Building a Supportive Community

 

…but it is a world away from the facilities available there.

Microsoft Word - S3493 Uganda Project profile_EDITED_TY

In this town in Central Uganda, people face daily struggles to feed their families, send their children to school and access health care. It may be only 50 km from the capital, Kampala, but it is a world away from the facilities available there. The people engage in subsistence farming, petty trading and some go fishing. Everyone finds it difficult to make ends meet. Crossroads is shipping to a project engaged in community development programmes, including a nursery and primary school, construction of homes for the elderly and disabled, supporting children with HIV/AIDS, skills training for young people including small scale income-generating plans, and renovation of community wells and springs.

Potential impact:

  • Improved facilities and equipment for 1400 school children
  • Equipping two new village schools for 500 children
  • Computers for skills training for 600 young people

Microsoft Word - S3493 Uganda Project profile_EDITED_TY

We are told that Justine (right) was one of the most beautiful teenagers in her village; she married early and had 3 children. But tragically, they all died, her husband abandoned her and she fell victim to a wasting disease. Justine now lives with her elderly mother, and our partners have built them a 3 roomed house. She is a remarkable woman, with a welcoming spirit, who keeps smiling and showing love and gratitude to those around her.

 

 


Shipment includes:

  • Books, stationery and basic school supplies
  • School furniture and toys
  • Computers for vocational training & administration
  • Clothing and household goods for local communities.

 

This shipment will help our partners build homes for vulnerable elderly and disabled people by including administrative goods like office equipment.

Give now!

Donate to a shipment like this one.

DONATE MONEY

Donate Goods!

Want to donate goods for a shipment like this one?

DONATE GOODS

Uganda Snapshot

Population: 37.58 million
Capital: Kampala

Uganda is a fertile, land-locked country in East Africa, in the Africa Great Lakes region, with a tropical climate.

Great progress has been made in fighting HIV in Uganda, but 1.5 million people still live with the disease, and there are 1 million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

39% of girls are married by the age of 18. 37.7% of people in Uganda live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day.

A6

Food security and community development

In rural eastern Zambia, life can be dire for women in vulnerable situations, like widows, sex workers, and girls from poor families. Child marriage is still common when families can’t afford to support all their children, and women who lose their husbands often have no way at all to support themselves, beyond growing a small amount of food. Their children may have to drop out of school, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

 

This shipment is equipping an organisation to continue their work with the most vulnerable women in their district of 1.7 million. “In our area about 78% of the people live in abject or severe poverty,” they told us. They’re helping by training women in business skills, then giving small loans to start business of their own. Since starting in 2010, more than 5,300 women have benefited! The NGO also supports orphans to stay in school, and has further programmes to benefit entire communities, such as building safe, hygienic toilets for schools, digging boreholes and caring for HIV patients.

 

Shipment includes:

  • Computers, to train youth in computer skills
  • Clothing for children and women in women’s empowerment programmes
  • Office furniture and supplies for administrative centres
  • Books for new community library

4The Lungu family know what it means to feel starving. Each year, their small farm plot only grew enough food to last three months. For the rest of the year, they lived on what small amount of food their meagre income could purchase, which was scarcely enough to live on.

Today, as they stand in front of the granary (above), the Lungus feel more secure. Crossroads’ partner worked in their village to teach people better, higher yield agricultural techniques like soil management, crop rotation and irrigation. “Every farmer is expected to experiment with small, safe innovations to see what methods work best,” wrote our partners. Now the Lungu family farm grows enough food to last 12 months – enough to see them through to each annual harvest.

This shipment will include goods to  will help administer programmes that work with 900 families like the Lungus on agricultural techniques.


3Maiko (left) didn’t think he would ever finish school. His parents died of HIV/Aids, leaving Maiko and his siblings in the care of their elderly grandfather. Crossroads’ partners took Maiko into their programme and supported him, not only through school but on to a tertiary Education College. Now, Maiko works as a teacher and supports his entire family.

Clothes, stationery, toys and other goods in this shipment will help our partner care for orphans like Maiko, transforming their lives and giving them great opportunities.

Give Now!

Donate to a shipment like this one.

DONATE MONEY

Donate Goods!

Want to donate goods for a shipment like this one?

DONATE GOODS

Zambia Snapshot

Population: 14.83 million
Capital: Lusaka
Zambia is a beautiful, landlocked country in Southern Africa, with a tropical climate.

74.5% of people in Zambia live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day.
40% of children are involved in some kind of child labour
1.1 million people are living with HIV.A65

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...

Community Development

In this town in Central Uganda, people struggle for the basic necessities of daily life: clean water, good sanitation, shelter and even food. Access to basic health is limited and poor health services have resulted in preventable illnesses becoming severe.

Uganda_237.7% of Uganda’s population lives below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. Orphans and vulnerable children may find it impossible to break free from the poverty cycle without the kind of intervention that our partners are giving.

 

 

 

Many of the townsfolk engage in subsistence farming, others are market vendors, some are motorcyclist drivers. Everyone finds it difficult to make ends meet. Crossroads is shipping to an NGO that is deeply engaged in community development programmes in this town and broader region, including a primary and secondary school, programmes to reduce HIV/AIDS, poultry farming assistance, financial assistance for complex health care, water projects and supporting the reduction in child abuse.

Shipment includes:

  • Medical equipment to support the local health clinic
  • Books, stationery and basic school supplies
  • School furniture and toys
  • Office furniture for local administration

Potential Impact:

  • Improved facilities to support 800 families in reducing HIV/AIDS
  • 130 vulnerable women and youth to be assisted with the poultry farming project
  • School fees for 450 students to attend primary, secondary and vocational education

Uganda_1Unlike most 18 year old boys, Samuel was unable to enjoy the freedom of being young, fit and able. Samuel could do very little on his own. Daily life was a struggle, let alone making his way to school for study. A complicated heart problem caused Samuel to live a very limited and dependent lifestyle. In his town, near Kampala, Samuel did not have access to health care to treat his heart correctly.

Thankfully, staff from our partner NGO met him. They were able to raise enough support to send Samuel to India for a life-saving heart operation. Today, Samuel attends secondary school without any trouble. Both teachers and staff at our partner organisation are impressed to see Samuel not just get by but excel in all areas.

 

This shipment will provide medical equipment and goods to improve the life of children like Samuel.

Give Now!

Donate to a shipment like this one.

DONATE MONEY

Donate Goods!

Want to donate goods for a shipment like this one?

DONATE GOODS

Uganda Snapshot

Population: 37.58 million
Capital: Kampala

Uganda is a fertile, land-locked country in East Africa, in the Africa Great Lakes region, with a tropical climate.

Great progress has been made in fighting HIV in Uganda, but 1.5 million people still live with the disease, and there are 1 million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

39% of girls are married by the age of 18. 37.7% of people in Uganda live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day.

A6

Education and community development

Far from the bustling capital city, many villages in Zambia’s countryside are struggling to catch up to the nation’s growth. In this shipment’s target area, people earn their living through subsistence farming, growing maize, pineapples, cassava, bananas, and beans, but only enough to feed their family. Finding extra money for more nutritious food, medicine for a sick child or further education is impossible for many.

“Many children walk almost naked, because they have no clothes, even as areas are growing, children are leaving school, only to end up not doing anything.” wrote our partner NGO.

Zambia_5

Crossroads’ partners are helping their community of 25,000 move out of this hand-to-mouth existence by teaching better farming methods, new business skills,   training young people in computers, supporting village schools and equipping health clinics. They have asked us for a shipment of goods that will boost and grow their education and community development programmes.

Shipment includes:

  • Clothing for orphans, elderly and vulnerable families
  • School stationery and books for community schools
  • Medical supplies and equipment for health clinics
  • School furniture to equip poor village schools

    A87Carlos was neglected by his family because of his disability. He used to walk around on his knees, often getting cuts from broken glass, and couldn’t play with other children. Crossroads’ partner worked with his family to help them appreciate and help Carlos. Staff now give him a regular food and financial allowance that lifts the family’s burden, and as well as clothes, they found crutches for Carlos to be able to walk upright for the first time. Today, he can even play football with the neighborhood children!

  • This shipment will include clothes, school equipment, household items and other goods that will directly benefit vulnerable children like Carlos.


    Communities here are close-knit, but many struggle with a lack of basic daily needs. “Some elderly are starving from a lack of food, or only eating mangoes,” wrote staff.

     

    A51In this community in Eastern Angola, on Zambia’s border, there are so few formal schools that some children have classes under a mango tree (above). During the rainy season, they simply can’t go to school. Others are in a one-room school trying to cater for 200 students. “There are only three desks for 40 pupils at a time and children write on their knees. Most of them sit  on logs,” writes a staff member.Staying in school, and breaking out of poverty,  is difficult with all these odds stacked against them, but Crossroads’ partner is helping children in  Zambia and in Eastern Angola, just across the border, gain access to better educational opportunities. Once those children graduate, they’re then helping them train in useful skills like using computers, beekeeping and fish farming.

     

    This shipment will include goods like school desks and chairs to equip very under-resourced rural schools.

Give Now!

Donate to a shipment like this one.

DONATE MONEY

Donate Goods!

Want to donate goods for a shipment like this one?

DONATE GOODS

Zambia Snapshot

Population: 14.83 million
Capital: Lusaka
Zambia is a beautiful, landlocked country in Southern Africa, with a tropical climate.

74.5% of people in Zambia live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day.
40% of children are involved in some kind of child labour
1.1 million people are living with HIV.

A54

Maama Emanuel is a walking example of the hope that a gift of simple items can bring to people in poverty.

Maama Emanuel lives in a north Ugandan village, in a community where most people are too poor to afford even enough clothing, food or basic household goods. She had never owned plates, but instead ate directly from the saucepan at mealtimes.

She had no blankets for cover at night, using thick plastic bags for warmth.

When an NGO, staffed by local Ugandans, in Maama Emanuel’s district received a container of goods from Crossroads, they used the items for both big projects – like equipping community primary schools with 20,000 books and equipping vital cattle herder training programs – and small, like visiting the area’s poorest people and giving them urgently needed clothing, blankets and other gifts. Maama Emanuel was one of them.

image_preview

Thanks to the shipment, Maama Emmanuel now owns a good blanket, and a set of nice plates on which to serve herself and visitors.

“She is all the time thanking Crossroads!” a staff member from the NGO told us.

image_preview2

In an area where cattle herding provides the main source of livelihood, the shipment included goods to support programs for training cattle herders in sustainable agricultural practices.

image_preview3

“Thousands of people were provided with clothes,” wrote our partners. “People got plates and cups to use – something that they had never seen in their communities. It brought joy, happiness and excitement to people who had been used to a hostile and miserable lifestyle.”

image_preview4

“A new nursery school in the area received toddler items like toys and books. Babies received clothes, and mothers were so happy that this saved them even the small cost of buying clothes for their children. Pregnant mothers were given blankets and this helped to cover their newborns when they were delivered.”

“Planning has been so smooth in our NGO since we had some support from Crossroads. The funds we could have used to purchase office desks have now been designated for other activities like HIV/Aids programs.”

The shipment was such a strategic investment into the community that our partners have requested another shipment to help continue and expand their programs.

Give Now!

Donate to a shipment like this one.

DONATE MONEY

Donate Goods!

Want to donate goods for a shipment like this one?

DONATE GOODS

Uganda Snapshot

Population: 37.58 million
Capital: Kampala

Uganda is a fertile, land-locked country in East Africa, in the Africa Great Lakes region, with a tropical climate.

Great progress has been made in fighting HIV in Uganda, but 1.5 million people still live with the disease, and there are 1 million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

39% of girls are married by the age of 18. 37.7% of people in Uganda live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day.

A6

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...

For a person living with AIDS in rural Uganda, death hovers many months before they actually die. Anti-retroviral drugs are available in some areas, but this does not help those who are too poor to pay for treatment, or who live too far from a clinic.

Uganda_a_room_with_beds

As AIDS-related illnesses like tuberculosis, parasitic infections and cancers attack the body, the person grows weaker and thinner, over the course of months, eventually confined to bed where family members must care for them until they die.

The disease leaves thousands of orphans, which in turns creates strain on the elderly, who are often left in charge of a houseful of children with no parents, and no way to earn a steady income.

One NGO in Eastern Uganda who serves hundreds of HIV-affected people annually asked Crossroads for help with goods that could support their programmes and bring relief to those suffering so much. After receiving the container, they reported the impact with joy.

Medical equipment donated from Hong Kong has now been installed in the local health centres. “We can now offer inpatient services where clients are hospitalized on proper hospital beds, and give better handling of critical patients with the provided trolleys. We also can provide diabetes and blood pressure tests,” they said. “As a result of this donation we have been able to upgrade our services and are now seeing a number of people flocking to the centre for medical services.”

200 children from 6 different villages who were struggling to stay in school and whose homes are headed by widows or elderly people received toys, clothes and school books. Many had never owned a toy before.

Children who had previously been writing on the ground because they had no exercise books excitedly received exercise books and stationery.

A job creation scheme for women benefited from the container too: Crossroads sent cooking utensils and crockery which a group of women will use in a small catering business, generating income for them to be able to keep their children in school. They also used some of the clothing from Crossroads as uniforms for their catering business (above left).

Uganda_group_of_girls

The stories go on and on. Almost every part of the community was touched by the goods, given by so many generous Hong Kong donors, and will now experience real change.

Do you want to be part of an overseas shipment? Crossroads is seeking sponsors for containers bound for nations around the world where exciting projects are taking place. Email engagement@crossroads.org.hk to see how you can get involved!

Give Now!

Donate to a shipment like this one.

DONATE MONEY

Donate Goods!

Want to donate goods for a shipment like this one?

DONATE GOODS

Uganda Snapshot

Population: 37.58 million
Capital: Kampala

Uganda is a fertile, land-locked country in East Africa, in the Africa Great Lakes region, with a tropical climate.

Great progress has been made in fighting HIV in Uganda, but 1.5 million people still live with the disease, and there are 1 million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

39% of girls are married by the age of 18. 37.7% of people in Uganda live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day.

A6

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...

In rural Gambia’s dry season, there’s an exodus of men from the countryside to the coast – farmers who leave behind their wives and children in search of better work that will support their families.

The women left behind continue tending their small plots of maize, millet and peanuts, often with the help of their children, but it can be a difficult existence, marked by poverty and hunger.

The battle makes it all the more difficult for kids to stay in school, and once there, small community schools are often so under-resourced that basic supplies like text books, plain lined paper or a coloured crayon are hot commodities.

Gambia_children_students
Nursery students with stationery and furniture from Crossroads’ shipment

It was exciting, then, to see that when Crossroads shipped a container to rural Gambia, they made an educational festival out of it!

Gambia_kids_activities

Our partner NGO held a ‘Kids Games’ event, inviting children from the region to join in typical sports day activities like running races, water games (above) and ball games, and gave out prizes of stationery, books and backpacks from the Crossroads shipment.

As delighted as they were, the kids’ enthusiasm couldn’t match that of the teachers, who were also given a donation for each school of materials, school desks and other essentials.

“Every school that attended received school materials,” wrote our partners. “The competitions gave every child opportunity to exercise his or her skills and abilities. Your donation has had a great impact in the life of the children in the community!”

Want to sponsor an international shipment?

We have several international shipments ready to set sail and waiting for sponsors! Your company, club, organisation or family can make a  shipment happen.

Email us at partnerships@crossroads.org.hk for a list of partnership opportunities.

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

read more ...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

read more ...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

read more ...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

read more ...