ndotoafrica Posts

Author: ndotoafrica

August Newsletter-2020

Welcome to Hope Ndoto Africa!

We are very grateful to all the sponsors and donors who play such a vital role in our work of reaching out to vulnerable children and communities. Hope Ndoto Africa is a registered non–profit organization which is playing a role of addressing issues related to poverty, primarily through supporting poor families and promoting access to education.

Ndoto (meaning ‘dream’ in Swahilli) believes in emphasizing holistic care for each child, within the context of the child’s family and community.

The strength and togetherness I see in the Hope Ndoto Africa family and community amaze me each day.

In Uganda, the community is important. When times are good, there is nothing better than celebrating with family, friends, and the entire community. When times are challenging, we all step in to help. This is what Hope Ndoto Africa Community does through your generous support. This is how we have been able to thrive through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our newsletter shows you the impact of working together, how your support is helping us reach more with the gospel of love and hope through club 3:16, changing lives and bringing back hope to homes through education support, and the excitement about our upcoming team [ The Upendo Team ] from the USA to Uganda.

Thank you for being such an important part of our family and community, your support helps make things more possible. Let’s continue causing the ripples of hope through the communities we serve.

John Kiboneka                     
Founder and CEO
Hope Ndoto Africa.

SPONSORSHIP

Education is a basic human right for every child. However, for many children in Uganda, poverty is the key limiting factor in enjoying that right. At Hope Ndoto Africa we are passionate about providing access to education and we work in partnership with communities to achieve this. To date, we have partnered with three schools where children can gain quality education with well qualified and dedicated teachers.

The reality in Uganda is that from an early age, many children have to work by fetching water, carry firewood, or dig in the fields. Food can be scarce and the threat of disease makes their lives unbearably hard. Parents often cannot afford to send their children to school but given the opportunity, these children will gain the skills they need to enable them to break out of the cycle of poverty and hardship and reach their potential.

Hope Ndoto Africa Child Sponsorship program strives to help the most vulnerable children from the neediest families to access and complete basic education. We work in partnership with schools and communities to identify those children in most need of our support. Parents, extended family, and caregivers of sponsored children continue to have overall responsibility for their child’s well-being and agree to attend school meetings to discuss their progress and are actively involved in developing their child’s profile for potential sponsors. We currently have around 60 children supported through our sponsorship program with another 200 waiting for sponsors and a chance to go to school

WHY SPONSOR A CHILD?

Sponsoring a child with Hope Ndoto Africa means playing a significant role in shaping his or her future. That child knows they are unique, valued, cared for, and loved.

As a sponsor, you are also able to follow their progress, and watch them grow and develop ( HOW?). By sponsoring a child, you are also changing the lives of those around them. Sponsorship means positive change for a whole family and community. It brings parents the hope of a positive future for their child and gives them dignity and pride. Sponsorship benefits an entire school as Hope Ndoto Africa adopts a community-based approach that ensures the sustainability of the wider school community. Our quality education program empowers and supports our partner schools with intentional teacher training and development, so every child can receive the best start in life. Being in school means that children are safe, flourishing, eating well, are keeping healthy and will grow up to be change-makers in their community. Some of our sponsored children are the first in their community to make it to Secondary School. By partnering with us this way you help pay staff salaries, provide scholastic materials, a hot meal at school every day, mentorship, and discipleship through our club 3:16.

Skills Development

At Hope Ndoto Africa, we love using education as a way to fight poverty, but we also realize that the families we support need additional skills and income avenues. Simon through his sponsors received a goat in 2019 as a gift. He and his family have been enhancing their goat rearing skills, they have done such a good job and now they have kids from the first goat. As a family project, the children in the family all take turns to clean, milk, and feed the goats. Through such micro-enterprises, we are sure we can support these families to support the other unsponsored children in the homes by the incomes they receive from selling milk, young ones, and using the drippings in the gardens as fertilizer. We now have three families in this skill development project.

THANK YOU

We want to say a BIG thank you to all who have supported our response to COVID-19 in Uganda. Below are some pictures to show you some of the ways that your donations are making an impact.

School Improvement & Support

In addition to sponsorship, Hope Ndoto Africa provides support through partnerships with different primary schools, in various districts – Butambala and Mityana being the main two. Hope Ndoto Africa does this primarily through helping with building projects so that the infrastructure is in place for each school to effectively provide education in the community.

Together with Oak Meadows Elementary school and its Interact club in Murrieta, The Rotary Club of Menifee, and other generous givers, we were able to cement the floors of 7 classrooms and 2 offices at Grace Primary school in Kampala. We are currently raising $5,000 to construct proper bathrooms for the same school.

Upcoming Events

Mission Teams

Hope Ndoto Africa provides opportunities for people to come on short term trips to Uganda, to engage in activities such as painting( really painting, community outreach, children’s work and more). Please refer to the Hope Ndoto Africa website page if you are interested in joining the work on such a team

Signup.

Ndoto Children’s Choir

Hope Ndoto Africa has set a plan for a children’s choir to U.S.A The 5–month tour will showcase the work Hope Ndoto Africa does in low–income earning communities. This will hopefully allow current and potential sponsors to connect with Uganda through song, dance, story-telling, and testimony.

Check email and website for updates

IMPORTANT UPDATE

We want to make sure all our sponsors are aware of the changes that COVID-19 has brought to our children, and how your continued support is making a substantial impact on children in Uganda.

There are two main aspects to bring to your attention:

1. Christmas 2020

It is Christmas time again! A time to buy and make gifts, bake cookies, spend cherished time with our loved ones and, most importantly, celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. There is always something special in the air at Christmas time. People are kinder, warmer, friendlier. We smile at strangers, we say hello to our neighbors, and we treat our friends and families just a bit better. We exhibit Jesus’ example of giving to and helping those who are in need. We’ve all heard that it is better to give than to receive. Knowing that you are helping to make someone’s life just a little bit easier or helping to make someone happy is an indescribable feeling.

As I’m sure you realize, while you are busy buying and making gifts for your loved ones this Christmas season, there are so many people in need. While most of us take for granted having a merry Christmas, some among us can only pray and dream about it. For those of you with children in your lives, you know their joy when they open gifts on Christmas Day. It’s very sad for me to think of all the children in our program who won’t have even one gift to open this year. In fact, they may not even have a meal to eat on this special day. But there is hope for them, and that hope is you.

Here at Hope Ndoto Africa, we pride ourselves on the help we have provided to those in need. But we honestly couldn’t do it without your generosity. Please consider putting a smile on one more person on your Christmas gift list this year, and donate to Hope Ndoto Africa. Many of these children have never experienced the true meaning of Christmas.

For this Christmas, purpose to change a life by sponsoring or finding a sponsor for a child to go to school, purchase items they need most to survive in the remote villages of Uganda.

Please order by 4th December to enable us to deliver these precious gifts to the children and their families in time for Christmas.

2. How we have been using your sponsorship funds amid COVID-19

With schools closed across Africa, our sponsored children have not been able to attend school in the same way as normal. This month, all exam candidates have returned to school (final year of Primary, Ordinary and Advanced Level Secondary(High School)). The rest will not return until early 2021. But this does not mean that we have not been working hard to ensure your sponsored child is cared for. Here are the main programmes we are currently implementing:

Home Education – All our sponsored children have received working from home packs. These consist of workbooks from which they have been able to learn and answer questions in the safety of their homes. These packs have then been marked by our teachers and feedback provided to the children. The children have also received a home stationary pack with pencils, rubbers, and sharpeners to ensure they have all they need to continue studying from home.

Mosquito Nets and a Mattress: The World Health Organization have raised concerns that due to fear of COVID-19, fewer mosquito nets have been purchased and distributed, and over the next year they expect to see a rise in the cases of malaria and subsequently more deaths from malaria. We would like to purchase two mosquito nets per family (normally 2-3 people will sleep under one), and also a mattress for each sponsored child. This will not only help the family have a better night’s sleep, but should keep up to 500 people protected from malaria while sleeping!

Will you help us keep as many free from malaria !

Teacher Home Visits: This school term, along with the education packs, sponsored children will receive a home visit from their teacher. This is partly to allow the children to ask questions, but also for the teacher to provide feedback (while social distancing) and ensure that the parents are encouraging their children to continue with their studies.

Relief Packs: Along with the Christmas presents, our staff will be delivering a family food parcel to every sponsored child’s family. With lock-down in Uganda there have been many challenges in accessing some of the necessities. Many families have not been able to earn any income and there are reports across the country of food shortages. These food parcels will boost not just the child’s diet, but that of the whole family and will release some pressure parents are facing over Christmas to provide for their families.

We trust that these actions will also send a message that the children are very much in our thoughts and that we and their sponsors still care!

Our staff in Uganda will also be making contact with all sponsored children and families over the next few months. We will be endeavoring to collect a letter from each child as well as take some photos, so we hope to bring you reports of all these later on this year and into early 2021. We will be passing on to the families in Uganda just how important sponsorship is, and how vital their roles are to help in keeping their children in education. All this is only possible because of you! Thank you for your continued support and for your prayers too!

We here in Uganda are expecting schools to return to normal in January, but until this time we remain committed to caring for and loving these children. There has never been a time that sharing God’s love practically has been so important on a global scale. These are challenging times, and often those who are impacted the most are those living in poverty. Your prayerful support and practical giving continue to make an incredible and immeasurable difference!

So on behalf of the Hope Ndoto Africa team, both in the U.S.A and in Uganda, may we thank you for standing in the gap and helping to fight on behalf of the children that need it most.

John Kiboneka & The Hope Ndoto Africa Team

Upcoming Events