ACT Uganda Blog

It is with a heavy sigh that I reflect on 2022 for ACT and what we, our Ugandan and US partners, accomplished. It has been a lot of work together but we have accomplished much. You will hear more about it in our beautiful Annual Report likely in March.  All that we accomplish and do on a regular basis is facilitated by our staff who work very hard to manage the programs day-to-day and our donors who provide the financial support necessary for the staff and programming. And, blessings on all the residents of Muko Sub County who benefit from ACT. Thanks to everyone and I pray that all will have a very Happy New Year! And, together we will make 2023 a very special 20th Anniversary to ACT Uganda!  

 Here are two wonderful videos from two girls sponsored by friends of ACT who share how they celebrate Christmas in Muko.  Precious Arinda is a girl aged 20 years. She is a double orphan (having lost both her mother and father) and was enrolled under the ACT Sponsorship program in 2014 when she was still a Primary 4 student (US 4th grade). She is sponsored by Diana Stubig who is an ACT US Board Member and Team Leader of the Uniquely Uganda Handcraft Program. Precious happened to be one of the most clever students as she scored a first grade in her Primary Leaving Examinations (Primary 7 US 7th grade). She performed very well in Secondary School . After she graduated from Senior 4 (US 11th grade), she went to obtain a certificate in nursing and only has 1 ½ years to complete! Precious is still under ACT's care until she completes her Certificate of Nursing. Here is an interview with Precious. Judith, ACT Staff Manager for HONORS is interviewing her. We apologize that the sound ...

2021 Summer ACT US Board Left to right: Bill Busch, Diane Busch, Robin Stottlemyer, Dave Molzahn, Sue Waechter, Lori Marsh, Karen Viele, Dave Viele, Lynn Pottenger, Diana Stubig and Suzanne Greenberg Missing: Dick Dolinski ACT US accomplishes all we do with over 200 volunteers - no one in the US is paid, we are all volunteers. Many of us are retired and many of us spend a sizable amount of time doing the work! Many of us are former professionals in our careers and in keeping with being "business-like" and efficient, we use lots of processes. I thought you might be interested in seeing one of those. Every month, each of the Team Leaders, prepare a summary of what has been going on for their team. We share these prior to the monthly ACT US Board meeting so that we don't spend time "reporting" during the meeting. This allows us to discuss more strategic things - like our Bold New Vision you read about last week! ACT US is blessed to have the most dedicated and know...

  ACT US Mission We work in partnership with ACT Uganda as they pursue their goals for the community development of Muko Sub County. ACT US Vision The ACT Uganda and ACT US partnership is one of support and solidarity, with the Ugandan partners leading the generation of ideas, development and evaluation of programs, and the generation of resources. These two new statements were adopted in 2021 for ACT US. As you can read, we are deliberately taking a following posture to our Ugandan partners. We have always tried to do this and sometimes been successful but often not, quick to offer our ideas and suggestions first. We have learned to trust that our friends in Uganda know best what they need and for now, we can help them achieve it.  Our vision is a real stretch in that we want to make ACT Uganda as financially self-sustainable as possible - no longer reliant on us in the US for nearly all of the funding that keeps the staff in place and the programs going.  Here is a vide...

It is somewhat startling to me (Sue Waechter) to reflect this week on all our preparations in the US for our traditional Thanksgiving celebration and the food involved. In the US, this is a holiday about giving thanks and sharing a VERY large meal of (typically) roast turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables, salad, pies, etc. There is typically a shared groan in our culture from overeating during this annual meal together. Another reminder to me just how different the two places are that we live in: Muko Sub County, Uganda and the US. Generous, the ACT Uganda Director, shared with us a several years ago that folks in Muko sometimes eat meat just once per year on Christmas Day. Others only occasionally eat meat.  So, as those of us in the US prepare for our Thanksgiving meal, let's be reminded of our Ugandan friends and what meals they share together as families. The following is a blog post written by Onesmas Arinda, our HANDS (Agricultural) Manager: " In February of 2021, the US...

  It is so fun to share with you the successes of ACT's programs! JohnBosco is one of ACT's beneficiaries who joined our MukoHOPE sponsorship program in 2009. JohnBosco grew up in a child-headed family (both parents had died) and was one of four children. He grew up under some support from his poor and elderly grandmother until he was sponsored by Jim and Barb Ostler (from Michigan. Sadly, Barb Ostler has passed away) through the ACT program. He started receiving lots of support when he was 14 years old and still a primary school student (primary school is grades 1 - 7). Older children are often in primary school because their families cannot afford to send them to school every year. In the ACT program, JohnBosco received physical, psychological, social and emotional support. JohnBosco held onto a dream of becoming a teacher. He worked hard in school and qualified to attend teacher training at Primary Teachers College. John Bosco, still caring for his siblings along the way, gr...

  As part of the ACT US Strategic Plan, we have made a commitment to do cultural sharing with our Ugandan partners so that we can learn more about each other's lives and cultures. This last trip the Travel Team decide to hold a typical American baby shower since 7 of our staff had babies since before COVID and our last visit! We included the typical components: a cake (which Karen and Sue baked in a pizza oven behind our hotel at 7,000 elevation. It required math which Dick helped us with!), snack food, decorations, gifts of each of the children and of course those dumb shower games!  Our ACT US Board all donated toward the baby gifts and Suzanne Greenberg purchased around 3 items of clothing for each child. One of the games played were Guess How Many M&Ms are in the baby bottle. Diana Stubig ran the games and did a presentation of prizes to the winners and Dick Dolinski even gave a short presentation about early childhood development. We then served the cake and were curi...