H.E.L.P. Uganda

Paper, Not Diamonds, Can Be a Girl’s Best Friend

Pam — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:03:12 +0000

Opportunity (according to Webster) is defined as; “A favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances”. A “golden” opportunity, a “window” of opportunity, “Leap at the opportunity”, “opportunity came knocking” are all phrases I can use to try to describe an event we were invited to in California last week.

H.E.L.P. International, meaning Jean Kaye and I in this instance, attended a Supplier’s Summit. We were invited by Full Circle Exchange, an innovative nonprofit social enterprise, who aims to “exponentially increase the reach of women artisans, farmers and social entrepreneurs who are dedicated to the development of more just economies and social systems as it pertains to the empowerment of women.”

Are you impressed yet? Let me continue…

We were invited to bring the Ugandan jewelry we so proudly market for our Masese village women to present to… are you ready?…Walmart.com! Walmart.com is seeking to empower women in the US and abroad! Through increased sourcing from women, to training, to enhancing women’s economic empowerment and increasing philanthropic giving towards
women’s economic empowerment Walmart.com is bringing to the public “Shopping For Good”.

And we are on the ground floor! Now you know what I mean by “opportunity”! It has come knocking and we are leaping at it!

We found ourselves having conversations with incredible women from Peru, Holland, Malaysia, Kenya, Rwanda, China, Canada, Palestine(living in Florida)and Canada. The talent was supremely superb, incredibly inspiring, and a bit intimidating.

Let me tell you the best part. These women all are working with the underprivileged in some way. For instance the woman from Kenya has a home for special needs children. It is their mothers that make the goods she sells. Some work with the blind, the victims of rape, and others represent those working to help victims of sex trafficking. All have a cause beyond themselves. Isn’t that just like a woman!

It is hard to comprehend the entire scope of the vision of the Full Circle gang. The Walmart.com women are forward thinking, powerful, compassionate and encouraging. And we get to play in this sandbox! Is God good or what!

We came away with more orders than originally spoken of and hope for replicating this model with some other big players. Just think how many marginalized women worldwide will reap the benefits of such programs!

Women shape the world. Let’s empower them and see the good that happens. What a legacy!

The web offerings may not be available for a few months. Keep posted. Meanwhile, here’s the video that we presented at the summit. It helps explain why we do what we do.

Market

Pam — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:55:31 +0000

No matter how hard you work or how good your product is if you don’t have a market where there is a chance to gain customers then all is for naught. That was the story in Masese for the women of the HELP School children. It would be like me or you learning a trade that either had so many doing it there was no room for us to break into the market or there was no market in the area we lived.

Even worse it was our only hope of feeding our families or sending them to school or getting medical care for them when they needed it. No hope is really a difficult thing. You wonder if there is something wrong with you. Did God forget you, or are you just so unworthy that you don’t deserve to even have hope?

Each time we visited Masese we were given gifts of lovely jewelry. Wonderfully varied and colorful. I wore it with pride! Then we decided to try bringing some back to see if others liked it as well as we did. We were delighted to see that we hadn’t brought enough! People loved them! Just like we did. We took the proceeds from those sales and decided to purchase more on our last trip. We told the ladies to be prepared as we would be buying.

Given hope for the first time, these industrious artisans went to work! They invited us to see their goods one afternoon. Placing a colorful piece of fabric on the ground, they sat down on the ground themselves and proudly spread out their creations. It was a beautiful sight! But we were in trouble! We only had enough money to purchase a few items from each lady.They had worked so hard and created so many beautiful pieces it was heartbreaking to leave so much work in their hands. Instead of this being a happy time it became sad. We had dashed their hopes and rejected their hard work, almost a slap in the face. What we had meant for good had not turned out so well.

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Don’t ever let anyone tell you that poverty means unintelligent people. When women need to survive they put their brains in gear. The next day the leader of the group came to us and told us we were like Moses to them and we couldn’t bring them this far and leave them. They wanted us to take all their jewelry. We declined as we didn’t have nearly enough money to purchase all their work. We didn’t understand. Irene said, “What are we supposed to do with this? We have no market! Take it all and send us money when you sell it” Wow, that was trust and risk and most of all desperation.

We hauled suitcases full back to the USA and went to work for them. With determination to not disappoint them we are taking advantage of every opportunity to present their work. All money goes back to them, their children, and their community. They are raising the standard of their area. They are on the forefront of providing education for their children, bringing opportunity to others, and raising themselves out of the poverty that has so mercilessly entrapped them. With just a couple of tools, a love for beauty, recycled paper and the community of each other an industry has been born for these families. Self pride instead of unworthiness, thankfulness instead of despair, hope!

No we must keep our end of the bargain and bring their jewelry to the market. We can not leave them in the wilderness. Being like Moses we must rely on God’s leading and provision to get them to the promised land. The land of milk and honey where we all enjoy the fruits of our labor. Where children don’t die from lack of medicine or poor nutrition. Where education and opportunity is the norm rather than the exception. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done!

Jewelry

Pam — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 04:39:22 +0000

When God opens a door He can throw it open wider than anyone could imagine. I know there are scriptures blessing those that champion the cause of the poor and needy. I know that money is no object to Him who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and knows the end from the beginning. I know that the last shall be first. I know that widows and children are close to the heart of my Lord. What I didn’t know is that I would get to be a part of transforming a village in Africa!
When I first came to this village the children were running around with distended bellies somewhat covered with rags; bored, uneducated, sick, hungry and hopeless. In just 2 ½ years they have lost their bellies to healthy bodies due to no longer being hungry, learned to read (and in English!), have purpose and are full of hope for their future. No longer in rags they shine like nothing you have ever seen if you have not witnessed this kind of transformation. I am humbled and in awe of the God we serve! With precious little funding and a handful of people there is now; a school building with classrooms for 250 children, teaching supplies and learning materials to equip 6 teachers, a kitchen specially designed to serve them, a library and latrines, rainwater collection tanks, storehouses, a new garden and even a pregnant cow to enhance their nutrition.
I know you see the title of this is “Jewelry” and may be wondering what this has to do with jewelry. Well let me tell you about the mothers, grandmothers and caretakers of the students in this school. Now, remember, this school is for the children that had no way to go to the normal schools in the area due to their parent’s extreme poverty. These are the absolute poorest of the poor in this impoverished area. Women seem to be the primary caretakers of the families the world over. If there are good men around they help as they can but I have been really impressed with the women in this village. The more I get to know them the more impressed I am. They have a determination I admire. And along with that determination they have spirit. From that spirit evolves creativity and dedication.
Having nothing means banding together to share costs, ideas, tools and drive. Groups of women make lovely jewelry from scraps. Paper that we throw away, in their hands, becomes colorful necklaces or earrings or bracelets. I never would have thought paper could be so interesting and beautiful when cut and rolled into beads. Once varnished they shine enough to make women half way across the world excited to wear this work of art. From mud huts to fancy dress shops these beads have been on a journey. This is a journey of desperation as these women have no other means of supporting themselves. A journey accomplishing empowerments as the profits go back into the village to bring knowledge from illiteracy, vision and dreams from hopelessness.
Knowing this story first hand it has been my delight to help bring their beads to the USA and present them to friends and interested businesses. They are easy to sell as they not only are desirable on their own but they make the wearer proud they have helped another in need. They have purchased jewelry that has a meaning. There is an actual woman to woman connection. I praise God as He draws lovers of beauty together making a difference in the lives of both!

Unlocking the World

Pam — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 04:59:27 +0000

Unlocking the world through books might seem like a lost art in this time of movies, internet and all the electronics available to much of the world. But how do you expand your world if none of that is possible. What if you don’t have a TV or a computer or even electricity?
We have always told stories. All down through history stories were passed down from generation to generation. The storyteller and audience have a bond as history is remembered or lessons are learned or entertainment is enjoyed. A good animated storyteller is a delight to encounter. We can sit transfixed as they invite us into a world we can imagine through their words and actions. When authors and illustrators took the storytelling to the written page books became the method of transformation. Whole worlds opened up as books spread throughout the literate civilizations. As there appeared an abundance of books in each household libraries were formed for the sharing of the wealth. Now the less fortunate as well as the privileged had access to books. If you couldn’t read you could, at least, look at the pictures and form your own story to match the illustrations. The pictures were a great incentive to learn to understand the words.
Today in the village of Masese in Eastern Uganda there is a library. This is a place of great joy. The world has expanded for these people. Not all can read but many are learning! For those that can read this is an oasis with lush, life giving tales of other lives, in other worlds, in different times and faraway places. For those just learning to read the books offer amazement and delight as they unlock the words into sentences, the sentences into paragraphs and the paragraphs into chapters. What a gift! What a wonderful way to learn!
The enchantment on the faces of a class as I read a book to them and show each picture warms my soul and delights my heart. Any class anywhere can relish a book being read but in a Ugandan village where books are rare the amazement is unspeakable. Stories that are dear to the hearts of children in my part of the world are fresh and new to these eager listeners. “The Little Engine That Could” teaching the little ones that if they try they can make it over the big hills, the silly fun of singing “Little Bunny Foo Foo” , the imagination of the Disney’s Princess books, the vivid pictures and nature learning of “ The Hungry Caterpillar”, and so many more to come. What a joy to share!
And then there are the adults! Grown men with too much time on their hands come and immerse themselves in reading, devouring books with starved minds. Many men in this village consume alcohol in their despair and boredom. How much better to consume books! Their formal education may be over or interrupted but their desire for learning is still alive and well. Wow, a whole room of books envelope them and they are taken away for a time!
The women don’t seem to have found the library yet. I am sad about that. Young women still in school crowd in reaching eagerly for what book they might find but the older women aren’t there. My guess is that they are too busy taking care of their families, or that they have not had the chance to learn to read. Life In this village is hard and the women get the brunt of the labor. I can’t wait for the time I can sit a few women down in front of a computer and teach them to surf their questions in the internet. Or I can put a book in their hands that helps them lighten their work load. Or read a story to them that helps them relate to women all over the world. Or show them how to improve their family’s health through current educational opportunities found right there in their own library. Or, best of all, they can read God’s Word and learn of Him, encountering His love and the grace of forgiveness and redemption.
The possibilities are endless now that there is a library right there in the village of Masese, Uganda on the outskirts of Jinja, at the mouth of the famous Nile River. The world is being unlocked! Praise be to God who is the Giver of every good gift!

Alex

Pam — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:45:28 +0000

Alex was his name. Magical, special and precious come close to describing him. I felt graced, humbled, and honored to be in his presence. I can’t quite believe he was real….except I was there holding his hand. I was the student and he the teacher. He never even said a word but I learned. I learned what pure worship looks like. With one hand over his heart, the other holding mine and his eyes closed, he sang softly and tenderly. Shutting out the world, his focus was total and unwavering. You could feel the love flowing from his little heart to his Jesus. Movement and noise swirled around him. Others were boisterous and playful but he was in a world all his own. He brought me in. I felt like I was on hallowed ground. The joy I felt as we worshipped there together is indescribable. Joy unspeakable and full of glory! I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a beam of heavenly light encompass us. I was taken away. I can’t imagine where he learned this. It seemed to have come from deep inside him but took us to heavenly places. Angels must feel this way in the presence of God. I wish I felt like that always. I had traveled across land and sea to be in this place at this moment in time. Here I am a red curly haired, freckled skin grandma joining in worship along side this dark skinned baby with liquid brown eyes. My tears flowed in reverence and awe. Thanksgiving for being allowed to experience God’s Holy presence with a true worshipper overwhelmed me. There is new meaning to Jesus words saying “Let the little children come unto me”. Alex is just 3 years old!

H.E.L.P. Uganda Primary School Newsletter #3 July 2010

Pam — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:40:52 +0000

The Third Term for the school is almost up. Testing is about to begin and then break until mid September. I think I like this kind of schedule. There is no long summer break for kids to forget what they have learned and get bored.

This month the students were admitted to a competition in their division. They competed in music and drama. Remember that just a little over a year ago these children had no opportunity to attend school. They had no opportunity to excel, no opportunity to feel proud, really, just no opportunity. Now, with the help of HELP International and HELP Uganda and the amazing teachers at the HELP Uganda school 30 students worked hard and came in 2nd place in their division!

They get to go on to the district competition and hope to win there as well. Teacher Ben says they are good in drama and have a very good chance to win. While Jean Kaye was in Uganda in June she purchased drums, flutes and grass skirts for this competition. Soon I will have a YouTube video for you to see. Watch for it at helpintorg on YouTube. We are proud!!!

Phyne is now volunteering at the school. She was in her Teacher Training College when she ran out of funds to complete it. She loves teaching so is teaching at our school as a student teacher until she can finish her schooling. She is also a Sunday School teacher. We are happy to have her.

The brick making machine has been purchased but has not arrived yet. We found out we can’t put walls up on the existing structures as they are not strong enough to hold. We were disappointed in that and hope to shore these structures up to be used in the future. This first building will be a totally new building. It will have two large classrooms, a library, and a storage space. It is half as large as we would like but will serve the purpose we desperately need of having a place to secure school learning aids (computers, books, supplies, etc). Funding is still questionable but we are stepping out in faith. Looks like it will take at least $12,000 to build this building. Certainly couldn’t build one here for that amount but as Bruce says “That is a big gulp!”

Jean got to spend a day in Masese in June. She introduced the brick making machine to the village. A group went with her to see a building made from this new style brick and to see the brick making machine in production. From that there was a steering committee formed to grease the wheels of acceptance in the community.

The container has been held up in Kampala. Most of the contents have just recently been delivered to the storage in Masese. Looks like we may do the distribution when we arrive in September. Some items are still being held in Kampala for an additional tax. Ugh!

The team is coming together nicely for the trip in September. There is still time for people to join. This promises to be a great trip! A business class will be available to some of the villagers who can then create a plan for a micro-business scholarship with their newfound knowledge.

With the doctors, nurses and volunteer medical assistants we have on the team, there will be daily medical/dental clinics and health classes.

Several of us will be helping in the school; reading to kids, helping with their English and playing learning games with them.

A feeding program will also be implemented for the students to improve their health, providing them energy to learn.

And then, of course, there is the building project! Whew! Lots going on and we probably don’t know the half of it yet. Come see what God leads you to do. You might be surprised.

You can get more immediate news on my networking sites:

www.facebook.com (HELP Uganda-Masese) (My personal page)

www.pamspath.com

www.help-uganda.com

As always, please pass this on to whoever you think might be interested.

In His Name,

Pam McCormick

Village Transformation-begins with the children

June 2011 HELP Uganda Newsletter

Pam — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 20:40:53 +0000

We are nearing the time to head back to our favorite part of the world, Jinja/Masese, Uganda. School has recently started their second term for this year. Have I told you they have about 3 months of school and then break for about a month throughout the year instead of the way we do going 9 months and then a 3 month break?
All three of our teachers have had their babies. Lydia and Evarine and Phyne all had little girls. Can’t wait to hold them!
Big news is the completion of the new kitchen along with a storage building and a pantry room. The innovative design Rich engineered is quite a hit. People are coming and taking pictures! As you will see in the pictures it is an open air kitchen with lots of exits for the smoke. They are delighted to have running water to clean with. The stoves are energy efficient using half as much wood. The Nursery/Kindergarten has been moved adjacent to the kitchen. There will be less distraction for the higher grades and more room to spread out for all classes. The little ones will get to eat first too. I am sure they will love that! This structure will be available for rent to villagers holding weddings, church functions, business meetings, etc. We haven’t been able to pay our cooks yet so maybe income from the rental will help with that.
The classroom building is partly in use now. Two classrooms have just opened up for use. There will be four large rooms. Teachers and students alike are in anticipation of the completion of their school building. Currently the outside walls are being left open as without electricity it will be too dark and too hot.
We hope to find funding for solar powered electricity. There is talk of some modular tables and benches being made that will store easily to help furnish the existing accommodations and be available for rent or transformation to solid furniture when the school rooms are all inhabitable.
As we prepare for the August trip please consider joining us. Looks like the cost is $3500 for the first two weeks in August. A Ugandan safari will cap off the trip. Viewing lions, elephants, monkeys, giraffes, hippos, are just a few of the animals you will probably see in their natural habitat. Much different than a zoo! Come serve the village and school with us as we bring illiteracy to knowledge in the school, growth and health through the feeding program and clinics and most of all love and concern to a desperate village.

New School Building

Pam — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:56:24 +0000

Imagine with me for a minute. You are sitting in school with 50 to 70 other children in your class. You share a chair with another friend. With only a dirt floor that is pretty unlevel we have our challenges keeping our chair from tipping. Your teacher is in the front of the class teaching but you are having a hard time hearing. The class right next to yours is loudly repeating after their teacher (with no sound barrier in place). Just as soon as they finish their lesson there is a large truck driving past your classroom stirring up dust and further making any hearing difficult as there are no outside walls. The dust gets better as the rain starts to fall. You are really happy for the roof over your classroom and as long as the wind doesn’t come up to blow the rain you can stay pretty dry. The goats keep trying to come in from the rain too! It is quite funny to see them chewing the pictures off the makeshift walls especially when the teacher tries to shoo them out! Also entertaining is the sight of the school cooks trying to cook in the rain. Even though they are under the big tree outside they need to bring their fire and big cooking pots in under the same roof you are under. That is not so amusing as the smoke hurts your eyes. Earlier today hadn’t been too bad as the trash pit next to your class wasn’t smoldering so the smell and smoke from it didn’t bother you but now the cooking fires are creating all that smoke making your eyes burn and your nose fill with acrid smoke. It is a little hard to concentrate anyway but when you see your friends from another school hanging around you just want to get up and join them. Seems like there are constantly distractions from outside the nonexistent walls.
Exciting things are happening though! For months men from the village have been making bricks. They press them one at a time using part dirt, part quarry dust and part cement. Then they are left to cure rather than being fired. Glad they aren’t burning up more of our already limited supply of wood! There are thousands of bricks! It is good to see the guys working as they are too often idle. Now the bricks are being formed into a kitchen where the cooks can cook under a roof and with efficient stoves and where we can be served our posho and beans without being out in the sun or rain. You are excited to see the kitchen cooking area and storage as it comes into being. But even more exciting than that is hearing the plans for a six room school building that is planned to begin construction just after the kitchen area is finished! You can hardly imagine an actual classroom with walls to keep the distractions and sound out, a floor, windows and a door to each classroom (so the goats and rain can’t come in but cooling air can!) A place where you won’t have to store all your chairs and tables after each day but can just leave them in their places will be wonderful. You will be able to get more furniture and even have big blackboards for the teachers to use and storage places for supplies. Maybe even electricity! Lights, fans, audio and video all available with electricity! You will feel like a real school! You never thought you would even be able to attend a school at all. Now I will have a wonderful one and will be able to learn and learn and learn! Just imagine!

Signs

Pam — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:06:38 +0000

There are the “signs of the times” the Bible talks about that we need to be mindful of. Like what is up with the birds falling out of the sky and the fish dying in mega amounts? We are told, also in the Bible, to write God’s laws on our doorposts and even carry them in a box strapped to our forehead. I read a book many years ago where the father put things he wanted his children to learn everywhere they would look. They knew he would be sure to post things in the bathroom! We used to have signs along the highways with wise sayings on them. Now it is a big business to put messages on billboards. I have even seen marriage proposals coming on banners from airplanes. Most of the internet sites are financed from messages being sent widespread throughout the world. Last week while hiking we had signs to tell us trail etiquette and to describe trail options. Tags are signs on clothes as is front or back messages on Tshirts. God puts signs in the heavens like “red sky at night sailor’s delight” and the ever beautiful rainbow bringing hope each time it is formed. In Africa signs are used to teach and guide as well. They are handmade signs for the most part but still powerful. I have seen large billboards promoting fidelity and family values. All teachers know the power of posters and messages being displayed around classrooms. While visiting different schools I have seen some wonderful efforts to teach and proclaim.

The “Can Do” Gender

Pam — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:58:15 +0000

Swinging an ax is not something I can do, at least not very effectively. I am quite sure I would slash my leg or worse. I have never had to worry much about firewood anyway. When we go camping we can usually find what we need laying around or some wonderful Ranger has already cut some for us. At home I just turn on a switch! Cooking in Uganda is quite another matter. The women there are “can do” people! I would call Bruce and ask for help real quick if I needed to have some firewood. Not in the village where we were! The women take that chore on. As I first walked up to the cooking area for the school to check it out I saw this woman off to the side attacking a rather large felled tree trunk with her ax expertly chunking out fuel for the pots cooking lunch. I was excited to be feeding the kids as it had been over a year since the school started and we had not had funding up to now. Our funding was still pretty limited but I just had to begin. I asked for some volunteers from the village to help. Three women brought their own pots and mixing sticks (and ax). They built their fires, cut their wood, prepared vegetables for “spices” with no table or chairs or counter and a dull knife. They stood over pots in the hot, smoke filled area with babies strapped to their backs as they stirred. I am not sure how long it takes to do this process but it seemed like they were there all morning. Previously they had been out under the tree but rain had made them reconstruct their space under the roof where the classrooms are being held until we can get some walls built. The teachers didn’t complain but there were burning eyes in all of the classrooms due to this (somewhat) indoor cooking arrangement since there are no barriers to keep the smoke contained. Actually no one is complaining at all, about anything. They are also excited to be feeding their children. Hunger is everywhere. Extended bellies are common due to malnutrition. Obesity is not a problem! The children lick their plates to get every last drop of food. Thankfulness is in their eyes as they do a little curtsy when they see me. I am humbled. It is just maize meal and beans but to them it is a sumptuous meal, a very favorite.
Since I am a cook I am curious as to what is in the beans. They smell delicious and look inviting as I peer into the pots. I begin asking questions. I have been concerned about nutrition and not just filling tummies so I am pleasantly surprised to hear what all they add. Cabbage, tomatoes, onion, greens, beef spices, maybe some garlic, and salt all go into the beans if they have them. The posho looks like cream of wheat cereal but thicker and a bit yellow. They serve them in the same bowl, one beside the other. I was invited to try a bowl and answered with a big smile. We really weren’t supposed to eat the local food as we often get sick from the water things were washed in but I just decided to trust that the cooking had killed anything that might hurt me. Hospitality is second nature to these lovely people so they found me a chair and sat me down with a large bowl of beans and posho. Wondering how I could wash my hands I looked up and saw a pitcher of water ready to be poured over my soon to be eating utensils. Forks and spoons are nowhere to be seen. So without a table or napkins I had to figure out how to get this concoction in my mouth without spilling it on my lap or having it dribble down my chin or down my elbow. Laughing didn’t help! I had to ask Billy to show me how to eat the Ugandan way. He took pity on me and brought another chair over for me to use as a table and proceeded to show me how to use my fingers as a scoop. My audience was polite and didn’t join me in my laughter but there were smiles all around. That may have been some of the best beans I have had and the posho (which probably would not be good alone) was a great enhancement. I learned a lot that day and was especially proud of my gender!