YIMBA UGANDA: STITCHES- fundraising concert

YIMBA UGANDA- KIKARAMOJA FUNDRAISER:

After conducting an assessment of the communities in the Kikaramoja slum, the level of need of the residents was established. Along with limited access to education, employment, safe water and sanitation, majority of members from this community even lacked food to feed their families as well as suitable clothing, shoes, bedding etc. Once the needs were recognized the team at Yimba Uganda mobilized people to collect any surplus or un-used items from their homes and give these as offering to the communities that needed them. Encouraging Ugandans to stand together to bless other Ugandans who are less fortunate than themselves.

In order to raise funds and collect donations for the slum, Yimba Uganda organized a fundraising concert on the 28^th of November 2013. With support from Watoto Church and 104.1 Power FM the concert was named ‘Stiches- thou shalt laugh’ a combination of gospel music and comedy acts. The concert was free of charge, however in order to obtain a ticket, people were obliged to bring a ‘love offering’; anything that they wanted to donate to the communities of Kikaramoja. Majority of donations included men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, house hold items, shoes, bags, rice, sugar and soap. A documentary which was recorded whilst conducting the needs assessment was also played, so that all those that donated were able to gain an insight into situation that the Kikaramoja community is facing, whilst also demonstrating that their donations are going to a worthy cause.

With the help of volunteers, all the collected items were sorted into different categories such as; women, men, children, babies, teenagers and the elderly. These were put in sacks that were well labeled depending on the content therein. The clothes were then separated into individual packages, including a top and pants/skirt in each. This made it easy to distribute to the appropriate age/gender/size on the day of distribution. After separating the clothing, approximately 2000 packages were packed, along with 120 1kg bags of both sugar and rice which were donated by ‘Healesville Uniting Church’ in Australia.

We would also like to take this opportunity to send out a big Thank-you to Power Fm, Watoto, Spirit Fm, Channel 44, Bizo, Moreen B, Jude, Anne-Marie, Liz Kalemera, Farida Kyolaba, Peter Gonahasa, Levixone, Virtual Media, Gutujja Beats, Big Tune Studios and MANY MANY more for making your contributions and ensuring 'Stitches' was a huge success! May God bless you, and keep the love going!!