Safe Housing Uganda Project #16812

Good Bye Slums. Help 40 Uganda Women Build Homes.

by Outreach Uganda

Project Report | Jul 4, 2022
Metal Gate Installed at Second Road Entrance to Our Home Building Project

By Carol Davis | President

Gate and 2nd Road to Our Home Building Area

In early June 2022, we began finishing up project items that were incomplete when the Coronavirus shutdowns began in March 2020, One of those important items for our home building project related to the second access road to our project that was being finished in early 2020. We're happy to report that we now have a very secure metal gate to secure the access to our property from this second road access point.

The gate was made and installed during June 2022 along with a small amount of fencing and posts as well as cemented metal poles that attach to the gate. We're very glad that this work was able to be completed so that our property remains secure as we finalize the remaining common area items.

As long as there are no more Covid-related shutdowns, we expect that home building could begin next year. As we mentioned in our last report, we will be traveling to Uganda next month to be on site and speak with the project architect, and other key people involved with this project so we can determine a realistic time frame for our project tasks. We also need to assess the effect of inflation on our expected project costs.

We'll report more in our next update after we return from Uganda!

In the meantime, we are continuing to purchase crafts from our women artisans to help them with improving their cash flow. We also continue to use some project monies to make additional business loans to the women artisans so that they have funds to strengthen their local businesses and help them recover from the difficulties of the lockdowns, restrictions and general lack of customers during these past two years.

Thanks for your patience and support as we determine a new timetable to forge ahead with this project now that things in Uganda are beginning to return to a new normal.

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Jan 6, 2022
Jinja Artisans Appreciate Craft Sales Help

By Carol Davis | President

Ugandan women tie dyeing silk scarves in December

As we mentioned in our last report, the coronavirus restrictions, lockdowns, supply shortages and high prices continue to keep our home building project on hold while we await more favorable conditions to finish the common area improvements and to start the actual home building process.

We are still optimistic that this could occur later this year. We are planning on traveling to Uganda late summer to further assess the situation and get the building phase started as soon as we can without undue risk. However, we do not want to become impatient and start it too soon and then be faced with shutdowns, labor shortages and out of control prices.

While we wait, we see that our biggest help would be to provide some loan and/or grant funding for the women's businesses to help stabilize them and allow them to forge ahead as Uganda begins to loosen restrictions and open up again. The loans would be forgiven provided certain conditions are met and would help the women be better positioned to save for their portions of the needed down payment monies for their home. It would also allow their businesses to provide a more steady source of income for their daily needs including food and medicines.

Currently, our Jinja artisans' small businesses in Uganda are struggling, and providing little cash flow for them and their families. The sporadic lockdowns and curfews have made it difficult for them to run their businesses and for their customers to have money to buy necessities. These businesses are important to both the women and our home building project because in better times, the small scale businesses provide a source of income for the women which would allow them save money for home down payments. And in the future, to enable them to make payments on a small home mortgage.

So, we ask for your continued patience with this very important project as we wait for the conditions to be right to move forward with the actual building process. In the meantime, we will be using additional funds generated for this project to help make some strategic small business loans and grants to help stabilize the women's small scale businesses in Uganda.

We're sharing a couple of craft making photos from early December when the Ugandan women were working on silk scarf tie dyeing. They make many patterns and colors of the silk scarves including the turquoise one shown.

Please feel free to forward this report to friends, families and coworkers who might be interested in supporting our loan and grant efforts to help the women weather the Covid storm and continue their businesses!

One of the tie dyed silk scarves in turquoise

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Jun 8, 2021
Helping our Jinja Women During Covid Times

By Carol Davis | President

Molly, Jinja business woman, with her sling bags

This past year, our home building project has been on hold due to Covid-19 concerns and restrictions in Uganda. From March until early October 2020, Uganda was under a severe lockdown of everything as the country closed all its air and land borders in an attempt to prevent Covid-19 from spreading within Uganda.

This was partially successful in that the Covid-19 cases remained low during the lockdown and gave Uganda more time to prepare for handling Covid-19 cases which are rising as 2021 progresses. This lockdown caused much economic distress as small entrepreneurs, like our Jina women, were unable to do their businesses. Even when the lockdown was partially lifted, most people did not have money to buy things other than the very basic necessities.

Our Jinja women have persevered through this. We have continued to provide a market here in the U.S. for their fair trade crafts. However, our purchases this past year were very meager as almost all our craft fairs here in the U.S. were cancelled.

As part of this project, we would like to provide qualifying women in the Jinja group with additional assistance to bolster their very small businesses at this crucial time. They are struggling to rebuild their inventories and regain customers. Their businesses not only help the women provide for their families, but they also provide the women with the means to save for their future homes.

There have been no stimulus payments or economic aid of any sort for Ugandans. We would like to provide additional assistance to the women's businesses depending on how much money we can raise for this project within the next few months. We know this will be crucial in helping the women recover from a very tough, almost devastating year economically. We are happy to report none of the women have gotten Covid. They are hoping to get vaccinated soon if there are enough vaccines available.

Please share this special need with your family, friends and co-workers. It can make a life changing difference!

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