Introducing HUG (Help Us Grow)—giving children a chance for a future through education and our Small Acts —solar lamps, water bottles and school bags
Who is HUG?
Helen Brown from Australia met David Ssemwogerere in Uganda in 2009. David lived in a small village, Suubi, with no facilities then at all for any of the children.
Between them they decided to act. Over the last 13 years, they have fundraised for, and built a community hall, a fully equipped clinic, and a secondary school.
They have also started many enterprises including rearing chickens and cultivating coffee plants. We applaud their huge success, but there is still much the children of Suubi need.
The challenge
The children walk to Suubi Secondary college from as far as 10K away. They have no means to carry their books, or water to drink on the way. Then they come home at night and must study by the dangerous light of candles or kerosene lamps. Pens and pencils are scarce.
David and Helen believe the children should be incentivised by gifts of solar lamps, water bottles, or pens and pencils. They also want the children to learn to sew and make their own school bags.
The costs
Material for a school bag—AU$15.00.
Solar lamps—AU$15.00 ea.
1 aluminium water bottle—AU$4.00
Pencils and Pens— AU$6.00
‘In the Bag’ total AU$40
Helen and David with young children in 2007, who would later go onto attend Suubi Secondary Collage. What a wonderful story!
The first classroom block of Suubi Secondary College under construction in 2014.
We wonder if some of these school students learning to sew their school bags because of a wonderful donation from Jordbarn, Australia were the small children in the first picture!
A Big Impact Story
Please join us in our Small Acts, Big Impact facebook group, where we share the stories and the photographs and you can meet the wonderful people on the ground who are helping the children.
This young girl was one of the recipients of a solar lamp. She talks about the long distances she has to walk, and will have benefitted from the fabric provided to make bags by CreateCare Global and the generous donations of Jordbarn, an Australian manufacturer of school bags. We hope she achieves her dream of becoming a nurse.
A group of Suubi Secondary College students receive their solar lamps.
This young student also received a solar lamp. He talks poignantly about how the lamp has helped him to study, and his dreams of becoming a journalist one day. If he was one of the young children in the picture above, he may achieve that dream thanks to the work of HUG.
