Women and Girls Education & Empowerment in Uganda

The Angel Projects has been super busy and productive all summer long with our different projects that empower the women and girls of Rubuguri, Uganda.  It's been an amazing season!

Our elderly project is going strong; we're currently serving two elderly ladies in the community who have no other means of support.  Yudes has been having some serious health issues this summer; she was in the hospital, and we were concerned for a time that we were going to lose her, but she's still hanging in there!  Yudes' "last wish" when things were looking really bad was to be visited by one of her "muzungus (foreigners)." So, our friend and partner, Tonje, headed up the mountain to visit her.  Tonje is a doctor from Norway, so she was not only fulfilling Yudes' wish, but she was also able to examine her to determine what else we could do to help her.  Yudes was thrilled with the visit, her spirits were lifted, and she's been talking about "her muzungu" ever since.  Her health has improved, and she's eating better and feeling pretty good!

One of our founders, Olivia, was able to visit the other member of our elderly project, Caroline, who is so happy to be in her newly renovated home.  She is much more comfortable and secure than she was in the past, and her health is very good as well.  It was such a blessing for Olivia to be able to visit Caroline and see how well she's doing and how nice her new home is--thank you to everyone who donated towards this renovation!

Another important project this summer was our education project.  Our other founder, Susan, was able to work with Hope Preparatory Primary School this summer to provide them with teacher training for their nursery and lower primary teachers.  She started with classroom observations and then conducted several days of a teachers' workshop to provide the teachers with feedback on their areas of excellence, suggestions for improvements, and new teaching strategies.  The teachers then implemented some new strategies in their classrooms, under observation, and then Susan conducted one-on-one conferences to discuss the strategies and give more feedback.  The program was really successful, and these already talented educators now have new tools at their disposal to enhance learning among their students.  It was a very fun and productive summer working with Hope School!

Co-founder Olivia was also able to visit her sponsored child, Regina, at Hope School.  Regina is in Primary 4 and is thriving as a boarding student at this private school.  Her grades have improved immensely, she's becoming quite fluent in English, and her whole attitude and demeanor have changed drastically as well.  Regina is so happy these days, and she has high hopes for her future!

We feel so blessed after such a wonderful summer, and nothing we do would be possible without our generous sponsors. Thank you once again for making such an incredible impact on the village of Rubuguri!

At The Angel Projects of America, we believe in giving a hand up, not a handout, and we strive to offer this support to all members of a community in which we're serving.  In Uganda, we've worked hard to listen to the locals in order to identify the needs that they see in their Rubuguri community, and then we do what we can to meet those needs while also encouraging self-sufficiency and personal growth.

Two of our most successful programs have been our educational program and our elderly project.  We started out by helping parents in the community, mostly single mothers, to send their children to school.  We did this in two ways.  First, we provided job training and opportunities so that the women could make a living and help support their children.  Then, through the generous donations of our supporters, we provided half of the school fees so that all the children in the Kashija village could attend school.  The parents were responsible for the other half, which created within them a sense of ownership and self-sustainability. 

A couple of years ago, we expanded our educational program to include scholarships for college-aged students.  The recipients of these scholarships were young women who were successful in high school and who had a passion for giving back to their community after completing their education.  We are very excited to report that the first two recipients of the Angel Projects' scholarships are currently in their last semester of school and will soon graduate!

Eva has been in nursing school for three years, and she is very excited to be finishing up so that she can start her career as a nurse in her community.  Meria is finishing her pharmaceutical degree and has been at the top of her class during her entire education.  She too is thrilled to finish school and use her knowledge and degree to serve her community. Thank you to all of our supporters who have made our scholarships, and the dreams of these young ladies, a reality.  Your generosity will have an enduring impact on the entire Rubuguri community!

Another successful program about which we're very excited is our elderly project.  Several years ago, our Ugandan staff members came to us and shared an important need that they had identified within the community, which was that there are older members in the community who are struggling to survive.  These elderly people have no family to support them, they're no longer able to work themselves, and in Uganda there are no government programs to help older citizens.  Our staff members wanted Angel Projects Uganda to step in and meet this need, and so our elderly project was born.

Since then, we've been able to provide health care, nutritious food, bedding and other supplies, and companionship to these elderly members of the Rubuguri community. As a result, their lives have completely changed!  Although as a result we've suffered through the passing of some ladies we'd come to love, we know that their final time on this earth was filled with health and happiness, and for that we are truly grateful.  Thank you for your generous support as we continue to serve this marginalized group in Rubuguri.

We appreciate all of our donors and supporters, and we know that nothing we do, no hope or joy that is now present within the community, would be possible without all of you.  You are life changers who are impacting the world!