Current Update

Current PFP news

August 2021

PFP’s Official Video

We are thrilled to announce that the official PFP video, filmed while Heidi was in Uganda in May has been released and is now ready to view! We are excited for you to see it and we hope you love it as much as we do!

Click the photo to view our video

A message from Heidi: “The process of filming felt surreal to me as I saw how over the past 13 years, our story has come full circle. The original PFP boys were 7-8 years old when we brought them into the program and now they are 21-22 year old men with a great future ahead of them. In order to help the viewers understand the reality of life on the streets in Uganda, we located a group of 8 year old boys who were currently living on the street and asked if they would like to play a role in our video. Of course, their answer was yes.. and by the end of filming, all six of them had been welcomed into our family as well. The elder PFP boys took the lead and are now the younger boys’ friends and mentors. A story that I could not have written more beautifully if I had tried”.
Yuri Yabi and Roos Dejong, a videographer/storyteller power couple from The Netherlands have combined their talents to produce a video for PFP that will tell the story of the first PFP children (who are now grown men) and will explain how many children, specifically children from the Karamojong tribe, end up on the streets and what PFP has done to help. It is a story of hope and reunification with family whenever possible. We have waited 13 years for a video which will so beautifully tell our story and thanks to the combined volunteer efforts of Yuri and Roos, it is finally a reality. Please click the link on the photo above to view the video– and please feel free to share with as many people as you’d like! 

Welcome to the Family

July was a big month– we welcomed sponsors for 11 children into our family, and now every single child across all of PFP’s programs is fully sponsored. It takes a village, and we sure love ours!  Thank you so much to our very generous supporters for stepping up in such a big way!

Congratulations Lillian and Rose!

Lillian and Rose have been with PFP for a very long time.. Rose since 2009 and Lillian since 2013. This month, both young women have graduated from their certificate course in hairdressing and design. They are both now ready to enter the workforce and we could not be more excited to see them succeed and make a beautiful life for themselves. PFP will provide the girls each six additional months of support to help with the purchase of initial business supplies and chair rental at a salon. In the case of Rose, we will help her to construct her own shop where she can build her business. At the end of the six months, they should both have a solid customer base and be ready to fully be on their own.

Rose-2009 through 2021

Rose, working on her first customer

Lillian- 2013 through 2021

Lillian, working on her first customer

A HUGE THANK YOU to Team Lillian and Rose this month! We are so grateful for the love and dedication from the sponsors for both girls.

Mental Health Matters

Our newest team member Hildah is hard at work. Our dedicated mental health therapist is employed with PFP full time and spends upwards of 40 hours per week, working with the most vulnerable of the PFP children. This month, her focus was on healing and finding a healthy path forward for the newest PFP children. Ashiraf, Yasin, Hamza, Kemi, Matthew, Julius and Flavia received lots of attention and made much progress this month. There is a long road ahead for them but they are all in good hands. We are so grateful for the competent and caring woman that is Hildah!

Hildah, just after a session with the newest boys, Ashiraf, Hamza, Kemi and Yasin

Hildah, having fun and building trust with the new boys

Countrywide Lockdown 

Amidst a 2nd wave of Covid, which is hitting the country harder than the first wave did, the entire country of Uganda continues in a state of lockdown. In an effort to prevent this surge from overwhelming Uganda’s healthcare system, President Museveni has extended the lockdown (originally intended to be just 42 days) indefinitely. Some restrictions have been loosened to allow for inter-district travel, and businesses opening with strict regulations in place. However, churches, schools, indoor sports facilities and other high risk activities and locations remain closed. The president is encouraging families to continue working with online zoom lessons as the only study option. Sadly, many Ugandans do not have access to the electronic devices or enough money to pay for internet to make this a reality. 

The President’s very stringent lockdown measures, while working to curb the spread of covid, have hit the country hard. Many families are finding it difficult to feed their children or provide basic necessities as most are out of work and the price of food has skyrocketed.  All children remain home and unable to attend school. Many schools are offering online learning options to keep the children engaged and to foster hope that things will again normalize. PFP has secured cameras for our desktop computers so the children may attend classes on Zoom. When notes are available from the schools, we purchase those to utilize as well.  Sponsor dollars are being stretched to accommodate the skyrocketing cost of tutoring, zoom lessons, and electronic infrastructure needed to effectively learn. Additionally, we are supplying food and medical care costs for our children, staff and families in the community.

Please click the links below to read the latest news articles on this topic. 

UNICEF ARTICLE- PRIORITIZE EDUCATION

REUTERS ARTICLE-CURRENT LOCKDOWN STATUS

Julie and Christine with their weekly food package

Juma, Alex, moses, Noah and Ochola receiving their weekly food package in Masese

Staying Busy at Home

We continue to do our best to keep spirits and hopes high within the homes. While the children are not currently able to attend school or go on outings, we try to make home a fun place to be. With these kids, it isn’t that hard to do!

Hope Home boys making a play day out of their jackfruit haul!

Love Home Littles showing off their Lego creations!

Mungu and John Bosco practicing their bicycle riding skills at Hope Home

The newest PFP boys making new friends over cards

Love Home girls telling stories and enjoying each others company 🙂

At Home Tutoring

In addition to hired in home teachers, online Zoom lessons, and holiday lesson packages, PFP is lucky enough to have tutors from within our own student pool. One of our highest achieving students, Tikol is keeping himself busy full time (40+ hours per week) by tutoring the Senior level students in math, chemistry and physics. Way to go Tikol!

Teacher Tikol

Senior 2 lessons

Welcome to the Team

We are excited to welcome a new Member to the PFP team this month. Stephanie Heinrich currently works in Washington DC at the U.S. House of Representatives as a Director of Operations. She has a great love and appreciation for Africa and her passion is for helping children from around the world through education, service and love. We look forward to working with Stephanie and seeing how her skills in operations, finance and marketing may help to grow PFP!  ** Members are individuals who join the PFP family as committed volunteers and advocates of the organization.

Birthday Celebrations

Happy, happy birthday to August birthday celebrants! We always do our best to make sure every child in PFP gets a chance to feel special on their birthday.  Each child receives a gift and has a small celebration followed by a BIG birthday celebration all together at the swimming pool during school holidays. The group birthday celebration has been placed on hold due to COVID-19 restrictions, but we will always take the time to celebrate each person individually. Many sponsors get involved by sending gifts to their child as well. These children deserve to feel special on their day and we always do our best to make it so! 

Kafero, celebrating his July birthday

Happy Birthday to Our August Birthday Girls and Boys!

Birthday Fundraisers

Many of our supporters have “donated” their birthdays to PFP by hosting a birthday fundraiser through Facebook. It is so easy to do and Facebook fundraisers take ZERO administrative fees! We hope you will consider including PFP for your next birthday! 

Gifts from Sponsors

Have you ever wondered if you can send gifts or a letter for your child on a special occasion (or for no reason at all)? You can! Just reach out to us at hope@peaceforpaulfoundation.org and let us know what you would like to do for your child. We will make all of the arrangements! This month, Palma’s sponsor wanted to make sure that she and her mother had an extra special meal. Look at that smile!

Palma with her haul!

A special letter from Palma’s very special friend 🙂

The PFP Junior Program

The Juniors Program works with families in our community so parents may be able to send their children to school. These children live full time with their families but for them, poverty has prevented the children from attending school regularly. This program is a partnership between parents and PFP to supplement on what they are able to contribute so parents my take pride in being able to send their children to school through their own hard work. 

The ages of children in this program range from four years to eighteen years of age and we currently have 75 students who are benefiting from this partnership. 

Priscilla and Jaja at home

Family Sponsorship Opportunities

We are always looking for general sponsors to help our family thrive.  Essentially, as a general family sponsor, you are the sponsor of ALL of the children. We have opportunities for Medical Family Sponsor, Dental Family Sponsor as well as Mental Health Family Sponsor. A Family Sponsor commitment can be $25/$50/$100 per month.

Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this opportunity: hope@peaceforpaulfoundation.org

Director (on the Board) Needed

We are looking to add a new Director or two to our board and what better place to look than from within our team of awesome supporters. We are always looking for ways to improve and would love to find someone with a background in Microfinance, child development or child psychology. If you would like to support the work of PFP in a more meaningful way, we’d love to chat. Please reach out via the email below and we can go from there to determine if it might be a good fit. At the very least…. we’ll have a great conversation and a chance to connect.

Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this opportunity: hope@peaceforpaulfoundation.org

GuideStar Platinum Level Participant

The Peace for Paul Foundation has earned the Platinum GuideStar Nonprofit Profile participation level (the highest possible)! This leading symbol of nonprofit transparency and accountability is presented by GuideStar, the world’s largest source of nonprofit information.

In order to be awarded the Platinum Seal of Transparency, The Peace for Paul Foundation included contact information, financial information, our goals, strategies, capabilities, indicators, and progress, helping us more effectively share our story with the world.

Check out our GuideStar Nonprofit Profile and tell us what you think:The Peace for Paul Foundation GuideStar Profile

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