Category: Uganda

An image of Unbound Program Coodinator Vincent Murmu.
Community, India, Kenya, Uganda, Unbound
Jul 31 2017

Exchange Trip to Africa 2017

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Indian coordinators' reflections from Africa, part 3

Vincent, an Unbound program coordinator in India, wears a shirt with traditional Kenyan prints that he received as a gift while visiting Nairobi.
Vincent and Seema visit a tailor shop and learn about the livelihood of a family in Nairobi.

Recently three of our program coordinators from India traveled to Kenya and Uganda to see how the Unbound program works in those countries. They had the opportunity to learn from their African coworkers and to experience the realities of families in Kenya and Uganda compared to India. This final reflection is from Vincent Murmu, the program coordinator for our Dumka office in India.

It is indeed exciting to visit the Unbound family on another continent. I, along with Seema,the coordinator in Chennai, and Selvaraj, the coordinator in Bhagalpur, and under the able leadership of our project director Amanda Heter from Unbound Kansas, had the wonderful opportunity to visit two Unbound projects in East Africa – Nairobi, Kenya and Kampala,Uganda.

It is like a dream come true landing on another continent. My eyes were fully opened with curiosity and excitement.
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An image of Indian and Ugandan Unbound staff members.
Community, India, Kenya, Uganda
Jul 24 2017

My observations from visiting Nairobi and Kampala

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Indian coordinators' reflections from Africa, part 1

An image of Indian and Ugandan Unbound staff members.

Seema, center, takes a picture with her fellow Indian coordinators and staff members from Uganda.


Recently three of our program coordinators from India traveled to Kenya and Uganda to see how the Unbound program works in those countries. They had the opportunity to learn from their African coworkers and to experience what poverty looks like in Kenya and Uganda compared to India. This first reflection is from Seema Mohan Kumar, the program coordinator for our Chennai office in India.

“It is not sufficient simply to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting upon this experience, it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning potential lost. It is from the feelings and thoughts emerging from this reflection that generalisations or concepts can be generated. And it is generalisations that allow new situations to be tackled effectively.” — Graham Gibbs

I’ve taken a lot of positivity from this experience and a lot of learning too. Nairobi and Uganda was not what I had expected, and though we had to strictly take yellow fever shots, not all the places are filled with mosquitoes. The two African countries I’ve visited have been full of happiness. I have gained some life experience. Now I have changed more and I had to take the long road to re-examine my view of my community. Education in Kenya and Uganda was noticeably taken very seriously and it’s the key for their future.
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Image of a woman in Uganda shoveling compost.
Community, Economic Self-Sufficiency, Philippines, Uganda
Jul 1 2017

Parents increase benefits using the power of community

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Groups in Uganda, Philippines provide support and encouragement

Image of a woman in Uganda shoveling compost.

Maxensia shovels compost made from pig manure produced on her farm in Uganda. She uses it to fertilize her coffee plants. Maxensia’s son, Lawrence, 21, is sponsored by Albert in Washington.

Maxensia, a widowed mother of eight, tends to her coffee plants in a village in Uganda. Nearby, 11 pigs sunbathe in a sty built of rough wood.

At age 50, Maxensia has become an entrepreneur. Her pig farm is growing, and she also runs a small coffee farm.

After her husband died 17 years ago, Maxensia struggled to provide for her children’s basic needs. Her son, Lawrence, was sponsored in 2006, and she joined the Unbound support group for parents of sponsored children. Through the group, she got a boost toward economic self-sufficiency.

“I have gained a lot by being a member of the group,” Maxensia said. “I have been empowered to improve my life and that of my family.”

In Uganda, like in many other countries where Unbound works, parent groups serve as the foundation of the sponsorship program for children. When a child is sponsored, parents or guardians join the local group. They receive training from Unbound staff, save money by making small contributions to the group savings and gain access to loans. In parent groups, the impact of sponsorship is multiplied through the power of community.

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An image of a father in Uganda holding bricks he's made.
Community, Economic Self-Sufficiency, Uganda
Jun 16 2017

Working, saving, providing

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Ugandan dad supports his family with a new business

An image of a father in Uganda holding bricks he's made.

Charles, father of a sponsored child in Uganda, displays freshly dried bricks, which he’ll soon sell to support his family.

It’s almost Father’s Day, and over the past weeks, we’ve been sharing the stories of inspiring dads in the Unbound community. Charles is a dad in Uganda who’s been working hard to make a good living to support his family. He took some time to share about his journey with Unbound communications liaison Regina Mburu.
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Image = Ndagire sets dishes on a drying rack after washing them. Her Unbound parent group taught her about the hygienic benefits of a dish rack.
Community, Economic Self-Sufficiency, Health, Sponsor a child, Uganda
May 31 2017

Living Unbound: Parent groups support safety, health

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Image = Ndagire sets dishes on a drying rack after washing them. Her Unbound parent group taught her about the hygienic benefits of a dish rack.

Ndagire sets dishes on a drying rack after washing them. Her Unbound parent group taught her about the hygienic benefits of a dish rack.

As we’ve shared in blog posts over the last few weeks, Unbound’s highly personalized benefits are creating opportunity for families of all types around the world. In Uganda, parents of sponsored children are taking steps toward safety and health in their homes with the help of sponsorship.

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Africa, Community, Education, Sponsor a child, Uganda, Unbound
May 5 2017

‘We check on each other’

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The value of mothers helping mothers

Jane and her son, Jonah, who is sponsored through Unbound and has been cared for by many other mothers in the community.
From left: Annet, Sarah and Joyce, members of the Unbound mothers group who supported and cared for Jonah while his mother was away working.

“We are all family,” said Annet, a mother who chairs an Unbound parents group in Uganda. “We keep check of each other.”

It’s not a stretch to say that without this community care, 10-year-old sponsored child Jonah’s life might have turned out differently.

The families Unbound works with around the world face significant challenges in creating a better future for their children.

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Fred is a sponsored elder in Uganda who used his sponsorship benefits to purchase a water pump to help care for his livestock.
Economic Self-Sufficiency, Sponsor a child, Sponsor an aging friend, Uganda, Unbound
May 3 2017

Living Unbound: Stories of empowerment

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Publication, blog series to explore how families use benefits

Fred, a sponsored elder in Uganda, uses his new water pump to spray his cow. He used his sponsorship benefits to purchase the pump, which helps him care for his livestock.

Fred, a sponsored elder in Uganda, uses his new water pump to spray his cow. He used his sponsorship benefits to purchase the pump, which helps him care for his livestock.

Many things set Unbound apart.

We’re the only major U.S.-based organization that offers sponsorship for elders. The communities we work with have created a small group model that provides support and accountability for the parents of sponsored children. We consistently achieve top ratings from charity evaluators, with more than 92 percent of our expenses going to program support. All of these things are supported by one of the most unique aspects of our program — highly personalized benefits.

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John is a father of eight in Uganda. His daughter Christine is sponsored through Unbound. To support his family, he took loans from the Unbound parents group he participates in to open up his own store.
Bolivia, Economic Self-Sufficiency, Guatemala, India, Philippines, Sponsor a child, Sponsor an aging friend, Uganda, Unbound
Sep 5 2016

Hard-working parents — photo essay

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Charito is the mother of two sponsored children in the Philippines. She is part of an initiative that uses water hyacinth (water lily), which grows in abundance near her community, to create a plant-based leather substitute. They use it to create a variety of products, such as shoes, bags, folders and backpacks. Charito is in charge of drying and cleaning the plants after they have been harvested by scraping off extra fibers, which she is doing in the photo above.

Through supports groups and livelihood programs, Unbound supports the hard-working parents of sponsored children around the world to help them develop their natural talents, so they can create sustainable sources of income to support their families and work their way out of poverty.

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Nancy gets ready to enjoy a bowl of mukimo, a traditional Kenyan dish of mashed vegetables, which she makes for her family. Nancy’s 17-year-old son, David, is sponsored through Unbound.
Bolivia, Community, Economic Self-Sufficiency, Education, El Salvador, India, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Sponsor a child, Sponsor an aging friend, Uganda, Unbound
Jul 18 2016

Faces of triumph — photo essay

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Nancy gets ready to enjoy a bowl of mukimo, a traditional Kenyan dish of mashed vegetables, which she makes for her family. Nancy’s 17-year-old son, David, is sponsored through Unbound.
Taste of tradition

Nancy gets ready to enjoy a bowl of mukimo, a traditional Kenyan dish of mashed vegetables, which she makes for her family. Nancy’s 17-year-old son, David, is sponsored through Unbound.

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Mark shows off a favorite example of his light-up photo frames — an image of Pope Francis.
Economic Self-Sufficiency, Sponsor a child, Uganda, Unbound
Jun 13 2016

Ugandan dad goes from stress to stability

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Mark, the father of a child sponsored through Unbound, works in his woodshop in Uganda.

Mark, the father of a child sponsored through Unbound, works in his woodshop in Uganda.

On a sunny day in Uganda, Mark is hard at work in his backyard woodshop.

A self-employed carpenter for 31 years, Mark has had to jump a lot of hurdles to get his business — and his family — to the steady place they are now. His daughter, Veronika, is sponsored through Unbound and he attributes much of the family’s economic stability to her sponsorship.
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