On 1st June 2018, trustees and volunteers for Ruddington based charity The Mustard Seed Project (Uganda) waved goodbye to a 40 foot container which was crammed full of items that were sourced and donated to send to Uganda.
Trustee, Ruth Keen writes:
The filling of the container was the result of many, many months’ worth of researching, collecting, sorting, packing and labelling of a great assortment of items, which will change and improve so many lives in the African country.
There were so many donations from our wonderful community, including sewing machines, hospital beds, crutches, school tables and chairs, bicycles, scooters, garden tools, clothes, shoes, toys, books, games, musical instruments, pushchairs, mattresses and material, to name just some of the things.
The container was opened in Kumi and there began quite a task to have the contents released to the intended destinations. Calls were made by the charity’s chairperson, Sally Squires in Uganda to the British High Commission in Uganda, MPs and lawyers. Paperwork was completed, submitted and resubmitted and several 13-hour round trips across Uganda were made by the charity’s on ground contact Reverend Charles Okunta Oode to secure the release of the container contents. After six weeks of hard work and perseverance, the contents were verified, repacked and sent on their way by lorry to Tisai Island!
Pictures have been received showing items being loaded and transported over to Tisai by canoes – amazing sights seeing the donations piled high in the canoes. Mustard Seed supporters have marvelled at photographs and videos sent over by Reverend Charles showing the local children carrying their new school desks and chairs to the Tisai school and taking the hospital beds to the surgery as well as trying to spot their preloved items, which will make such a difference to the lives of families on the island.
Another group who will significantly benefit from some of the container contents is a remarkable group of women who four of the Mustard Seed’s trustees met during their trip to Uganda in April this year. The group of women had formed a cooperative called MIDA. They live in a compound of mud huts. As is common in rural Uganda their husbands had abandoned them for alcohol and other women, even selling their 12 and 13-year-old daughters as brides to feed their habit.
Many of these women have HIV but their cooperative has given them new hope. They farm together and have learnt new agricultural techniques and breed goats. They can now afford to send their children to school. Some men have returned and asked to join MIDA. One woman told our trustees that she wouldn’t have had the courage to have spoken to us a year ago but the project has given her confidence. Since the trip in April, a number of sheep have been donated from personal donations through the Mustard Seed to the woman of MIDA.
The container items headed to MIDA are a number of sewing machines, which the women will use to make clothes for themselves and, more importantly, to set up a tailoring business making school uniforms to sell so that they can raise the funds to finish building a school for their children that they have started.
The Mustard Seed Project’s next fundraiser is a Retro Disco {poster below} being held on Saturday 8th December 7.30pm-12.00am in St Peter’s Rooms. Tickets are available from Perkins, High Street, Ruddington or by contacting the Mustard Seed Project directly on the email address below.
Should you like to find out more about the work of The Mustard Seed Project, or indeed to become involved or support us in any way, please check out our Facebook page The Mustard Seed Project – Uganda or email us info@mustardseeduganda.com.
