Helping Hands' News

Uganda's election from a child's view... 25th February 2016

2016-02-25T17:14:00.002+00:00

"We have had no school since some time in November. It has been good but I think I am bored now! I miss my sport afternoons and my mum just makes me fetch water all of the time. The grown ups are listening to the radio from morning to night. No music, just voices. People arguing over one man versus another man. They say the old man is here to stay. They say they do not want another war. I don't know, I am just fed up and want some music to sing along with or dance to. Someone said that school will start next week. I hope so!"

Helping Jeremiah back on his feet... 6th October 2015

2015-10-06T11:29:00.000+01:00

Jeremiah is seven and was eventually diagnosed with a brain tumour. He was unable to walk and even sitting became impossible for his little body. Jeremiah's family got into debt so as to try and get him radiotherapy in far off, Mbale. We heard about their plight and have been able to help them pay back what they owed and get some follow-up treatment. In the next few months we hope to be able to enable them to access physiotherapy so that Jeremiah can, literally, get back on his feet!

Beating Famine... 10th July

2015-07-10T11:40:00.003+01:00

Green fields hide the reality of famine. The cupboards are bare, the purses are empty and harvest is still several weeks away. These are hard times for a young child who is only given one meal a day, a carbohydrate heavy plate after a long day at school. Helping Hands is working with mothers to train them in better, more effective ways of farming which can help them to cope with changing patterns of rainfall. In three villages, we have bought land for groups of women to work together under our supervision. The successful harvests so far have made many other interested in what we are doing.

Working Together as a Family 22nd May 2015

2015-05-22T12:26:00.000+01:00

At Helping Hands we have always worked hand in hand with our Ugandan friends. This is the way we like to work and it is the best way to work, we think! When your "team on the ground" were born in the same villages that they now work in, you already have an open door and a heap of personal connections and local knowledge. However, when you add the fresh eyes provided by outsiders and the willingness to consider how things might improve then you have a really winning combination. We really enjoy our fruitful friendship and that is exactly what it is... sometimes we call ourselves the Helping Hands' Family as that is how we all feel, even when the road has the odd bump!!!

Beating the Rains! 7th April 2015

2015-04-07T10:20:00.002+01:00

Thanks to our friends we have managed to roof the new classroom block at New Hope Primary School. Better still, we did this before the rains began this week! The children can now learn to read and write without water falling on their heads!
To celebrate they had a gospel choir competition and a guest speaker who gave them four bags of cement for their floors. Uganda is so different from UK but we love it.

Love in Action 9th March 2015

2015-03-09T12:33:00.002+00:00

Mark and Debbie are just back from a hot and dusty Uganda. They were able to visit some of our 15 schools and spend time with hundreds of the 5000 children that we love and care for. "It was so good to see how some of our older children are growing in confidence, " shared Debbie. "It shows the power of love!"

Hanging Around..... 29th January 2015

2015-01-29T11:39:00.002+00:00

In Uganda, the children enjoy a long holiday over the Christmas season. This marks the end of the school year and allows them to participate in the harvest and getting the fields ready for the new planting when the rains come. It is a busy time but there is also a lot of time to play and just hang around! Many of the children are now looking forward to going back to school again so as to see their friends, learn new things and perhaps to spend less time digging!

1177 Children Safely Sleeping 27th November 2014

2014-11-27T15:38:00.002+00:00

We have just given out 1177 mosquito nets to all of the nursery children in our care. This involved a lot of organisation as our team travelled to 15 schools to carry out the lessons with the parents and the actual handing out of the nets themselves. Great job!

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn

2014-10-22T11:31:00.001+01:00

Debbie Newman

Director at Helping Hands in Uganda

Oxford, United Kingdom

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- Debbie

Confirm that you know Debbie

You received an invitation to connect. LinkedIn will use your email address to make suggestions to our members in features like People You May Know. Unsubscribe

Learn why we included this.

If you need assistance or have questions, please contact LinkedIn Customer Service.

Happy Harvesters! 6th October 2014

2014-10-06T12:11:00.002+01:00

It is a great time of year for a pupil to go to school as you get to eat the harvest that you have grown! We are thrilled that so many children have enjoyed their harvest feasts this year and we'd love more of our
schools to benefit from this in the years to come.

Building Healthier Schools 30th June 2014

2014-06-30T15:16:00.001+01:00

We can feel so frustrated when we have to queue to go to the loo in this country. We would feel outraged if our children attended a school with only one loo for every 150 children. This reaction would be justified on a couple of fronts: firstly, there are some serious hygiene issues to contend with wherever there are children and with so many kids to so few toilets, there will be high risks of stomach bugs ; secondly, there is simply not enough time during breaks for all those needing to visit the facility to make it, creating a whole new problem. In many rural Ugandan schools, the ratio of pupils to latrines is horrendously high and the government inspectors can close them down for failing to meet the basic standards set by the Education Department. Sometimes, and sadly, a blind eye is turned in exchange for something to help the inspector in his or her situation. The result is poor and possibly dangerous toilet facilities for children.
We believe that each child really matters to God and this is practically worked out on some very basic levels. One of those is our own commitment to reduce the ratio to a more workable 70 children for each toilet. To this end, we assist schools by funding the materials and skilled labour needed for such work. We love children and we like building loos! You can help us build one today by giving online... £10 will buy a bag of cement and a pile of bricks.

Chickens Turn into Goats..... 29th May 2014

2014-05-29T12:26:00.003+01:00

In 2013 we began a pilot chicken programme with 22 families. We found that the programme was very successful for as long as we supplied all of the feed and vaccinations for the birds. Once we began to leave the families to care for the birds themselves, using part of the money from their egg sales, things began to change. We have realised that there are always more pressing needs for the poorest of the poor and so it is a challenge too far for them to set money aside each week to invest in their birds. These women have come up with an answer though...
Two of the mothers asked us if they could sell their chickens and buy a goat as they are easier to care for. They require less veterinary care and can simply be tied in any patch of grass to feed for free. Three times in every two years they can produce kids and so they become a “savings account” for these families. It is not a daily income as we had wished but it offers a simpler and, more importantly, a sustainable way of boosting family incomes from time to time. For this reason, we have encouraged all of the families to exchange their chickens for goats. We will continue to support them with advice but we also hope to begin to buy fields for cash crops which can be sold to provide school uniforms and books. The children and their mothers will work together to achieve this using our high yielding, low technology farming techniques.

Teachers are learning Too! 12th May 2014

2014-05-12T12:53:00.003+01:00

Florence teaches hundreds of nursery children every day about hygiene and one of the lessons concentrates on what to do when your foot or leg is cut. Ugandan children run around barefoot and so this is a real problem as wounds get infected very easily. It is common practice for mothers to pack wounds with either earth or an antibiotic tablet. This sounds crazy to us but most of these women have never been taught themselves and strange practices abound where there is no education.

Florence has shown the children how easily wounds can be washed with salty water. This is a cheap and simple practice which can be adopted by families. Last week, Justine (pictured with her son), one of the teachers in our schools cut her foot at home and remembered hearing Florence's lesson. She made up her salty water and bathed her foot in it and was so happy to tell Florence that her foot had healed quickly and with no pain!

World Malaria Day 25th April 2014

2014-04-25T12:18:00.003+01:00

Every minute a child dies from malaria. This is a simple fact of life in many countries today, including Uganda. There is another fact that runs alongside such tragedy and that is that it is possible to prevent this disease from being spread and we are able to treat children suffering from it. Many of these deaths are preventable. It is that simple.
Helping Hands in Uganda works on three levels to ensure that our children enjoy every minute of their lives. Janepher and Florence provide fun and interactive health education lessons for the youngest children in schools as well as informing parents of the key facts in small group settings where practicalities can be discussed. Our team also provides mosquito nets annually to all nursery children and finally, Joy tests any children presenting with malaria symptoms and treats all showing a positive result. In ten years we have not lost one child to malaria. We want to maintain that record and with the support of our friends we will aim to do just that. You can help today by giving online through MyDonate... £6 will buy a net for a child and £2 will provide lifesaving treatment.

Women Linking with Women 13th March 2014

2014-04-13T10:49:00.001+01:00

A group of women in Oxford have decided to join their hearts with a small gathering of women in Uganda and pray this week. They heard of the plight of these ladies, struggling to feed their families, and they were drawn to their determination to do the best for their children. Some of these mothers walked 2-3 hours to hear Debbie share about the nutritional benefits of some easily grown crops. They are women who want to do their best and these are women with whom it is a joy to work. It was beautiful to see the hearts of the Oxford ladies respond to the tales of these determined women and we look forward to seeing all that God will do through this friendship over the miles.

Diamonds in the Dust... March 2014

2014-03-24T11:23:00.004+00:00

Mark and Debbie are just back from a month in Uganda where they exchanged the flooded fields of UK for the dry and dusty roads of Kamuli District to work with full thousands of children and groups of mothers eager to improve their families' fortunes. Real diamonds in the dust! There were moments of great joy and other times when their hearts simply broke as they listened to people telling their own stories. In it all they saw the love of God bringing hope to many hearts and simple but real change in many lives, young and old.
The Landcruiser was certainly put through it's paces as they travelled on some of the worst dirt roads they've known to visit our 15 schools. Dust makes you cough and rather dirty but it is better than mud which tends to halt progress more! Debbie met the staff and children at 6 new schools and reconnected with old friends again at the others. There were assemblies, spontaneous maths lessons (!), fun and games along with lots of hugs and stroking of her hair to check if it was real!
Mark was busy ensuring that the children at Standard Primary School were learning how to farm productively by literally putting tools in their hands! They successfully farmed their new field to provide most of their school lunch needs for this year and they are now learning about different crops in the "teaching garden". Many of the parents and neighbours are watching with interest as they see higher yields.

New Year and New Schools... LOTS! 17th January 2014

2014-01-17T12:29:00.000+00:00

This year we have taken a very big step and increased the number of schools that we work with to FIFTEEN! It means that we will be practically caring for and supporting over 5000 children "week in and week out". Sharing the love of God with so many children and their families has got to be the very best way to celebrate our tenth year... we do plan another Ball though in September!

Raising standards in schools! 6th November 2013

2013-11-06T10:08:00.000+00:00

Standard School has 200 children who have no parents and another 150 who have only one parent. Wilson, the head teacher, is very enthusiastic to make this a successful school having lost both his parents himself. The school does not charge any school fees (unusual in Uganda for a non-government school) but supports itself through existing agricultural projects. This generally works except that there is no money left over for school lunch and with vulnerable children this is an especially vital meal. So we decided that we should do two things:

· *Buy an acre of land near the school and let Standard use it to grow food for the children’s lunches – one acre is enough to grow food for the year with our new techniques.

· *Rent a small plot next to the school as a school garden, to teach the children the new techniques and nutrition.

Moses oversees this work and as we are able we plan to extend the work to other schools. We really believe that eating well is one of the keys to healthy children growing and learning. This is truly one of our standards!

Eight Months into our Farming Journey 31st October 2013

2013-10-31T10:45:00.002+00:00

Our first crops...

It’s amazing to think that it was only 8 months ago, in March 2013, when we planted out first small test plots to find out if Farming God’s Way can actually increase crop yields for small farmers in Uganda. The need for more food in the country is urgent, due to a shortage of land (the population has doubled since 1990), and the method of farming, which reduces the fertility of the soil, and means that they cannot tolerate seasons of little (or too much) rain.

In our first crop, on land at Mirembe, we planted a traditionally farmed maize crop, digging the land as the local farmers do. In the Farming God’s Way plot, there was no digging (it stops water run-off), and we planted maize and beans and then covered it with ‘God’s blanket’ – old vegetation which holds in the moisture and limits weed growth. And prayed ...

So, what was the result? Clearly the FGW crop was better than the traditional crop, perhaps 3 times! And this was in our first year, when the soil fertility was still low – there is much better to come.

Little Health Workers 18th October 2013

2013-10-18T14:00:00.003+01:00

Tifu Yose is six years old and had never brushed his teeth until this month! He had never been told to brush his teeth and did not know why anyone would bother! Florence, our health educator in Jinja District, has spent the last several weeks training hundreds of young children in personal hygiene. Slowly they began to see that they are worth caring for and that they can do this easily. Better yet, they take the message home and that is what Tifu did. His father, Kungu, told Florence how he has begun to teach the whole family and they are now all brushing their teeth with chewed sticks from the "toothbrush bush"!!!

Maddie and Mia's Garden Party 23rd September 2013

2013-09-23T10:40:00.000+01:00

Two young ladies and one garden party with a lot of friends and family means lots of fun (and work too!) but also lots of chickens. By raising almost £300 Maddie and Mia will help us to buy LOTS more chicks for our most vulnerable children so that they can generate cash through egg sales and buy themselves school uniforms and pens and books. Thank you so much ladies!

Egg-citing! 9th September 2013

2013-09-09T13:58:00.001+01:00

We are thrilled to report that our pilot poultry programme has been a flying success! No more puns (honestly!) but just a few facts... 22 children, most orphaned by AIDS, have begun their own poultry projects. Over 70% of the hens are now laying eggs daily, allowing the children to sell them to the local shops which enables them to buy their own school equipment.
We face the challenge of brooding now but with some expert training and an initial investment in clay pots and paraffin (to warm the eggs for 30 days) we hope to see each child's flock increase. We also want more children to benefit from this project and are looking to raise £1000 for this purpose. It costs around £24 to set up one child which you can do securely onsite if you like.

Girl Power! 30th August 2013

2013-08-30T11:25:00.001+01:00

Scarlett, pictured left, is 8 years old and saw a group of children raising money for themselves one day. As a young friend of HH, she asked her Granny if she could do a similar garden sale but give the money to buy medicine for children in Uganda. With some advertising on Facebook and lots of games, books to sell and yummy cakes she and her friend opened for business. In one morning they raised enough to treat 50 children for malaria!! We are so thrilled that children like Scarlett respond to the needs of other children so boldly and directly, believing that they can make a difference. They can and they do! Thanks, Scarlett and friends and family for all that you did.

Old Friend, New Job! 16th August 2013

2013-08-16T12:28:00.001+01:00

We are so thrilled to let you know that Moses Nakitembe, one of Debbie's oldest friends in Uganda, is our newest staff member. He is now our Farming Project Manager and over the next few months we will be sharing with you just what he does on a daily basis. By the way, he is married to Florence who is one of our Health Educators in Jinja District!

5000 children! 30th July

2013-07-30T12:30:00.000+01:00

Mark and Debbie Johnson have just returned from a month in Uganda where they spent their days sharing the love of God with thousands of children! Many hugs, many giggles, lots of assemblies and a heap of God's Father heart spilling everywhere.