PROJECTS IN UGANDA - Elevate Hope International

CURRENT PROJECTS IN UGANDA
Assisting orphaned and vulnerable community children

THE BEGINNING: A Seed of Hope

At Elevate Hope International, our mission is to transform the lives of orphaned and vulnerable children in Uganda and empower exploited and impoverished women in Rwanda. Through sustainable programs, we create a nurturing environment where individuals can thrive emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

In February 2021, our Secretary, Sara Baril, connected with Fred, the administrator of a small orphanage in Mbale, Uganda, supporting 45 children. By March 2023, board members Steve and Pat Leavitt, along with their granddaughter, visited the orphanage to assess its needs. Before their trip, Sara raised over $6,000 to send essential supplies, including clothing, menstrual kits, educational materials, and even a wheelchair for a young girl named Joyce. This marked the start of our hands-on involvement with the Mcanaan Miracle Foundation Orphanage Children.

FERTILE GROUNDS: Lands for Agriculture

To cultivate sustainability, we invested in land for agriculture. This land provides fresh produce for the children, reduces dependency on external aid, and teaches vital farming skills. It serves as both a food source and an educational tool, equipping children with skills they can use for a lifetime.

To cultivate sustainability, Sara recognized the need to obtain an adequate amount of land – that could support more than just the needed home in which 45 orphaned and vulnerable children could live. In addition, the land needed to be large enough to provide for adequate farming to provide some basic staples and vegetables for the place where the children could be educated and play safely, and land that would allow for the planting of enough crops to help sustain the children and workers.

Sara went to work and raised another $10,000 in donations in the fall of 2023, much of which was used to purchase more than 2.5 acres of land in January 2024. This land, now referred to as “the new land” serves as the place upon which many of the orphan children will be raised, and the foundation for the many things that are required for their long term support and sustainability, block making for the construction of housing, educational facilities, and agricultural projects such as farming and raising animals.

More than 1.5 acres of the land is used for planting crops, while the remaining acre has been used in part for the building of temporary structures that became needed on short notice to provide housing and to deliver education to the children. These structures will be used until permanent structures have been constructed to be used in their place.

A PLACE TO CALL HOME: Orphanage Care and Housing

Our orphanage is more than just a building; it’s a home where children find stability, safety, and love. We ensure each child is cared for in a nurturing environment that supports their emotional and physical well-being. Once we have raised adequate funds to construct additional buildings that can serve as a family residence, it is our intention to have each orphanage child placed into a famly with loving parents who will raise them as their own child, teaching the orphan children many life skills that cannot be properly taught or lived without a loving mother and father in the home, leading by example.

EDUCATION FOR EMPOWERMENT: Teaching Children

Education is central to our mission. During their visit, while Mark, Steve and the four young men were working steady at the new land, Sara and Pat conducted reading assessments at their current location and helped children improve their English skills. They interspersed with teaching of new games like “Duck-Duck Goose” and “Simon Says” which helped the children trust Pat and Sara to do these assessments. The teachers were also very grateful and all the women became friends.

The school not only offers academic knowledge but also teaches practical skills like farming and construction, equipping children for self-sufficient futures.

STRENGTHENING TIES: Building Community

Collaboration is key to our success. Members of the Rotary Club of Raymond (Alberta, Canada) and the Rotary Club of Elgon Maisha (Mbale, Uganda) joined forces to apply for and secure a Rotary International Global Grant. This funding supports essential aspects of the projects, including a boundary wall, solar power, and a deep well for clean water that will become a benefit not only to the school and orphanage, but also to the surrounding community.

At the project lands, and in the planning and controls of the projects, local Ugandans and community members work alongside us, fostering a sense of shared purpose and creating a sense of pride and ownership within the community, as it betters the lives of many people in the community..

PARTNERSHIP WITH ELEVATE HOPE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

Our sister organization in Uganda, Elevate Hope International Limited (EHI Uganda), oversees on-the-ground operations. With a board comprising of experienced members from both Canada and Uganda, we are working together to move this project forward, and create sustainable programs that will uplift women and children now and in the future.

EXPANDING OUR ROOTS: Help Us Purchase More Land

The need for expansion and additional crops is clear. By purchasing more land, we can grow more food provide proper nutrition and sustenance for the orphanage and school children, who rely of the school to feed them at least one meal each school day. Each acre of land can help provide some basic crops to feed up to 50 children over the course of the year. Currently, the school is providing a meal to nearly 200 people each day.

We are currently seeking donations to assist with the purchase of a 1 acre parcel of land that is adjoining the new land which we purchased in January, 2024. The cost of each additional acre of land can be as much as $5,000 CAD to purchase the land and obtain title to a 1 acre parcel.

Your support in this endeavour helps us continue to lay the foundation for a future where the children and their communities can flourish.