Our Ugandan Orphanage Needs Our Help
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Introduction:
Near a small town named Iganga, in north-eastern Uganda, there exists a magical Orphanage, led by a beautiful young man with a heart of gold, named Kendrick (Kakaire Sulaiman - meaning Old & Peaceful Man) who I have come to know and love as a dear friend and brother.
For the last seven years, he has accepted the role of brother and father for over 15 orphans, and since we have united, this orphanage has grown to providing care for over 55 orphans. With the generous and tireless support of five volunteer women, and Kendrick's four brothers, they have managed to provide incredible love and care for these precious kids, all while they themselves are struggling financially. To date, non of these caregivers have yet to receive a single dollar in payment for their tireless support. (This includes many others, who have helped in profound ways, such as our landlord, who has gone months at a time without payment, and to many in the neighborhood, who have offered clothes and food during the most challenging of times.
I know them all to be some of the most beautiful people whom I've never had the honor to physically meet. (But that day is fast approaching... I can feel it in my soul.)
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The last few months have been a real struggle to secure enough financial support to ensure that everyone has a roof over their heads, and food in their bellies. All 10 caregivers live together at the orphanage, in spaces which offer little to no privacy, and in subpar conditions, to say the least. A third of them are also single mothers and fathers, with their children living amongst the rest of the children, as one giant family.
A Humanitarian Crises:
~ What we are dealing with is an Orphan Crises ~
~ "10% of all children in Uganda are orphans"
Most of whom are living on the streets, with no one to help them, and no where to turn.
Uganda has been experiencing an Orphan Crises for more than two decades, due to many factors, such as war, poverty, corruption, and disease, as well as weak family support networks, and limited adoption options, with over double the average number of others compared to other poverty stricken nations.
Because of this, everyday, more people arrive at our Orphanage with orphans as young as 3 years old, hoping that we have the capacity to care for them. Sadly, we have been at full capacity for months, as we ourselves have been struggling to provide such basic things as food and shelter.
Naturally, it breaks our heart to turn away the orphans who are brought to our door,
but with your help, we can care for those who are already with us, and so many more.
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~ WE CAN BE THAT PLACE THEY MAY HAVE ONLY IMAGINED IN THEIR WILDEST DREAMS ~
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How can you help?!
In 2023, Michael established a Canadian Non-Profit Organization, named Humanity United,
with the mission and vision of Uniting Humanity, in the name of World Peace & Prosperity for All.
(Website coming soon)
I invite you to sincerely consider joining us on our first mission of uniting the first 5000 supporters who enthusiastically see the value of committing to a minimum of just $1/month, so that we can secure our Orphanage's Basic Monthly Budget.
How beautifully it would be, for our Lethbridge Community to unite around focusing our generous love towards supporting these most wonderful children and caregivers in Uganda. What a beautiful story this would be for all of us to be a part of.
A Beautiful BOND between Canada & Uganda; Lethbridge & Iganga.
DONATE HERE:
Click below Image:
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Three ways your help would make an extraordinary amount of difference:
1. Spread the word about our cause with others, and help us Secure Our Orphanages Basic Monthly Budget of $5,000 cad, by uniting enough donors who are willing to commit to even just a single monthly dollar. This budget covers the basic needs of the orphans and their caregivers, including food and shelter. With this budget, we will not only be able to secure food and rent for each month, but also enough to offer a bare minimum salary for each of our 10 caregivers, who have been offering their support purely on a volunteer basis, even while they themselves have been struggling financially.
2. Help us achieve our one-time fundraiser of $10,000, half of which will go towards Michael's travel budget for visiting the Orphanage for the first time, from Canada, meet everyone, and personally delivery the first remaining $5000 to the Orphanage, so they can sustain their basic needs for a month or three, while we arrange everything else.
Michael will be accompanied and assisted by his dear friend and Ugandan Citizen, Mukama, who is not only a trained social worker, passionate in investigative photo-journalism, but he has also already visited the Orphanage, travelling from across the country. This trip will play a fundamental role in helping us spread the message, and bring everyone along on this most wonderful journey, inspiring connection and confidence for all our supporters. Our hope is that before this trip, and or because of it, we will be able to secure enough commitments to monthly donations, so that the orphans never have to worry about not having food or shelter again.
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Future Goals & Dreams:
1. In the area directly surrounding our orphanage, there exist hundreds of orphans who are living on street with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Many of them are as young as 3 years old! Our goal is to fundraise $500,000 for acquiring a large plot of neighboring land, so as to build a NEW ORPHANAGE, which has the capacity to house and care for over 1000+ orphans.
We are currently renting some buildings which offer quite sub-par conditions to say the least, but are obviously much better than these kids living on the streets. The current living arrangement consist of practically empty concrete rooms, with no electricity and a few mattresses which are shared by the orphans and generally used as pillows.
a) Our first step upon receiving these funds will be to immediate relocate to a new ideal Rental space for our Orphanage, we carefully take the time to to identify, secure and develop the land for the New Orphanage. This land will be ideal, and large enough to offer a beautiful, outdoor gathering and playing area for all, with a gorgeous garden that's large enough to grow an abundance of organic food.
b) New clothes, beds, which they currently have none, and a mattress, sheets and pillow, as they currently share 5 orphans to a mattress. which is essentially being used as a pillow.
c) Financing the orphans continued basic education, and paying off the debt which their school has so generously offered us to opportunity to accrue. This includes a writing, as well as art materials.
d) Buying some sewing machines for making our own clothes, as well as toys and musical instruments for all to learn and play.
We will be continually building out this page, which will soon become a website of its own.
Click IMAGE below, to learn more about our evolving Vision for what will one day become:
"The Greatest Orphan Sanctuary on Earth"
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Meet The Entire Family
(Click Image Below)
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Photo Gallery:
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Humanity United Dance Academy:
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Ugandan Orphan Crises:
2. War: The LRA conflict has led to widespread displacement, violence, and abduction of children, leaving many without families.
3. Poverty: Extreme poverty has forced many children to live on the streets or in informal settlements, making them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
2. Government Initiatives: The Ugandan government has launched initiatives to address the orphan crisis, including the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development's report on the situation analysis of orphans in Uganda.
3. Community-Based Care: Many orphaned children are cared for by extended family members, such as grandmothers, who provide emotional support and basic needs.
https://reliefweb.int/report/uganda/orphan-crisis-uganda
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