We're Doing It! Goats for Kamuli Kids, Can You Help?
We're Doing It! Goats for Kamuli Kids, Can You Help?
PLEASE READ: And don't forget to join Cedric and me at www.TeriMurrison.com on Weds., Dec. 27th when we'll talk about Goats for Kamuli Kids and more!
Dear compassionate friends,
Seasons Greetings! I need your help. As the video below says, the stakes are high in the Kamuli District of Uganda.
The region is one of the poorest and the rate of child brides there is among the highest in the country. When young girls marry, they have large families. For these kids, getting an education is oftentimes the difference between barely existing and thriving. Failing to fund this Goats for Kamuli Kids initiative is not an option for me.
I’m working with Cedric Nwafor of Roots Africa and Tibenkana Denis of the Bandera Farmer’s Network (BFN) to start the Goats for Kamuli Kids program to give some sweet kids - boys and girls - choices about their future. They’re children I know personally and love, like Nakimera and her siblings about whom I’ve written numerous times (see photos below).
As Cedric is fond of saying, these African kids don’t need charity, they need to learn to be change makers, educated young men and women who will (over time) become farmers who support themselves and their families and contribute in positive ways to their communities. Their first step is to get educated. And that’s why we’re Doing It!
We’ve already laid the groundwork for the initiative - we have 7 kids in school already and have bought 5 goats but we want to do more. To scale up to 25 goats and 20 kids, I must have your help.
Denis plans to limit the program to 20 kids to be most effective and initially, because as the grade levels increase, school fees are more expensive. With 20 kids, he’ll focus on and take them from start to finish.
The initiative will primarily benefit the lowest income families in the area, helping those kids whose prospects of going to school are bleak without our help. Here’s the budget.
He needs goats, pasture, vet care, planting materials, fencing, and more. An investment of $5,500 overall will not only fund those but the program will also generate ongoing funding for future years. Denis hopes to eventually raise up to 100 goats per year, meaning that 20 children’s school fees will be paid from start through graduation when they will have skills and the education to support themselves and perhaps, start their own Agricultural businesses.
Bandera Farmers Network (BFN) has an existing administrative structure that will support the program including a school program coordinator. She’s begun running the program for the existing 7 students, visiting schools and liaising with parents to make sure that the children stay in the program. BFN’s current farm manager will ensure the goats are well-cared for and a part time veterinarian will be hired to make sure the goats are healthy. Pastures will be fenced to keep the goats on site and protect them from theft. The BFN has other agricultural projects the kids can work on too, acquiring skills for future endeavors and generating additional funding for the initiative.
Please, band together with me to fund this worthy initiative for my Kamuli Kids. Whatever you can spare will be greatly appreciated. Contribute $50, or even better, cover a particular line item in the budget above - goats, pasture rent, fencing, whatever.
I need your help, preferably by the end of 2023. Thanks for your time and for your compassion for these kids. I wish you the most joyous of holidays and may you be richly blessed for opening your hearts and wallets to these kids,
PS We’re not trying to raise a lot of money but it will mean a world of difference to these kids and any amount will help us get there.
Below is a photo from last May and one after Nakimera and her siblings were enrolled in school. Denis tells me they are excited to learn and so proud as they walk to school wearing their new uniforms, shoes, and carrying backpacks. This makes me so very happy.
PLEASE, share this invitation to team up with us. Forward this newsletter to friends, family, and post it on your social networks. Thank you!
About Denis and his Bandera Farmers Network Denis established the Bandera Farmers Network International to promote value-added agricultural production with the goal of empowering his people to empower themselves. The Network processes peanuts into butter, and bananas, mangoes, and pineapples into juice, also drying pineapple and cabbages using a solar dryer he built. Members process and sell coffee, flour for children, maize flour, juices, dried vegetables, Cassamus herbal water, organic animal vaccines, silage, has begun a one million tree planting project, and offer teenage pregnancy programs. He began the Network in 2019 with 10 farmers, training them in sustainable agricultural practices. Today he and his changemakers have reached and trained over 600 farmers countrywide. Denis works to advance human rights and transform the lives of rural women, children, and farmers. He teaches his network sustainable agriculture practices and climate-smart agriculture.