Never Have to say 'No' Again
In the fall of 2015, The Angel Projects had the pleasure of expanding our ministry beyond the country of Haiti and the Angel Project Uganda was born. In August I will be traveling back to Uganda with Susan, our Administrator, to check in on the program and provide support to the village of Kashija.
Angel Projects Uganda is a community based organization working to improve people’s livelihood, promote child protection, empower communities in health and reduce health inequalities. Angel Project Uganda is currently supporting 20 children to access basic Education, Health and Nutrition support, Psycho Social Support and improved livelihoods. In the village of Kashija, it truly does take a village to raise these children. The prime beneficiaries of the projects are orphans and vulnerable children both those in school and those that have not joined yet. These children are vulnerable, least organized, least informed, and least equipped. Quite often they lack access to basic necessities such as health care and education. They are often subjected to abuse and child labor. A survey, of the state of child labor in Uganda, indicated that 2.5 million children are engaged in child labor activities and largely in agriculture. The following aspects were noted: - .
Children in and from poor families provide more child labor than their counterparts;
Girls generally do more work than boys;
Early marriage involves hazardous labor and more oppressive/exploitative work, which is detrimental to their health;
Children from broken homes and staying with step parents or relatives are usually abused (denied education, do disproportionately heavy work; do more work than other children; get less benefits or care; sometimes sexually abused; punished heavily; etc);
Orphans also generally suffer like the above category of children;
Children's labor is generally more exploited than that of adults;
Out-of-school children usually do more work than those in school;
Decision and policy matters generally lack sensitivity about, and determination to, handle problems of child labor.
The Angel Projects has been able to help these villagers in several ways. First, we have helped the women create a cooperative farm in their village where land has been donated to them. The women are growing crops and are able to sell their harvest at the local market. The money they earn at the market is used to reinvest in seeds for the next harvest as well as pay for school fees and feed the families.
The Piggery project was our next project. Out of the 25 women in Angel Projects Uganda, 10 were able to receive the first piglets and as they grew and bred the other women would receive one. This process has grown considerably this year. It’s amazing how these women work together for all of them to succeed toward sustainability. Farming and raising pigs enables them to both feed their families and earn money by selling the produce at the local market.
In addition, we will be bringing our Vacation Bible School program to Kashija to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to the children of the village and to teach them about the Bible. We have also seen a lot of lives changed due to this program in Haiti, and we are thrilled to be spreading out to serve the children of Angel Project Uganda
The children in the village go to 2 different schools and through the Education Project we have sent all the children in the village to school fully supplied with new uniforms and all the school materials needed, which has been the first time that the village has seen 100% attendance. The Angel Projects believes that education is the way to success and a brighter future, so we are thrilled to be able to provide this opportunity for the children of Kashija.
Now, we need your help to continue this ministry and help this community! We can't do it alone! We need YOU! Please consider donating today. As always, we also covet your prayer support as we plan our trip and make travel arrangements. Nothing we do is possible without our prayer partners and financial sponsors. Thank you, and God bless you!