For those of you who are not familiar with my non-profit activities. I have two organizations that I started. One of these organizations is Miracles in Caring. Here is some information about the group:
Miracles In Caring is about giving parents the tools they need to provide for their families. In Uganda, for example, a years long civil war has left many children father-less and without homes. These families have moved to the capital city Kampala to escape the violence in Northern Uganda. When the families finally made it to Kampala, they found they had no skills to compete for the jobs there. These women and their families were farmers, and self-sufficient in Northern Uganda. Now, they are without land, and live in whatever home they can put together with the scraps they find.
These hard-working women have found one job that will take them in. This job is breaking rocks from big pieces to smaller piece. They sit down in the rock quarry and hammer at the rocks all day long. For 12 hours of work, they make about 50 cents! To do the math for you, that is 4 cents an hour!!
Because the pay is so small, most mothers HAVE to include their children in the work. Instead of going to school, the children break rocks right alongside their mothers to put food on the table. These are not bad mothers who want to get rich off of their children. These are mothers who have two choices: put their children to work alongside them, or watch their children starve to death!!
Their children should be in school, there is no doubt about that. An education is the key to breaking out of poverty. The problem is that these children are just trying to survive. When you don't even know if you will have enough to eat one meal the next day, it is a matter of survival. What good is an education if you will be dead from lack of food and dehydration tomorrow?
Our organization is going to change the lives of these women and their families. We have set them up with a business that isn't so back-breaking, and gives them more profit. This will allow their children to attend school, and allow the mothers to have the resources they need to take care of their families.
They have already lived through a civil war- Now it is time to restore their peace of mind!
I have been working on this project for a few months now. I was finally able to raise enough funds to get a shipment of goods sent from Uganda to Texas. The goods arrived on Monday, and you can tell be the girls' faces, they LOVE the items!! We received dolls, purses, tote bags, aprons, necklaces, and bracelets. All of it is for sale, so if there is something you would like to purchase, let me know. 100% of the profits go to Uganda to the talented women who made the items.
Once we have sold half of the items, I will get some more sent this way. We are, also, trying to raise money to purchase a tailoring machine so that the mothers can make dashikis and other cloth items to sell.
This is me- I have never had an avatar before. I was setting up an Etsy shop, and I noticed that several people used avatars for their profile picture. Since I am selling bead necklaces, and some of them remind me of hippie-wear, I decided to dress like that. I wish I was as cool as this avatar surely is :o) Now Jaden and Morgan want me to make them an avatar. Stay tuned for that, if I ever figure out how to make more than one.
