Our Dream Team
One question I get asked a lot is:
How are you able to work in Uganda and get so much done?
We have a team of four amazing women, Prossy, Annette, Hilda, and Betty, who you’ve seen in some of our pics and videos.
Prossy is the advisor who coordinates most of the community and school programs. She is our chief organizer and gets more done in a day than you could ever imagine.
In the course of a day, she will have checked on all our kids in school, run a Google Meet with a U.S. class, and made sure everything is okay in the garden at Nayenga school, and done some weeding!
Hilda helps coordinate the vocational center programs. She works with the instructors and checks in with the girls. Hilda is starting to do more tasks and has been speaking in some of our recent project videos.
Betty is the director of KAPIDA, the local NGO we work through in Kamuli. Betty and Annette organize the reproductive health education classes in the villages.
All four of the women regularly work with our women’s community savings and loan groups.
Also on our team are a couple of smart, enlightened men who help out. Aminsi helps coordinate some of our Bridge to Success community outreach projects.
These projects provide some more immediate relief in the local communities.
For example, when the Rogers family lost their home due to a fire, Aminsi coordinated getting help for them. Aminsi is also a videographer and he does most of our videos.
Toto does some of the driving out to the projects and he joined right in sewing reusable pads during one of the reproductive health classes. He’s always willing to help when needed.
Franco runs a garden center and is a master gardener. He advises us on the school garden projects, seedlings for kitchen gardens, and tree planting. Visiting his nursery is always a highlight when I go to Uganda.
Thankfully with technology, communication is so much easier than it was. I usually do a check-in with Prossy and Aminsi early in the morning. Sometimes we get on Google Meet for a video chat. Our biggest challenge is the seven-hour time difference.
I’m able to quickly wire funds from donors for our ongoing projects within a few days. We don’t have layers of decision-makers. We’re able to get resources to where they are needed to keep programs running.
We are so fortunate to have this wonderful team who works so hard and cares so deeply for others. Our programs have been so effective because they live in the communities we serve.
They know the challenges that are faced and they know the best way to meet those challenges.
I have known all of our team members for many years, some since they were in their early teens! They are amazing people and I am so grateful for all they do!
With Gratitude,
Mary
P.S. Prossy will be visiting the U.S. for a few months starting in May. (She will mostly be in Vermont.) We will be hosting some get-togethers so she can meet as many of you as possible. We’ll also be hosting some fundraising events. I’ll be posting more about this when she arrives!
