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FOR CHILD SPONSORS
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Your gift will make such a difference!
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October Wish List
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Help make wishes come true by donating badly needed program supplies for our Uganda beader groups and the Agwata school and clinic. Your donation of materials helps us stretch cash donations even more.
Current needs include:
- Sanitary pad kits
- Gauze bandages and/or rolls of gauze
- Airline miles donations
- Reading glasses (especially lower strengths)
- Sawyer water purification kit
- Flash drives (any capacity)
- Receiving blankets for babies
- Pillowcase dresses for young girls*
Get more information.
*contact us for patterns
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FOR BEAD & JEWELRY LOVERS
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Tel. +1-303-683-8450
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 GOOD STEWARDS We work hard to keep costs down and make the best possible use of your donations. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Colorado. Our nonprofit taxpayer ID is 26-0767575. |
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Greetings!
Each month, I am amazed by all that has been completed and accomplished. I am equally amazed by everything that is a new beginning. October is no different. In our newsletter this month, we see the fruits of our labors and most especially of your support, as we report on the progress of one of our sponsored students, as we see the hard work of our Kitgum women bearing fruit (or more accurately grains) in their fields, and as we introduce the first child born at our Agwata clinic which opened in June.
Next month we will be reporting on new beginnings with our Jinja home ownership project which is currently being developed, and after that the expansion of our Girls' Education Initiative, and both the Agwata school and clinic.
I hope you will read with interest how your dollars are making a difference in the lives of the women, children and the communities we are empowering. Our journey is not a one-time relief effort, but an on-going partnership with those whom we work, to help them accomplish their goals so that they can escape from poverty forever.
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Carol Davis, President
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Carol Davis
President, Outreach Uganda
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Planting Seeds for Success
$2,900 grant assists Kitgum women in agricultural project
Agriculture in northern Uganda has suffered over the past decade. The war between the Ugandan government forces and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has ravaged the area and disrupted the agricultural livelihood of the community by creating a lack of able-bodied men, a generation gap of farming knowledge and interest, and land disputes between returning farmers.
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Clearing the land, April 2013
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In Kitgum, women from our Rwok-Tek beader group are diligently working past these difficulties to generate income for themselves and their community. With the help of a generous $2,900 grant given to Outreach Uganda by a Boston-area church and the generosity of one of their group members, the ladies acquired a 24-acre lot of land outside of their village, to raise cash crops including simsim (sesame seeds), beans, sorghum and millet. They hand- cleared much of the land and rented a tractor to uproot trees and do the initial plowing. The land had become overgrown during the past 20 years when it lay fallow because of the war. Recently, they purchased four bicycles so the women who are HIV positive (over 1/3 of the group) can more easily reach the garden which is about 8 kilometers away, and still have strength to work. The group will soon construct a granary in which to store their crops until they are able to sell them at good prices.
 | | Kitgum women weeding newly sprouted plants July 2013 |
In the past, Kitgum women had attempted various group business endeavors like raising various farm animals. These attempts were ultimately unsuccessful due to factors such as animal disease and lack of space where they lived. With a majority of the ladies either elderly or HIV positive, this new business venture has been a blessing in a land often wrought with destruction and hardship. Uganda's first rain earlier this season failed; fortunately the ladies had not yet planted their seeds. With the new field plowed and seeds planted, the second rain came in August. Now, we all hope for a successful harvest come December or January. Stay tuned to future newsletters for updates on this farming project's success.
Outreach Uganda' mission is to help empower our bead group women to improve all aspects of their lives so that they can overcome poverty. Sustainable income-generation projects are a key focus of these efforts which are all made possible by the generosity of donors and supporters like you!
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Sew a blanket : Give a gift of love
If you can sew, our Agwata babies need you! Our newly opened health clinic in northern Uganda sees many babies each month. Night-time temperatures, especially during rainy season can easily dip into the 50s. This can be quite cold if you're a baby with no blanket! We are hoping to find a few sewers who would be able to find and re-purpose old flannel sheets into receiving blankets for these young ones. If this sounds like a project for you or your sewing group, please contact Carol or Kate or call 303-683-8450. One blanket can help save a life of a newborn or baby who is sick!  This photo shows Olana Susan (left) who delivered the first baby at the Agwata health center earlier in September. Grace, our nurse/midwife is kneeling beside her. Olana is an executive in our Agwata beaders' group and could afford a blanket for her newborn. Most women of the parish are not so fortunate. But with your help, they could have a warm blanket for their baby and feel the psychological warmth of knowing someone cares for them and their newborn child. |
BEAD CORNER
New bead mixes for Fall
Create your own beautiful and unique jewelry item using our new bead mixes, featuring:
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 | | Mod mix |
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From School Drop Out to Top of the Class
(A Child Sponsorship Success Story)
Okello Richard, sponsored student, credits Outreach Uganda and his sponsor for the support and encouragement that has helped him triumph despite multiple obstacles to his success.
Okello Richard was born in northern Uganda during the time of a terrible war with the Lord's Resistance Army which brought violence and destruction to the region. His family was forced to move into an IDP (internally displaced persons) camp and his schooling was severely interrupted. After years of chaos, they moved once again, this time to Jinja, a city in southern Uganda where it was safe from the war.
Once in Jinja, Richard missed significant time from school and finally quit school altogether because of the family's inability to afford his school tuition. "Excited" was the only word to describe it when, in 2010, he was accepted into Outreach Uganda's child sponsorship program and matched with a caring sponsor. But despite his personal strengths of character and his best efforts at studying, he was unable to overcome his years of missed schooling and was in the bottom of his class academically. Okello was very dejected because as his class rankings sank, the prospects of his going to university grew dim.
Frustrated and seeking guidance, Richard discussed his options with David, the local program director for Outreach Uganda. Ultimately, he decided to pursue vocational training, and in September 2012, Richard enrolled in the Catering and Hotel Management program at the Nile Vocational Institute. One year later, the student who once struggled academically is now one of the best students, and one of the few men, in the program. "I like the course so much that I regret that I did not join earlier," he confides.
Through the Institute, Richard secured a four-month internship at the Nile Resort Hotel, one of the premier hotels in Jinja, where he will receive practical training. His internship started in September and he is enjoying every minute of this opportunity to advance himself.
"I would like to thank Outreach Uganda for the support and encouragement they have given to me," he says, looking towards the future. Eventually, Richard would like to be self-employed and open his own catering business.
The reassuring words of Richard's sponsor also made a great impact. If you would like to help another student like Okello Richard find their path to success and overcome poverty, we have many children of all ages who need sponsors. See children needing sponsors here.
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