Australian Outreach!

Hey All!

Sorry for the absence on the blog as of late, it has been a very busy month! If you are looking for more ongoing updates, remember to check out our Facebook page! 

 Emmanuel is currently in Australia, which has been a really great experience so far.  He will be in Australia for 3 months duration, fundraising for Yimba Uganda, raising awareness for our current and upcoming projects as well as engaging in a cultural exchange in a number of schools and community groups.  Here are a few pictures and stories of what he has been getting up to! Enjoy!

Emmanuel presenting at Rotary Club of Healesville:

Emmanuel made quite an impression on the Rotary Club of Healesville, giving a presentation on Yimba Uganda and Uganda at large. All the members were very intrigued and thoroughly enjoyed his presentation. In the coming months Emmanuel hopes to present at a number of other Rotary groups throughout the district.  

School Outreach: Yimba Uganda is all about reaching out to those around you, using the talents that you have to teach and encourage others.  So what a perfect opportunity to have Emmanuel reach out to the youth in Australia, educating them about Ugandan music, culture and traditions.  While in the schools, Emmanuel has been giving presentations on what life is like growing up in Uganda, the needs people have there, as well as providing an insight into the diversity of the country. He has also been teaching African drumming, whilst Anne-Marie or Sandy teach African paper bead making for a more hands on experience. We have had some amazing feedback from this program, and have many other schools booked for the coming months. 

Markets: One of Yimba Uganda’s greatest source of funding is coming from the sale of Ugandan crafts at market stalls throughout Melbourne. Currently, we are fundraising for sound machines to lower the costs of all our outreaches, providing us with the opportunity to expand our school and community outreach programs. Slowly by slowly we are coming up with the money for this project, so please pray that we will be able to find the rest of the money to launch this project when Emmanuel returns to Uganda in October.  Whilst at the markets, we have been engaging with different members of the community, teaching them some African drumming and Crafts as well.

Coopy Bly Music: During the month of September, Emmanuel has been given the opportunity to speak a number of Church Youth groups, about life as a Christian Musician in Uganda, and how he has used this special gift to give back to vulnerable communities. He will be performing at these events, and engaging with a wide range of Australian Youth. If you would like to come and watch at any of these events, let us know and we can provide you with the details. 

CD sales: Another form of fundraising during Emmanuel’s Australia tour is the sale of CD’s. The CD’s are a playlist of Coopy Bly’s (Emmanuel’s) greatest hits. All of the money from the sale of these CD’s will go towards ministry in Uganda. So please contact me if you would like to purchase one of these CDs! anne-marie_reddan_lives@hotmail.com or 0431 736 118.

Please continue to pray for Emmanuel’s stay in Australia; including his upcoming presentations and programs in youth groups and schools, that everything would run smoothly and people would be impacted by his presence. Please also pray that more opportunities would arise both for Emmanuel and his work through Yimba Uganda. He will continue to keep you updated throughout the remainder of his trip, through Facebook, and bloodspot. 

-Yimba Uganda 

#lovetotheworld

Healesville Market

In order to raise some extra money for Yimba Uganda, we have organised some Market stalls in Victoria, Australia. We have purchased home made African crafts from women and men in Uganda, and are reselling the items to raise money to further bless these communities.  The first market stall was held in Healesville, Victoria and was a huge success! We have been overwhelmed with people's generosity and willingness to help! 

We pray that we will be able to continue raising money in this way, including the Ugandans we are aiming to help in the process; by making crafts to not only benefit themselves, but assisting in the further develop of their own communities. Another special aspect of the market stalls, is the opportunity to directly interact with our customers, informing them of the needs many Ugandans face on a daily basis, and the ways in which they too can get involved in breaking the cycle of poverty in Uganda. 

Here are a few pictures of the stall. 

 

Goat Loan Project

Check out this Short Clip describing our Goat Loan Project! :)

Valentines Act of Love

Check out this short clip to gain an insight into the fun and love that was shown at Yimba Uganda's Valentines Act of Love'!  The smiles on the children's faces is priceless!!

-Yimba Uganda



#lovetotheworld

New Members to the Yimba Family..

Goat Loan Project: 


Glory be to God.. Looks like our goat loan project in Wairaka is off to a good start, one of the five goats that were given to the widows and single mothers in Wairaka gave birth to two kids! Mrs Cecilia who now owns the original goat was so excited and thankful to God and Yimba Uganda for making her one of the beneficiaries of the project. So now that the goat that was loaned to her has given birth to a male and female, she gets to keep the original female goat and the new born male kid and hand over the female kid when it's old enough to be loaned out to another needy lady! Two of the other four goats are also pregnant, and we are expecting kids within the next few weeks.  

SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM

YIMBA UGANDA- SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM

Yimba Uganda's Vision: ‘A society of empowered young people, economically independent and socially responsible, effectively participating in the development of their communities’.

Emmanuel, Peace and Anne Marie 

 Yimba Uganda plans to achieve this vision through promoting and increasing access to education and vocational training. Access to a decent education is very important and is highly beneficial for a number of reasons. Not only does it act as a great investment, as the potential to live a better quality of life increases if one is educated, it also enables them to make informed, logical decisions regarding their lives and their futures.

                                                                   

Yimba Uganda's first sponsor child! 

 Some other benefits include;

-Educated females are more likely to be empowered, recognized members of society, receiving equal opportunities to those of men.
-Encourages family planning; reducing family size, early/ unplanned pregnancy, decreasing child and maternal mortality, limiting contraction and spread of disease.
 - Improved employment opportunities.
 - Strengthened democracy and economic development.
- Reduced incidents of child labour and premature marriage.
 - Decreased spread of disease.
 - Increased national productivity
- Development of communities.
 - Provides stable environment for upbringing of children.
- Leads to cycle of poverty being broken.
The list goes on....

Many children in developing countries such as Uganda are denied access to a proper education. This is generally a result of families not being in a financial state to pay for school fees. Yimba Uganda understands the burden school fees are having on families, and strives to relieve this burden placed upon vulnerable families where possible.

Our team at Yimba Uganda are very excited to announce that we currently have 4 children being sponsored through this sponsorship program. These children come from families who were struggling or unable to pay for their fees on their own, so we are so happy we have been able to financially assist these families, whilst investing into the lives of their children. As time progresses and the organisation grows, we hope to provide aid to many more needy Ugandan families.

 We would love to take this opportunity to introduce you to our first group of sponsor children!

-Lilly Nakasenge- Senior 3 at Hope Community High school in Wairaka, sponsored by The Reddan Family from Healesville, Australia through Yimba Uganda.

-Patrick Kibuuka- Senior 6 at Hope Community High school in Wairaka sponsored by The Reddan Family from Healesville, Australia through Yimba Uganda.

 Viola Nakiyingi- Primary 4 at Nyendo Progressive Primary school sponsored by The Reddan Family from Healesville, Australia through Yimba Uganda.

 Peace Kusaasira- Primary 3 at Jinja Christian School sponsored by Anne-Marie through Yimba Uganda.

Peace's story:
Peace lives in the small village of Wairaka, with her single mother and 10 month old baby brother. Peace's mother was working hard but struggling to provide for the family. She has a small roadside shop where she sells vegetables to feed the family, and if she makes enough, send Peace to school. We were so impressed with the hard work and persistence shown by this family and in particular this little girl. Every time we saw her she was either digging alone in the garden with her baby brother on her back, cleaning out the small room her family lived in, cooking dinner to take down to her mother at the shop, carrying multiple jerrycans to collect water, and much more. She is such a quiet spoken girl, waking up early in the morning to help her mother in any way she could, always without complaint, showing such maturity way beyond her years. We are so happy we were in a position to assist Peace and her mother, demonstrating to them that hard work and persistence does pay off. Peace's hard work is also being demonstrated in her studies. She was previously attending a small school in the village, therefore upon starting at Jinja Christian School she was a bit behind the other children, however since the beginning of term she has excelled incredibly, showing huge potential for greatness.
-Yimba Uganda
#lovetotheworld

 How to Help? 

If you are interested in investing into a child's future though our sponsorship program, we would love to hear from you.

School fees vary depending on circumstances; depending on School and year level but if you have any questions or require additional information please contact us and we would be happy to help. 

 Points of Contact:

yimbauganda@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/Yimba-Uganda

yimba-uganda.blogspot.com.au

Uganda: 

Emmanuel Kusaasira Edwin

P/O Box 15209

Kampala Uganda

+256 774 292 525 

Australia: 

Anne-Marie Reddan

20 Farnham Road Healesville 3777

+61 431 736 118

03) 5962 6223

VALENTINES DAY ACT OF LOVE

YIMBA UGANDA- VALENTINES ACT OF LOVE:
Kampala School for the Physically Handicapped.

The slogan for Yimba Uganda is ‘Love to the World’, as we are committed to spreading God’s love to the sick, vulnerable and needy across the world.  Approaching Valentine’s Day there is already so much love in the air, so we took this as a great opportunity to spread love and joy to those who truly need it most. We wanted to take the primary focus of Valentine’s Day off couples and romance and show people that even if you are single, it’s a special day to share with the important people in your life, making them feel appreciated and cherished. We organised to spend Valentine’s Day showing love to the less privileged and express to those who are usually left out on such days that Yimba Uganda and Christ still have them at heart.  On Thursday 13^th February a team of around 15 volunteers from Yimba Uganda visited ‘Kampala School for the Physically Handicapped’, to put on a fun day, bringing laughter and smiles to these beautiful children’s faces.

Our team consisted of gospel artists and volunteers including Coopy Bly, Hawa Musa, Martin Seku, Voltage, Holy Keane Amooti, Lyll Mykk, Disciple, Wanda Anthony, Kulchah, DJ Rain, Anne-Marie, Leah, friends from NTV and many others. Our day commenced with music, singing and dancing. It was an incredible sight to see the artists and volunteers interacting with the children, dancing, laughing, singing, and playing with one another.  There was such a positive atmosphere and everyone was unexplainably happy in the present moment. It was such a special sight to see children, who struggled to even walk, holding onto the hand of a friend and enthusiastically dancing to the music being performed in front of them. Even children who were in wheel chairs, clapped, waved their hands around and laughed uncontrollably; the happiness pouring out of these children was extremely contagious.  Students from the school even got up and sang songs with the artists they knew.  We went on to share a snack and soda with all 150 Children, sitting and sharing together as we ate. The visit was finished off with games and activities including; balloons, ball games, bubble blowing, stick on tattoos, face painting, and special toys for children with special needs.  Yimba Uganda had received a generous donation by a Ugandan lady, Moryn B Atusiimira and we were able to bless the school with a large sack of sugar, so that even when we are gone, they would have something to continue to make them happy.  We concluded the day with a word of thanks, followed by cleaning up the compound and saying goodbye to our new found friends.

In order to thank the volunteers for continuously coming and supporting the organisation, we organised a barbeque, so we could gather together and show our sincere appreciation.  The day was such a huge success and we thank all those that were involved, who used their talents of music, performance, interacting with children and heart to serve with that need it most.

For a better look at the fun had on the day, check out this 5 minute clip on youtube-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKGco1oiyWw

Handing over a sack of sugar to the school Director Joy

-Yimba Uganda
#lovetotheworld 

Dancing together

Gospel artists putting on a performance for the children

A very happy student

students enjoying their snacks!

Kulchah helping feed his new friend

playing games

Enjoying his new toys and snack

Lyll Mykk playing football with the children

Face painting

Kulchah giving a fan his CD

Martin Seku mucking around with some friends.