1. Joshua & Fastina's Fish Farm in Malawi Manyamula Village is hours away from Lake Malawi, so the only fish that arrives there is dried. Joshua and Fastina saw the opportunity to sell fresh fish. They used a SIA Small Business Fund grant of $150 to stock their newly-dug fish pond in Manyamula, Malawi last year. The business has been so successful that they have expanded to three fish ponds, started beekeeping, and sent their daughter to a private school. They have Shared th

When the social workers and psychological counselors from Midwife-Led Community Transformation (MILCOT) organization did an assessment of the young women in their community of Nansana Municipality, Uganda, they found an alarming number of girls who were in violent relationships and experiencing forms of sexual coercion. MILCOT is a SIA partner and community-based organization with the mission to take midwifery services out of the clinic setting and bring it direct to the comm

Throughout the pandemic and national elections in Uganda, grassroots organizations like KADI-U are continuing their community-level activities to make sure everyone has enough food and is on the path to a better life. (See all our current partner organizations.) I was so excited after reading their report to SIA of their activities in the last few months of the year. The volunteers who run KADI are so dedicated to making sure no one in their community is left behind. One of t

Last month, Universal Love Alliance in Uganda began a new virus testing program. But instead of testing for coronavirus, this program is for preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Twelve participated in a ULA training about HIV and about how to use HIV self-test kits. Doctors and clinical officers from a local hospital provided the technical training. “The key message in the opening session was that HIV is a virus, not a death sentence,” says Samson Turinawe, ULA Director. Other

Kakuuto Development Initiative (KADI) is not just an education organization. It’s not just a farmer’s cooperative. It’s not just an advocate for health and wellbeing in the community. KADI in rural Uganda, does all three, plus so much more! Like so many of SIA grassroots grant partners, KADI is a true community development organization. Food security is one of KADI’s top priorities. They are coaching people to start kitchen gardens, which grow food for the family, but also ar

By now I think we all know that Zoom, and video conferencing in general, can be a blessing and a curse. It isn’t the same as being in person – I miss the hugs. But it’s also amazing how this pandemic has opened us up to the possibility of meaningful connection through a screen! This morning I met online with the Spirit in Action African Advisory Board, Small Business Fund coordinators, and representatives from grant partners. We talked about the immediate crisis that is still

Thank you to the 13 people who donated to our Giving Tuesday Facebook campaign! You can still donate to that campaign here, or on our website here. Robinah Muganzi has a big job. A child, only five years old, was dropped off at her doorstep. Other orphans and girls escaping violent home situations come to her and she does what she can to accommodate them. Robinah is a social worker and director of Set Her Free, which provides safe space and vocational training for vulnerable

The 2019 Fall & Winter newsletter is here! You can view a PDF version here and hard copies are in the mail this week! These guys are part of the SIA team in Manyamula, Malawi! Winkly, Mbwenu, and Sylvester helped Kathleen King and I visit over 35 of the 200+ SIA supported businesses in the area! In this newsletter we feature: Meet “Notorious for Jesus” Small Business Fund leader, Ruth, in Eldoret, Kenya Read our new Mission Statement Photo collage from my five weeks in Africa

Hello SIA friends! After a much-needed break, I am back in the SIA office and working through the photos, memories, reports, and stories from the trip. Part of difficulty in returning from any SIA trip to Africa is that the daily work of site visits is so different from SIA desk work in North America. What do site visit days looks like? Samson and Sharon from Universal Love Alliance (SIA partners in Uganda) wrote up the following summary about the three days that Barbara and

“A place of discovering our potential.” This is how one of the vocational students at Set Her Free Uganda described the supportive environment training centre. Set Her Free is one of SIA grant partners and we visited their site last week in Kampala. MC at the Set Her Free Fashion Show with students modeling their tailoring class projects! Robinah, a social worker and the director of Set Her Free, helps children and teens who have experienced extreme sexual violence or who hav

Greetings from Uganda! Barbara and I landed Sunday morning in Entebbe and were greeted by our amazing local coordinator, Naomi Ayot. (Thank you, Naomi, for all the logistics work you have done for our trip!) That same day we arrived, we met with Samson and Sharon of Universal Love Alliance, who are supporting the rights of women, HIV+ people, and LGBT individuals. Here is Barbara’s direct account of that inspiring gathering: Today we met with 20 men and women who have taken p

Guest post by Turinawe Samson, Director of Universal Love Alliance (ULA) in Uganda. Friends, looking at 2018 we at Universal Love Alliance (ULA) moved a step forward and you are ones who enabled us to take this step. We received financial support from the U.S. Embassy–Kampala, Spirit in Action, the ULA Foundation and its Board members. I attribute your generosity to your love for justice, equality, inclusion, respect, and acceptance of all people. Human beings are inwardly al

“In a religious context among Christians and Muslims, people believe that all human beings are created in God’s image.” So began Samson Turinawe’s opening remarks at the International Day of Peace conference in Uganda last month. “Therefore, each of us here in this conference hall, as well as those in the streets, villages and slum areas of Uganda, are images of God. Why not treat each other as if we are treating God? In my view, if we did this, peace would prevail in all nat

The 2018 Fall & Winter newsletter is here! You can view a PDF version here and hard copies are in the mail this week! Elvis Nikiza helps run the snack bar in Kigali, Rwanda. It is a community hub for Burundian refugees in the city. In this newsletter we feature: New micro-loan program for women in Kenya Training 40 women to be bee-keepers in Uganda Supporting Burundian refugees to open a cafe and community center in Rwanda Updates from Visionary Women’s Centre and Matungu Com

“Have you distributed the funds that we sent in January for the new small businesses?” I reached out on WhatsApp to Small Business Fund Coordinator, Naomi Ayot, to check in on SIA entrepreneurs in Uganda. There were some boxes on my spreadsheet of grants that were blank. She texted back a minute later. “The funds are still with me. I don’t want to send through the funds at the time that school fees are due. This way I can have the groups use the money in the way it is intende

Two years ago Milly Imat, a widow in Akwiridiri village in Kole District in Northern Uganda, received a Small Business Fund grant and expanded her farm beyond its subsistence scale. It was the beginning of a new chapter for her and the community. This village is still rebuilding and healing after twenty years of insurgency, violence, and disruption by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The war displaced people and split families. It left trauma and high levels of HIV/AIDS in t

In their Annual Report, Universal Love Ministries-Uganda (ULM) wrote about the twenty local organizations that they partner with throughout Uganda. I was impressed with their far-reaching network and so I asked ULM Director, Turinawe Samson, to tell me more about the importance of collaboration with local organizations. This is his response: At Universal Love Ministries-Uganda (ULM), we partner with other organizations from all over the world. We also find it important and us

I was so encouraged by this letter from SIA partner, Samson Turinawe. Samson is the Director of Universal Love Ministries, which works to promote an inclusive and diverse society in Uganda, free from gender- and sexuality-based violence. May we follow his call to stay hopeful in our work for justice. 2017 is coming to a close and it is a good time to take measure of what we’ve accomplished together this past year. I want to recognize your good efforts on behalf of Universal L

How are Ugandans fostering a more loving and inclusive society? Universal Love Ministries (ULM) is hosting a series of workshops, supported in part by Spirit in Action, at schools in Uganda. Their team talks with students and teachers about life planning skills and human rights, particularly the rights of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) people. At the end of the workshop, students are encouraged to form “inclusive clubs” to defend human rights in their s

Rebuilding a life and a community after years of conflict, violence, and trauma is no easy task. The pain doesn’t go away immediately. The healing doesn’t happen automatically. Those who remain must figure out the way forward. The Spirit in Action Small Business Fund (SBF) is helping with this rebuilding, with more than just cash grants. Naomi Ayot is the coordinator for SBF in the Kole District in Uganda. This is where the Lord’s Resistance Army abducted girls in 1996 and ye