ACT Uganda Blog

HANDS - Helping Agricultural New Development and Sustainability - a program of Agape Community Transformation (ACT) The goal from the beginning has been to help, and the HANDS team has taken various approaches over the years to help address local agricultural needs. When people depend upon their small parcels of land to grow crops for their family's immediate needs, there are many challenges. Over the years, we have come to better understand some of the many challenges that local Muko growers face. In the beginning, HANDS had a vision of purchasing land and establishing a demonstration farm to showcase newer crop varieties and improve production practices, while also generating income to support operations. Right away this idea hit a snag because land was incredibly expensive. Perhaps not so surprising in a community where most families rely on what they can grow to provide their daily food. But the high cost of land is a significant barrier for local farmers to add to their land h...

 Generous Turinawe, ACT Uganda Director, shares... Muko High School shortly after ACT became involved It was 2016 when Muko High School closed before the end of term and I learned that it had reached the age of failure in administration operations. ACT had a number of sponsored students who among others went home with no report cards and I wondered what to do next. I called the ACT board to discuss the issue and we resolved to sell the idea of helping the school by signing an MOU with the Bishop of the Diocese of Kigezi to the ACT US Board and also approach the Bishop for a partnership. Bishop Bagamahunda was excited by this idea. The ACT US Board needed to carry out a due diligence on how possible it could be running a school in Uganda and under the Church.  In 2017, a team from the US came to Uganda and were taken to some schools operating under Churches in Kampala, Jinja and Muko to learn from them and also visited the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of Education an...

My name is Toni Stanfield and this is My Maverick Story. In 2014, I went on a travel team to Uganda with a team from Agape Community Transformation. During that visit I was impressed deeply by the many needs in front of me. As a psychologist I know that changes, enduring changes come only from within. Nobody can do the emotional work for another. I felt the same way for the people of Uganda. The only changes can come from within. They have to lead their own people to better roads, better schools and a better society. We need to cultivate leadership and harness the talents given to the young people. We need to create future leaders. Thus, the idea of the Maverick Leadership Scholarship Program was born. In July 2014 my brother-in-law, Greg Peterson, a businessman, a computer scientist and owner of his own company died. His nickname was Maverick.  In his honor the scholarship was started. As of today, 4 scholars have completed their university studies and they are proving to be chang...

The first team that traveled to Muko, Uganda from Michigan and the ACT staff determined the children/orphans to be the first priority. So, the ACT program was called MukoHOPE (HOPE = Helping Orphans Prosper and Endure). US sponsors were encouraged to pay $40 per month to help a child, writing letters and getting to know each other from continent to continent. The first 25 orphans were chosen by staff, 50% girls, 50% boys from each of seven parishes of Muko Sub county. On the continent of Africa, "orphans" are defined as single (having lost one parent) or double orphans (those who had lost both parents). The sponsors provided their children with school tuition, room and board, school supplies, clothing ad medical care if needed. We also experimented with a gift-buying program that allowed sponsors to send their children Christmas and birthday gifts and, at the same time, because the purchasing happened in Uganda, the local vendors benefitted as well. As the children grew and a...

  MUSIC! A love for music is shared by every culture. Music can be a communication simpler than language. On our first travel to Uganda, Dave and I primarily went to meet our orphan, Kihembo Grace. I took my violin to participate in the assemblies we gave at their schools along with Curt Zastrow and his puppetry. During the assembly at Muko High School, a student, Howard Biryomuriwe, came forward with an adungu, an African instrument that looks rather like a lyre. He was playing "Amazing Grace." I found the key and joined in. Our first duet!! Howard and Karen in the first duet On subsequent trips, travel teams helped bring many instruments from the USA to Uganda. Instruments were provided by generous donors and the Marshall Music Company until we had 69 violins, 25 violas, 4 cellos, 1 guitar and 1 accordion. Lessons took place between our teachers and myself over ZOOM classes. Even our ACT security guard Herbert, a father of six children has learned to play violin quite well!...