{"id":1544,"date":"2012-03-18T23:03:27","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T03:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kulanuarchive.kulanu.org\/?p=1544"},"modified":"2019-04-08T10:48:03","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T14:48:03","slug":"greetings-and-gratitude-from-uganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kulanu.org\/archive\/greetings-and-gratitude-from-uganda\/","title":{"rendered":"Greetings and Gratitude from Uganda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Namutumba Grain Mill \" src=\"http:\/\/cdn-2-service.phanfare.com\/images\/external\/1386609_5493695_151733214_WebSmall_2\/0_0_82a308798506f67feeaee9df1171f827_1\" alt=\"Namutumba Grain Mill \" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I recently returned from an inspiring visit to Uganda. My eleven days in the community were jam-packed with festive celebrations and intense meetings. We had two wonderful\u00a0<em>shabbatot<\/em>(one entirely led by the youth of the community as part of their youth conference), a<em>\u00a0brit milah\u00a0<\/em>(circumcision) for the son of Israel and Tehilla Siriri, and the birth of a new daughter to Rabbi Gershom and Tzippora Sizomu. We got to see the outcome of these Kulanu-funded projects: the new food storage building, new classrooms and the new staff house at the Abayudaya Elementary School; we also joyously dedicated the new grain mill in Namutumba.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Judy Manelis at Namutumba Grain Mill Dedication\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn-2-service.phanfare.com\/images\/external\/1386609_5493695_152357795_Full_3\/0_0_23ad7c47b0474a4baa4e622e060c5b00_1\" alt=\"Judy Manelis at Namutumba Grain Mill Dedication\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Kulanu volunteer Jeanne Bodin and her daughter Gail delivered two suitcases of carefully selected books that her granddaughter, Emily, had collected for her\u00a0<em>bat mitzvah<\/em>\u00a0project (they had already shipped five other boxes of books and still have more to send), and the children gleefully unpacked the books and started reading them. We met the librarians who staff the library thanks to funding from the South Peninsula Jewish Community Teen Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation in San Francisco, California.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bat Mitzvah Book Project\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn-2-service.phanfare.com\/images\/external\/1386609_5456637_149684601_WebSmall_3\/0_0_453e61d17eeb213106479e56d16b34ba_1\" alt=\"Bat Mitzvah Book Project\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To extend our library\/literacy support project, Jeanne Bodin and her daughter volunteered at the year-old Sarah Horowitz Memorial Library at the Abayudaya Elementary School, brought hand-made books created and donated by sixth-graders at MJCBY in Morristown, New Jersey, and helped the Ugandan seventh-graders make their own books in return.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Abayudaya student writing book\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn-2-service.phanfare.com\/images\/external\/1386609_5456637_149684809_WebSmall_3\/0_0_a91af67cb429f74161260e9eb0bb9940_1\" alt=\"Abayudaya student writing\" width=\"250\" height=\"334\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I led an intense workshop on computer maintenance and typing skills for about 15 eager and attentive students, Kulanu board member Judy Manelis led a creative writing workshop, Laura Wetzler and Steve Gray both led workshops for young people on business planning, and volunteer Tara Parks, an industrial engineer, led a workshop on careers in science and math. Judy Manelis also spent a day at the Kavule School for the Deaf, where Kulanu supports six deaf students from Namutumba with the help of Kulanu fundraising campaign leader Dr Elizabeth Feldman of Illinois, who has been tirelessly raising funds for the school for five years. Laura Wetzler did amazing work connecting the school for the deaf with resources for deaf-blind students.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Singer at Music and Dance Festival\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn-2-service.phanfare.com\/images\/external\/1386609_5456637_149685888_WebSmall_2\/0_0_0a98132fb951411f02350b1fcbc67f12_1\" alt=\"Singer at Music and Dance Festival\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Laura Wetzler and I met with the board and project directors of the Abayudaya community to report to them on our work in the past year (we had donated $135,000 to the community in 2011) and to hear their concerns and suggestions for our future work together.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout these days, community members thanked \u201cKulanu\u201d over and over \u2014 we accepted their thanks on behalf of all of you who have supported this work over the last 16 years. At the music and dance festival, villagers from many of the villages sang and danced their gratitude to Kulanu. At the women\u2019s conference, all the women stood and lifted up imaginary baskets of flowers and tossed them to Laura and me. At the grain mill dedication, they made speeches about how different their lives were and how much more hopeful they were because of Kulanu\u2019s support. At the youth-led service, Yosef Kalema, the outgoing chair of the Abayudaya Youth Association, talked about his memories of Kulanu\u2019s first visit in 1995 when he was a child, of having been in the very first class at the Semei Kakungulu High School, having been part of the Higher Education program supported by Tufts University Hillel. Now he has graduated from university and is beginning a career in technology.\u00a0 It was clear that our long-term commitment to this community is bearing fruit.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about the Abayudaya of Uganda and Kulanu\u2019s work with this inspiring Jewish community in the heart of Africa, check out\u00a0<a title=\"Abayudaya page on Kulanu web site\" href=\"https:\/\/kulanu.org\/archive\/abayudaya\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.kulanu.org\/abayudaya<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I hope you\u2019ll consider joining us on the next Jewish Life in Uganda Mitzvah Tour \u2013 so you and your family can share the joy of what \u201call of us\u201d can achieve together. Visit\u00a0<a title=\"Kulanu Trips page\" href=\"https:\/\/kulanu.org\/archive\/trip\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.kulanu.org\/trip<\/a>for details about this life-changing excursion!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p><em>Harriet<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Harriet Bograd, President<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo Credits: Tara Parks, Jeanne Bodin, Harriet Bograd, Steve Gray, Irene Orleansky \u2013 January 2012<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently returned from an inspiring visit to Uganda. My eleven days in the community were jam-packed with festive celebrations <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Greetings and Gratitude from Uganda - Kulanu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I recently returned from an inspiring visit to Uganda. My eleven days in the community were jam-packed with festive celebrations and intense meetings. 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