All posts by Laura Corcoran

January Newsletter 2022

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

We want to take this great opportunity to thank everyone who has endeavored to support Miryante Community Centre; we couldn’t do what we are doing without your support both in prayer and finances. There are many smiles on the faces of the children, lives are changing and we give all glory back to God and we say thank you for trusting and loving us.

PROGRAM UPDATES

Currently our economy in Uganda most of the sectors were officially opened from the COVID 19 lockdown which has eased our monthly visits for our children within the communities under foster care program. First and foremost, as Miryante Community Center staff we wish you a Happy New Year. We are greatly thankful for all our dear donors for the kind of support you have granted to us throughout the previous year and we pray may the good Lord continue protecting and providing for us all.

REGISTRATION OF CHILDREN

 We also want to let you know that at the beginning of this year some new children were registered as a part of our program.

Photos of the registered children.

VISITATION OF OUR DONORS

We were extremely very happy to receive our visitors from Circleville, Ohio Rotary Club of United States of America. Our children were really excited to have so much fun with them. The children danced, sang and had played different games activities with them such as yoga, puzzles, parachutes, and bouncing balls. The visitors also taught them about farming in America and helped to plant vegetable gardens with greens and egg plants.The children also received different kinds of gifts from the visitors. Many of the donors were happy to meet up and interact with the children they sponsor. We are greatly thankful for the love that was showed to our children. It brought a smile to their faces. Below are the pictures:

A picture of our donors with the children of Miryante Community Centre

The visitors being taught how to dance Bakiga and Batooro cultural dance

Our donor teaching children how to do yoga excercises

Children singing and performing a cultural dance for the visitors

 

Children being given gifts from our donors.

Children were taught the process of how to plant greens and egg plants

Our donors were also happy to meet and interact with some of the children in our program with disabilities. They colored pictures and played some games with them. Below are the photos of them which potrayed a picture of all children from different backgrounds.

WOMEN OUTREACH PROGRAM

Many women are being reached out in different communities/backgrounds especially those that are sexually abused and the vulnerable ones. Our social workers make routine follow-ups on them with their families and always encourage them to nurture their children as well as engage in entrepreneur skills. The political women leaders also get involved with them and we also organize days where they are trained various skills like craft work, making of baskets, liquid soap making, tailoring, sanitary pads making and form different groups during the trainings. The women were also happy to see the donors during their visits and taught them how to weave baskets. Below are the photos

The visitors being taught how to make baskets

EDUCATION

Our children went back to school with a lot of excitement and were encouraged to concentrate on their studies in order to fulfill their future careers. They had a very long COVID-19 holiday and the ones in secondary were vaccinated before reporting back to school. Some joined new schools and others remained in their previous ones. All were provided with scholastic materials and also those in boarding section were provided with basic necessities like soap, night wears, uniforms, casual clothes, sanitary towels, shoes, socks, snacks etc. School fees/tuition was also fully paid to each child both primary and secondary.  Going back to school extremely created joy to them. Below are the photos:

Our children happily reaching school

 

DONATIONS

We received a donation of a new motorcycle from the Circleville, Ohio Rotary Club in partnership with the Rotary Club of Mubende Metro. We are humbly thankful. It will help us ease our field work services to the children and reach out to a variety of communities. Scholastic materials like books, pens, pencils, and bags, basic necessities like boxes of tissue, soap, shoes, medical equipment and clothes were also provided to us. We are greatly thankful for all forms of support granted to us and the warm visits by our dear donors. Below is the photo of the Motorcycle:

CONSTRUCTION FOR THE NEW SITE

A newly starting home for children is still in the process of being constructed and it’s located in Mubende district of Uganda. A shallow well is being built and soon will be connected with pipes. The pit latrines is undergoing construction and are as well getting finalized. The water tank is already set up.  The proper hygiene of our children and safe water is very important to our program, and this is why this was prioritized. All of these things were donated by Circleville, Ohio Rotary Club in partnership with the Rotary Club of Mubende Metro

Below are the photos:

Above is the water tank that was completed to be constructed

Above is the shallow well that was constructed

Above is the toilet that is still under construction

MONTHLY FOOD SUPPORT

Because of your monthly support, our children have been provided with nutritious food. Our social workers make monthly visits to children within communities and provide to the children’s families with food. This has brought a smile to the children’s faces and are looking healthy. We really appreciate your support towards them.

Below are the photos of one of the families that received food:

Farming and gardening

Some of our children that started up agricultural projects are managing them well. Although we were in a dry season, this has not discouraged them. There were some that harvested. The social workers help in monitoring them and encourage the children to always help their guardians in farm work activities during the weekends when they are free from school.

Newsletter December 2021

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Hello Everyone,

We as Miryante are thankful for how far the Lord has brought us through the year and all the support that has been granted to our children. We are overwhelmed and grateful for the generosity you have shown us through all forms of giving. However much we were affected by COVID-19, we did not lag behind and our children continued receiving great care throughout the year.

We want to share with everyone that there have been some management and policy changes to Miryante Children's Home in January. The new management has decided that they are going to be running the program with funds from different donors. Miryante Community Centre is now going to be supporting only children placed in foster care. Unfortunately, this means that there will be some sponsorship changes. We are very sorry for this, and have reached out to all sponsorships that have been affected. Please know all children are still receiving good care, it's just that some of them will no longer be receiving services through us anymore. Also, please know should there be any future changes to the policy, we are ready to offer services to all the kids we can!

We are highly thankful for all kind of donations that were given to our children. They all received their Christmas gifts and were extremely happy. We really appreciate our donors, friends, and well-wishers that always bring joy to our children’s lives. May the Almighty Lord abundantly bless you.

PROGRAM UPDATES

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

Our children celebrated Christmas day with joy and smiles over their faces and in a best style. They were given Christmas packages which include shoes, dresses, trousers, shirts, under wear etc. Thank you to all the donors who sent a little extra something for their kids. And a huge thank you to BOTH Sill Families and the Bechtold Families for their Christmas donation! This was done to ensure that all get fitting sizes and on Christmas Eve a cow as slaughtered. On the 25th  of December , 2021 , our children really rejoiced for the birth of Jesus Christ where they first went to church dresses in their lovely new attires looking smart and after service later in the afternoon ,they had  a party where they had entertainment and were served a delicious meal accompanied with sodas i.e. rice , meat, matooke , Irish potatoes, fish soup, groundnuts. A huge thank you to the Baker Family for sponsoring this Christmas meal! below are the photos:

HEALTH

The nurse is doing a great role to ensure all children are living a healthy life. She reminds the ones that have to take their medication in time and makes a daily routine check up to all the sick. The hygiene and sanitation are generally good and children are always kept clean.

COUNSELLING AND GUIDANCE

Our children are always counseled about being well disciplined children, being clean always to prevent unhygienic diseases i.e cholera, diarrhea. They are also taught about career guidance for their education studies in order to help them

FOSTER CARE PROGRAM

The children that are helped within the community are really doing well, some started up agricultural projects which are supervised by our social workers. They are also provided with basic necessities such as toothpaste, brushes, sanitary towels, soap, clothes, food etc during the visits made. They were also happy to receive their Christmas as well as their food package and were thankful for them. Perhaps they are now preparing to start schooling since schools are about to open.

Below are the photos:  

Buyende Project

The children in Buyende also celebrated Christmas with a meal and new clothes. We also had a donation of fortified mana pack food to our children in the Buyende program. This is especially important at these kids all have medical conditions which require good nutrition in order for them to maintain their health.

July Newsletter 2021

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

I would like to thank you for the continued support that you render to us throughout this pandemic period which started in March 2020. In June the president re-imposed another lockdown for 42 days due to the rising number of coronavirus cases. Sadly all schools, higher learning institutions, churches and public places were closed and mass gatherings were prohibited.  

On behalf of Miryante am here to thank you all for your continued support despite the pandemic. 

 Home activities

Our children in the home have continued following a programmed timetable and these activities keep them occupied. Activities include: gardening work, compound cleaning, revising books, rearing goats, rabbits, cows and pigs and other so many activities. Below are in photos:

Education.

We are pleased to inform you about the overwhelming performance of our candidates that sat for their Primary leaving exams. They passed their exams and are happy and excited to join secondary school. We have a teacher and two social workers at are helping the children to study while schools are closed which has maintained their educational progress.  

Below is a photo showing some of our children cheering after learning they passed their exams.

Wellbeing and healthcare.

We would like to let you know that all our children are in good health and we haven’t registered any serious medical cases. Some of our staff are vaccinated and we are looking forward to vaccinate all our children if this becomes possible. The nurse is doing a great job of taking the children with chronic medical conditions to their regular hospital visits.

Farming and gardens.

Under the agriculture department, as the drought is still on, the children are doing a great job of mulching and watering the vegetables such as pumpkins, spinach, and carrots. The children help out in the gardens.

Foster program.

We want to take this opportunity to let you know that all our children in foster care in the community are doing well. They are happy with the food relief that they receive monthly and other support given to them.

Buyende Project

Our project in Eastern Uganda is also doing well. We thank the Lord who has kept them alive. The food relief program has really helped to improve their health. This is especially important because their medication has to be takes 3-4 times a day with food. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors for the unwavering support rendered to the organization; this has kept us moving forward.  We as an organization have been recognized because of greater works throughout the Buyende Thank you.

The food relief program has given our children and their families hope to live and the other basic needs since all the families are vulnerable and even more so with the pandemic. The organization came up with a strategy of distributing food in homes with strict guidelines to ensure that our children have long term food security. Photos showing food deliveries to different families are as below;

Children from nearby places were physically called to pick food at office, and below are some of their photos;

A SMILING FACE IS A HAPPY FACE

Most importantly when children feel happy and look good, it helps to create and boost self-confidence, foster good decision making and improve the child’s self-esteem. Children use their appearance as a vehicle for self-expression at younger ages, the organization has greatly helped in enhancing on the children’s looks by decently dressing them and giving them a timely checkup to ensure that they a living happily. Below are photos of how good our children look with lovely smiles.

June Newsletter 2021

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

THANK YOU FOR THE FOOD RELIEF

Hello everyone! On behalf of Miryante Community Centre, I want to express our sincere gratitude for the food relief to Miryante Community Centre, Miryante Children’s Home foster care families, St. Gyaviira Home in Butende, and our vulnerable women.

This food relief has made a positive difference in our community, providing supplemental food to help families through this difficult period.

We started our distributions from our Eastern branch in Buyende. The distribution was done in conjunction with the district task force. Some families had completing run out of food, and some families only remained with cassava.  Our social workers continued with the distributions to homes that are close to our office in the Buyende. In homes where there were many family members, we donated extra food. We then proceeded to donate food to the foster families of Miryante orphans. We donated to a total of 93 foster families through Miryante, 30 foster families for orphans with medical conditions through Buyende program, and 27 vulnerable women living in Kyaka II Refugee Settlement.

Thank you again for all of your donations that made this aid relief possible.      

Below are some of the photos that we took during the food distributions

MORE PROGRAMS UPDATES THAT ARE ON GOING

Currently, we have a number of programs that are running alongside the food relief program. Because of the lockdown, our children at Miryante home are making use of the library. We have a lot of educational books that kept our children busy.

Below are the photos 

Health and Medical Care

All of our children who returned home from boarding school sick have recovered. We are still following COVID-19 prevention measures set by the government. For all our children under foster care, we have trained every house hold to follow these prevention measures and have given at least one reusable mask to each of our children. The nurse has given treatment to children with minor health issues like fever, simple cuts, headaches, deworming and others. With the help of our monthly funds from donors, we are able to meet the medical needs of the home and their health is well monitored. Special thanks to our donors! 

We have also managed to transport our children with HIV on a monthly basis to the hospitals where the get their medicine in Buyende, Kyegegwa, Mubende and Kyejonjo. 

Water

During this dry season, the water in our tanks dried up, but we are so lucky to have a borehole which has been able to supply the whole organization with water.

MONTHLY FOOD SUPPORT FOR MIRYANTE HOME

Because of your monthly sponsorship support, the children have been able to have three nutritious meals a day. This has brought a smile to the little ones faces and they are looking healthy.

Farming and Gardening

Despite the dry season, we have managed to maintain our projects. It has enabled us to sustain the orphanage in terms of vegetables. The farm also helps children to learn agriculture as well as a source of vegetables for the home. Since this year began, we have experienced a dry season which has slightly distorted our usual harvest schedule. However, with mulching and watering the gardens, we have been able to get enough vegetables from our own gardens to make sure the children are eating healthy food.

Below are the photos:

A Photo showing cleared land for crops to be planted next month.

On the farm, we have continued with our daily activities of caring for the rabbits, goats, cows, and pigs. The number of the rabbits has increased and the children have enjoyed eating some rabbit meat.

  Below are the photos:

In case of any questions concerning the food relief program please feel to contact us.

Thanks for saving lives.

Regards, Doreen Tigah, Director Miryante Community Center

May Newsletter 2021

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Hello everyone!

Our children are here with a big smile to say thank you to everyone that has donated to us during this time of great uncertainty. We’ve been comforted and encouraged. We are really humbled by the outpouring love, generosity and support.

To us, you are our heroes and we thank you for helping us meet the challenges during this COVID 19 pandemics in Uganda. When schools are closed once again, drought for two months causing hunger.

We want to take this opportunity to thank the remarkable people, churches, community groups, business people and individuals that have donated to help us meet our challenges of this moment, so we can continue to provide the highest order of care with inclusion, integrity, compassion, accountability, respect and excellence.  

Program updates:

Currently, Uganda has reported an increased numbers of COVID-19 cases and death rates in different districts so we as an organization we have imposed restrictions on our children and staff to avoid COVID-19. We gave all our children masks and taught them how to wash and spray their hands whenever they touch different surfaces.

Education    

School are adjusting with creative ways to keep children in school engaged. Migongwe primary school and other schools are where our children study from have initiated a distance learning program whereby other children who remain at home are provided with printed work at the orphanage

Health

We are happy to let you know that although some of our children got COVID-19 symptoms, they are now in good health. The nurse is doing a great job of taking some children to the hospital that require further care.

Below are photos showing Basemera Monica and her fellow children wearing masks for “the wear it for me campaign”

Home activities.

Our social workers have  set up  programs that run throughout  the month  and our children have continued following  a programmed time table which keep  our  children  busy who are not studying now due to  the COVID19 lockdown. These activities include digging, sports and games, animal rearing, and home schooling. This is done to help us manage our children.

Farm and gardens

Under the agriculture department, although this season is dry and our yields are less than usual, we are happy to let you know that our children are still able to harvest a number of nutritious foods like pumpkins, spinach, plantains, beans, maize, and papayas. We have continuously maintained these gardens by watering and mulching. A number of various vegetables and foods have been planted and some are ready to be harvested. 

Under the farm our animals are doing well and always have a routine checkup from by our veterinary doctor.

 Below are photos:

FOSTER CARE PROGRAMME

Our children under foster care are really doing well with their foster parents. Our social workers have continued assessing, monitoring and doing monthly routine check-ups in  different households i.e. counselling & guidance, and giving them  food and other life necessities. We will be increasing food donations to compensate for the loss of crops from the ongoing drought.

Below are photos receiving food and their basic necessities:

April Newsletter 2021

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE.

I greet you all and thank the almighty God who has kept us all safe through the month of April 2021. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for taking time out of your life to sponsor our children, all of your generosity will not go unappreciated. Thanks everyone for choosing Miryante.

PROGRAM UPDATES;

Well-being and health of the children

All our children are doing well and we haven’t received any serious health cases lately. Our Social workers are doing regular counseling to help children identify any issues through both group and personal counseling.

 School and life Skills

We are happy to let you know that most of our children have resumed school and the last bunch of students will be going back to school next month. We are also making sure that our children learn some new skills. A team of our care givers are  teaching our girls and boys how to make rosaries, bangles, earrings, and necklaces. This program is held every Saturday.

Below are the photos

Donations.

This month of April, we received a number of donations from different companies and individual that wish Miryante well. These include items such as Mana pack rice, soft drinks, exercise books, rulers, pencils and pens. We greatly appreciate all the necessities that were provided to our children and that brought a smile to their faces.

Guardianship proram/ FOSTER CARE

The guardianship program has continued running smoothly and more children have been placed in the community to stay with guardians. Although our staff love these children, we also know that Miryante is not a permanent home for our children to stay. We do appreciate our social workers who have worked tirelessly to find placements for the children. The is done by first assessing to see if there is a suitable guardian/s for the children. Then Miryante works hand in hand with guardians to provide continuous support to the children. Below are the photos of children receiving food and other necessities.

Community  out reach  program.

This program started in March 2021  to target  vulnerable women  and young girls with our community outreach, we reach out to various  vulnerable communties  in Kyegegwa District to empower women and young girls with various aspects. Our team works hand in hand with  Uganda Womens Network to identify such communities and avail them with skills that can enable them to earn a living. This was done after a study that was carried that found that 4,034 girls in Kyegegwa Distrct between the ages of 15-18 years got pregnant during the COVID-19 lockdown. So many young mothers need skills to enable them earn a living.

Below are the photos

St. Gyavira Buyende Home

The childern under our sister project, St. Gyavira Buyende Home, are progressing well. Our two social workers have worked  tirelessly  and made follow-ups on childern especially at the ART (Anti-Retrovial Therapy for HIV) clinics where they get their medications. Their viral loads are checked at the end of the month, as several of the children also have sickle cell disease. We are happy to let you know that none of them have had an attack this month.

The social workers have continued counseling the children and working to reduce HIV stigma within the community. The social workers are also teaching these families to on how to manage the diet of these children to prevent malnutrition. The children are given foods when the visit on the centre on the weekend such as eggs, porridge with milk, greens, rice, beans, maize flour and manna pack.

The social workers have also trainned foster homes to grow vegetables and to have them at each meal. This has improved our children’s health as reported by the doctors and the nurses at the Clinic.

Thanks once again to our dear sponsors!

March Newsletter 2021

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Hello everyone!

Warm greetings from Miryante Community. All is well with us because of your support. We are so very thankful to the donors, who in one way or the other contribute to the upkeep of this project and taking keen interest to read our monthly reports.

God bless you abundantly

PROGRAM UPDATES;

Easter day:

On Good Friday and Saturday before Easter the children and staff watched the movie of the Passion of Christ. Everyone enjoyed seeing and listening to biblical stories in this creative form of learning. On Easter Sunday they had prayers in the morning and the afternoon they had a delicious lunch of plantains, rice, fish, meat, peanuts and soda.  The children really enjoyed their Easter day.

PRESS CONFERENCE: To celebrate Women’s Day, our partnering organization (Uganda Women’s Network -Kyegegwa) held a press conference at Kyegegwa District headquarters to amplify and highlight the emerging  issues affecting women in different sub-counties of Kyegegwa District. The press conference was to discuss a way forward with stakeholders on how to prevent violence against women and girls. The press conference was attended by the UWONET project assistant, the Executive Mrs. Doreen Tigah, the Probation Officer Mr. Augustine Kyakabwa, and other district officers and stakeholders.

Below are the photos

women’s day in kyegegwa district.

 On the 31st of March 2021, Miryante Children’s Home joined Kyegegwa Distict and other partners to advocate for gender equality during the celebrations which took place in Kyegegwa town. The celebration started on the 30th of March 2021 with a women’s bicycle race around Kyegegwa town. The theme  of the event was ‘Building on women’s strength for a better future in a COVID-19 world” and the mission was to encourage women and girls to be active in strong in the community. This involved a number of empowered women like the Deputy Chief Administrative officer, the Sub-county chiefs, and the community development officers. Miryante entered with a team of women from the community. We were also blessed with a number of donations from companies and good Samaritans from the community who donated a number of items such as biscuits, water, soda and food towards the day. 

The main event was on the 31st of March 2021. Our guest of honor was Minister of States and Culture, Mrs.Peace Mutuuzo, who thanked the leadership of women council for all the love, care and efforts put towards women empowerment. Miryante Girls Club also got a chance to present their skits on girls empowerment. We are glad to let you know that Women’s Day was really wonderful for everyone here.

Photos below show the invited guests  and a speech on behalf of Miryante  from  Mrs. Tigah Doreen the Director who went on to express it’s the operations and activities of Miryante Children’s Home in the community.

Photos showing display of our Children’s handwork and craft and Miryante Girls Club performing a dance for the attendees.                                                                                                                                                                        

st. gYavira buyende PROJECT.

We are glad to inform you that our Buyende project in Bugaya Sub County is really promising because of the hardworking team. Our children are happy and healthy   and our social workers have continued to make regular visits in different households to see their progress.  Below are pics of our children receiving food, shoes, knickers, dresses, and soap  during one of the Centre days in the month of March as shown in the pics below.

Photos  showing  childern doing their domestic 

work in  different households

Thank you so much for your support!

February Newsletter 2021

FEBURARY NEWSLETTER 2021

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Greetings from Miryante and St. Gyavira children! All the children are in good health. I want to take this opportunity to thank our dear donors and friends of Miryante for the support rendered to us towards the wellbeing of the children, especially during these times of COVID-19. We appreciate the love and passion you all have for our children. I want to take this opportunity to thank Karla Kensey for donating dresses for our girls and also Patty Griebel for making knit bags for our kids.

Peace wings Japan donated nickers, buckets, pads and soap.

PROGRAM UPDATES;

Education

Currently all our candidates are reporting in their different schools i.e.: primary, secondary and vocational, to prepare and finalize according to their different educational levels at the end of this month. The other children have a time table at the home, some study while others are being coached until schools officially open classes. St. Gyavira children study on center days. Below are photos of some of the senior four students reporting back to school.

Health and medical report: All children in the two homes are in    good health. We didn't receive any alarming case this month, aside from those children who are receiving HIV/AIDS treatment.

Guardianship Program Updates:

Our overall findings indicate that the guardianship program is running smoothly and steadily. Currently we have kids placed in ninety-four households in the communities within different regions. We as an organization have continued to render assistance to the children living in this communities i.e.  Food, healthcare, clothing, education, and psychosocial support. Our social workers have visited the schools and homes where the children reside. We are happy to inform you that our children have maintained their different projects that they were taught.

 Below are the photos;

January Newsletter 2021

Hello everyone!

Greetings to all. The children are all in good health and we are glad to inform you that they all send you regards. Miryante has served children since 2009 and HIV/AIDs is still the leading cause of the great number of children that we receive after the loss of their parents. January has been a wonderful month.  Children who are in the 7th grade (P7) and seniors in high school (S4) started school on the 18th   of January while other children  continued with home schooling. With the help of our nursery teacher, our kids do tests at the end of every week.  Other holiday programs are carried out as usual such as digging in the garden, slashing the compound, playing sport and games, watching programs, grazing cows and goats etc. Below are the photos:

We started the New Year out with a big meal to celebrate. A special thank you to Jon & Kelly Sill, Todd & Coleen Sill, and Gary & Sue Bechtold for donating this special meal!

Healthy:

 We are glad to say that most of our children are in a good health condition and the nurse takes good care of the children that require treatment. We have not yet registered any case of a child in an alarming health status this month. Thanks to all our dear sponsors that donate to us, the medicine is always there in the sickbay for any emergency cases. We are overwhelmed with the love and care you exhibit towards us.

GUARDIANSHIP PROGAMME

Through a basic survey made by our social workers in villages we got to know that the pandemic has put many families under unimaginable strain. The threat of continued hunger is more worrying than COVID-19, so we decided to provide additional support to families in the community under the guardianship programme. Continuous support has been rendered to these households and so far there is  a promising progress.

Our social workers have continued making regular visits to follow up the progress of the new families  and  monthly distribution of  flour, hygiene products, mattresses, bed sheets, blankets, suitcases, soap, shoes, clothes etc. We owe every child we encounter an opportunity to belong to a stable and loving group of people that can take care of them, that’s why we are passionately committed to giving whatever a child needs. Our social workers have also trained more guardians on how to run different animal husbandry and agriculture projects in their homes. We were able to resettle the another group of children back to their homes after making sure that they are in favorable environment and have good guardians responsible for their upbringing. Below are the photos of some of the children:

Photos of the last group being resettled

Photos of Judith Kobusingye under household number 30 in Inkawa Buzoba village. She has a garden of pineapples, cassava and yams.

Photos of Veronica under household 33 in Kibira village. Veronica has banana plantation as her project, and we found her mulching her garden.

Donations

Thanks  to Patel Family  which surprised our childern  with  buscuits.  The childern had their breakfast with biscuits for two days. Thank you for the great  contribution. May bless  God!

 Below are the photos :

 Farm and Gardens

We are preparing our garden to plant vegetables and maize, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes etc. for the next season.   Under the farm, our cattle, rabbits, and goats are doing fine.

Finalists.

Under employment in Kyegegwa District remains a problem, particularly in rural settings,  but as Miryante has a vocational school that  offers  business and entrepreneurial skills, we are giving our kids a chance to earn an income. When they graduate they are given startup tools  and we help them with job placement. Young  people are empowered and educated to make smart decisions regarding  their future . Due to the skills they acquire, it’s also a reward to us. Below are photos of finalists receiving their startup tools with a happy smile:

We sincerely thank our donors for your financial support, prayers, and commitment towards   Miryante. With your great contributions, many children and families have managed to survive and have had a bright future ahead of them.

 MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

December Newsletter 2020

Hello everyone!

Greetings from Miryante Children’s Home. We really love you all and we do appreciate all the love and support in such difficult times of COVID-19. All our children are healthy and happy. Our candidates broke off for their school break on 17th December 2020. We had such a wonderful festival season with a lot of donations from our sponsors during this Christmas season. It started with Christmas Eve when every child got to make a selection of clothes for Christmas day. This donation was made possible by Jon & Kelly Sill, Todd & Coleen Sill, and Gary and Sue Bechtold. Thank you so much for your generosity! Thank you so much to all the individual donors who made special donations for their kids to do extra shopping. This was such a treat for the kids! Please see the photos below:

The children had so much excitement for this special day, the children took photos in their new clothes before they went to church below are the photos:

Photos of children attending service in church on Christmas day:

We had a variety of food for the Christmas meal which was sponsored by the Baker Family- thank you so much! The Christmas meal gave the children a chance to choose what they want. We had rice, plantains, cassava, potatoes, groundnuts sauce, fish, beef, pork, spaghetti and sodas. We were also able to hire a DJ to come for a dance. This was sponsored by the Jenny French Family. Thank you so much! Photos are shown below  :

On the 15th of December 2020, one good Samaritan from the community donated on truck of firewood for Christmas day. Below is the photo:

Guardianship program;

In the year 2018-2019, the guardianship/foster program started off with twenty five households which are really doing well up to date in their communities. This has enabled the program to operate smoothly. As government is has now instituted policies to try to deinstitutionalize the care of orphans and vulnerable children, our social workers visited a number of families that we later added on the program. We have now expanded the program to more than 50 children. We have worked to place them in homes  where the conditions are favorable.  Our Board of Directors held a meeting where they called all relatives of children that are staying at the home to see if there was any way we can place them in homes.

Every child that has been placed in a foster home has been given a mattress, bedding, sanitary napkins, soap, clothes, toothpaste, shoes, sandals, towels, and suitcases. Miryante is also paying for school fees, scholastic materials, school uniforms, and providing the foster family with beans, rice, and maize meal. These things are given out by our social workers who will be going to carry out regular visits to different households to check on their hygiene, and the children’s progress in the home and school. Below are the photos:

Thanks very much to everyone that has contributed towards this initiative, you have made us shine!