Support Sky Is The Limit school in Uganda

Thanks to your generosity during GlobalGiving's Little by Little match-funding campaign, we have raised over a quarter of the money needed to upgrade The Chosen Few Tailoring Workshop at Sky Is the Limit Children's Centre! This money has enabled the manager, Connie-Rose, and her team to purchase 2 new sewing machines and 5 rolls of the material needed in order for them to fulfil bulk orders for the uniforms that the workshop produces. 

The beauty of The Chosen Few Tailoring Workshop is that as well as providing jobs and skills training for local people and graduates of Sky Is the Limit, as a social enterprise, it also feeds all its profits back into Sky Is The Limit. 

Connie-Rose knows only too well how vital this financial and skills-training support can be, after being taken in by the founder of Sky Is The Limit when she was orphaned at the age of 4. Being able to expand the workshop will allow her to grow the business and help Sky Is The Limit to buy vital supplies to provide school meals for the 300 pupils that attend its school.

Sky's children come from families severely affected by poverty and disease, including HIV/AIDS. They cannot attend state schools because their families or guardians are unable to afford the costs of the school uniforms, pencils and paper that they are expected to supply themselves. Many come to school without any breakfast and the nutritious school meal that Sky Is The Limit provides every day has not only boosted attendance levels but also led to a dramatic improvement in the pupils' ability to concentrate in class and a marked reduction in signs of malnutrition. 

Currently it costs £25 to feed one child for a year and it is a constant battle to keep the progamme running, due to recent hikes in the cost of basic staples. The expansion of The Chosen Few Tailoring School will help enormously by generating greater profits to cover the immediate need and buy the seeds and equipment needed to grow more of their own food in future. Thank you for supporting this worthy cause! We leave you with the words of 12-year-old Debra about what this daily school meal means to her: 

School meals, school meals,

You have changed my life at school,

Am happier than I was before

Oh, I love you school meals!

I was just 35kg before I ate you but now am 40kgs!

Oh, you are wonderful school meals.

School meals, school meals,

What a wonderful idea you are!

You made great changes in the lives of children at Sky

Most of us have become energetic, fat and tall

In academics, we’re far ahead!

Oh school meals, school meals,

Long live school meals, long live Sky!

God bless you school meals.

For Connie-Rose, Sky is the Limit changed her life. One of 9 children, she was orphaned at 4 years old when both her parents died within three months of each other. Luckily, Rose(the founder of Sky Is The Limit) heard about the family and stepped in to help. Connie-Rose now manages The Chosen Few Tailoring Workshop and passes on her skills and experience to other young Ugandans who are learning new skills to create new lives.

Here is Connie-Rose's story:

• I was born in 1993 in Kyenjojo distrct, in a family of nine children. I am the 2nd last born.
• I stayed with my parents up to the age of 4 when they passed away. My mother followed my father after 3 months. May their souls rest in peace.
• After their death life became difficult, as we were staying in the house alone and getting basic needs and school requirements was a problem. We came to know about Ms Rose-Kabasinguzi who had come to the area to do malaria research. In 1999, I moved with my elder sisters Angela and Judith to Sky Is The Limit in Fort Portal. I started a new life after that with my mother Abooki who baptized me Connie Rose and my godmother Ms Julian-Apio, one of her daughters.
• I started school and I performed well. I was always top of my class for 3 years in Kitumba Primary School.
• I was later transferred to Buhinga Primary School in Fort Portal town.
• I went to Secondary School from 2006 to 2009. I completed my S4 very well after I joined a Vocational Institution where I did Art & Design. I did not have any difficulties in the vocational school because I spent my long holidays at The Chosen Few Tailors where I learned a lot during my stay. Sewing, designing and knitting was part of what I was doing during that time. Now I am the Manager of the Chosen Few Tailoring Workshop.
• I feel very happy and am so proud of Sky's The Limit Children's Centre and more so our mother. LONG LIVE SKY IS THE LIMIT COMMUNITY!

The Chosen Few Tailoring Workshop not only provides jobs for those who work there, including Connie Rose and several other graduates of Sky Is The Limit, but also ploughs its profits back into Sky Is The Limit to allow it to buy essentials, and move one step closer to becoming self-sustainable, without having to rely on outside support. The equipment needed by The Chosen Few Tailoring Workshop will allow them to reach the next step in their growth.

Links:

• Ecologia Youth Trust website
• More about Sky Is The Limit