economic reasons. Sometimes this problem is exacerbated by the issue of manging menstrual hygiene. Some families believe that a young woman is ready to leave her family, get married and have children when she begins menstruating. With marriage, comes the end of her education.

Menstruation can have a huge impact on the educational attainment of girls because according to a UN study, girls miss 10% of school days because they don't have the correct products to be able to manage from school. That means that even if the girls manage to pay school fees to stay in education and avoid early marriage, their chance of reaching their full academic potential is limited as they are put at a huge disadvantage by missing so much of the teaching content.  Also, some girls are groomed by older men who tell them that they will provide sanitary products for them if they agree to a relationship with them.

Therefore, Raising Teenagers visits primary schools in Kampala and the surrounding rural districts to teach girls about all aspects of menstrual hygiene. They are then given reusable pads from Afripads that can last up to three years and help to keep girls in school by allowing them to manage their menstrual cycle hygienically and discreetly. One thing that I love about Raising Teenagers is that they not only educate the girls, but also talk to the boys so that they understand that the changes their peers go through in puberty are just as normal as the ones they also go through and teach them how they can support their friends to stay in school.

It is a joy to see a sea of hands excited to answer when I ask the girls about their dreams for the future. I've met aspiring doctors, lawyers, singers, nurses, bankers.... I know that when these girls are empowered to stay in school by their passionate teachers and the work of the Girls Matters clubs, that they have every chance of achieving whatever they want to do in the future.




Talking to girls at a primary school

Hope Nakunda with one of the prefects at the school

The girls eager to talk about their dreams and ambitions

Having fun with Hope's daughter talking about her dreams in the car from school


 

The Raising Teenagers office

I also got to sit in on a meeting with the Girls Not Brides Uganda network meeting where they were trying to organise a Girls Not Brides campaign event. It is amazing to see how local partners working on the ground are working so hard and are so passionate about ending this global issue.



Yimba Uganda

The first day I worked with Yimba was registration day for the students. I was able to help with registering the students and explaining the expectations of them during the course. There are two
classes of ten students, with one class held in the morning and one held in the afternoon.

Later in the week, I taught the girls about setting SMART short term and long term goals through a variety of different games and activities during class times. It is important that they think about the long term vision for what they want to achieve both by the end of the course and in the future using the skills that they have learnt. One example of this is that we discussed the attributes a successful business woman would need and how they can help to learn and improve these skills during their year with Yimba, such as budgeting, good customer service skills and proficiency in the English language.

 It was great to see how ambitious the girls are and to have the chance to encourage them that they can achieve these goals by planning, working hard and using the unique skills that God has given each of them.

Explaining to the students, their parents and husbands
about the menstrual hygiene packs they will make for
their tuition

The Yimba compound

Prayer

 

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me!

 

Please pray for:

 

- The students at Yimba Uganda to settle in to their new course, particularly for those girls who do not speak either English or Luganda.

- That God will give me the right words as Hope and I talk to girls in schools across Kampala.

- For continued safety whilst travelling.

- For God to give me wisdom and strength, as I often have very long days here.

- For the coming time serving with YWAM Jinja.

Back in Uganda for 11 weeks

This is my third trip to Uganda and I am so happy and grateful to be back. I am so thankful to God for providing for me and I want to make the most of the opportunity I have to serve here this summer. I know that this is the last long summer university holiday that I have and that making a longer term trip will only get harder once I graduate.

Why have I chosen to do what I am doing?

The first 2 weeks- Visiting ministries that I worked with during my first two trips. I visited Ruth Mother Care school, helped with Smile Charity
Uganda's children's work at Family Believers Church in the Nabulagala community and taught Bible class at Wakisa Ministries home for pregnant girls.
I chose to use the first few weeks to do that in order to catch up with friends and children that I have created a relationship with and see
how these ministries have developed.

Working with Yimba Uganda and Raising Teenagers-

Last year whilst working with the young women staying at Wakisa Ministries for the duration of their pregnancies, I got to know some of the girls and their stories personally. I learnt that many of the situations that the girls found themselves in could have been prevented through better
social education to keep girls in school, teach them about relationships and God's plan for them and personal safety. Therefore, I wanted to work with a ministry that aimed to teach girls these things and give them skills that can help them to provide for themselves.

Raising Teenagers works with teenagers in schools around Kampala to support their transition into adulthood, with a particular focus on ending child marriage, keeping girls in school and teaching about menstrual hygiene to ensure that they do this. They do this through Girls Matters Clubs in schools which run at lunch time and after school to teach girls to increase their self esteem and confidence, safety tips, the importance of education and give out reusable menstrual hygiene packs in order to help them to stay in school.

Whilst Raising Teenagers is run by a Christian and has a distinctly Christian ethos and I can share my faith with the girls, it is not specifically missional or faith based. There are currently no Christian based organisations that work specifically with teenage girls in the same way as Raising
Teenagers do and I would like to learn from the work they do to see the potential of setting up a specifically Christian organisation with a similar set up in the future.

 

 

 

Yimba Uganda is a Christian charity working to equip Ugandan youth with sustainable income generating skills and support their personal development. They currently do this through offering a one year tailoring course to youth in the Makindye area in Kampala. Instead of paying school fees, the students are required to make a certain number of reusable menstrual hygiene packages to be given out to girls in rural areas to help them stay in school.

One of the major challenges that Uganda faces is high youth employment with a very young population. The unemployment rate for those 18-30 years is around 64% and it can be hard for those from low income backgrounds and those who have not completed school to access vocational training.

I wanted to see how Yimba Uganda works with their students to help them to not only become good tailors, but also good business managers and empowered young people.  They have just started their third year of classes and many of the students from the first two years of classes are now supporting their families through their small tailoring businesses, for example by supporting their families in paying rent or paying for their children's school fees.

 

Working with YWAM Hopeland Jinja and Divine Holistic Ministries

I will be staying in Jinja for three weeks working with these two ministries. I enjoyed working with YWAM Hopeland last year working with a variety of different ministries such as a centre for street children, Women of Hope Groups for HIV positive women from local villages, runninng devotionals and worship in Jinja prison and helping at a home for children with disabilities. I am excited to spend more time with friends there made last year.

As I really loved helping with the Women of Hope groups last year, I decided to work with the expansion of that ministry on the other side of town. Fred and Judith were the founders of the groups at Hopeland but they have now expanded it into a seperate ministry that visits different villages everyday. I am excited to see the community at Divine Holistic Ministries and learn more about how they minister to women in rural areas.

Visiting Kapchorwa

Kapchorwa is in the east of Uganda on the border

I will be visiting my friend Delmark and his family in the Kapchorwa region. I first met Delmark when he came to England as part of a church partnership that my old church had with
their home church in Kutung. I owe a lot to Delmark and Moses because it was them who first talked to me about Uganda and I believe that was when God first started to put Uganda on my
heart. Isn't it amazing that ten years later I'm finally going to visit their home? God's plans are so much better than our own. I will be visiting the projects that Delmark works on
there to prevent Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) there because it is a border region where girls are more vulnerable to it, visiting his church and also hiking up the waterfall Sipi Falls!




Main prayer points:

- Safe travel around, particularly when using boda boda motorbikes and travelling back home at night.
- That God will give me a servant's heart when working with  people and that He will use me for His kingdom.
- That I will know God is with me in all circumstances and that He is the one who equips me.
- For me to learn from my local friends and colleagues and have cultural sensitivity.
- For the development of old and new friendships. This is the first time I will be going out without any of the other two girls from my gap year team, and previously that has been important in
talking to them about cultural barriers etc.

Thank you so much for all your prayers- I really appreciate them!

Serving at Wakisa Ministries

 

 

For the last two weeks I have been working at Wakisa Ministries in Namirembe and I will be working there for another week when I return to Kampala from Jinja. Thank you to all of those that I have been touch with who have been praying for me.

It has been such a wonderful and rewarding but challenging experience. It has been great to spend time with the girls there and get to know them. Many of the girls have very difficult backgrounds and stories that led them to Wakisa, which are heart breaking to hear. The youngest girl they have at the centre currently is thirteen but the youngest they have had there is ten. Due to the trauma which these girls have experienced, they are offered regular counselling from Christian counsellors. The stories of transformation that I have heard are remarkable. God is moving at Wakisa.

I have been doing a variety of different things at the centre to help the long term full time staff. For the first few days I was mainly observing the different classes that the girls had. On my first day, I arrived at 9AM and put wellies on straight away to join them in their agriculture class to dig. It has been a case of being flexible to turn my hand to wherever I am needed :) .


Thank you to Aunt Vivian, the rest of the staff team and the girls for making me feel so welcome.

 

Agriculture class- Wakisa have a small garden down the road from the centre where they grow food like cabbages, potatoes and lettuce that are then eaten at the centre. The girls learn agriculture theory in the classroom and then learn how to cultivate the crops in the garden. When they leave the centre, some of the girls choose to pursue agriculture as a business or for subsistence after learning these skills, especially if they come from village areas. 

1. 

 

Life skills class- In this class, the girls learn many practical skills to help them and their future children lead productive and healthy lives. They learn about health, hygiene, diet, relationships. Some of the classes I have participated in include nutrition, sickle cell disease, how to wash properly and healthy relationships. 

Textiles class- The girls learn to see by hand and by machine and to knit. The first week they were seeing together blanket squares that have been donated to the centre. The second week they were making baby dresses and the girls showed me how to make a hemline using simple hand stitches. The skills they learn can be used to learn a living as a seamstress or as a basis for further training.

The Wakisa gift shop where the crafts and textiles the
girls make are sold.

 

 

 

 

Art and craft class and candle making The girls learn how to make a variety of crafts, including paper bags, paper beads, head handbags and woven baskets. The crafts which are made are sold in the gift shop in the compound when visitors come, which gives the girls hope that they can earn a living from these crafts once they leave the centre. The products are truly beautiful! I am amazed at the skill and patience that the girls have in making them. Working with my hands is not my strong suit so I admire anyone who is good at crafts but I managed to make the folded paper bag. 

Antental and infant care- The girls learn about pregnancy and how to take care of themselves whilst they are pregnant. I have also accompanied them for antenatal vaccinations and scans at the nearby Mengo Hospital. It was a joy to see the excitement of the girls at seeing their scans. The other part of this class is learning how to care for their babies well as they grow up, which is especially important because infant mortality is fairly high in Uganda.

 

Bible study class-  Wakisa is a Christian centre that aims to show the girls the love of Christ and the Bible study class helps them to learn more about the Christian faith. They also have a visitor who teaches the Alpha course, which introduces the basics of the Christian faith to them. 

One Bible study class looked at our identity in God. At the end, everyone had a piece of paper attached to their back and had to write positive encouraging things about other people in their back. It was really wonderful to see the encouraging things that were written and the joy this brought to the girls. Many of them come from abusive backgrounds that have caused low self esteem. I am so thankful for how God is working in these girls hearts to show them that they are beloved daughters of God through Wakisa.

Also, I led another session on what God promises about their unborn children. The focus was on Psalm 139 and other Bible verses that show God knew us and had a plan for us before we were even born. After studying what God has to say about their babies, each of the girls chose a verse that they wanted to declare over their baby's life. They wrote this in the middle of paper and then wrote their prayers for their baby around it. As many of their babies were originally unwanted or unexpected, with some of the girls planning abortions before Wakisa, it was amazing to see the love for their babies that was poured out into their work and what they were praying for their lives. 

 

 

 

 

 

English class- The English proficiency of the girls varies greatly. Some of them have learnt English well in school before they were forced to drop out due to pregnancy, whilst others have never been taught English formally because they have never been in school or had a limited education. The English class helps them to improve their conversational skills. I have been teaching them proverbs and idioms. The idioms especially result in much laughter. We have had great fun acting out and making conversations using idioms such as 'we're all in the same boat.'

Cookery class- The girls cook their meals for themselves at the centre on a rota. The cooking class teaches them how to make these meals, including matooke and gnus sauce, chapattis, rice and beans. They also learn how to make other foods that they can cook in the future or in a business such as chocolate biscuits, doughnuts and pancakes. I loved joining in with the chapatti cooking class and learning how to use a charcoal stove to cook them using your hands. I also loved eating what was made!!

One of the girls who gave birth this month plans to start a cookery business with the skills she learnt at Wakisa.

chapatti making

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A birth- One of the girls that I got to know in the first week gave birth to a healthy baby boy in the second week. I had the pleasure of meeting him before her father came to collect her. Thank you God for a safe delivery!

Helping Aunt Vivian- I have also been working in the office at Wakisa to help the director Aunt Vivian. I have been helping to edit her newsletter and to write a book for young people on healthy relationships. I have enjoyed having the chance to be creative and write. I hope that what I have worked on will help the girls and others across Uganda.

Please pray for:

 

• For the mother and baby who just left the centre- that their will be healing of family relationships and that she will settle well into motherhood.
• The health of the centre.
• For me in my ministry with these girls for a week in a few week's time.
• For Aunt Vivian as she continues to write the book on relationships.
• My travel over the weekend to work with YWAM Jinja