We truly enjoy writing about life in Uganda & offering as many details as we can about the people ROWAN helps. We try not to plug our own services very often, but maybe we should. Although we are happy to simply have you as a reader, we would also love for you to get involved with what goes on at ROWAN. A more rewarding experience you will never have.
The Gift of Clean Clothing
As you can see by this rambunctious one, it’s time for new uniforms. Not just for the children, but for our widows & staff as well. With the new opening of the Hall of Hope, we want everyone to have something colorful & fun!
What You Can Do
If you want to get involved & help us provide new uniforms for our community, you can. It’s easy. Just a $20 dollar donation will provide a new uniform with shoes for a child or a quality shirt for a widow or staff member. That’s less than lunch! Imagine that, by eating at home one day you can help clothe people who need it.
Getting Dressed
As of publishing we haven’t raised much for this campaign, but it’s just getting started. Once we have our uniforms, we will definitely share pics! If you’d like to get involved we would absolutely love to have you.
We have a great time sharing about life in Uganda & providing as many details as we can about the people of ROWAN. We try not to plug our own services very often, but maybe we should. Of course we are content to simply have you as a reader, but we would also love for you to get involved with what goes on at ROWAN. A more rewarding experience you might never have.
The Gift of Education
This year we have several students graduating primary level schools & joining our secondary/higher level education. We are incredibly proud of each & every one of them! As the children move up through their education this also increases our budgetary needs. A large portion of our donations go towards education, as it is a cornerstone to creating a better life.
What You Can Do
With your help ROWAN supports over 55 students in good schools getting a proper education. Of everything you donate, at least a portion of all of it goes directly towards sponsorship for school. Anything you can spare is welcome & makes a difference.
Breakdown
Below is a breakdown of some of our education related costs, even $25 can make a young students life better & their schooling easier!
$25 = Books for 1 student for the entire year $50 = Final exam costs for 5 students $100 = Costs for a student for 1 trimester of boarding school $400 = Costs for a student to go to school for an entire year
Moving Up in the World
As of writing this we are just over halfway to our goal for this campaign & we would absolutely love to make this post out-of-date super quick! There will always been children who need an education. If you’d like to get involved we would absolutely love to have you.
“History has its eyes on you”. I had the privilege of seeing the Broadway musical phenomenon, Hamilton, last year. It is a gripping story of flawed people trying to create a new home, trying to work together, and trying to be free. Alexander Hamilton was born out of wedlock, left by his father, and orphaned as a young teenager when his mother died. That’s just the beginning of the story.
Nice to meet you!
My name is Shelly Casale, and I live in Redmond, Washington. I have worked in Christian education for the past ten years and my husband Paul is a marriage and family therapist. We have two sons, Jake and Jonah. I’d love to tell you how ROWAN came into my family’s life, and what it has to do with Hamilton! My father was a United States Army Chaplain so I lived and moved all over the USA. My dad was gone from home for a long time during both the Korean and Vietnam wars. My parents and I also lived in Tehran, Iran, in 1978-79, during the Iranian Revolution, which is a whole other story! These formative experiences both strengthened and challenged my faith in God. As a parent, I encouraged my kids to engage with the world for Christ but I also wanted them to be safe. While I love God completely, I also want to be in control of things—can anyone relate to that? When our oldest son Jake was at Dartmouth College, he told us there was a ministry called ROWAN, in rural Africa. He had prayed, and felt God clearly leading him to go on a student mission trip there. I was thrilled for him—grateful that he wanted to serve, but honestly a little nervous. That was 2014. We did our research into ROWAN and were amazed. Kelsey and Pastor Paul have created this smart, honest, innovative ministry where lives are changed. Most of their resources go directly to the widows and orphans. We trusted God and prayed. Jake did go to Uganda, we became sponsors, and there are more stories to tell. Which brings me back to the orphan Alexander Hamilton.
Jake Casale in the village!
“History has its eyes on you” is a lyric from the show. God has His loving eyes on us, calling us to be part of His story, and history will tell what we’ve done in His name. God gives us opportunities every day to be strong and courageous for Him, even if we feel weak or unsure. If you’re not already a part of the ROWAN family, I hope you’ll consider joining us. And keep reading here for more stories!
The turkey is gone, the shopping madness has subsided (slightly?), and today, we slow down and zoom out to refocus on giving even when it hurts, empowering others when we’re out of energy, and generating hope when all we want is to take a nap
slice of great news #1:
Giving Tuesday isn’t a one day sprint for us at ROWAN… we’re marathon-ing this Giving Tuesday for a 17-day stretch, ending on December 15th. Our hope and prayer is that we will receive 1,000 bricks by then. Why? So that we can START BUILDING by early 2018!
Most of our tribe know that Phase Two of building the Hall of Hope, our first ever community center, is well underway and that we’ve asked you to consider donating a brick toward getting this beautiful building up and running…
Giving Tuesday isn’t just a “Make America Feel Better About How Much Money We Just Spent on ourselves on Black Friday and Cyber Monday” holiday anymore. In fact, this whole “Giving Tuesday” thing is about to play out in an INCREDIBLE way for our friends in Uganda, unlike anything you’ve seen before. Stay tuned to learn about the secret second twist—Giving Tuesday, UGANDA STYLE—at their CHRISTMAS PARTY!
How the Kenyan Re-Election Affects Our Student, Eddy
ddy (pictured above on the right) is currently finishing law school in Nairobi. During Kenya’s recent presidential re-election, which was scheduled after the annulled results from the questionable one in August, Eddy shared with us that he was feeling very nervous about the political climate and fearful about the implications of this re-election.
Despite our own tumultuous stateside election last fall, our election-related fears seem insignificant and even petty when compared with political situations elsewhere, including Kenya. As they seek to implement democracy, free and fair elections come at a price—often including inevitable violence between opposing parties, polling stations enduring attacks of various sorts, barricaded roads, and the deaths of targeted victims as well as innocent civilian bystanders. This re-election was no exception, and the validity of Eddy’s fears has been confirmed in many heartbreaking stories since then. Despite his fears, Eddy will continue to study hard, preparing for the selfless career he’s long pursued: as a lawyer, he plans to offer his expertise as a source of hope, becoming a legal voice for the voiceless.
What can you do?
Join us in praying for Kenya and other African governments that are desperately taking strides towards stability in their courts and safety in their neighborhoods.
Join us in praying for Eddy—that he would remain brave and determined to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
Join us in praying for our other sponsored students and those yet to join our program, who also have big dreams that may take them into scary places, just like Eddy’s. In fact, if you’re interested in helping other ambitious but underprivileged kids like Eddy pursue their dreams, please follow this linkto read the stories of the kiddos who are waiting for your help!
And finally, join us in praying for our world—that we would all be a bit more relentless in hope, more resilient in adversity, and more committed to compassion for one another.
Pastor Paul is traveling all the way from Uganda to the United States to meet all of you!
As ecstatic as we are to have him here at last, our great news doesn’t stop there—
Pastor Paul’s purpose in coming is to help raise funds for … (drum-roll please) …
the first actual ROWAN building: the Hall of Hope! Most organizations build big structures and hope people show up. Instead, we’ve served thousands of people under the trees for 10 years, and it’s finally time to build a building!
Our fundraising efforts and Pastor Paul’s visit are about so much more than just a building, though. The way we serve Ugandan orphans and widows is through our programs, and ALL of our programs will be housed there— savings groups and business courses, Saturday kids’ programs, tutoring and counseling, HIV training, sewing and jewelry-making classes, and every other meeting or event imaginable will all take place in this building:
This will allow us to be even more inclusive and hospitable to those in the surrounding community, and it will also make our programs and service more effective! THANK YOU for partnering with us as we take this next step!
Colorado friends—want to meet Pastor Paul, learn more about the Hall of Hope, AND get some free ice cream?! Come hang out with us! We’ll be at Little Man Ice Cream on September 9th from 7 – 9 pm. We’d love to have you join us! Just email kelsey@loverowan.org by August 31st with your number of guests!
Not in Colorado but still eager to spend some time with Pastor Paul and hang out with the ROWAN team? CLICK HERE to access our calendar and schedule of events that outline Pastor Paul’s time here!
This sounds like the beginning of an absurd joke; instead, it’s the genesis of a dream—and you’re invited to join!
Activate your imagination for a moment: You are an orphan. You are infected with or affected by AIDS. You are living in rural Uganda. You know that education is the key to a better life and that it will enable you to pursue your dreams. One day, you learn that someone across the world has decided to love YOU by funding your meals, paying for your medical care, and enabling your education! Despite this opportunity, one obstacle remains: you have to walk TEN MILES to get to and from school each day. If you’re walking at a brisk 4 mph, that’s more than 2 hours of walking. More reasonably, a 3 mph pace requires more than 3 hours spent walking. For our students, this trek is physically draining, which minimizes the effort and focus they have left over for their studies. Furthermore, the amount of time they spend walking makes them vulnerable to kidnapping, abuse, and disease.
This is where the bus comes in.
Common sense, right? Walking this far daily is unreasonable and dangerous. So we’re going to pick our students up and drop them off. This will not only transform an hours-long journey into one that occupies only a matter of minutes—it will also keep our orphans safer and allow them to invest more energy in their academic work.
This is where Mt. Kilimanjaro comes in.
The thing about a bus is that it costs money, and the thing about money is that we needed to find a way to raise it. We thought the tallest mountain in Africa might catch your attention, so ROWAN launched Good Summits—a campaign that enables members of the outdoor community to combine their passion for adventure with a good cause. Over the course of 15 days, we will be traveling to Uganda, witnessing and participating in what ROWAN is doing in the villages, and conquering the highest free-standing mountain in the world in order to raise awareness and money for our students’ transportation to school.
This is where you come in.
If you’re interested in harnessing your physical energy, available resources, and hopefulness for the sake and safety of ROWAN’s orphans, we want you to join our dream! There are several ways you can get involved: of course, you can join the expedition that will involve hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro; you can donate gear for other hikers; or you can set aside some money to help purchase the bus! The proceeds of this effort will enable ROWAN to fund safe, reliable transportation for hundreds of children pursuing an education. If you’re interested in visiting ROWAN villages and joining the ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro, learn more HERE or go ahead and fill out an application! If you aren’t able to participate but still want to be involved, please don’t hesitate to contact Lauren at lauren@loverowan.com. Thank you for all of your help!
The 25th of every month is #orange day — promoting awareness and prevention of violence against women and girls.
Action Plan for Orange Day, 25 August 2016: Safe and secure working environments for women and girls
“Break the silence. When you witness violence against women and girls, do not sit back. Act.”
~ Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General
The United Nations Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence Against Women has proclaimed the 25th day of each month as “Orange Day,” a day to raise awareness and take action to end violence against women and girls. As a bright optimistic colour, orange represents a future free from violence against women and girls, for the UNiTE campaign. Orange Day calls upon activists, governments and UN partners to mobilize people and highlight issues relevant to preventing and ending violence against women and girls, not only once a year on 25 November (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women), but every month.
Violence against women and girls is a grave violation of human rights. Its impact ranges from immediate to long-term multiple physical, sexual and mental consequences for women and girls, including death. It negatively affects women’s general well-being and prevents women from fully participating in society. Violence not only has negative consequences for women but also their families, the community and the country at large. It has tremendous costs, from greater health care and legal expenses and losses in productivity, impacting national budgets and overall development. Decades of mobilizing by civil society and women’s movements have put ending gender-based violence high on national and international agendas. An unprecedented number of countries have laws against domestic violence, sexual assault and other forms of violence. Challenges remain however in implementing these laws, limiting women and girls’ access to safety and justice. Not enough is done to prevent violence, and when it does occur, it often goes unpunished. – See more.
Orange your work place! As long as your employer agrees, wear orange to work or university and encourage your colleagues to do the same to show your support for zero tolerance of violence against women and girls in the work place. Find out what policies are in place at your work place or university. Do they fulfill the recommendations in the Women’s Empowerment Principles? If there are gaps, what steps can be taken? If you are in the business community, find out if your company supports the Women’s Empowerment Principles! Learn from the Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence against Women’s guidelines on drafting legislation on workplace sexual harassment, and share with policy makers (http://www.unwomen.org/)
Read more about how YOU can help ROWAN with our education and training to break this cycle of violence against women and girls.
Youth Leading Sustainability is the theme of International Youth Day 2016!
This year, #YouthDay focuses on the leading role of young people in achieving sustainable development through sustainable consumption and production. Be part of these efforts in achieving the #GlobalGoals and celebrate International Youth Day! Learn more here.
“Young people are not only our future — they are our present. Our planet has never been so young, with 1.8 billion young women and men. They are the most connected, the most outspoken and the most open-minded generation the world has ever seen. They are powerful agents of positive change, essential to taking forward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is not enough to hope for a better tomorrow — we must act now. Change is underway, and millions of citizens are already transforming the way we produce, consume, behave and communicate…
Optimism and confidence do not mean we minimize the challenges ahead. Most young people live today in least developed countries, and shoulder the heaviest burden of conflicts and poverty. There can be no sustainable development if they remain on the side-lines, and I call upon all Member States and UNESCO partners to support their initiatives, to give them voice, to let them grow, to shape together the future of dignity that we are building today.” ~Message from Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO
International Youth Day is on 12 August! Events to celebrate #YouthDay will take place all over the world and will recognize the importance of youth efforts, collaboration and participation in the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. (https://www.facebook.com/UN4Youth/)
ROWAN has always been focused on sustainability and educating and empowering individuals to support themselves and their families. We are in process of working to maintain staff salaries in a sustainable way and working towards goals to help our villagers provide for themselves. Currently, we even have one of our young people participating in training to teach sustainability in farming crops…which he will then share with the community. Educating our youth is a big part of this initiative — and how we equip them to be change agents in their country!
Won’t you pray with us and partner together in this mission to raise our youth to be leaders in sustainability? There are ways each and every person can get involved in promoting sustainability through consumption and production. Whether you are on your couch at home, or desire to change your community and the world through networking in your neighborhood, this has some great ideas to implement into your daily life!
So whatever avenue you choose, let’s celebrate International Youth Day together!
One more thing: share with us about a young person in your life who inspires you by commenting below.
Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Less than $2 a day adds up over the years and eventually can lead to great success. Don’t underestimate the impact sponsorship can have on shaping young lives and empowering our students to succeed.
Mariam is our most recent graduate and her story is evidence of that success. She has been part of ROWAN since it officially began in 2008. She is an individual who is not afraid to speak her mind, and that started when she was young. In a culture where women do not have a strong voice, this was significant. ROWAN helped to cultivate her intelligence and confident spirit by giving her opportunities to hone these skills. Mariam always participated in ROWAN events and loved to emcee at parties and tell jokes to make people smile.
This led to a desire to pursue a degree in mass communication and journalism at Mutesa Royal University. She wants to make a difference in her nation, especially regarding speaking up for women. This past weekend she graduated with her bachelors degree and already has a job lined up at a radio station in Iganga (East Uganda). She is so thankful to her sponsor, her ROWAN family and caregiver Rebecca for supporting her and helping her to achieve her dreams.
We could not be more proud of Mariam and we know that God will use her voice to help young women just like her in the future!
Do YOU want to be a part of our success stories? There are other students waiting to be sponsored so they too can have the chance to reach their goals and effect become agents of change in their country.
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