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From the Ground Up
Jinja women to build a new community of their own
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Women from the Jinja beader group are saving money from their businesses to build decent homes in a new community of their own.
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With your help, about 100 women from the small Ugandan city of Jinja have been working hard to lift their families out of poverty.
These families were displaced by the 20-year LRA war. Many of the women lost husbands, children and other family to the war, accidents, and illnesses like HIV and malaria. They've been forced to live in make-shift huts constructed from little more than cardboard or dirt in some of the poorest parts of Jinja.
But with the help of Outreach Uganda supporters like you, they've made real progress. The women set up a formal structure with a board, committees and a general assembly. They are registered as a community-based association. They're getting business training and earning income from their beading and other ventures. With their earnings they created a revolving loan fund to help the entire group, and they're saving money to build safe, modern homes in a community they can call their own.
The women found ideal land for their homes. But land in Jinja is expensive and they need more money than they've been able to save. Although the women and Outreach Uganda have accumulated $40,000 so far, another $10,000 is needed quickly. The owner is moving and wants to sell now.
We've set up a Global Giving campaign to raise the $10,000. This is a unique opportunity for Outreach Uganda supporters to help create something very special. An anonymous donor will match your initial gift if you sign up as a new monthly donor through the campaign. So your gift will have twice the impact.
If you can please help the women and children of our Jinja group with this hurdle, they will not only have real houses, they'll have an entire community to call home.
 | The Jinja women are $10,000 away from leaving scattered slums and creating a community of safe, modern homes like this one, together.
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Latigo Grace heads up the subgroup for Pittek women who are HIV positive. She says the land, and the community the women will build there, will make an even bigger difference for women with HIV. She points out that the women in her subgroup are more likely to get advice, treatment, friendship and support once they are living close to each other in their new community.
"If we have a good house . . . if you're sleeping in a comfortable bed and your roof isn't leaking, you can think positively, you can do business. If we have that . . . We shall live for many more years to come," she says.
Joy Otim is the chairperson of Pittek's board of directors and also their business trainer. She says the women of the group are suffering because they can't go back to where they belong. Building their own community will give the women and their families a new place to belong.
"If they can get that land, that would be the best thing you can do. So we forget about the problems. If you can help Outreach Uganda and get this land, you will have helped very many people, the ladies and their children," says Joy.
Please visit the Global Giving campaign page for more information or to make a contribution now.
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