November 29, 2017
Here is a post from our guest blogger, Eva Quaranta who has been sponsoring three children through our program since 2010.
For the past seven years, I have had the unique opportunity to sponsor children from the Acholi Quarter so they can attend school. This opportunity was made possible through Project Have Hope.
Along with sponsoring children for school came the chance to get to know them and their families. I love the photographs and drawings I receive from the children, but I especially love the letters! From those letters I learn not only about their school, but about their families, recreational activities and, most of all, how much it means to these children to be able to attend school. They find themselves in a safe environment, away from working in the stone quarry.
They love their schools, but they really love the activities in which they are engaged. They are playing team sports and learning to work with other children. They are learning that reading is fun!
Their grades in some cases are only fair, but that is only part of their school adventure. In most cases, these children are the first in their families to attend school. Their parents, who understand the importance of education, have little or none themselves. They encourage their children academically but realistically can give them little, if any help, with their studies.
They might not all be academic scholars, but I believe that these children will have a better life because they have had the opportunity to go to school and learned at the very least the fundamentals of reading, writing and math.
I am grateful to PHH that I have had this opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these children.
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September 09, 2024
August 21, 2024
"I think big!" gushes Eric. "I want to be the best designer ever!"
His goals aren’t limited to fashioning clothes, but to every aspect of design. With unbridled ambition, a strong work ethic and passion, this 22 year old is unstoppable.
Thanks to Project Have Hope's scholastic sponsorship program, Eric had the opportunity to pursue a course in fashion and design, and is currently employed by a company that manufactures clothes for government contracts.
Eric’s passion for design was ignited when he was 17 years old. His uniform was too big and ill-fitting. He was determined to fix it. “ ‘Let me try,’ ” he recalls saying to himself as he sat behind a sewing machine for the first time to adjust his uniform. “From that day, I loved tailoring.
August 06, 2024
Pursuing a course in tailoring would have been an impossibility without the financial support of Project Have Hope. Susan has gained both a skill and a confidence that helps her to navigate the future and the challenges that persist.
Much of Susan’s youth was spent rising before the sun and going to bed long after the moon had risen. Her day would start at 4am, when she would rise to head to the fields to work. She’d return home as the sun was setting and begin the time-consuming task of preparing a meal. Day after day.
At 19, a young mother herself, Susan moved to the Acholi Quarter. There, she labored in the stone quarry, often with her infant baby on her back.
When Project Have Hope began, it was a welcome relief to Susan. She could work from home with her daughter seated nearby and roll paper into beads. “It was simple work, easy work,” Susan carefreely recalls. Not only was the work easy, but she’d earn twice what she earned in the quarry. “It was a very great change for me.”
Susan later enrolled in a tailoring course through Project Have Hope’s support. From the beginning, she was thrilled with the opportunity tailoring presented. “You can expect money any day, any time,” Susan beams. “If I return to the village, I can bring my tailoring machine and work from there and earn a living. I can work anywhere.”