Raising friends and funds

I promised you lots of pictures and posts from our trip to Uganda. Shame on me - I did not keep my promise! I will though but business has been keeping me away from the blog.

I haven't been lazy though.

Last saturday we through a fundraiserparty. A party where we talked about what we saw in Uganda and espicially in Tororo.

We talked to the people who came to show them the photos. We shared the story about Hands of Hope. We shared the story about Iyolwa where they are badly in need of a health center.

The Health Center
You see, in Iyolwa they have started to collect bricks for building a health facility.

This is the "health facility" right now: A primitive shed made out of metal.
Not very hygienic and VERY hot, which is not good for keeping medicine!

When we came, they had 100 bricks, but they needed 20.000!

We gave 1000 bricks. That gave courage to people and the locals started collecting within themselves.

Now they have 7000 bricks!

But that was not the only story we shared. We also talked about how Hands of Hope make voluntary nurses and doctors come to the shed to screen women for cervical cancer.

The school 
We told our guests about the Hands of Hope Secondary School in Iyolwa where Phibby are making sure, that local children who have no alternative at least get to go school.

But conditions at the school are poor: The children are all taught in the same room. They need another blackboard, but they do not have money to buy one.

Hands of Hope Secondary School

The Party

This is what we told our guests.

They listened. They took in the information we gave them.

We exchanged ideas: How to fundraise more - and how to systematize our efforts.

The party gave everyone some food for thought.

But most importantly: I gave great gifts to the women and children of Iyolwa!

We fundraised 1000 dollars!

A substantial amount and enough to start building the health facility. And enough to buy those blackboards.

We thank everyone involved - here are the photos from the evening.

The table is set with african motives

At the party we showed the guests the video made by Hands of Hope about their projects.
Here: Dr. Emmanuel Otaala talking about prevention and health. 

Gifts from African friends on display

The brochure from Hands of Hope were given to alle guests

Guests enjoying themselves and donating for Hands of Hope

Telling about the projects and showing photos

Thank you to everyone who donated!

Dancing was also part of the programme!

All my bags are packed....

Tomorrow morning - very early of course - we will be leaving for Uganda.

We are going to stay with Phibby in Kampala and in Tororo, visiting the Hands of Hope project.

We have packed a ton of things to give to the volounteers in the project and we are ready for some great experiences.

This is why we are doing it.

On the way, we will be blogging about everything we see so stay tuned!

Visit Uganda

The source of the Nile, Mount Elgon, trekking and breathtaking waterfalls: The eastern region of Uganda, where Hands of Hope is located, is actually an extremely beautiful area.

If you are considering a visit to Uganda, you really should consider paying a visit to the Eastern Region. Tourism is also a way of helping and we are almost sure, that this would be a wonderful experience for you.
Even more so if you get to know some of the local people, like Phibby and her family...

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If you are planning to go, you are very welcome to contact us at sfof@sfof.dk for good contacts or tips and tricks - just ask for Rebekka and Hands of Hope project, leave your phone number or email adress and we'll get back to you. We are keen to make people discover the marvels of Eastern Uganda and there are no strings attached!

Mount Elgon in Eastern Uganda

Check out VisitUganda for more information (and no, they are not paying us for the advertising - even though they ought to ;-) ).

Eastern Uganda as presented by VisitUganda.

First World Problems Anthem

Hate it when all the good restaurants in your area are fully booked on a thursday night?
Hate it when you can't find space enough in your closet for your new clothes?
Hate it when you miss the sales on sports gear?

Then you might be experiencing a real "first world problem"!

I don't know who made this wonderful video, but I think it is food for thought over the weekend!

A new project on the way - hopefully

The last month has been full of paperwork!

We have just applied for funds for Hands of Hope through a danish organization called CISU, which is a danish abbreviation for "development in civil societies". 

At the so-called "NCD-meeting" in Denmark in march, Phibby from Hands of Hope and SFOF was introduced to CISU. The idea to apply for funds through CISU was born at this meeting. In the photo: Parliamentarians from Uganda listen to a presentation at the NCD meeting in Copenhagen

This is the idea: 

We want to combine a microfinance-project and a health-insurance-project. 

Microfinance

We are applying for funds for microfinancing. If we get the amount we are applying for, SFOF and Hands of Hope will be able to help 8-10 women groups in the Tororo area by lending them money at a very low interest level. The money will be used for investments in income-generating activities. 

An income-generating activity can for instance be buying 2 goats or pigs to rear and sell the meat - generating money for the group. It can also be investing in sewing machines, so that the group can produce clothes and sell them on the market. Anything which helps the group making some money. 

Health insurance

If a groups recieves a microfinancen-loan, it will be a condition for the loan, that they also start a "group-health-insurance".

The concept is that each group recieves a "start-up amount". Once it has been started all members of the group will contribute with a little bit of money each money for the insurance. 

in that way, when someone in the group needs hospital treatment, it will be possible to help that person. 

It is a very simple concept - we hope that CISU will find that it is a good idea!

IF we succeed in getting the money, we will be able to help A LOT of women, since each group has around 30-40 members. 

Wish us luck :-) 

Good news from Bruce

One of the biggest yearly danish music events, the Roskilde Festival, has just ended.

Bruce Springsteen (the handsome man in the middle!) with the Caritas crew. To the left of Bruce (the also handsome man with glasses!) is Jan Sjursen, director of Caritas 

At the festival, Bruce Springsteen was one of the main acts (what a great concert!), and he also got the honour of giving the "Orange Donation" to a charity organization of his choice. The prize consists of the profits of last years festival and this year, 1,5 million danish kroner was handed out.


The good news is that Bruce picked a danish organization called Caritas to recieve this years donation. The money goes to fighting poverty in Eastern Uganda.


Congratulations to Caritas - we hope that some of the money will find its way to the Tororo area!

Ugandans know how to party

In spite of all poverty problems and other challenges facing the ugandans every day, they also know how to have a good time - in the bedroom!



Take a look at this documentary (danish intro and danish subtitles) about "Sexy Uganda". The documentary shows a side of ugandan women, that we are not normally told much about: For instance how older and more experienced women teach younger women all about their tips and tricks. As they say: A healthy sexlife is the basis of a healthy society.

Have a nice summer!