Women – eChange Endeavors

2nd Annual High Tea for High Hopes

You are cordially invited for High Tea at Williams Place

Saturday, November 23, 2024, 3-5pm

Hosted by Michelle Waters Williams & Laura Frederick

R.S.V.P. appreciated by November 17, 2024

Join us for a lovely British High Tea to hear Laura Frederick, Founder of eChange Endeavors, share stories of the missionaries and families in Uganda we have touched by our support. She has twenty-eight years of experience working with the poor in East Africa and beyond. She began her journey as Jesuit International Volunteer in Belize from 1990-1992. Laura has been working in Uganda since 2000 and lived there between 2006 to 2011. She continues to collaborate with various missionary partners remotely and through visits.

We are seeking to raise $12,000 for our partner YOUFRA Youth Centre in Lira to renovate their solar power solution that provides lighting and security to the building. We are on a long-term development path with Sr. Margaret Awor, LSOSF and the team at the Centre. The next most important element is replacing their electricity, which failed in March of this year. Funds will also be used to begin repairing the walls and foundation in the kitchen and dinning area, replacing windows, and finish building out the plumbing, cupboards, counter tops, painting, and purchasing much needed appliances and furniture. Today the kitchen and dinning hall is an unfinished room (photos below). In a subsequent phase, we will refurbish the two main gathering halls with new windows and doors, add ceilings, lightening, trim and fresh paint.

With these renovations the YOUFRA Youth Centre will be able to host 50-150 young adults in their 20s, 30s, and 40s for workshops, trainings, and retreats. Having a place to take a break from home to gather, sing, pray, laugh, learn and connect with other young adults renews their hearts, minds and dreams. As well they are able to builds and array of skills. These opportunities are a rarity for youth! Retreats are focused on the Sacraments, spiritual formation, and strengthening families. Training covers topics such as farming, shoe making, baking, hair styling, team building, communication, reconciliation, financial management, and beyond. Will you join us and make a gift of $100 to $1,000 or more today? Donate!

Endeavors Circle

Join us as we launch a monthly giving circle to share our blessings. We are called to build up the Body of Christ, the Church. At eChange Endeavors we do this by supporting widows, single parents, orphans and those with disabilities either directly or through local Catholic institutions. We seek to leverage previous investments made in education, personal development or institutional capacities to ensure those at risk won’t fall by the wayside. Together we are helping to transform problems into opportunities inspiring hope and strengthening community!

We help hardworking mothers such as Gloria to ensure they can provide for their children. When she needed a hip replacement surgery due to an accident, we stepped in to help. We also supported Pascal to finish University after his Mother died and his Father was no longer able to generate enough income for both him and his younger brother who was still attending high school. When Esther’s husband died, we assisted with food and helped her start a micro business. Later when the eldest reached high school we helped with the higher fees. We have given a small grant to Children’s Community Care to finish a classroom for children with mental disabilities so that mothers would have a safe, clean, and stimulating environment in which to leave their children while they went to work in the street markets.

We also raise funds for OcerCampion Jesuit College both scholarships and an additional housing for international volunteers to work at the school. We are seeking resources for technology and textbooks for St Athanasius Primary School, which serves mostly poor families living in the slums of Kampala. St. Elizabeth’s Home & Vocational Institute rescues young women from the streets, trafficking and prostitution. We are seeking to raise funds for a solar solution and sewing machines so that local money collected can feed and support more women. We are seeking to help rural health clinics diversify their service capabilities to create a more sustainable model. None of these good works would be possible without your generous support over time.

So join us today and become part of our circle of giving to ensure we can say YES to helping our brothers and sisters in Uganda when we receive their requests. To join simply click on our DONATE button that will take you to a PayPal payment page. You can pay via PayPal, credit or debit card. Just make sure to tick the box for re-occurring payments and your giving will be automatically processed each month.

$10/month enables an entrepreneur to start or grow a microenterprise

$20/month enables young adults to participate in Catholic youth camps

$25/month provides one teacher with a mini-laptop

$30/month supports a student in primary school

$50/month provides a small grant to a health clinic or partner

Thank you for becoming part of our Endeavors Circle of love and hope in the world!

Girl’s School in Uganda Needs Solar Solution to Offset Costs

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QsZ8A7Nb4U&w=560&h=315]

St Elizabeth’s Home & Vocational School gives young women a second chance at life. The St Elizabeth team rescues young women from the streets, human trafficking and prostitution in Kampala Uganda. They provide love, a safe place to live, food, counseling, life skills, and income-generating skills, such as sewing and baking. St Elizabeth’s is seeking $5000 for an electrical solar solution and industrial sewing machines. Our investment in this solar infrastructure enables them to apply all locally raised resources towards food, mattresses, personal necessities, and teaching resources to increase their outreach and impact.

Will you join hands to help give these young women a second chance at life? Donate Today!

Let Us Join Our Hands Together

Girls leave their homes because of families difficulties, death of a parent, promises of opportunities for work, and the lure of lights for the big city. Yet when they arrive in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, they quickly realize it is not as they had hoped. They have no resources and no where to turn, so they end up on the streets vulnerable to abuse, domestic servitude, prostitution or trafficking to another country. Good Samaritan Sisters and their team go out on the streets nightly to find these girls and rescue them. They offer them a home, medical care, counseling, spiritual guidance, and the opportunity to learn a skill or two that they can use to earn income. When possible, they help to settle the girls back home in a way that enables them to help the family. In a nut shell, they restore the girls dignity and renew their hope!

Will you join hands with these deeply committed Good Samaritan Sisters to help give these girls a second chance? Here are a few ways you can help:

$25 buys supplies for 1 baking, sewing or salon class

$50 enables the Sister’s to take one new girl in from the streets

$60 supports one girl in the program for one month

$100 provides food for seven girls for one week

$200 covers the salary for one teacher for a month

$500 buys one new industrial sewing machine

$3000 covers the cost of solar system

Together we have raised $550 for Simon Peter. However, he still needs $850 more to help him finish his University degree and fulfill his dream to become a high school teacher. Please join us by giving or sharing his story with others today!!

Gloria’s Story

Thank you for your prayers and support for our recent visit to Uganda. Here is our first video telling Gloria’s story. We hope you enjoy getting to know her.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B9AtRbzzZg]

Donate Today!

Please share the video with your family and friends, as you never know who might be touched and inspired by her journey with Christ. Her faithfulness and hopefulness in God despite her challenges inspires me daily!

Currently, we have raised $1200 of the $2000 required to cover her hip surgery. Please help us to raise the remaining $800 by giving, sharing and praying for Gloria.

Blessings of Mercy upon you!

When did I see you sick?

Unexpected medical crises send a family quickly into a downward spiral of economic depletion, poverty and hopelessness. As we enter into Holy Week, the pain of the Passion gives way to the joy of Easter. Let us help bring renewed hope to our sisters and brothers in Christ suffering with health issues.

“And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did for one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me.'” Matthew 25:40

Gloria is a single mother in her early thirties who has been disabled since she was 11 IMG_9712 Gloria face shot years old. She was the victim of a traumatic boda-boda accident that shattered her right hip. Already an orphan, the extended family had no resources for her care, so the hip became infected and dysfunctional. This in turn affected the growth of her right leg. In 2011, she was in dire need of hip surgery now for her left hip as it had born the brunt of 17 years of the right hip not functioning properly. We raised resources for her initial hip replacement surgery. Since she was forced to leave school after primary three, she is only qualified to do manual labor. She works as a nanny and sews beautiful bags and clothes to provide an income for her and her child. This type of manual labor has caused problems and the hip now requires re-cementing. It costs $2000 for this follow-on surgery in Uganda. She is living in pain everyday until the surgery can be performed. Help Gloria come pain free again with your contribution today!

Donate Now!

Simon Peter is another young, dynamic catholic your leader who participated in our Youth Building Peace program. His Father was diagnosed with esophagus cancer in 2015. Consequently, all the available family resources have been put towards his father’s surgery and treatments, which he is still on-going. This has left no resources for Simon Peter to finish his B.A. in Education at St Lawrence University in Uganda. He is only four months from graduating and being able to work as a secondary teacher, and able to contribute back to his family. He needs $1500 to settle all is outstanding university fees for the year. Help Simon Peter graduate in May and begin teaching the next generation of youth!

Donate Now!

Ann Ruth, a dynamic Catholic youth leader in Uganda, only 28 years of age, was diagnosed in November 2015 with 3rd stage bladder cancer after nearly nine months of ill health and testing. The only treatment available required that she fly to India for innovative surgery and recovery. This health crisis has put the family in debt $21,000US. While gratefully she is recovering well, the family is now burden with this enormous debt. We are seeking to raising $7,000 to cover one-third of it for the family. Help AnnRuth and her family get out of debt and back to building their family together!

Donate Now!

With only a little amount you can make a radical difference in the lives of these families, today and for generations to come. As we close Lent I invite you to inspire hope in these families by giving today!

Thank you for keeping all our grant recipients and their families in your prayers!