A promised update!

What an incredible few months - so much to report, I don't know where to start! In brief, we've been able to collectively contribute over $25,000 to Kakuuto and Kabale, in addition to actively seek the sponsorship of all 180 orphans at the Orphanage of Hope.

It has been very rewarding to present the work of Make My Name Count to many groups including schools, churches and service organisations. Our hope is to inspire people to make their name count also. This is where most of our big donations have come from over the past few months - we continue to be so grateful for our long-term supporters who give regular amounts, and we are also so grateful to the little donations, that helped when we started with the vision in 2016! What sets our work apart is that every dollar donated reaches the projects and it is used in its entirety for the benefit of incredibly needy but enormously grateful people in one of the most impoverished regions of the world.

We've also commissioned the wonderful Jocelyn Marsh as Honorary Advocacy Ambassador ... Jocelyn has an incredible ability to engage with people of all ages and background, to reach far more people than I ever could to tell them about our work.

Here's an update on each of our projects ...

The Bakehouse in Kakuuto

In January, I reported that we needed some extra specialised baking machinery to be able to bake more efficiently with less waste.

I'm pleased to report that we were granted $12,000 by a farming Family Trust in May to enable the Bakehouse to purchase a new dough sheeter, dough moulder and dough divider. We are currently in the process of purchasing this equipment at the best price.

STOP PRESS: After much searching through Uganda and neighbouring countries, this specialised equipment has now been found! We are blessed too that it is within the amount gifted. The photo shows one of the pieces that we have bought and will soon be delivered to the Bakehouse.

Orphanage of Hope, Kabale

We continue to work closely with Cogan as Joint Directors of Orphanage of Hope, Kabale. We are pleased to report that we have a fully registered school as we saw the benefit of teaching the 120 younger children at the orphanage.

Earlier in the year, it was decided to open up child sponsorship, something that I was previously reluctant to do knowing the administrative work that is required. We had ten children sponsored on opening up sponsorship and have since formed a partnership with our local church House of Breakthrough Oamaru who have committed to a further 50 sponsors with the hope to increase this to 100. As we work through this process (often hard with lack of technology and high-speed internet in Kabale), we will be able to issue child profiles such as this one:

We have identified annual ongoing expenses of the orphanage to be $32,380.00. This includes crop planting, teacher's salaries, firewood, mattresses, clothing, schooling, medical expenses and chickens. If we can cover most of this in child sponsorship, we hope to cover the remaining expense through Hope Safaris.

Recently I visited a generous church and youth group at Glenavy. I shared how the children look forward to just half an egg each week from the chickens that we bought. This really touched one father, and the family have committed to buying 300 hens this year and a further 300 hens and necessary enclosures next year. Also at this same church and youth group, a further $1,500 was donated towards a clean water project, and $500 for general needs. What an incredible blessing that small church have been!

Here are some snapshots at the Orphanage over the past few months:

CHILDREN'S WELLBEING: The children were blessed with one new item of (second-hand) clothing. The clothing arrived by the bale! Smiling faces for this new clothes!

GARDEN OF HOPE: Vegetables being harvested at Garden of Hope .. what a change to their diets these children have had in the past few months!

GROUNDS: There are security concerns. We are slowly replacing old fencing (first two photos) with new walls and purchased a red gate also! Chief of security does his bit too! Our big dream is to also have the grounds paved, similar to the last photo, to reduce the amount of red mud ... maybe you have the expertise and passion to help with this?!

HOPE EDUCATION CENTRE: Term 2 has just started and you can see Cogan swamped under the school resources that we have bought. Many people ask what happens to the children once they have finished school - they are taught a trade and their craftsmanship skills are amazing with what little they have. The last two photos show them learning carpentry and in the classroom.

This last photo shows Cogan taking three of our children to the hospital - on the only transport available. The boy at the front has asthma complications and the two girls are having complete blood transfusions. This is a costly exercise and we have since learnt that four more children need transfusions costing $1600.

Hope Safaris

We sent out a brief update in April to say that we were able to purchase our Safari Vehicle. Sign writing has been completed and Cogan is working hard to promote the business and obtain necessary licenses and relationships with tourism authorities to be ready for the upcoming Gorilla-trekking season. We're looking forward to hosting our first safari tourists soon and building a great online presence. If you or a friend is travelling to Africa, make sure you contact us and go on our Safari ... we'd love to give you truly memorable trip in return for a great review!

Here's a collection of photos over the past few months ... new clothes, growing vegetables, better security and a new school term ... hover on the picture to see an explanation of the photo.

We're thankful for ...

• A recent increase in interest and donations

• Jocelyn Marsh coming on-board to help us

• Open doors to talk about MMNC in local community groups

• A partnership with House of Breakthrough to support Orphanage of Hope

• A fully registered school

We're praying for and need further assistance with ...

• Customers for Hope Safaris

• Orphans who are currently in hospital after receiving painful blood transfusions - and for Cogan and Medius who care for these children in hospital, as well as manage the orphanage

• Support for Pastor Stephen's ENTCAS Dairy Community Project

• Good health and energy for Dalaine and I as we manage the demands as General Managers of a new hotel

Thank you for continuing to support us,

Lindsay and Dalaine

lindsayswalker@gmail.com