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An incredible response to our
Emergency Appeal 


To all our amazing Uzima supporters
Thank you for your kindness and generosity


As you will remember we shared some distressing news about the need to open up the school again for the care and safety of the 340 pupils at Uzima. The school had been shut since March and now we needed a huge amount of money to make it Covid secure. We had already sent our Reserve Fund, which is kept for emergencies, to start the process and at the same time sent out the appeal - hoping that the funds would come in to bring all the children back, but not really knowing.

From day one of the email reaching you all, the response has been incredible. So many people wanting to help and so many messages of support, with just on 100 people donating to the cause, donations coming in from across the world!  We are humbled and deeply touched by such kindness and within 3 days were able to send more money and finally we sent the last amount needed by the end of October.

There have been some unexpected extra problems of course, such as that some bats have moved into the roof spaces above the classrooms and have bitten some of the children who then needed urgent hospital treatment to make sure they didn't develop rabies. The solution is to put up ceiling boards across the whole school and fumigate them out which we can now also afford to do. The children are all ok. The floors need some repairs before they can be painted (a Covid regulation) and this can also hopefully go ahead. As children are staggered in their return to school we will continue to deliver extra food for the children at home until January. The pregnant girls are being cared for and monitored by the social worker at Uzima and are all doing well.

One of the most rewarding things however, was talking to the Director Evans this month for our update. What a difference to last month when he was describing the suffering in harrowing detail. Hope has changed everything and his smile told us enough, he is very busy setting the school up for the rest of the pupils to return. So far 3 classes are back with about 100 children attending and half the staff back on duty. We were relieved to hear that, although some schools have had Covid cases, so far none of the pupils or teachers at Uzima have contracted the disease as far as they know.

So after a year of very little fundraising in the UK, we are happy that we can still afford to help the children of Uzima and have already used a great deal of our recent income to do this and all thanks to our amazing supporters' kindness.

We are delighted to tell you that our Emergency Appeal (including Gift Aid) raised just on £30,000!  Thank you thirty thousand times from the children of Uzima....we have been blessed so much, 'a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.'

The prayers of an orphan are powerful indeed!

Mungu Akubariki,
Joy, Rachel, Louise & Viv 

Trustees.

















 
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More Good News!

A word from our very first Patron for Uzima - 


Clare Griffin MBE
















 
 
We have a new member of the Uzima team! Clare Griffin MBE, manager of the charity that runs West Wight Sports & Community Centre in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, has become our first Patron. Her role is to support the work of the Trustees and help the charity develop its work and fund raising initiatives.

Clare said, “I am honoured to have been asked to become Uzima in Our Hands first patron. I’ve supported Uzima for several years and have made two visits there. Having seen the work that the charity does on the ground in Kenya I know just how important Uzima is to the lives of the children it supports.

As the manager of a charity on the Isle of Wight, I know only too well what challenges there are - complying with regulations, employing staff, working with volunteers, raising and managing finances, managing news and media - to name but a few! I am in awe of Joy, Louise, Rachel and Viv who do this as volunteers in their spare time. On top of that they have the added complication of being thousands of miles away from the work of the charity!

In the time I’ve been involved, I’ve seen real progress. In 2017 on my first visit, there was no kitchen other than a tin shack with a wood fuelled open fire in it where the cook produced two meals a day for the 300 children. It was so full of smoke I couldn’t even stand in the doorway, but this amazing woman spent every day in there cooking for all the children. Her health was, not too unsurprisingly, very poor as a result. In 2019 on my second visit, a purpose built kitchen had been built and working conditions had significantly improved for her.

On my first visit, we treated numerous childen for jiggers – a parasite that burrows into bare feet and causes long term pain and deformities in children’s feet. Through regular checks by volunteers on each visit, and the purchase of shoes twice a year this has now all but been eradicated amongst the children.

My passion is sport and on my second visit we took football kits, kindly donated by Vectis Youth on the Island. It was one of the most inspiring and moving moments when I saw the children transformed when changing from their raggedy clothes, and replacing them with the new football kit. They suddenly looked like any other child anywhere in the world. If I ever needed proof that sport was a great leveller – this was it!

These are just some examples of the fantastic work Uzima does. I really hope I can help the Trustees build on that work and continue to improve the lives of Uzima's children. 

                   
SITUATIONS VACANT

Can you help with the Uzima website,
or know someone who can?


Some jobs require additional skills, and we could really do with someone on the team who has knowledge of website content design, and / or social media expertise and experience. They could be located anywhere, and we can provide training on our existing website. If you could help or know someone who can - please ask them to contact Louise at:
louise@uzimainourhands.org
 
CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

Did you know, you can raise money for Uzima just by signing up to the Giving Machine or Amazon Smile? And it's really that easy.

St Augustine of Canterbury: The Giving Machine - raise funds while you shop!

You can register for the Giving Machine here


And you can generate donations for Uzima just by shopping on Amazon using SMILE (let's face it, 0.5% of our combined spend this Christmas would be well worth it!).


Back us when shopping with Amazon Smile | Swardeston Cricket Club


You can register and choose Uzima here

Thank you!
 
 
UZIMA 2021 CALENDARS!




All your Christmas gifts sorted in this one purchase. Containing some beautiful pics of the children you are supporting at Uzima, they would make someone smile not only this Christmas, but every month thereafter!

£10 each including p&p or 3 for £25-
(every penny after cost price goes to Uzima).

Plus more Christmas gift ideas on our website: 
www.uzimainourhands.org/shop


Happy Shopping!
Buy Here
 
BORING ADMIN BIT!


(but it makes your donations worth so much more)


If your details have changed, please let us know by completing a new GiftAid form here. It's important because personal details all need to be up to date and correct for Gift Aid claims to be valid. 

Thank you!
 
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Address:

12, Sunset Close
Freshwater
Isle of Wight
PO40 9JR​


Tel: 07989211482

Website: www.uzimainourhands.org

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Uzima In Our Hands · 12 Sunset Close · Freshwater, Isle of Wight PO40 9JR · United Kingdom

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