Friends, it has been far too long since we have sent out a newsletter. We are grateful for your continued support and hope that you this newsletter gives you a sense of what we have accomplished with your help! The work in Uganda has been continuing and the progress the team has made in 2017 is amazing! New programs have been created and are impacting the two communities that we work in as well as the surrounding areas.

I visited Uganda in March this year and was astounded by the work that had been accomplished since my last visit. The team had expanded the work we do from one community to two and implemented a number of programs that we felt were important for growth and to empower our communities. I saw first hand some of the new programs including my very favorite one to take part in- educating girls on how their bodies work and providing them with supplies to enable them to be at school all month, every month. Prior to this many of our girls missed a week of school each month when they had their periods. It makes equal education difficult when the girls aren't able to attend as much as the boys. I loved talking to them and by the end of our time together they had transformed from shy and nervous girls to talkative and enthusiastic young women. It was amazing.

As I haven't been on the ground since March I wanted to share a more comprehensive update from Dr. Isaac and the team at Tusubira Village.

Hello Kimberly,

Warm regards to you. As we come to the end of 2017, I am pleased to share with you a summary of activities that we have been able to carry on in 2017 at Tusubira village.

Before anything, on my own behalf and on behalf of the team on this side, I wish to register our ever-warm gratitude for your extraordinary commitment and dedication, which has enabled us, have a successful year of impacting communities.

Empowering people through education and inspiration our mission statement has been at the forefront in all our day to day planning and activity implementation. We rely on our mission statement to build towers of hope in the hearts of the hopeless and light a candle of “possibility” in lives of the desiring men and women.

The following activities were undertaken in 2017:

1) Education and skills empowerment

• Carried out career guidance and life skills empowerment in 8 primary schools

• Conducted on-site 3 days business skills training for 40 youth with positive feedback from the participants

• Held 6 finance management classes for women from within our locality

• Carried out health and menstrual hygiene education in 7 primary schools

• Carried out sanitation and hygiene sensitization in our new area of operation in 36 families

• Offered psychosocial support

2) Household food security empowerment

• We have been able to set up and maintain the demo gardens from where people come to learn and get inspired. Some people come on self-invitation, others are invited.

• We have been able to use the yields to earn revenue for sustainability of the demo gardens

• Some yields are used to feed 40 children from the community school (porridge project), a proportion used to support some very poor families like mama Sarah and donating to hospitalized children due to malnutrition

• Given some families, seeds and foliage to plant especially for the Vit A biofortified sweet potatoes

3) Support and donations

• Made and donated reusable sanitary pads to 735 children in primary schools

• Provided school fees and scholastic materials to 10 primary children and three students in secondary school levels.

• Locally mobilized and donated clothes to 680 people in one of our new area of operation

• Offered support by mobilizing funds for hospital bills for a blind boy with congenital glaucoma

4) Tusubira village infrastructure

• Using the monthly donations, we have been able to accelerate progress on the education building. Much work has been finished; the major remaining work is fitting glasses, painting, soak pit, window insect screens, kitchen fitting, and water tank.

• Maintaining the well including repairing of the water tank and installation of more electric short circuit protective gadgets

• Built 6 African grass thatched houses with a total of 13 rooms for accommodating volunteers and guests purposely to generate income for sustainability.

• Planted more trees and demarcated the compound. The compound is now fully maintained and we employed Musoke the husband to Beatrice to work on the compound on monthly pay.

5) Administration

• Held monthly planning and evaluation meetings

• Visited other organizations to learn and share experiences

• Renewed the organization working permit for five years and widened our area of operation to a radius of 80km

• Daily, weekly and monthly budget monitoring for efficiency under low resource circumstances

• Attended schools parents meetings for schools where our beneficiary children attend.

2017 was an amazing year at Tusubira Village and in the communities we work in. I know that 2018 will be even better! I want you to know that we couldn't do the work that we do without the support of our incredible donors. We are grateful for our monthly donors that allow us to continue to grow our programs and impact these communities in sustainable ways. We are grateful for our donors who give to fundraisers or that think of us throughout the year.

And if you are looking for a place to make an end-of-year donation, we would be incredibly grateful if you would consider The Grow Hope Foundation.

The button below will allow you to either make a one-time donation or sign up as a monthly donor.

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