We are a small group of UK volunteers who have been involved with Uganda since 2007, when Kate Oakley, a retired teacher first visited. She found unimaginable poverty, hunger, disease, poor housing and sanitation and lack of educational opportunities. This motivated her to help. She is now the UK Director of our registered charity Planting for Hope Uganda and visits regularly. We raise money to help develop sustainable projects which improve conditions for the rural poor. Kititi, in South Eastern Uganda, is a small bush village near to Lake Victoria inhabited mainly by women, children and the elderly. It is a desperately poor region lacking most of the facilities that we take for granted. There is very little opportunity for paid work and families go hungry and uneducated. They receive no medical care.
The overriding aim of Planting for Hope Uganda is to empower the community of Kititi by giving them hope through a self-supporting and sustainable future. The women have formed a cooperative. They make and sell paper beads and other crafts to provide food and education for their families. We are supporting them in this endeavour by raising awareness and funds for the following initiatives: improved diet and clean water, education and job opportunities, health care, housing and sanitation, sustainable farming projects, electricity, and supporting the elderly. There are very few overheads, so virtually every penny raised goes directly to the community of Kititi.
