Making an Impact Through Giving

Happy summer everyone!

This is my second article on my family's summer project - 'Beds for Bombo'. The first article can be found here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/beds-bombo-john-tracy/

Since last week, we’ve raised enough to fund 11 of the 150?families we are aiming to help. Thank you so much for your help! ?We’re on our way!

Of all the projects you could support, what makes this one worth your consideration??

1. Virginia and George will be with the families that benefit from your contributions.?They will be on the ground in Uganda and make sure the funds donated go exactly to the families where the need is greatest and the impact the biggest.?You’ll get to hear directly from them and see the family that benefits from your donation.
2. For the ‘Beds for Bombo’ Project, 100% of all donated money goes directly to the families.?There will be no overhead or expenses paid from the donations.?All donations go to the beds and the associated kit.?We have an expert team on the ground who have been able to negotiate a solid deal on all goods purchased.
3. We’re making a sustainable change that is making a real improvement in the lives of the families.?If you like a good business case, this is it.?Making sustainable change and funding sustainable programs is the key for the effectiveness of investments in charitable causes related to lifting folks’ standard of living.?Through the programs we run, we are working to break the cycle of poverty.?The entire family benefits from their child attending our school.

The point on the sustainability of the work Children of Hope does in Uganda is a key part of our story.

The foundation of Children of Hope is educating the children.?An education is strongly correlated to the future ability of a person to be employed and earn a living.?We have students who have gone on to do great things:

• trades - such as a car mechanics, tailors, shop proprietors, hairdressers.
• professions – such as nursing and social work
• higher education (vocational and university) – such as IT, teaching / education, medical school

All families that we are helping will have at least one child in the schools we run.?The parents of the children in our school typically can’t afford school fees – they rely on sponsorship for sending a child to school. ?But it is often just one child due to the scarcity of sponsorship funds.?In addition, the other children are needed to help the family with taking care of crops, making mud bricks, etc. ?The one child who goes to school is then responsible for teaching his siblings what he learns.?Attending even primary school is an opportunity for these families – the entire family .?And a big responsibility for the sibling that attends school – it is a privilege.

On the medical front, every term, we run a medical program that sees all children receive a health check and testing. Keeping the children healthy greatly improves their ability to be educated – as well as the obvious benefits of a happier, healthier life. ?We deal with issues across a wide spectrum – including HIV and other chronic illnesses.

The Hope Development Project is one of my favourite programs we run.?This is a rural and social development program that involves the entire family.?The project’s goals are to provide life skills and sustainable income for the poorest families in our supported communities.?There are two phases to the program:

• ?The first phase offers lessons in household and personal health, family planning, HIV prevention, budgeting, conflict resolution, problem solving and leadership skills.
• The second phase provides the family with a start-up business – which in most cases is farming goats or pigs.?In this case, they are taught animal husbandry skills – including how to build an animal enclosure. Once their animals have offspring, they then donate one of the offspring to the project so that more families can join.?They even have a savings / micro-lending collective as part of the program where all participants invest some of their income back into helping each other expand their businesses.?

The difference this makes for the families is amazing – it can fill a family with pride and purpose – as well as the obvious benefits of creating a regular income.

Finally, we run a disability group for the parents and impacted children.?Having a disabled child in Uganda can mean loss of income and isolation for the parents – and a lack of care for the child.?We bring the mothers and children together into a support group that allows them to spend time together, have a nourishing meal and understand how to better help their child’s individual disability.

All of this is possible from a team on the ground in Uganda and a UK-based team that supports the projects above.?It might sound a bit lofty, but the work we’re doing is life changing.

Hopefully this week’s article gives a bit more context into our project.?If it appeals to you, we’d be grateful for your support.?After all, we have just 139 families to go!

?Here's the link to support:?https://lnkd.in/eqctwNB3

Thanks for reading.

?John