Dear Friends of Suubi Teen MOPS Uganda,
We want to thank you for your generosity towards the mothers and their children of Suubi. We want to assure you that all your gifts, large or small are appreciated and fully reach their purpose. With this letter, we want to briefly share what we were able to do in 2020 because of your support.
Because of your generosity, we were able to feed 100 women and children through the COVID 19 lockdown and economic crash. We also helped 30 moms pay their rent. Because schools were close, we provided private tutoring for 31 children. That number will now increase to 40 kids as the schools will remain closed until April 2021 in Uganda because of COVID 19. So, we will employ additional teachers for this term and 40 of our sponsored children will continue to learn.
We have 10 moms in sewing school. This school began in September 2020 and will continue through March 2021. We may extend the class beyond March if we have the funding. Each of these 10 women receives food and rent while they attend class full time. Our next goal is to start a social business that employs the mothers full time. Already the soap business is making progress selling its products in stores. They employ additional women to market the soap. So, the business is employing the women who make soap, but many other women are employed in sales and marketing. Our women are now skilled and just need to develop the opportunities to make products. We hope that things get back to normal soon so that also these businesses can take off and become self-sustaining.
We are also happy to share the growth on the goat farm. We started 2020 with 12 goats, and now we have over 50 goats. We also have built a giant goat house. This house will hold 250 goats. At the present growth rate, we may have that house full in 18 months. The plan right now is to sell the male goats and invest in new females. Each female bears 2 to 4 babies a year. Eventually, we will have enough livestock to begin selling goats two times a year. The profits will go towards the expenses of the group. The goats will never cover 100% of the group’s expenses, but they will be a healthy supplement. Suubi also gave away over 10,000 bars of soap to the poor in Kampala. They made and gave away over 6000 washable sanitary pads to schoolgirls. They made and gave away approximately 1000 washable facemasks to seniors in the slums. We also bought clean-burning stoves for all our mothers. This stove helps reduce carbon emissions and saves our women money on fuel. They are also much safer than the open fires that keep causing burns. We bought our women and children bed nets. This helps protect them from malaria. We covered the medical expenses of our women and children. We are paying for all our kids to receive medication for parasites. Our teen moms made handmade baskets that got sold around the world. And finally, our sewing women developed a doll. And each girl in the group received a doll for Christmas. And now they are making dolls to be sold in America. One of the highlights of 2020 was giving each boy at Suubi a soccer ball. I am grateful for every donor who agreed the boys should get a soccer ball for Christmas! Sometimes little things minister in such a big way!
We need funds to continue to provide food and rent. We need money to buy materials to make washable pads for girls. We need the funds to cover school supplies and new uniforms for 40 kids. These are extra expenses once a year as the sponsorship fees only covers school fees. If the situation improves, we may consider buying a shop where we can sell soap and the great things that the women sew. That was a goal in 2020. But right now, many shops are going out of business, so we have to wait. If the environment changes, we may consider investing in a training center or store, or workshop (or all the above). We have dreams, but we need to see what is right in the world with COVID and what is the right time. God willing, we will move past the pandemic. Suubi is doing all it can to continue to grow and get ready for what is to come. I am sure I missed something in this report. It has been a busy year. But we thank you very much for your gifts. They are changing many lives for good!
We have a weekly update on our blog https://teenmopsuganda.blogspot.com/. Please subscribe if you want to get more regular updates.
Sincerely, Amy and Juergen Heymann
Comments
Post a Comment