Awakening philanthropic mind in the Ugandan Diaspora

The Uganda UK Convention 2011 was not all about investing in businesses only, but also about investing in people. To this end, Mr. Willy Mutenza, the Chairman of the Convention, along with his team, supported at random 5 charities that were exhibiting on the day.

Sponsor a Child and the Nnabagereka Foundation were two of the lucky charities that received donations at the first Ugandan Convention in the UK. In addition to promote the development of Uganda in general, another core mission of the Convention is to promote a philanthropic spirit among the Ugandan Diaspora, and encourage people to give and contribute towards poverty eradication in their respective local communities. The Diaspora is well suited to maintain sustainable development that can help the whole community in their native villages back home.

Below, Ida Horner from Sponsor A Child, shares her thoughts on the Convention and her delight at the support their charity received on the day.

“Our chairperson volunteered her time on the day to help meet and greet guests at the conference. Our biggest expectation on the day was to network and learn what others are doing in Uganda. We also wanted tell attendants about our work in Ruhanga, South West Uganda. In that aspect, our expectations were met indeed.

The donation from the convention’s organiserswas a real surprise and we must say that with this, our expectations were in fact exceeded! We were struggling to find sponsors for 50 children at the school we founded.  The fact that the organisers of the convention sponsored 5 children in one go was not only a surprise, but a huge weight off our shoulders. The donation will cover the school fees, uniforms and meals for five girls for one year.

We believe that Ugandans in the Diaspora have a duty to support and promote initiatives that alleviate poverty in Uganda, and it needn’t cost a fortune. For instance, to sponsor a child at our school costs only £3.50 a month!  Ugandans should be involved in such initiatives or start those initiatives themselves. If people are struggling financially, they can still lend their skills or volunteer their time to such initiatives.  For example, at the moment, we have a range of activities that Ugandans in the Diaspora can support, such as the child sponsorship program. We also have 3 classrooms that need to be finished before the new school year begins. For details of these and other initiatives, please visit our website http://www.lethemhelpthemselves.org/projects

For those who could get to Uganda on 3/12/2011, we would like to invite you to join us on the Walk4Water campaign. Please sign up at http://www.lethemhelpthemselves.org/walk-for-water

In our opinion, the organisers did a very important thing of bringing the Ugandan Diaspora together. I hope that this is the first of many such events, and that future ones will also include a selection of Diaspora led projects”.