Let Your Light Shine!!!! Uganda Trip March 9-23

Hand-In-Hand will make its first trip to Uganda beginning March 9th.  I am very excited about the possibility of working with Teach and Tour Sojourners as a lecture at Makerere University.  But more importantly, I am looking forward to spending time in Bugabo getting to know the village.  Hopefully, I will be interviewing the teachers there and brainstorming ideas to make teaching and learning easier and more successful.  Six new teachers, 220 students.  I am just amazed at what has happened in Bugabo.

Mostly, I will just be listening, looking, and learning.  I will be taking tons of video and pictures.  I will be trying to learn as much as I can to help me be of better service in the future.

Although my trip was never funded by external sources, I thank everyone who donated.  I am making up the difference and my flight has been booked!  I could wait no longer.  I will be collection items to take with me for the village.  Christie Cotney will be narrowing down the things that they need personally, and we will be discussing the items needed for the school.

I will have two unused foot-lockers; however, those will fill quickly.  If you would like to make a donation toward shipping an additional foot-locker on the flight, the cost is $200 per container.  Cheaper than International Shipping, really, it is true.  And you know it is going to get there in 2 days, not 2 months!  Any amount would be so appreciated.

P.S.  If you want to send something with me to your sponsored child or to Christie, George, or the Village, email me!

Cool shirts are coming in from many people that support God's Light shining in Uganda.  Here is one of them from C.L.A.P Clothing:

Donated by C.L.A.P. Clothing
http://www.clapclothing.com/affiliates.html

WE ARE GOING TO LET OUR LIGHT SHINE IN UGANDA!

Folk Tales Project Funded

Yipee!  The folk tales project is funded.  Because I have not raised the money for my travels, I have a kind friend who is doing his dissertation in Kampala.  He wanted to experience some of the local culture, "get back in the field," so to speak; so, he has committed to interviewing five tribal elders for me.  He will audio tape the interviews, paying each elder $25.  Remember, many Ugandans live off of $1 a day!  He also has a translator that is going to translate into English.  Our hope is to put the these tales together as a book as sale them to raise money for Humanitarian Projects in the Luweero District of Uganda.

I am so excited about the possibility of preserving Ugandan Culture AND making the money that I need for my first trip.  Thank you to all who have donated!

We still have the Soap Making Training Project and money for my travels, where I will be doing teacher training in Bugabo.  So, please donate.  Peace and Love!

Soap for Hope, PLEASE GIVE

Used Soap Bars from Hotels Are
Often Collected and Distributed to Villages

"In 2004, the World Health Organization found roughly 15 percent of deaths among Ugandan children under age 5 resulted from diarrheal diseases, many of which could be prevented through hand sanitation." -- CDC, MSNBC

Women in Bugabo often suffer the worst, especially if they are left without a means of support for their families: fathers die or leave or are injured for long periods, as in the case with the young man that was hung by his arm in Bugabo.

Soap for Hope is hoping to prevent death and provide economic growth in Uganda,  This is a training project involving an all-natural-from-ash-rainwater-and-animal-fat/oils process that HIH will be taking to Uganda.  We will train 10 women in this process.  Ten families, approximately 50 children will benefit.  This is one way that women like these can provide needed economic support for their families.

Donate to this project, please.  Instead of relying on you to educate, clothe, and feed their children.  These women will be able to be self-sustaining.  One small step, one giant leap for woman-kind...especially in Bugabo.  Click the PayPal link on the Blog.

Following video is a bit long, from the U.S. Department of Centers for Disease Control.  Hygiene is so important in child survival:

REMEMBER "LIVE AID"? Well, think again...

"In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth. In fact, poverty levels continue to escalate and growth rates have steadily declined—and millions continue to suffer. Provocatively drawing a sharp contrast between African countries that have rejected the aid route and prospered and others that have become aid-dependent and seen poverty increase, Moyo illuminates the way in which over-reliance on aid has trapped developing nations in a vicious circle of aid dependency, corruption, market distortion, and further poverty, leaving them with nothing but the “need” for more aid."  -- Review of DEAD AID, by Dambisa Moyo

• HIH seeks to help Uganda become self-sustainable.  
• HIH seeks to see people free from AID. 
• HIH seeks to develop communities with a economic and educational base that can self-sustain schools and community works.
• HIH seeks to preserve the African culture and enhance the image of the African people.
• HIH seeks ALL people to know a loving God through service to His people.

This year HIH's developmental focus is on three projects and the collaboration and preparation for a long-term fourth project.

First, we are working on a study of Buganda Folklore during the month of February.  This information will be published as a book to support the long-term project of a Maize Mill and to provide Library materials for the primary schools in Bugabo.

Second, we are learning how to streamline the back woods soap making process and will carry this trade to the women in Bugabo, as a viable means to support their families and to improve sanitary conditions.

Third, we are carrying educational support in the way of teacher training to 100 teachers in the Luweero and surrounding districts.  These instructional workshops will focus on teaching methods and curriculum development that will prepare teachers to produce students who have the primary skills needed for secondary education, apprenticeship, or trade school.

Fourth, we are preparing for construction and implementation of a Maize Mill in 2012 through conversations with community leaders and stakeholders.

HELP SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT BY DONATING TO HIH.  Your gift will continue to give, and continue to give.  Click the PayPal "Donate" link to your right.  Thank you for building a free world for our children.