Welcome! Our first Weekly Blog

 

Welcome! This is the first post of the ACT Uganda Weekly Blog! We will tell stories, shares fun things and just keep you informed of the wonderful things happening in Muko, Sub County Uganda.

You can help us shape these blogs by commenting about topics you want to hear more about. There are so many things to share, so let me get started!

As we begin the year 2022, 16 years after ACT started, we reflect on the past couple of years. COVID hit both Muko and Michigan hard. Our two countries decided to deal with this pandemic in very different ways. There were positives and negatives both in the U.S. and Uganda. In Muko, the schools were shut down for nearly 2 years. President Museveni decide late last fall to open the schools in January. Kids were very, very ready and excited to return. We have our highest enrollment yet at Muko High School (ACT is managing the school for the time being) at 417 students. At the shutdown time we had 172 students. This is certainly something to celebrate! Rev Philip, our new Head Teacher and the Deputy Head Teacher, Eric, did some very successful recruitment for students at local primary schools and churches. In addition, the community was watching in keen interest for the last 3 year, all the physical improvements at the high school. And, as of this week, work has begun on the installation of solar power for the school for the first time ever. This has been a very generous grant from Rotary Clubs in Midland, MI, Traverse City, MI and Petaluma, CA as well as matching funds from the Rotary Districts and Rotary International. 

And, then there was light! 


The students can now study in the evenings without clustering together around one feeble light bulb run by the noisy generator! 

We are so grateful to all our supporters and our most dedicated staff to make Muko a transformed community. Blessings!

  To learn more about our programs, visit us at: 

                                                                    Our website (actuganda.org) 

                                                                    Facebook page (ACTUgandaUSA) 

                                                                    Pinterest (actuganda)

                                                                    Instagram: (ACTUgandaUSA) 

Consider purchasing a beautiful ACT Handcraft and help a woman send her kids to school!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Treasure Name Lovina

Image
 In 2008, the US Travel Team and the ACT Staff established a program, which at the time was named Muko Empowerment Program. This program was created for the purpose of providing a market for local women with HIV to sell their baskets and beaded jewelry. There were about 25 women in the beginning all very eager to participate to earn cash to be able to send their children to school.  2008  Guma with MEP Weavers 2008 With Guma (Alexander Gumoshabe) leading the MEP Program, it grew and grew. We have carried thousands of baskets, jewelry and sewn items back in our suitcases for 20 years! Soon after we began the program, we learned of Lovina! Lovina was clearly the standout best basket weaver in our program. Lovina is lame, unable to use her legs except to walk in a squat position. She is such a strong woman. Her lack of able-ness does not even slow her down. We soon gave her the title of Basket Quality Manager and her responsibility was to come to the ACT Resource Center once...
Read more
Image
Hello Everyone! To those in the US - Happy Spring, the snow is melting and March Madness is almost over (Kansas Jayhawks are still in it as I write this!) To those in Uganda - Happy back to school finally after such a long shut down for COVID. Today I am reflecting on the beginnings of ACT. The very first contact as most of you know was a handwritten letter from Richard and Generous Turinawe - written on April 22, 2003. I had no idea of who they were and in fact, I had to look up where Uganda was in the continent of Africa! I'll bet some of you don't know I still have that original letter. Here it is! I looked at that letter on my desk for a couple of weeks and my heart stirred! I wrote Richard back and the rest is history. The first trip was September 2006 when John and I traveled there. The second trip was the first Travel Team in 2008. As of now, we've made 15 team trips to Muko and just scheduled our 16th for August 2022. So, I always hesitate when people ask me, "...
Read more

ACT's Sustainable Future

Image
How can we make ACT more self-sustainable? That was the question that led the ACT US Board to charter the FUNDS (Financial Ugandan Needs for Development & Sustainability) Task Force in early 2020 to research and propose new models of sustainability for ACT, for both programs in Uganda and ACT US.  FUNDS Task Force members include (from Muko, Uganda) Alexander "Guma" Gumoshabe, Generous Turinawe, Onesmas Arinda, Ken Blickenstaff (Indianapolis), and from Midland: Bill Busch, Kelly Busse, Gail Hoffman, Mark Maxwell, Roger Moll, Dave Molzahn, Lynn Pottenger and Sue Waechter (Traverse City).  The Task Force brainstormed possible social businesses that could be run in Uganda to provide ongoing revenue to support the ACT Uganda programs. There are many business models for a social business (also known as venture philanthropy), but generally it is a non-dividend company dedicated to solving human problems. In our case, the goal would be to raise money for ACT programs, with seco...
Read more