A Message from Phoebe Nabwami, MCP Uganda Coordinator
Dear MoonCatcher Project Executives and Donors,
I bring you warm greetings from the MoonCatcher Project sewing guilds – Uganda. All our tailors from the different sewing guilds are alive and well. Sewing and donating of pads has not been going on much as schools are still under lockdown.
I however visited and donated pads to a few schools in May – before the second lockdown. Since June to date, primary and secondary schools have been under lockdown. The government announced that schools shall reopen on January 10, 2022.
Nonetheless, we have been able to connect with local district leaders, village leaders, church leaders who have connected us to different groups of girls in their communities. On other occasions we have worked with some community-based organizations that have been able to take and donate our kits to distant areas. Such organizations include: Smile Uganda, Hearts for Girls, Jackson’s Organization, Jinja Women’s Prison, Women in Development Organization, Mercy Church Ministries, Bukalango Orphanage Centre, Hope Vision Ministries, MOMO Mbarara Women’s Group, Mabombwe Church Community, St. Jude Parish…
Hearts for girls initiative Kayunga, Uganda
The closure of schools was obviously the best solution to control the spread of the virus during its second wave which was more severe and led to many deaths. The majority of our students in Uganda have to walk daily from their homes to school. This was going to cause extra threats to everybody if no lockdown had been imposed. Thank God, the severe wave lasted until end of July though the closure of schools was not lifted. In reality, all these students have remained in the same classes for two years since 2020 March when the first lockdown was imposed. They are going to work on completing the studies of the same classes when schools reopen early next year. As if that is not enough, many of them have outgrown the age and size of their classes. It is such a pity to see children of 8 years still in nursery school! We also have 20 year olds still attending high school. Uganda has had the longest closure of schools in Africa!
Government’s decision to keep them redundant this long has exposed many of them to other challenges. Some of them won’t actually return to school. They have been already involved in some form of work for money. Many girls are now underage mothers! Some of these challenges have been apparently unavoidable in such an extended period of purposelessness. Last week as I was watching news, I watched a Good Samaritan Woman who had welcomed about 20 – 30 girls and was still welcoming all young mothers in her village to her home. She called for support from anyone one who could give a hand. It was so shocking to see a ten year old girl pregnant!
Actually I am planning to go have a talk with the young mothers about periods and avoiding more pregnancies when still young. I will also encourage them to embrace skills training more than before especially in these times of uncertainty; I highly doubt whether they will go back to school.
Despite all these challenges, I want to thank you very heartily for loving girls in Uganda and the world at large. Thank you for your unconditional love and selflessness. Thank you for sharing what you have with the girls in Uganda. We are so blessed to always be part of your agenda and plans. Thank you for the constant donations.
We began the Maureen Fernandez Memorial Building (may her soul rest in peace). It is such a huge project but worth every effort in appreciation of her love and care for the mission work and the MoonCatcher Project. The ground floor is now habitable much as there is still construction work going on. The tailors started using the sewing space since August 2021. I am proud to say that The MoonCatcher Project has physical offices in Uganda. I am yet to secure a postal office address for us.
I always commit all our work to God. May He guide our every step and bless every giving hand so that this noble work can still go on.
I am happy to inform you that this year the Project has been able to secure a generator that is helpful during power shut downs. We also acquired a standard cutting and storage table for the project. Thanks to the MoonCatcher Project!
With the executives’ support, we were able to share some food items with the MoonCatcher Project tailors during the early months of the pandemic. It was an extremely humbling experience seeing the plight of the tailors’ families struggling to find what to eat. I was always greeted with dancing and clapping as if I was a small god every time I told them they had a food basket from The MoonCatcher Project. Thank you for sharing with us the blessings that God has given you.
Now that the year is coming to an end, I wish you joy and blessings. May we always achieve our project’s goals. May we have a chance to meet again.
Wishing you all a very blessed 2022.
Yours Loving,
Phoebe Agnes Nabwami
Coordinator, MoonCatcher Project Uganda.