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

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

Education and job creation

There are around 2.7 million orphans in Uganda, and for those without someone to advocate for them, meet their needs and see that they stay in school, it’s very difficult to escape poverty. Some children, like Gerald (right), have to work just to survive, even selling drugs or engaging in prostitution. UNICEF statistics indicate that 25% of children in Uganda are involved in child labour of some kind.

A4037.7% 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.

This shipment is helping give some of Uganda’s most vulnerable children and youth the chance at a life beyond basic survival. Crossroads’ partner NGO supports orphaned children through school, and gives job training to teenagers and youth who have dropped out of school, as well as helping them find employment.

Shipment includes:

  • Stationery, text books and toys for programmes with nearly 1,000 school children
  • School desks and chairs for under-resourced village schools
  • Appliances, furniture and office equipment to help education and job training programmes
  • Goods to meet the basic needs of elderly and orphaned in the community

Uganda_7Katrina was left abandoned at age 3 when her parents died of HIV/Aids. Today, she’s thriving in Primary Three (right), thanks to the care of our partners, who help more than 200 orphans like her.

 

 

 

 

 

Goods in this shipment will release budget for them to give relief and educational support to more children.


 

A39When Gerald was only 10, both his parents died, leaving him in the care of his 16-year-old sister. Gerald, not yet a teenager, started selling cocaine to make enough money to survive and to go to school. Gerald’s sister found her ‘escape’ by leaving home and marrying quickly, and young, which left Gerald completely alone, living in a 2-bedroomed grass hut that was in disrepair and falling down around him.

Thankfully, when he was 18 years old, staff from our partners met him. They helped Gerald find a better, more secure home, financial relief and encouraged him to finish his schooling. Today Gerald is in his final year of high school and planning to attend university. He wants to become a lawyer who can advocate for the rights of Ugandan orphans, and against early child marriage.

“He is one of the happiest guys around,” write our partners. “He now believes that life can change and have meaning.”

This shipment will include goods to support the programmes that helped Gerald turn his life around.

 

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

Environment, Heritage & Development

Marocco_1Living in a small village in the mountains in Morocco can be difficult. The climate is very hot and dry in the summer, and in the winter, you can’t rely upon the rain, meaning agriculture and livelihoods suffer. Many people have to leave and search for work in Casablanca – and for many young people, that means stopping their education at the age of 12 and moving to live with relatives in the big city.

Crossroads is partnering with a project in one village that is involved in helping children stay in school, and preserving precious cultural traditions. As a village association they are able to be part of sanitation projects, building projects and cleaning. They are educating people in ways to protect the rivers and plants in their local environment, and they are trying to improve conditions in their local school. Crossroads’ donation will bring much needed help.

Potential impact:

  • Desks & chairs for the 25 children at the local school
  • Sound equipment for traditional festival for hundreds of local
  • Computers for the school bringing access to modern technology.

Shipment includes:

  • School furniture and stationery
  • Computers and sound equipment.

A17Muhammed has lived in the village in this mountainous region all his life. It’s difficult to find enough money to feed his family, but he wants his 2 daughters to know about the village heritage, and receive an education at the village school. Since 2011, the village association has been paying him a regular salary to maintain the water facilities in the village, improving life immensely for himself and his family.

This shipment will provide furniture, computers and stationery for the local school which Muhammed’s daughters attend, and sound equipment for heritage festivals.

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

Morocco Snapshot

Capital: Rabat
Largest City: Casablanca
Population: 33.25 million; one-third of the population is under 18.

Morocco’s predominant religion is Islam, while the official languages are Berber and Arabic. Moroccan Arabic, referred to as Darija, and French are also widely spoken.

Morocco is characterized by a rugged mountainous interior and large portions of desert. Its distinct culture is a blend of Arab, indigenous Berber, Sub-Saharan African, and European influences.

A20

For those used to well equipped schools, it is hard to picture life in parts of rural Gambia where students sit quietly, waiting their turn to use a pen. The idea of having one each, much less a traditional ‘pencil case’ with a set of pens and pencils, is a world away from these students.

The need is widespread. We have been asked for stationery supplies by almost every one of our partners who work with children. Supplies have been running low, though. So, when Hong Kong stationery manufacturer Cartorama offered a large quantity of school stationery, we leaped at the chance. The donation itself left us flabbergasted: 12 pallet loads of cartons containing felt tip pens, piles of school notepads, beautiful new backpacks, erasers, folders and more.

Bear Care Kids packing markers (20)

We shipped these to Gambia,  hopefully making a huge impact on those little who had previously shared a single pen.  We had enough, too, to send to children in Uganda, orphans in Moldova and children here in Hong Kong.

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

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 ...

When Katya* was found by local schoolteacher Eva, she was filthy and infested with lice, living without parents in a small village house. She had not bathed in several weeks and was traumatised after her alcoholic mother abandoned her, and her older brother was killed by a car.

It’s children like Katya, alone and vulnerable, that are easy targets for human traffickers. Official statistics estimate there are 25,000 Moldovan victims of human trafficking, and 40% of them are children.

Katya shows Crossroads staff the squalid conditions of the home in which she lived with her brother before being fostered.

Katya shows Crossroads staff the squalid conditions of the home in which she lived with her brother before being fostered.

Thankfully for Katya, Eva and her husband couldn’t bear to leave the little girl alone in the village, and brought her into their own home as a foster daughter. Today, Katya is a bright, well-dressed, articulate teenager, who loves her foster parents. The family, though, still struggles to make ends meet in a place that has been classified as Europe’s poorest nation.

Crossroads partnered with an NGO in the region to help foster families like Katya’s, shipping a container of goods that would help relieve the pressure of poverty. Today, Katya is happy, healthy and thriving in her foster family.

We shipped toys, stationery, household goods for foster families, and a large quantity of educational items that they are now using in their support centres. Families living in poverty, who may be tempted to give up their children to state-run institutions, are given the care, support and respite they need to keep their children within the family home.

*Not her real name

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

Moldova Snapshot

Moldova Population: 3.55 million

Capital: Chișinău

Moldova is the poorest nation in Europe. There are currently 7,000 children in staterun institutions but only 2% are orphans (BBC). Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, formerly part of the Soviet Union. Our partner project is actually based in Transnistria, a breakaway state, autonomous but with limited international recognition. It has a population of 505 thousand, and its capital is Tiraspol.Of children who pass through orphanages in Moldova, one in 10 commits suicide and one in 5 become involved in crime

Moldova map

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 ...

Amina (below) was only 13 years old when she was raped and fell pregnant to her attacker. Her family rejected her and she had no way to support her child. Even finding clothes for the baby was beyond her.

NGO_single_teenage_mother

Thankfully, an NGO met Amina and took her into their programmes. They found her a home, and gave her clothes for her and her baby, but they knew her most important need was for a way to fund her future.

“She could hardly read or write,” they said, “but now she is registered with our training centre and is learning how to sew.” With these skills, Amina has the chance to make a real life for herself and her child.

When the NGO that helped Amina requested a shipment from Crossroads, they told us that building a computer centre to serve the area’s children and vulnerable women like Amina was high on their list of priorities.

“Without some kind of training or job skills, many single mothers can’t support their families at all,” they said.”We also help keep orphans in school by sponsoring their education, helping them with uniforms, school supplies and so on.”

When Crossroads’ shipment arrived, even torrential tropical rains couldn’t hold back their eagerness to start using the goods immediately! “The heavy rains have disturbed our distribution, but we have started some programmes already,” they wrote.

“With the computers, we are running women and kids for our school,” they told us. “Many of the kids have never seen a computer before and they are so excited to work on them!”

NGO_school_equipmentStationery, toys and school bags were also received with excitement (above), to distribute to children affected by HIV/Aids who frequently drop out of school because they can’t afford fees, supplies and uniforms!

We’re grateful to shipping company Maersk, who generously sponsored this shipment.

 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.

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

Cameroon Snapshot

Population: 22.25 million

Capital: Yaoundé

Cameroon is in the west Central Africa region, with natural features including beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas.

Although the country as a whole has improved standards of literacy and healthcare, there is still a long way to go. Less than half of children go on to secondary education, and over 40% are involved in some kind of child labour. In rural areas, less than half the population has access to clean water and sanitation.

Cameroon_S2893_5

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 ...

Serwanga has been disabled from birth and can’t walk on his own. Living in a Ugandan village with a profound disability, it’s more difficult than most for this 12-year-old to get to school each day, but if Serwanga can’t get an education, he faces a life of extreme poverty, just like his parents.

Uganda_child_in_weelchair

Serwanga has been getting help from an organisation in his region who supports children at risk. They gave him a wheelchair some years ago, to make it possible for him to go to school, but it had started to break down.

“It was hard for him to make it to school every day,” said one staff member.

Even once at school, learning was a challenge for Serwanga and his classmates. They don’t have enough stationery, school books or even uniforms for children from poorer families.

The NGO requested a shipment of educational goods from Crossroads that would help them equip schools like Serwanga’s. When it arrived, they couldn’t hold back their excitement!

“This school had so few items to facilitate teaching before, leaving many of these children in despair,” they said after distributing many cartons of stationery.

“This is a new change in life for these children!”

Serwanga himself received a new, working wheelchair from the shipment, as well as a pack of pens, pencils and other stationery to help him learn.

Uganda_child_with_pens

“Many of these children are neglected and left to wander in the community with no one to help,” wrote our partners. “Now, there is a lot of hope for Serwanga to continue his education.”

We are grateful to Maersk for sponsoring this shipment!

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.

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 ...