May being my birth month I had only 4 major activities planned, feeding the vulnerable people in Kimombasa Bwaise (Love in Action), advocacy work on teenage mothers going back to school and running the menstrual Hygiene campaign online while training women and girls how to make reusable sanitary pads. The 3rd one was about the media campaign to create awareness and call worship leaders and musicians for the praise and worship leaders retreat / Camp. That’s how I intended to celebrate my birthday- giving back to community as away of thanking God for the year He has added unto me but I got so much more and here are the highlights.
AGIFT FOR EVERYDAY BY RYTAH
I arrived home from work at 5pm on 30th April 2022 and as I was about to sit down, a friend of mine who is like a sister to me called and said are you home and I was like I have just arrived, she said good, I am coming over. She arrived in 20 minutes time with two big bags full of well wrapped gifts and when I opened the door since she is a sweetheart who was going on a trip the next day, my mind told me that she is helping the organizers to bring gifts for the participants. As she was entering the house she said, “these are your gifts” guys, I cried and I was so surprised and overwhelmed with love. Honestly no one has ever given me so much gifts at once and she added that I was to open one for each day and until 15th and she labeled them properly. I had an amazing 15 days of gift opening and my patience was tested as I had to wait for the next day to open the next gift. The excitement and the anticipation of what I would find inside each gift grew each day and it was worth it since every gift was relevant and needed. Thank you Rytah for making MAY memorable. Guys you can also do the same for your loved ones.
FEEDING THE VULNERABLE PEOPLE IN BWAISE
This was resolved in the month of April that my birthday will be celebrated in Bwaise and 100 people that included the elderly, the sex workers, the widows, people with disabilities and single mothers will be given sugar, soap, beans, maize flour, rice, salt, cooking oil, clothes, shoes, sodas and biscuits and then will cut my birthday cake with them.
This was all planned with no money at all , I was waiting for my end of month salary and contributions from friends and well wishers. The budget was UGX: 5 million and I only had UGX:700,000 but God provided and we were able to feed over 150 vulnerable people in the community. I can not mention everyone by name that gave but thank you for making this dream a reality, only God can reward you.
The friends gave a lot of clothes, time and some gave money which helped me to fulfil my birthday wish. Working with the local council in Kimombasa helped to get the targeted beneficiaries and the numbers were overwhelming. I was able to raise the needed cash and even with the escalating prices of food, we managed to reach our target and even feed 50 extra people.
MENSTRUAL HYGIENE CAMPAIGN
Menstrual Health is still a big problem in vulnerable communities like the slums and schools and with the Help of SYRADO (www.syradouganda.org) I started a campaign on social media about menstrual health and this highlighted the challenges girls and women face at school an in communities, the stigma that is associated with menstruation and how we can help make the menstruation days better if you go to SYRADO’s social media pages these posts are there (@syradouganda on all social media and www.syradouganda.org ). We went further and trained over 20 women and girls about menstrual hygiene and how to make re-usable sanitary pads who also were charged to teach others in their communities after learning. This took place in Kamwokya slum. On 28th May, we celebrated Menstrual Hygiene day under the theme: Making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030
Today, millions of women and girls around the world are stigmatized, excluded and discriminated against simply because they menstruate. It’s not acceptable that because of a natural bodily function women and girls continue to be prevented from getting an education, earning an income and fully and equally participating in everyday life. Break the taboos and end the stigma surrounding menstruation. Raise awareness about the challenges regarding access to menstrual products, education about menstruation and period-friendly sanitation facilities is important because all of this contributes to our overarching goal: to build a world where no one is held back because they menstruate.
15 PEOPLE GOT SAVED IN MAY
Being a christian means that I follow and observe Jesus’s teaching which includes the great commission in Mathew 28: 19-20, “therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. “
When I was going to Bwaise I got in touch with Evangelist Drake who gave me Genesis and Pr. Ssozi, these people helped me differently in order to reach my goal. Pasor Ssozi provided us with space since he owns a church in Bwaise,Kimombasa zone where the outreach was held and Ms Genesis was the preacher of the day and at the end of it all 15 gave their life to christ which to me was a great harvest for the Kingdom of heaven. I bless the Lord for the connections and Grace to serve.
VISITING THE TEENAGE MOTHERS YOUTH CENTRE
I got an opportunity to volunteer with Render OutReach an amazing organization that carry out different community outreaches under a humble and enthusiastic leadership of the young man called Stevens Tukamushaba who happens to be my good friend. The youth centre is found in Entebbe, Wakiso district and at the time of visiting it, it had 49 teenage mothers and those who were pregnant. Together with a team of volunteers from Render, we cooked for them the food we had brought, we cleaned and arranged the compound, we prayed with them and for them, we played different indoor and outdoor games with them.
Steven mobilized so many clothes, food and other items that he gave them. children from 14 years to 18 years were pregnant and others had given birth. There is nothing we could do but love on them and encourage them. We went there not to judge them but to understand their situation and empathize with them. We trained them on the importance of positive affirmations for themselves and their babies and talked to them about a different future and them being advocators against teenage pregnancies. It was a beautiful day and I thank “RO” for giving me an opportunity to serve with them.
TEENAGE MOTHERS HAVE A RIGHT TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL
Due to Covid-19 many teenage girls got pregnant during the lockdown and research shows that most them were impregnated by the people that were supposed to protect them like parents, relatives and friends. Most of them were sexually abused and now, that school has opened these teenage mothers should be rehabilitated, supported and those who want to go back to school should be given the necessary support to do so. Sylvia my mentor is running a campaign “MY PEN, MY EDUCATION, MY RIGHT” under SARI and we had a stake holder engagement in Wakiso District with all the responsible government officials and CSOs , we also had a tv program on BTM tv and a Webner on zoom discussing the possibilities, the challenges and hearing from the teenage mothers themselves.
I will conclude by saying that it is everyone one’s duty to protect teenage girls from teenage pregnancy and sex abuse. Stop putting on the judgement garments whenever you see a teenage mother, support them and don’t discriminate them. Parents protect your girl child and make them your friend so that they can be able to tell you anything.
PRAISE AND WORSHIP LEADERS RETREAT / CAMP
Communication and journaling is a calling that God put in my life and I always have to find time and ways to use it benefit His Kingdom. I thank God for Dr Victoria who is also my mentor in Spiritual matters for the opportunity to serve as a communications person in True Worshippers Generation which are organizing this retreat. I am talking in present tense because the retreat is is happening in June from 3rd to 5th 2022 under the theme Aligning yourself for God’s encounter as a True Worshiper. You too can attend if you are reading this before the above mentioned dates and you only need to sign up here and for more information go https://trueworshippersgeneration.org/retreat/
That has been a birth month like no other, it exceeded my expectations and in summary the above is enough because each of these activities are topics of their own and if I had to write all it would be a long blog, Become your brother’s keeper this June and have a blessed month.
