HOME: Welcome to Real Partners Uganda
Mustard Seed Opens for 2012 with 380 Children
RPU Directors Dana Hiscock (left) and Joe Griswold enjoy time with Mustard Seed Nursery students. Nov. 2011
News Updates......
*Best School in Town?.....Mustard Seed is 3 years old
*PEPFAR grant awarded...Tree of Life gets maximum award
*It's quite a story.....Who lives in Kathryn's House?
*A Woman's Design....What did Liberty Merrill do at MSA?
*Ugandan Families don't invest in Girls...So Nancy's Girls are Special!
*A Permanent Home for Mustard Seed Academy?.......Actually two homes!
Primary 5 and 6 Children Perform Traditional Dance at 2011 School Opening Celebration:
Click here to watch the music video: Child of Lukaya...
This lovely ballad tells the story of the poor children in Lukaya and Mustard Seed Academy.
Our Mission.....
"To reflect Christ's love in the world, we work in partnership with Ugandans to develop sustainable learning communities that model effective education, conservation, health care, & economic development."
Real Partners Uganda Executive Director Elaine Griswold gathers with children in the Nursery Section of Mustard Seed Academy. Teacher Ruth is on the upper left.
Real Partners Uganda Executive Director Elaine Griswold gathers with children in the Nursery Section of Mustard Seed Academy. Teacher Ruth is on the upper left.
Real Partners Uganda and Tree of Life Ministries:
Where We are Today
Faculty and staff of Mustard Seed Academy celebrate with RPU leaders. Nov. 2011
Joseph G. Griswold, President
and Chairman of the Board
Real Partners Uganda, Inc. is a faith-based US non-profit (501c3) that exists to serve orphans and other vulnerable children (OVCs) in Uganda, especially in the truck stop town of Lukaya, along the "AIDS Highway." RPU works with a Ugandan charity, Tree of Life Ministries (TOLM), to address the root causes of poverty in the community. Our joint efforts are focused on four core elements: education, health, conservation, and sustainable development. Our motivation stems from a common commitment to provide better lives for the innocent victims of poverty and disease in a town ravaged both by HIV/AIDS and the exploitation of women and children. Real Partners Uganda is a totally volunteer organization with Board members who fund their own trips to Uganda one or more times per year. In 2009 and 2010 about 95 cents of every dollar donated went directly to the work in Uganda. Click here to read the complete article....
In a Great Partnership, Move Mountains of Poverty in Uganda!
RPU Board members Kathryn & Dana Hiscock with the SAC Family members who all have received new shoes. Standing in front of "Kathryn's House."
Uganda....British leader Winston Churchill called it the "Pearl of Africa".....is a land of breath-taking natural beauty and incomparable human suffering. It's home to 31 million people who live in an area the size of Oregon state. Over half of those people are under the age of 18. It is one of the 10 poorest nations on earth with the great majority of people existing on less than $1.00 US per day. Ugandans live, on average, to 53 years of age.
Innocent victims of the relentless poverty are millions of children-- malnourished, poorly educated, sick and dying, and sometimes abused. It is a very rough place to grow up! Real Partners Uganda, Inc., a registered US not-for-profit charity [501(c)(3)], was organized to address poverty in Uganda and serve the orphans and vulnerable children who suffer under it in the truck-stop town of Lukaya. In the photo above, 25 of the neediest kids (with no parents or functioning home) thrive under the care of Tree of Life Ministries, our Ugandan non-profit organization. All attend Mustard Seed Academy with school fees, food, uniforms and health care provided, some by sponsors in the United States. You could be one of the sponsors....Click here!
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions can help you find out a lot more about our work, Uganda, and travel there. Click here........
Innocent victims of the relentless poverty are millions of children-- malnourished, poorly educated, sick and dying, and sometimes abused. It is a very rough place to grow up! Real Partners Uganda, Inc., a registered US not-for-profit charity [501(c)(3)], was organized to address poverty in Uganda and serve the orphans and vulnerable children who suffer under it in the truck-stop town of Lukaya. In the photo above, 25 of the neediest kids (with no parents or functioning home) thrive under the care of Tree of Life Ministries, our Ugandan non-profit organization. All attend Mustard Seed Academy with school fees, food, uniforms and health care provided, some by sponsors in the United States. You could be one of the sponsors....Click here!
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions can help you find out a lot more about our work, Uganda, and travel there. Click here........
At the Center....Care and Education of Vulnerable Children
Children enjoy porridge at morning break
Working in partnership with young Ugandan leaders we have founded a pre- and primary school, Mustard Seed Academy, to educate and otherwise care for orphans and other vulnerable children. Vulnerable children are those who live in such poverty that they lack food security (will they eat on any given day?), health care (so many die from treatable diseases), clothing, adult supervision and other basic necessities. In our school program, then, we must provide care for the "whole child." Children are outfitted in "smart" uniforms, fed two meals per day, taught in smaller classes, offered health care when they are sick, and provided with loving adult supervision. Our teachers model the love and caring behavior we expect in a Christian faith-based school. Our kids come from Protestant, Roman Catholic and Muslim families, mostly too poor to afford even the basic costs of having a child in school. Over two thirds of our 355 children are sponsored by individuals, families and organizations in the United States. Many more still need sponsors. Learn how you can sponsor a child....
Breaking the Cycle of Poverty.....Sustainable Practices
 Old kitchen at Mustard Seed was smokey and inefficient Multiple Causes of Poverty............ Many causes of poverty in Uganda stem from traditional behaviors or ways of doing things that worked when there were a few hundred thousand citizens living in Uganda, but now drive the cycle of poverty that is so persistent for its 31 million citizens. For example, most cooking is done using open wood fires that pollute the air, cause health problems for women, and necessarily add to the deforestation and loss of wild habitats.
| Poverty: options and solutions....... Solutions require ingenuity and investment, as well as education, to help people understand the benefits of new sustainable ways.
Ugandans, like most of us, like the old familiar ways, and gaining acceptance of new methods and technologies can be a challenge. However, without making some changes, the future looks bleak for all Ugandans, including the precious children we are committed to care for. Among the most important needs are to reduce pollution and the consumption of firewood that produce greenhouse gases and causes massive deforestation. Surprisingly, growing new forests is quite widespread--the only problem is, people plant Eucalyptus and other fast growing non-native species, and no native kinds of wildlife live in the forests. In the picture (left), cooks Bbosa and Ruth at Mustard Seed Academy prepared meals for 300 people in this smokey, inefficient cooking shed, But now with the help of RPU everything has changed. See Cooking Lite..... |
How We Began......A Brief History
This juvenile gorilla approached close to us to get a good view
Gorilla conservation and poverty are connected! We first traveled to Uganda in 2003 as safari tourists with a special goal of trekking Gorillas in the far western mountains of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. The four of us who went (Griswolds and Hiscocks) are deeply committed to conservation of wild areas and the life that is found there. Although a small country in size, Uganda is nearly unmatched in the diversity of wildlife that can be found there. For example, over a thousand species of birds live in this tiny country (vs. 850 in all North America). The diversity of primates is remarkable, and many of the species are endangered. Our story continues at A Brief History.....
Becoming a Partner.....How to Help
Working together to overcome poverty and serve vulnerable children in Uganda will take a large team of partners, each using his or her own talents and resources. That is how Real Partners Uganda has been growing since 2004.
Please consider joining our team by making a donation today. Just click here... to make an online donation through PayPal or you can mail a check made out to Real Partners Uganda to the address below. Also you may email us directly, or go to the Contact Us... page to use the secure form there. Email us at: realpartnersuganda@gmail.com Send checks by regular mail to: Real Partners Uganda, Inc. 523 Lafayette Blvd. Brigantine, NJ 08203  Front left (clockwise). George Kateregga ( GM), RPU Director Jackie Sarner, former leader David Bakeine, Board Advisor Judy Sconyers, volunteer Joann Reger, Board Advisor Dr. Diane Falk, RPU Executive Director Elaine Griswold, Board Advisor Lee Whitton. Empty seat (photographer) RPU President Joe Griswold. |
Click here to DONATE NOW......
