One of my friends who was only supposed to be here three months recently decided to stay for an entire year in order to help start a new orphanage. I went to see the current orphanage, Mirenatha, yesterday, and it is in horrible condition. It is being run as an orphanage and boarding school, and the classrooms double as dormitories at night. There are close to 200 children at the orphanage, and they sleep in rooms on mats on the dirt in groups of about 35. The facilities are fairly miserable and without the help of volunteers they will be running out of food for the children at the end of the month. Because of all these things, the government has told my friend, Andrea, that she has their support to find a new facility and take the kids out of Mirenatha. What really inspires me though is how happy all the kids are, and how excited they are to interact with all the volunteers who come. The plan is to start a new orphanage in a year, called Munasa, which means "Sunshine" in Lusoga. While they are buying land and planting at the new location in order to make it self-sustainable, the children will be placed in permanent houses and enrolled in the public schools so that they receive a proper education. I will be helping Andy a lot in the next six months both with caring for all of the children as well as building the new orphanage. It is quite a job though, and we are trying to raise money right now for all of the new facilities.
Anyone who is interested in contributing to this cause should check out the ELI website, where currently all donations to will go directly to Mirenatha for buying new beds and paying for food for the kids, as well as getting money to build the new orphanage. If you would rather not contribute through ELI but wish to help the cause, please contact me personally and we can figure something out. You can see from the pictures just how bad the conditions are, so hopefully we can get these kids to a better place soon.
Besides that, I did another project in the village today, called URACOM, working with women and children affected by AIDS on an agriculture project, which was pretty impressive. There are tons of farms, a fish pond, as well as craft production, and those involved with the project sell the products in markets. I look forward to helping out with many of the agriculture products and getting to know the people involved. Hope everyone is well!
-Hilary
Bedroom and classroom at Mirenatha (Sleeps 35!)
Mirenatha courtyard and cooking area
Bedroom at Mirenatha
Kids dancing and singing at Mirenatha
African sunset
2 comments:
Hilary... great to know of your good work! I was just near where you are... in Mbale and the small village of Bunabumali, at the base of Mt. Elgon.
I was there to donate sewing machines and taught how to make hammocks. These hammocks would be perfect beds for the new orphanage. They are cheap and easy to clean. If a child wets the bed, no problem.
I have a blog sharing this project at http://stitchugandatogether.blogspot.com/
and suggest we connect through facebook if you use that: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=906200533
Lots of photos from Uganda are posted at our FB group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2408133160
I'll share your blog with that FB group too. Thanks for all your efforts!
-Cor
Nice fill someone in on and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Thanks you on your information.
Post a Comment