Forever Friends - Uganda (CDD)
Forever Friends was created by husband and wife Keith and Jeannette Mills in 2002 after being teachers in Uganda since the 1970’s and feeling they wanted to do more. They built 2 primary schools and one secondary school, and support and facilitate sponsorship of individuals to pay school costs and meet basic personal and educational needs. Funding for these projects is completely directly from family, friends, and Facebook campaigns, no public or government grants - last year, Keith raised £2,000 doing an 11-mile sponsored walk for his 80th birthday!
Over the last 20 years there have been numerous success stories from their graduates, many who give back to the program. The charity currently sponsors 92 nursery and primary school pupils, 33 secondary school pupils, and 6 young people in further and vocational education. Looking to the future, they wish to make the schools self-funding. To this end, dormitories have been built to house the teachers, and further dormitories will house fee-paying pupils from other areas. To promote self-sufficiency, gardens tended by the school will provide vegetables and food.
In common with so many similar projects, lockdown presented great difficulties. In Uganda this was exacerbated by Ebola outbreaks. The collapse of the economy meant food was scarce, parents lost their jobs and could not support their children. Sadly, many children fell prey to abuse, with a number of forced marriages and unwanted pregnancies. During lockdown, some of the buildings quickly fell into disrepair, as regular maintenance is required in the harsh environment.
Coming out of lockdown, the priorities are to repair the buildings so children can fully return to school, increase funding, and secure further vital sponsorship for more children.
Additionally, a project which started just before lockdown was a Skills Centre. The intention is to provide practical skills for those unable to attend school. Skills such as gardening, cultivation, cooking, soap making, sewing, sanitary towel making, etc. are some of the main ideas. An important ambition for this project is to include women from the village, many of whom have lost what little support they had.
We’re so proud to report that with a CDD of just over £4300, LYT is supporting the finishing of the Skills Centre, and funding the start up costs to get all of their programs running - including sanitary towel making, dress making, a salon/hair dress station and soap making. All of these projects will help build self-sufficiency for families in the village, led by women entrepreneurs. We can’t wait to report back on how they’re doing in the near future as things progress!