Friends and Family,
So I have some exciting news! One of the local groups we worked with while in Lugazi, The Youth Outreach Mission (TYOM), now has their own blog and you can donate to their organization. TYOM is run by Lugazi's youth who volunteer in the community. Most of them are college students in Kampala but live in Lugazi and during their free time they try to lift and build the community. They assisted me in my hand washing project and translated for the hand washing certification of the vendors in the local marketplace and also for the health lessons we taught to the street kids soccer team. The mission of TYOM is to educate and empower Ugandan youth and to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the hopes of creating an AIDS-free generation. The individuals who founded and run The Youth Outreach Mission are local youth who themselves do not always know where their next meal will come from, and yet, they spend their days serving their community.
“We have little, but others have even less,” Laker
Wilson, President of The Youth Outreach, explained when he told me of an experience visiting a man who lived under a tree behind a school. Wilson gave the man his own shirt and the only food he would have had that day. The Youth Outreach’s dedication to their community and their integrity are qualities rarely seen in Uganda. The picture above shows members of The Youth Outreach (Back left Florance, Laker Wilson-President, Dennis, James, Patrick, Barrack, Sarah, Josephine-Head of Public Health Kawolo Hospital, Robert-Chairman, Front from the left Annet, Luta, Hassan, Paul) as they work on the construction of a well in the village of Geregere to bring in safe drinking water to the people. The government will not provide the finances for such projects. The Youth Outreach raised the money themselves, provided the labor for the project, and is currently attempting to raise the funds to build more wells. Safe drinking water is always a scarce resource in Uganda.
I recognize that we are currently in difficult economic times. But I hope we realize that these times are nothing compared to what these people face in everyday life. I hope that you take an interest in the lives of our brothers and sisters and make it a priority to help support them. Please take time to read about The Youth Outreach Mission on their blog at theyouthoutreachmission@blogspot.com. Because I am so passionate about this organization, I am not hesitant to point out that they do have a “Donate Now” button on the right hand side of the page.
I can assure you that 100% of all donations made to The Youth Outreach will go directly to serving the youth and the community. The Youth Outreach is working on many projects. Here are just a few:
Well Construction-As previously stated, safe drinking water is not readily available. Often, small children are assigned the task of walking miles to the closest functioning well to get the water for the morning and then again for the next meal, laundry, etc. The roads are unsafe for women and children, and the water obtained is often polluted and disease-ridden. Although nearby villages often have wells, they are typically nonfunctional after years of use, and the local governments will not supply the labor or the finances to fix them. It costs approximately 100,000 shillings or $50 to repair a well to bring clean water to support an entire village.
Soccer Outreach-Over 50 orphaned or abandoned children live on the streets of Lugazi alone. These street children are at high risk of being victims of abuse and/or rape and will most likely contract HIV/AIDS due to the harsh lifestyle of the streets. The children are forced to beg, steal, or rummage for food through large trash piles that are common along the sides of the roads in Uganda. These children will never be able to attend school because they cannot pay school fees and therefore will never be able to advance in society. The Youth Outreach Mission provides soccer outreach programs that gather all the street children for a soccer game and then after the game teach the youth a health and education lesson. These children would otherwise never receive these educational lessons. Currently the children play without shoes and usually without eating any meals that day. These are some things that, as an organization, Youth Outreach would like to change. While I was in Uganda, these children began practicing as a team, formed formal teams, and began competing with official teams. Just as I left this summer, our team of street children competed against the top team in their age range and won the title as top team in Uganda. These children not only learned that they have something to gain from working hard but they were also given a family-like structure and something to work for.
Orphanage and School for Street Children-A major goal of The Youth Outreach Mission is to construct and run a safe orphanage for the street children of Lugazi. This home will be a place of refuge for the children and a great educational facility. Many members of The Youth Outreach Mission will work at the home. They hope to have the home supported by a bakery in which students will work shifts to bring in the finances to support the school. The bakery will also be a training center for the youth where they can be taught not only a vocational skill but also receive business training. The initial start-up cost, including the land purchase construction of the building, of the orphanage is approximately 25,000,000 Ugandan shillings or $12,500.
Although the situation in Uganda can be overwhelming, there is hope. I know that The Youth Outreach Mission is a very strong and dedicated organization in which we can put our trust. Thank you for your support of The Youth Outreach Mission. With help from individuals in Uganda and generous individuals in America, we can empower and educate the youth of Uganda, give hope to the abandoned and helpless children, and create an AIDS free generation.
