Unfortunately, last month The River Fund made the difficult decision to retire this project on Global Giving.
The project leaders live and work in a very rural area of E Uganda. Please look at the map below. They were just not able to reliably send in quarterly reports. Transportation to a town (Busia) with an internet shop is expensive and often reached on the back of a 'boda boda' motorcycle.
The project leaders as well as the women and children the project serves have no regular electricity. They have no running water and many must travel a distance to carry water for cooking and bathing. Malaria is endemic. HIV continues to have a strangle hold on this population which is near a border town. The border towns across East Africa were the original AIDS highway and that devastation is still felt.
Women, especially widows, face sexual exploitation, polygamy, extreme poverty, poor medical care, destruction of families by HIV/AIDS and domestic violence.
This project has helped women and families develop stronger families and healthier children who stay in school. They have reached deep into rural areas, training women and men in HIV/AIDS long term survival skills and the network is growing.
Even though this project is deactivated on GG please know that we have not abandoned them. They are still a part of our network of E Uganda programs that The River Fund will continue to fund and support.
If you would like to continue to support this project, you may do so by donating to either of the following projects. Both of the projects below support parts of Empower Rural Women - #2175.
Empower AIDS Widows - Save a Community (#1015)
Educate 600 Orphans in Rural Eastern Uganda (#12259)
Rural Women's Empowerment Network (RWEN) progress Report - April 2014
Education
352 in total are registered with RWEN
152 Orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC) get support
52 live in the center, 100 in other neighbouring schools
With the funds we received in January 2014, we managed to:
Health
We feed the elderly women, men and epilepsy at the center. Drama group went out to sensitize people based on The Long Term HIV/AIDS Skill, there in need to give this group a separate project of Income generation activities if fund are realized.
We still need female and male condom to promote the Prevention of spread of HIV/AIDS.
Our Future Plans
We plan to buy sewing machine and train school dropout girls and women in tailoring skill.
To network and participate in the special sustainable skills for women being organized by our sponsor organisation RARUDO.
To buy and distribute improve vegetable seeds for planting as source in income.
To boost the goats project for HIV/AIDS to improve nutrition aspects among PLWAS.
To provide simple shelter for the elderly
Provide special project for child headed families such as Heifer project.
Continue supporting the children with educational material in the term 2 and term 3 because they need our help and the fees are needed termly.
There is need to provide women with garden tools and improved seeds basically Vegetables and cereal crops for a better agriculture harvest.
Greetings and many thanks to our donors and our beloved friends.
Yours Sincerely,
Teopista Auma
Chair person
Dear Friends and Donors,
UPDATE REPORT
ENROLMENT:
Women, Elderly living with HIV/AIDS: 125
Children living with HIV /AIDS: 09
Epilepsy: 03
Living in orphanage center: 52
Children in other schools: 245
Total: 307
EDUCATION:
Our end of year performance for our children was good because most of our children were promoted to the next levels of learning.
In term three, funds were scarce and only scholastic materials were bought for them in small numbers and getting food was also a problem.
There was an attack of TB to one boy and he passed away in October 2013.
HEALTH:
Long term survival, HIV I AIDS:
Female condoms; we have visited clinics on clinic days and supplied to women and even when they are in need in other places through counseling
Male condom; we have at the same time done the same to men
Septrine and ARV's:
All our members attend clinics for their treatment in time during clinic days
We also make sure we get control tablets for the epilepsy
Elderly women, epilepsy and Orphans and other Vulnerable Children (OVC) feed at the center and get care when they are sick
Child headed families; these are a big problem when we run short of funds i.e. life becomes too hard
There is also a new child headed family of five (5 children) and these need a lot of care although under RWEN support
The center takes care of 52 children who live there at school and at times taken back to guardians and care takers to stay with them
Our activities:
Agriculture: matooke (banana), maize, beans and green vegetables, the yield for the year was good and hardworking members have got a good yield of beans, matooke and maize
Poultry: local poultry is doing well in all members because it is simple for them
Local goats keeping:
Members have made improvement on their animals
Piggery:
Five members have maintained piggery project
Achievements:
Challenges:
Lack of transport to move to far places to reach people in need for example;
There was a big problem to feed children in term three of 2013 due to lack of money to buy food
Prepared by RWEN and initiated by
Teopista chairperson
Dear Global Giving Friends and Donors,
I am so sorry for the late report, but I just returned from a fantastic site visit to our projects in Uganda. Along with two other volunteers, we visited of our rural projects and all of the small groups associated with the projecst. Everyone is doing amazing work with very little. We continue to support childrem, mostly orphaned or other vulnerable children, including child headed households, widows, disabled people and the old and alone.
The Rural Women's Empowerment Network (RWEN) continues to train others in Long Term Survival Skills for HIV/AIDS. They teach women and men. They train people how to use condoms, male and female condoms at their local health clinic. They also train sex workers in HIV prevention including condoms. When available, they provide condoms to their community. They also provide individual counseling for those members who want to talk.
In addition to Long Term Survival Skills, they do agricultural training and provide seeds to their members. The seeds are for kitchen gardens and also include maize,beans and greens.
They have started a piggery for their members. Also each member now has a small flock of chickens for eggs.
They are planting trees in the places that have been over farmed.
The group supports over 300 children with many more identified who need their help. They provide scholastic materials and uniforms and fees. They do home visits for orphaned and other vulnerable children and do follow up visits at the school for those most in need.
They help to support a small group of elderly women and men with food, blankets and home visits.
Thank you for your support!
MAY 2013 REPORT ON RWEN ACTIVITIES
I thank you for your continuous assistance to the children and women of Africa Uganda Busia. Thank you once again for SHS 6.000.000 (six millions) we received through Onyango Joseph in early March. The accountability is attached.
UPDATE REPORT
Women: 125
Children:
Children living with HIV 08
Epilepsy 03
Living in orphanage center 52
Children in other schools 245
TOTAL 308
EDUCATION:
Term one performance for our children has been fair because most children's performance was average in general.
We have been able to feed our children (52) at the centre through your continued assistance and great thanks to you We provided school uniforms to 152 children out of the 308
Provided scholastic materials to all
We paid school fees top-up for five (S) very needy children
We paid examination registration fee for five children in Ordinary Level
Out of 10 children living with HIV/AIDS, 1 boy in Primary six now has been tested again for several times and the results report confirm that he is negative and free from HIV/AIDS. He is now in primary six but still under RWEN's care.
One (1) has died and he had a problem with his liver
LONG TERM SURVIVAL SKILLS
We have continued to teach Long Term Survivor Skills for HIV/AIDS in our communities through counseling and providing conducive exercises to their heath.
45 HIV/AIDS people still live on Septrine and others on Anti Retrovirus (ARVS). Balanced diet and hard work, positive living has maintained these people's health as we continue to counsel them and encourage them to
get their drugs. However, they are stronger than before.
Elderly Women:
These feed at the centre on breakfast and mid-day meals
Health:
Epilepsy children 3
We always collect their drugs monthly
There is also one mature boy and orphan who have epilepsy in our community. We have picked him up
and feeding him too. We get drugs for him monthly.
OUR ACTIVITIES
1. Agriculture:
Matoke and cassava is now in plenty
However, women are busy planting beans, maize, ground nuts, sweet potatoes, green vegetables and also weeding them.
2. Poultry Local poultry has become simple for women and most of the women have based on it
3. Goat keeping; this is practiced on a low scale
4. Piggery;this has become a problem. There is piggery epidemic and most of them are dying and only a few women are on that scheme.
5. Tree planting is emerging because most women are trying to plant.
Achievements of RWEN
Challenges
Great thanks go to all our donors and all our well wishers, and all friends in particular.
You are well come to Uganda.
God bless you in all your endeavors.
Teopista
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