It's been quite a year

Friends,

It has been over a year since an update and for that I apologize. So much has happened, but life has also felt at times like it is standing still. The program has made so much progress in this past year and so we- Dr. Isaac, Sharon, and I have come together to give you updates on our current programs and the Tusubira compound.

As we are in our 9th year working together, we thought we would give you a bit of backstory as to where we began all those years ago.  

Dr. Isaac and I met in July of 2013 while I was in Uganda taking photographs for another project. We immediately bonded over our shared belief that with education, great change is possible. When I returned home I started The Grow Hope Foundation with my dad’s help (he’s an accountant). Isaac started SCEP- Sustainable Community Education Program in Uganda- and undertook all the necessary steps to create official registered non-profits in our respective countries.  We then began working- Dr. Isaac, Sharon (Sharon is our social worker), and Godfrey (researcher/photographer/information) were running weekly meetings in our community, at first teaching sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition, later teaching how to successfully grow food, and then beginning our many programs on skills training, money management, and business planning. Isaac also purchased our compound which has grown over the years as he has added pieces of land adjacent to ours. We named that compound Tusubira Village- tusubira being the word for “hope” in  Lusoga and Luganda (the local languages) and it has become the place in which we run all of our programs out of.  Meanwhile I began fundraising, creating an incredible team of monthly donors, as well as running specific fundraisers for things like our well and our first building on the compound. We’ve also been blessed with donors who support us annually which has allowed us to do some of the larger projects like our buildings to host our tailoring program, an outdoor kitchen structure to host guests as part of our self-sustainability program, and most recently a 4 wheel drive van to travel to hard to reach communities. 

Our partnership with Tusubira Village has gained clarity over the past two years. While The Grow Hope Foundation has continued to support the programs run on the compound, the Tusubira team has made incredible strides to grow the self-sustainability aspect of the program. 

Self-sustainability has always been the goal of our work. While we will always work in partnership with Tusubira Village, the idea was never to create a dependent relationship. It was to create something that would eventually stand on its own, generating its own income that would in turn fund the programs that we had set up and established. Because as we have said from the beginning, we are not an aid-based organization, we are empowerment based. We will help those in our community gain the skills they need to create their own success story. 

To that end SCEP had built six guest huts to eventually host visitors to the area while they worked for other non-profits, organizations, and churches. However, during the past two years, with no international travel and the country being on such stringent restrictions, the team discovered that those same guest huts could host a variety of gatherings for domestic visitors. Guests from Kampala were excited to discover that within a few hours drive they could find themselves in a beautiful tranquil setting. They began to rent part of the property for engagement parties, baby showers, birthdays, and team building events. Our outdoor dining space has hosted a number of meals, for both overnight guests and day visitors. Recently we’ve had a donor offer to purchase appliances to properly outfit the kitchen, which will be used to prepare meals on a larger scale, thus eliminating the need to hire out for catering when guests are there. This will also offer women in our community the potential to create their own business by offering catering to our guests. We have some pretty amazing cooks in our area. The team continues to add to the compound to build an income-generating business, which in turn supports the programs run on the compound. When guests come they are given a tour and we share with them all that we do through our programs. Dr. Isaac has sent me videos of guests sharing their support and enthusiasm for how their visit supports something that empowers others by offering opportunities they wouldn’t already have. It’s a large component of their business plan and is well received.

When it comes to our programs, the last two years were a challenge. However, the team took the restrictions and worked within them to continue to connect with those we work with as much as possible in hopes that when those restrictions lifted, we would be able to resume our work with our community and the schools we work in. Dr. Isaac and Sharon have shared how those programs weathered the pandemic and where they are now. 

From Dr. Isaac

Hello! I am Dr. Isaac, the program Director at Tusubira Village and the co-founder of The Grow Hope Foundation. I am thrilled to be a part of this life-changing program that has given and restored hope in many lives. In the past nine years the program has had remarkable impact in our communities right from improving access to clean water, reducing the burden of diseases due to poor hygiene and sanitation, improving nutritional status and reducing the burden of malnutrition, especially among children, empowering girls to reduce incidences of sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy, school dropout and missing school during menstruation.

Highly vulnerable women and teenage mothers were empowered to make a foothold into a life of purpose through skills training and providing financial opportunities to start small businesses.

The impact of the programs are remarkable and highly promising to create lifelong socioeconomic transformation even to far reaching communities.

As we take stock of the achievements, we are gratified and we take full notice in every donor for bearing the most kind and generous giving heart. Thank you for the donations that further our mission and the most extraordinary gesture of kindness that draws us close to our goals.

The past two years

During the 1st lockdown of early 2020 most of the programs were put to a halt and efforts were directed to helping the beneficiaries of our work survive during the most unprecedented time. Our school outreach programs for Give Girls A Voice, the Tailoring Program, the Women Business Group meetings, and our Sunday Girls' Program paused for a while as we took time to adapt to and develop new Strategies of Progressing (SOP) amidst the pandemic. Adapting to the new normal enabled us to proceed with the programs with SOPs in place.

Our Programs

Give Girls A Voice 

No doubt, COVID-19 back rolled progress that had been made to achieve gender equality in education. The overall school closure for 2 consecutive years left children at risk of neglect, abuse, exploitation, and gender based violence with most disproportionate effects on the girl child leading to a spike of teenage marriages, pregnancies and an end of their education career especially for girls from families under abject poverty, where access to the most basic needs became absolutely impossible. To mitigate the irreversible devastating impacts of COVID-19 to the girl children in our beneficiary communities, The Grow Hope Foundation steadily supported the provision of basic needs, especially food relief items. Together we also provided sanitary pads to girls in communities and home schooling materials. We also included facilitation of mentors to reach out to groups of girls in different communities.

The approaches were enough and we are proud that none of the girls in our programs fell victim. Thanks to the support of The Grow Hope Foundation all girls have rejoined school, 56 were supported with stationary, 12 girls are being supported with school fees until an agreed time when their parents should have gained financial strength to support their own children.

We are excited to resume our normal school to school Give Girls A Voice programs and mentoring more teachers to be part of the program given the high number of students in the schools.

The catastrophic impacts of COVID-19 on the girl child have been clear evidence that the girl child is most endangered and worthy to empower.

Girls with their re-usable sanitary kits sewn by our tailoring program for Give Girls A Voice

Women’s Business Group

Prior to Covid 19 the Women’s Business Group who had obtained micro loans provided by the Grow Hope foundation were all well being able to make weekly savings & growing their business. All women were extremely excited about the gains they were making towards economic independence.

The outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic reversed all gains that had been made over a period of time. The long lock down made it impossible for the women to support their families with the basic necessities without running into their savings & capital plus relief items from the Grow Hope foundation for survival.

All business lost their capital causing threat to the women's goal of economic independence.

Thanks to The Grow Hope Foundation’s stimulus donation of capital that was given to women & the good business skills they were empowered with, they have been able to start again with vigour while putting into account the big lessons they learnt from the lock down.

Women are now back in their business & the number of members has increased to 30 from 12 before the lock down.

They now save for uncertainty as well.

The Tailoring Program

The tailoring program resumed with an increase in the number of girls who came to be skilled because schools were closed.  They opted to use the time to attain skills but also to keep busy and reduce chances of falling prey to the many bad vices in the communities experienced during the pandemic. Others joined the skilling program because they realized how hard it would be for them to rejoin school due to overwhelming financial difficulties as a result of COVID-19. Housewives who felt the pinch of being dependent and not economically productive during the lockdown joined to gain skills for future socioeconomic independence.

The infection prevention and control strategies such as masks, whose implementation was with much gratitude funded by the Grow hope enabled us to quickly resume and run the tailoring program because there was overt overwhelming need to give hope to many lives of children and women who seemed lost and hopeless at the time.

Some changes that enabled the program run successfully 

- adhering to COVID-19 prevention SOPS

- Working in small groups 

- extending our working hours and days to Include weekends 

- working from outdoors 

- hiring more trainers 

Sunday Girls Program

At the start of the pandemic, the Sunday program was paused. However the high prevalence of violence and sexual abuse against children clearly signaled how our achievements would be undone without measures in place to continue delivering girl empowerment programs to the girls within and out of our proximity.

We worked with teachers from different schools to compile academic material for home learning. We also compiled and distributed counseling and guidance material until a time when we developed the capacity to visit girls in small groups within their communities to empower them with health and life skills and provided them with essential needs like the reusable sanitary pads under strict adherence to infection prevention and control measures. These measures enabled us to prevent incidents of teenage pregnancy, marriages and school dropout among the beneficiaries. All girls have rejoined school after attaining some skills in tailoring that will be helpful. Some women who got tailoring skills are starting to open up small businesses which will enable them get financial independence.

With gratitude,

Dr. Isaac and Sharon

So, thank you.

Friends, none of this would have been possible without your continued support, encouragement, and friendship. I don’t often look at the overall big picture but as I read all that has been accomplished, I am a bit in awe that together we have created something that will have such a lasting effect on multiple communities in rural Uganda. I am so grateful to our team for their years of dedication, their enthusiasm for the communities in which we work, and their true and ongoing belief that the work we are doing will continue to impact our communities for years to come. I am grateful for you- our donor team, who have come along side us to make every single thing we have done possible. While you may not have been to Tusubira Village yourself, YOU HAVE TOUCHED this program and made it possible. Thank you for being a part of this work.

We have of course lost some of our donors over the past two years. Understandably circumstances sometimes change and we are always grateful for the time they spent supporting our program. If you know someone that you think may be interested in being a part of our donor team, we’d really appreciate if you would share this post with them. We are always more than happy to welcome new donors to our team.

With love,

Kim, Isaac, and Sharon

Friends, We Need Your Help

The Grow Hope Foundation has been around for over 6 years now, and it's been an incredible six years. We started working with a small part of our community, teaching them about the importance of good sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition. Once we saw the impact that those simple lessons had we expanded to working with the women in our community, teaching them handcrafts as well as talking to them about how to manage the money that they earned. We also taught them how to grow healthy produce at their homes for their families. We then created a Business Training program to help young people take their business ideas and create a plan that will enable them to actually put those plans into action. We've also worked with a group of women who meet weekly and have created a community savings program. With a small amount of seed money we began granting loans to each of those women, which is available once they have a solid business plan that is supported by the group. The fund grows with the interest that is paid on the loans. Not only are these women growing their small businesses, but they are an incredible support network for each other. And most recently we began the Give Girls A Voice program which educates girls on subjects such as how their bodies work, appropriate relationship boundaries, and self-worth and value. The changes we have seen in the girls within the 8 schools we now work in are incredible. 

Over those six years we have been blessed with an amazing group of monthly donors, some of which have been around since the very beginning. They donate anywhere between $10-100 a month. This money allows us to run our programs, maintain Tusubira Village, our 5 acre educational compound in rural Uganda, and pay our social worker, who runs all of our programs. But I need to tell you, while talking to Dr. Isaac tonight, I learned that not only are we not bringing in enough to cover our bills each month, but that we pay the person who keeps all of our programs running a small portion of what she should actually be earning. You see, in the six years since we began, donors have signed on and allowed us to do the work that we do. But over time, credit cards expire and aren't renewed, circumstances change for people, and while we have gained new donors, we have slowly lost a number of them as well. 

So friends, we are at a point where we really need to build up our monthly donor team again. The work that we are doing is making such an incredible impact on this community, and it's spreading. Where we used to work within the area of a couple of schools, we now work with the communities of EIGHT schools. And I'm so very proud of the work because it's giving people a chance to change their circumstances- ON THEIR OWN - and really, that's the only sustainable way to do it. I believe in this work friends, and I will do whatever I can to continue to support our team working so hard on the ground in Uganda. I'm not a great fundraiser- anyone who knows me knows that. It is definitely not my superpower. I can hold a one-time fundraiser for certain expenses and you guys show up, big time. But this isn't about a new well or an education building. This is about keeping the work we already do going, work that has been making such an impact on this community.

So if you are already a donor, would you be willing to share the link to this post with your community? If you aren't yet a donor but have considered it, I come to you to ask that you make that commitment now. It's so simple- you enter your credit card or set it up to direct debit your bank, and then you don't think about it again, until you see your thank you note and tax receipt each month in your email box. And in return, you gain the knowledge that YOU are making the lives of a community half a world away a better, healthier, safer place. YOU are giving girls and women a chance at something different, you are giving them hope. And you are bringing me so much joy and gratitude- more than you can imagine.

We are the same person inside...

For those of you who haven't seen this video I did of Dr. Isaac and I a while back, I wanted to share it again. It really does capture how much I love and respect this man and his dedication to the work that he does in Uganda. Grow Hope would NOT EXIST without him. 

2017 A Year In Review

Friends, it has been far too long since we have sent out a newsletter.  We are grateful for your continued support and hope that you this newsletter gives you a sense of what we have accomplished with your help!  The work in Uganda has been continuing and the progress the team has made in 2017 is amazing! New programs have been created and are impacting the two communities that we work in as well as the surrounding areas.  

I visited Uganda in March this year and was astounded by the work that had been accomplished since my last visit.  The team had expanded the work we do from one community to two and implemented a number of programs that we felt were important for growth and to empower our communities. I saw first hand some of the new programs including my very favorite one to take part in- educating girls on how their bodies work and providing them with supplies to enable them to be at school all month, every month.  Prior to this many of our girls missed a week of school each month when they had their periods.  It makes equal education difficult when the girls aren't able to attend as much as the boys.  I loved talking to them and by the end of our time together they had transformed from shy and nervous girls to talkative and enthusiastic young women. It was amazing.

As I haven't been on the ground since March I wanted to share a more comprehensive update from Dr. Isaac and the team at Tusubira Village.  

Hello Kimberly,

Warm regards to you. As we come to the end of 2017, I am pleased to share with you a summary of activities that we have been able to carry on in 2017 at Tusubira village.

Before anything, on my own behalf and on behalf of the team on this side, I wish to register our ever-warm gratitude for your extraordinary commitment and dedication, which has enabled us, have a successful year of impacting communities.

Empowering people through education and inspiration our mission statement has been at the forefront in all our day to day planning and activity implementation. We rely on our mission statement to build towers of hope in the hearts of the hopeless and light a candle of “possibility” in lives of the desiring men and women.

The following activities were undertaken in 2017:
 

1) Education and skills empowerment

 • Carried out career guidance and life skills empowerment in 8 primary schools

• Conducted on-site 3 days business skills training for 40 youth with positive feedback from the participants

• Held 6 finance management classes for women from within our locality

• Carried out health and menstrual hygiene education in 7 primary schools

• Carried out sanitation and hygiene sensitization in our new area of operation in 36 families

• Offered psychosocial support

2) Household food security empowerment

• We have been able to set up and maintain the demo gardens from where people come to learn and get inspired. Some people come on self-invitation, others are invited.

• We have been able to use the yields to earn revenue for sustainability of the demo gardens

• Some yields are used to feed 40 children from the community school (porridge project), a proportion used to support some very poor families like mama Sarah and donating to hospitalized children due to malnutrition

• Given some families, seeds and foliage to plant especially for the Vit A biofortified sweet potatoes

3) Support and donations

• Made and donated reusable sanitary pads to 735 children in primary schools

• Provided school fees and scholastic materials to 10 primary children and three students in secondary school levels.

• Locally mobilized and donated clothes to 680 people in one of our new area of operation

• Offered support by mobilizing funds for hospital bills for a blind boy with congenital glaucoma

4) Tusubira village infrastructure

• Using the monthly donations, we have been able to accelerate progress on the education building. Much work has been finished; the major remaining work is fitting glasses, painting, soak pit, window insect screens, kitchen fitting, and water tank.

• Maintaining the well including repairing of the water tank and installation of more electric short circuit protective gadgets

• Built 6 African grass thatched houses with a total of 13 rooms for accommodating volunteers and guests purposely to generate income for sustainability.

• Planted more trees and demarcated the compound. The compound is now fully maintained and we employed Musoke the husband to Beatrice to work on the compound on monthly pay.

5) Administration

• Held monthly planning and evaluation meetings

• Visited other organizations to learn and share experiences

• Renewed the organization working permit for five years and widened our area of operation to a radius of 80km

• Daily, weekly and monthly budget monitoring for efficiency under low resource circumstances

• Attended schools parents meetings for schools where our beneficiary children attend.

2017 was an amazing year at Tusubira Village and in the communities we work in.  I know that 2018 will be even better!  I want you to know that we couldn't do the work that we do without the support of our incredible donors.  We are grateful for our monthly donors that allow us to continue to grow our programs and impact these communities in sustainable ways.  We are grateful for our donors who give to fundraisers or that think of us throughout the year.

And if you are looking for a place to make an end-of-year donation, we would be incredibly grateful if you would consider The Grow Hope Foundation. 

The button below will allow you to either make a one-time donation or sign up as a monthly donor.

Giving Tuesday

Happy holidays!

This year as the holidays approach so many of us are reevaluating what this season truly means. We're focusing more on what Christmas is really all about, at the same time looking at world issues not as something that is far away, but as something that our fellow humans-our sisters and our brothers, our mothers and our fathers, are struggling with. Many of us are comfortable and need for nothing but perspective shows us that we are not in the majority.

Today is Giving Tuesday - One of our favorite days of the holiday season. It's a day that focuses on the idea of giving some of what we have to those who have much less. It is about sharing opportunities with someone who simply needs a hand up. There are so many places to support-so much good work is being done around the world. Here at The Grow Hope Foundation, we are so grateful for the support we receive year round. We have amazing donors who have enabled us to create an incredible educational compound - Tusubira Village - that is literally changing lives. We are in the process of trying to complete an Education Building which will allow us to grow in so many ways.

So if you are looking for something to give to on this day of celebrating generosity and kindness, we would be honored if you were to chose to donate to Grow Hope. You also have the option of donating on behalf of someone you love. If you wish to do that, simply include a note with your donation with their name and address and we will send them a card explaining that you have made a donation on their behalf. You will receive the tax deduction, they really receive a gift that will continue to give, and the community in rural Uganda that is working so hard to change their lives-will receive the biggest gift of all.

You can make a donation here:  https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/TheGrowHopeFoundation/

If you would like to become a monthly donor you can do so here:

https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/TheGrowHopeFoundation/monthlydonor

Thank you and wishing you a wonderfully generous day!

Become a Monthly Donor!

Friends, we have an incredibly simple way for you to take part in the work that we are doing in Uganda.  We're so excited to offer you this opportunity to make a HUGE impact every month without even having to make any effort.  Our Monthly Donor program is a way for YOU to help us spread the work that we have been successfully doing over the past 2 1/2 years to areas desperately in need of opportunities to create healthy change for themselves and their families.  Dr. Isaac and the team have been traveling throughout the countryside surrounding where we work on our compound- Tusubira Village - and they have discovered that while our community now has access to clean water and good sanitation and hygiene practices, the areas around us are in a very different state.  The people in these communities desperately need the knowledge that we have offered our community in order to begin making healthy changes.  

The thing is, every single monthly donor impacts how far and wide we can spread the work we have been doing.  With as little as $10 a month we can begin to spread knowledge through small demonstration areas in each community- a demo garden and lessons on sanitation (proper latrines and sanitation tables for cookware) and hygiene (tip-top hand washing stations at each house).  Every single donor impacts this work.  The more we have, the more we can do.  So if you haven't already joined us, go to our Aplos Monthly Donor page and sign up!  It's so easy! A few clicks and your donation will be automatically deducted each month on the date that you set.  

And starting next month, all monthly donors will receive monthly updates - just for them - on what progress has been made in the communities.  They will receive photos taken in gratitude by the team in Uganda of the impact that you- our Monthly Donors - are making.  Sign up now and be a part of the solution!!

https://www.aplos.com/aws/give/TheGrowHopeFoundation/monthlydonor

Introducing Godfrey

Friends, we'd like to introduce you to one of our team members in Uganda.  Godfrey has been with our program since the very beginning and is one of three people on the ground in Uganda that directly impacts our entire project.  When you support The Grow Hope Foundation through our monthly donor program, you empower Godfrey to create even more opportunities for the people of our region to change the way they live and empower them to create healthier lives for themselves and their children.  If you haven't already, join us as a monthly donor and be a part of this extraordinary work.  Become a monthly donor HERE

Friends, meet Godfrey~

One of the greatest things I enjoy doing is rendering service especially to those who cannot help themselves. I am so glad to be on Tusubira Village team that is working hard to uplift the livelihood of people in my country Uganda. It is so satisfying to see people smile yet you are part of the cause of that smile. It is a great opportunity that we have to touch the lives of people in the communities that we work in. This gives us a chance to learn more of their challenges, a chance to exercise and share our skills and experiences in a humble way, and a chance to realize our own potential. 

Since 2013 when we started training communities/schools on issues concerning hygiene and sanitation, food growing and storage, provision of water sources to mention but a few, I have witnessed great improvement in people’s lives, a confirmation to me that people can change, sometimes with just a simple push. Many of our people are what they are because of lack of information and proper guidance but who cares? At Tusubira Village we care.

Tusubira has accomplished a lot in 2013-2014, this was possible because of working hand in hand with Grow Hope Foundation in USA led by Kimberly, the local leaders, religious leaders and opinion leaders. Looking into the future I see Tusubira continuing to work not only with these partners, but with more international agencies and Uganda government agencies sharing the same vision. By empowering the families, communities are strengthened so the nation, but it is a gradual process. The good news is we have started on the long journey and never to quit. 

I call upon every one willing to join us in the struggle of changing lives of people in our communities, to jump unto the wagon before it gets dark. May God bless us with new insights and ideas as we labor to serve His children.

Godfrey Lufafa

Tusubira Village

Donate from Europe!

Friends, you can now donate monthly from Europe - in Euros!  Simply subscribe to join our monthly donors through Paypal and choose your amount.  You can find the button below. Thanks so much for making this a world-wide effort to change lives!

a. : €10.00 EUR - monthly b. : €20.00 EUR - monthly c. : €50.00 EUR - monthly

Become A Member of the Team!

Would you believe that for the cost of two coffees a month, you can impact the lives of people in a community 9000 miles away?

It's true - and we are going to prove it to you.  The Grow Hope Foundation is already doing amazing work in rural Uganda and the effects of that work are starting to spread. We have seen the changes with our own eyes.  We have seen malnutrition in children begin to decrease.  We have seen women begin to grow their own food to feed their families!  We have hosted students and groups and incredible women at Tusubira Village- our educational compound there- and we have have taught them valuable lessons in sanitation, hygiene and nutrition.  

One of the things that we have learned over the past two and a half years is that we absolutely CAN NOT DO THIS ALONE.  We need people who believe in the power of what we are doing.  We need to build a team that support the work and know that the power of change is in their hands.  We need YOU to become a monthly donor to The Grow Hope Foundation.  For $10 a month- the cost of two coffees,  you can be a part of impacting the life of a child in rural Uganda.  You can help empower women to provide for their families.  You can help us create opportunities for people that will take those opportunities and do AMAZING things!  I promise you- I have seen it myself.  It is humbling and encouraging and it gives me so much hope for the future of our community in southern Uganda and beyond.  We have big dreams friends- dreams of spreading this hope and this empowerment far and wide.  And with YOUR help- I promise you- WE CAN DO IT!

Will you join us today?  Will you use the link below and take the five minutes or less that it will take to sign up and join our team?  We could so use your help my friends- so please take a moment and join team Grow Hope~

 

News and updates and plans! (oh my!)

Hello friends and happy 2016!  I know it’s been a little quiet around here and for that we apologize.  There is so much going on at Tusubira Village and planning and organizing being done on this side of the world.  There is progress and change and exciting plans coming and we thought we would share some of that with you!

The Grow Hope Foundation is heading towards it’s 3rd year and we are slowly refining what it is we want to do going forward.  We have learned so much in the past two and a half years thanks to partnering with our amazing team in Uganda.  They are so filled with wisdom, ideas and passion for the community they are working in.  They help guide us in the directions that will most impact the people there and through them we are beginning to find clarification in what it is we need to do on this side to empower their work there.  

The Grow Hope Foundation is not an aid-based program.  Rather it is a program that strives to empower communities and the people in them by providing the tools and resources THEY need to make improvements in their lives.  We provide education in areas such as sanitation, hygiene and nutrition.  We teach skills that allow them to then create an income source, which in turn provides the finances they need to do things like feed their families, send children to school or make improvements on their homes.  We feel that this is the ONLY way we can impact communities long-term.  There’s an old Chinese proverb that says “Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime.”  Teaching a woman to fish is going to provide for her long after we are gone, as well as giving her something to teach her children, so that they too can create better futures for themselves and their families.  

Our Most Pressing Project Right Now

We are in the process of raising funds to complete the Education Building at Tusubira Village.  That building will not only house our social worker, who facilitates all of our programs, but will also offer accommodations for teams that travel to the compound to help educate the community.  When the building is complete we hope to bring a team of teachers who will help educate and empower the Ugandan teachers currently working at our little community school.  By empowering them with tools and skills that they would otherwise go without they will begin to take pride in the jobs and their students which will in turn give those students what they need to go further in their educations.  We feel that by educating the educators (rather than the students themselves) we are providing a long-term solution to the challenges that public school teachers face in our community- lack of funding, support and encouragement.  Better teachers empower students and our goal is to raise the number of successful students coming out of our community public school.  Stay tuned for ways you can help in this area!

                   Electrical, plumbing and a ceiling are going in thanks to recent donations!

As for progress on the Education Building, we are slowly making progress as we generate funds to do so.  The ceiling and walls have begun to be finished as well as some plumbing and electrical work.  There is still much to do and we would love to have you join us in completing this building.  All it takes is a donation - any amount is gratefully accepted.  We have about $26,000 left to raise and with your help we KNOW we can do it!  Use the button below or the Donate Now tab above to help us finish this building!

In the coming weeks we look forward to sharing posts written by other members of the team both here in the states and in Uganda.  We also have a number of fundraisers planned that we will be announcing soon so stay tuned for those dates!  2016 is going to be a productive year friends - please join us in making it our best one yet!

Look what we have done!

Hello friends!

We’ve returned from Uganda after a wonderful nearly two weeks at our educational compound Tusubira Village.  We were absolutely amazed at the progress that had taken place since January of this year.  Not only is the guesthouse half-way completed but the gardens are incredible!  There is beautiful produce being harvested daily and being taken to market as part of our sustainability program.  Groups are meeting at the compound to learn about both farming and to take part in skills training.  The dedication to learning was impressive and I was so proud of the work the team is doing to create opportunities for this community.

We also hosted our first big workshop at Tusubira Village.  I wish I could put to words what it meant to Dr. Isaac and I to see our dream come to fruition.  The response from the participants- who had traveled seven hours on a bus to come and spend two days learning how to farm as they are facing a famine where they live- was so positive and excited.  These 31 women will now be able to share the skills that they learned at the compound with each of their 31 cooperative communities in hopes of creating sustainable nutrition for their families.  We couldn’t have asked for a better first workshop and are now certain that what we have been working so hard on for the past two years was exactly what we needed to be doing.  

Now that we are home again and looking towards the holidays and the end of the year, we will be doing everything we can to raise the last $28,000 we need to finish the guesthouse at Tusubira Village.  This building is the hinge on which so many of our plans are waiting.  Once completed we will be able to implement much needed programs like family planning, empowering our local teachers and growing the Porridge Project.  It is the next step in our journey and we can’t wait to begin the next exciting chapter.  If you haven't had a chance to see the video tour of Tusubira Village you really must see it~

We will be shutting down our Go Fund Me campaign and sticking solely to donations through our website.  It is so easy to make a donation with the button found below.  Every single dollar counts and we are really pushing to complete this fundraising campaign by the end of 2015.  But to do that we really need your help.  We always appreciate your donations.  But we are also grateful for your willingness to spread this campaign via social media.  If you would copy the link to this post and spread it around we can finish this guesthouse and move forward in 2016!  I promise you- you will be amazed at what happens next!

Become an Ambassador for Grow Hope!

Hello friends~

There are so many ways that people impact this project- sometimes in small ways, other times in large ones.  We wanted to share one of these stories in hopes that it will inspire you to join us as an Ambassador and find your own connection to the Grow Hope foundation!

Last year a local elementary class decided to fundraise to send a few kids to school.  We had spoken at this school and shared with them the differences in education between the US and where we are in Uganda.  We talked about how lucky they are to be able to go to school without even thinking about it, while in our community, children will often ask for school fees before they will ask for food or toys.  We shared photos of schools in the area surrounding Tusubira Village and they were taken aback at the stark differences - dirt floors, rickety wooden benches, no supplies.  So this class took it upon themselves to raise funds to send as many kids as they could to school.

It turned out that this class was wildly successful!  They raised enough money to send TEN kids to school for FIVE YEARS.  They were given the option of either sending a large group to school for one year or a smaller group for a few years and they chose that option as they felt that it wouldn’t be fair to start them on a path of education only to remove it after a year.  This class was PASSIONATE about this project - they gave it all they had to make a lasting impact on the lives of these kids half-way around the world.  They were our first Ambassadors. 

This project doesn’t stop there.  They are now planning to continue to find ways to fundraise.  We are working with them to find things we can take to “their students” when we return to Uganda in October.  They are invested in these kids - these ten students with so much potential.  They have photos and names and ages.  They have connected and when we are there next month we hope to find a way to Skype so that all of these kids can “meet” and really feel what that connection means.  Friends across the world- how amazing is that?

We share this story with you because we are looking for Ambassadors.  We need people from all over who want to connect with this project- who want to take a part of what needs to be done and champion it.  To share this project in THEIR community and get people excited about the impact that they can make in the lives of this community.  To find a classroom that is looking for a community project where what they do is CHANGING THE TRAJECTORY OF A COMMUNITIES LIFE.  

If you are interested in being a part of this- please contact us.  We are happy to talk about the huge number of ways you can be a part of this movement to educate and empower this small community, so that they are able to then go and empower others.  The potential is enormous and with your help we can see it happen!

Email us at thegrowhopefoundation@gmail.com and become an Ambassador for the Grow Hope foundation.  We would LOVE to have you~