Current Update

Current PFP news

January 2022

Happy New Year– and Welcome to 2022!!

From our crew to yours…. Happy New Year!! We hope 2022 is an amazing year for everyone in the PFP family. We’re excited to see what the year ahead brings.

Hope Home boys

11th Annual Anywhere in the World Raffle

It’s RAFFLE TICKET SEASON!  PFP Directors and Members are now selling raffle tickets for $20 each with a chance to win two round trip tickets to ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, ON ANY AIRLINE. There are only 2,000 total tickets sold and tickets can be booked for up to TWO YEARS from date of drawing! The drawing will be held March 30th, 2022 via Live Facebook drawing (you do not need to be present to win). This is one of two major fundraisers that we rely on in order to keep our programs running smoothly. Thanks to our generous sponsor, BrightTrip, there is zero cost to PFP, and we are able to raise $40,000 in order to keep our programs running. We hope you will take part!

Nuru, showing off her tickets!

Sponsor Needed

We are looking for a sponsor match for little Leah. She joined our family this month as an emergency rescue. She has an absolutely heartbreaking story, but her eyes and her soul are filled with a fierce determination and we are ready to walk alongside her to change her story. She is ready to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and start school so she can get going with moving forward. We are confident that we will find the perfect match for this sweet girl. 

Leah

Leah– Needs one sponsor at $125/month or two sponsors at $65/month

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

Christmas Packages

A massive thank you to all the sponsors who participated in our Christmas backpack program. The children were over the moon!! A fun day was had by all.

Love Home girls and Hope Home boys so excited to receive their gifts!

Christmas Outreach

Thanks to donors in our Christmas Giving Campaign we were able to provide meals for a great many families in our community. Ajuna, one of our elder students took the initiative to cook a meal for all of the children in Masese slums area who do not have a family to eat dinner with on Christmas. He and his mother spent the entire day cooking for the children, and there was quite the turnout! After the meal was provided, Ajuna, along with a few of his friends distributed food and pocket money to the needy people in their community. We love watching our students get involved in giving back!

Ajuna’s project– even in the rain, the job was done!

Ajuna, ensuring all people in Masese had a Christmas meal

Immunizations

PFP strives to keep all children across all of our programs fully up to date on vaccines. With nearly 200 children in our programs, this is no easy feat! Thanks to donors in our Christmas fundraiser we have been able to get going on this years vaccines! In December, HPV and MMR vaccines were completed. January will see us getting everyone up to date on both typhoid and tetanus vaccines!

Vaccinations at Hope Home

Geoffrey with the vaccine nurse

New Sports Gear for All

Thanks to donors in our Christmas giving campaign, we have been able to purchase sports gear and balls for all kids across all of our programs. The kids are all so excited that now they are outfitted to play as a team against other community members and other formed teams!

Resettled children showing off their new sports gear

Love Home girls showing off their new gear

Home Home boys showing off their new sports gear

Schools Are (FINALLY) Opening!!!

Drumroll please… after a nearly two year school closure (one of the longest in the world), Uganda’s President Museveni has given the green light for schools to resume on January 10th! As the days leading up to the start of school in Uganda slip by our students are hard at it studying and getting ready. Schools have been closed down since March 2020!! Thankfully because of all our awesome supporters we’ve been able to equip our students with the means to do virtual work and to have tutors, but sadly that is not the case for most children in the country. An estimated 30 per cent will not return! That’s heart breaking. Our children are so ready to go back.

Sanyu Tracy and Marvin, preparing for school to start

Congratulations Charlie– Our Second University Graduate!

Congratulations to our A Hand Up students, Charles!!! As University students were allowed back to Schoo Lin August, Charlie buckled down and finished his degree program! He has graduated from his post-secondary program at Artfield Institute of Design.  Exciting times! Peace For Paul loves being part of your journey and appreciates the time you spend with all the children in our program.

Charlie, celebrating his graduation with neighbor children

Spending Time in Karamoja

Before heading back to school, many of our students made the long trek to Northern Uganda to spend time with family in Karamoja. Paul played in a New Years Day soccer tournament and took home the trophy for his team! Luke found his (recently deceased) mother’s sister deep in a village and to his surprise, found his long lost little sister! We love when our children are able to make these connections with their family and we will always do our best to nurture these relationships. 

Luke with his auntie and sister

Paul, celebrating the big win with his team

Resettled Family Support

PFP strives to maintain family ties and resettle children with their family in the community whenever it is possible to do so safely. Our Social Work team makes weekly checks to identify struggles and family needs. This month, Patience, Promise and Tracy’s mother was gifted with new solar panels so that the family may have light in their home. Thanks so much to our sponsors for making this holistic care available to our children and families!

Patience, Promise and Tracy’swith their mother and new solar panels, which will provide light for the family

A visit from PFP’s Executive Director

The Founder and Executive Director made the long journey from America to Uganda so that she could check in on the family before everyone finally goes back to school. Heidi had the opportunity to visit resettled students in their homes and to spend time with families. Every child, young and old- both boys and girls had a special fun day out and meetings were held with staff and the Student Advisory Team to identify ways to streamline operations. Fun was had by all!

A trip to Ssesse island with AHU students and boys from Hope Home

A home visit in Masese slum with “Mama Ajuna”

The girls from Peace Home out on a swimming outing!

A Wedding!

Olivia and Moses on their wedding day

Our dear dear friends (and PFP staff) Olivia and Moses got married on December 11th!! Many of the PFP students made an appearance either as bridesmaids, groomsmen or as flower girls! What joy!! 

Facebook Birthday Fundraisers

Love Home girls wishing a friend happy birthday

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! 

Birthday Celebrations

Happy, happy birthday to December birthday celebrants! We always do our best to make sure every child in our PFP main program 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. Many sponsors get involved by sending gifts to their child as well. All children deserve to feel special on their day and we always do our best to make it so! 

In December many of our birthday kids sponsor families stepped up to provide an extra special birthday celebration for their children. We love seeing the love between the PFP children and their sponsors– from across the entire world! 

Samson, celebrating his birthday with friends

Happy Birthday to Our January Birthday Girls and Boys- we wish you all THE BEST as we celebrate  YOU this month!

If you are the sponsor of a birthday child this month, you are welcome to send us an email and we can work together to make their day even more special!

January Birthday kids

January birthday kids

PFP Video Stars are Thriving

While in Uganda, Heidi (PFP’s Founder and Executive Director) was able to take the five video stars on a special outing to watch their video. The boys sat down together and watched themselves on video for the first time. It was such an incredible experience for all. In Heidi’s words: “To watch their journey has been such an honor and such a humbling experience for me. Look at how healthy they are and how much they shine now. Walking the streets of Jinja today, we could hardly believe that just seven months ago, they were living there on those same streets full time. I just love that I have the opportunity to be a part of something as big and as beautiful as this”. 

Please click this LINK to view the PFP (7 minute) video!

Hamza, Kemi, Yasin, Matthew and Ashiraf

Using Art as Therapy

PFP employs many methods to help our children grow and thrive. Some find that counseling works well for them (and yes, we do employ a full time mental health therapist), others use sports as an outlet and still others find that art helps them to heal, grow and thrive. One case in point that warms our hearts is Joseph. Joseph joined our program in 2009 and has faced many personal challenges. Finally this year we learned that art brings him joy and he is really excited about it. Working hand in hand with our A Hand Up student Levy, Joseph has found happiness, and in some ways seems to have found himself. We are providing him with all the supplies he needs to focus on building his skills.

Joseph with two of his masterpieces this month

Joseph just finished this piece and has this to say: “My motivation for this piece is that this a wild fruit, which grows slowly and peacefully. It always grows lonely. I chose to draw this because it brings me peace of mind, even as I draw it”. 

January’s piece

 

Faima, Müzeyi and Maryanne

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 may 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 89 students who are benefiting from this partnership. 

Rocsana and her siblings

PFP Juniors Supplemental Programs

In an effort to address the needs of the whole child and his or her family, our PFP Juniors coordinator has ramped up the supplemental programs being offered. Each month, there is a regular schedule for career guidance, hygiene and sex education, skills lessons (knitting, painting, tailoring and dance lessons), mental health therapy, family planning and birth control for parents, community outreach programs (food distribution and family empowerment), fun day, and tutoring. The Juniors children are LOVING it and getting involved with more and more programs by the week!

PFP Juniors child–Enoch and his mom

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

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.

Chipa with community children

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

“Mama Ajuna” with her children

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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