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11 years is a long time. A decade. A lifetime for the young. An eternity in Uganda’s Acholi Quarter. January 2017 marked 11 years since the “official” inception of Project Have Hope. In that time, I have seen children born and namesakes grow. I have seen children graduate from high school and from university. I have seen children become mothers. I have seen mothers bury their children and children bury their mothers. I have been a witness to life at its best and its worst. I have grown in unimaginable ways. And I continue to do so. In October 2005, when I was first invited to the Acholi Quarter, I was young, fool-hearted in thinking that I “just want to help.” Of course, I had no idea how to help or of the journey I was about to embark. Or that maybe I’d be the one being “helped.”
I learned to listen (and must continue to hone these skills). I learned to listen to words. Nuances. Actions. I learned to listen to silences. I learned to listen to my heart and with my heart. I learned that there’s so much I don’t know and will never know. And now, I am also learning to listen to my voice. A voice that has grown with wisdom and strength thanks to this journey. A voice that can speak for those who are not always afforded the means to have their voice heard, paired with a mind that must keep learning to be quiet and listen.
Over these eleven years in the Acholi Quarter, Project Have Hope has made it possible for children to graduate from high school and from university, and pursue their dreams. We have made it possible for mothers to feed their children and provide them with essential health care. We have stood together, hand in hand, at so many junctions. And together, we’ve all learned how to dream just a little bigger.
We have achieved this by working together. Listening to each other. Learning from each other. Just as the Acholi Quarter community has been forever changed by the presence of Project Have Hope, I personally, have been forever changed by the community.
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"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.
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.”
