Cart

Education

by

Our seamstress in training program provides teen girls with a way to move from poverty to prosperity. On June 13, we honor an invention that provides a living for so many.

Quick History

An English man, Thomas Saint designed the first sewing machine of its kind in 1790, and 61 years later Isaac Singer patented the first version of the modern day sewing machine featuring a foot pedal and the up-and-down needle, and created a economic way to bring them into the home. If you want to see a fascinating timeline on the history, click here.

Our Program

These days, a sewing and tailoring career in Uganda is in demand, and a vocation we teach at St. Elizabeth’s Girls Academy. The girls learn how to operate a sewing machine, how to make straight lines without and with a ruler, and how to cut different cloth fabrics. They then graduate to the tailoring part of the training and start creating tops, skirts and dresses. Some of the machines they use are a Singer foot pedal because electric is unreliable.

Girls don’t always get a chance to complete school because of lack of funds to pay for an education. Uganda has no government sponsored free schooling like other countries. Everyone must pay to get an education there. So, with a sewing machine and vocation training we provide for free, one can pay the bills and live a simple life. Armed with a needle and thread, girls in our program receive a hand up on their path to providing for themselves.

Check out the video Father Mugagga took this past February. The girls were taking exams to graduate or move onto the next level in their education. When girls leave our care with this skill they become tailors and sewists. More importantly, they have acquired a skill that provides hope.

You can help me stitch a future for our girls. $240 a year supports one girl’s dream to become self-sufficient in a career tailor-made for her.

Stitching together hope,
Cristen Lyn

by

Hi EveryBunny!

It’s Easter and what does this holiday mean? Easter is the gift of hope, peace, love, happiness and new beginnings. That means taking time to celebrate your life.

This weekend take time to count your blessings, no matter how small or large. It’s been 12 months of ups and downs in all our lives. In Uganda, schools like ours closed and education stopped. Our Ugandan family is looking forward to a time when they can gather again. In fact, Father Mugagga is headed to Uganda to check on the orphaned children that remained housed at our schools.

Our children are striving toward a new beginning by receiving an education to make their dreams come true. Their dreams are often what some people take for granted – the opportunity to learn, work, laugh, smile, make friends and live an independent life. They strive to better themselves, so they are able to be an inspiration and sign of hope to others who are looking for more out of life.

The children in our program bring joy and happiness to my life every day. While we are able to help change their lives for the better, they have also changed my life dramatically and provided me a greater purpose. I look forward to new beginnings as our schools continue to help children joyfully and optimistically move on to the next stage in their life. We can’t wait for education to return to their lives.

What new beginnings are you looking forward to as we emerge from some dark times? What makes you happy? Let’s celebrate the joyous moments and look forward to new beginnings whether it’s in your career, family, friends or any change in your life.

Blessings,
Cristen Lyn

Sponsor a Child’s New Beginning
by
St. Elizabeth Girls Academy culinary student smiling at camera

The holidays are upon us and busy days have begun – making plans, cooking, shopping, wrapping presents and trying to make sure everyone is happy. Some days it seems like no matter how much you get done, the ‘to-do’ list never ends.

No matter how busy you are, remember to relax, breathe and take time for yourself. Reflect on your blessings and everything you have to be thankful for. Carve time out of your schedule to help others. Giving to others in need will awaken something deep in your soul and fill a special part in your heart that you didn’t know was empty.

St. Elizabeth Girls Academy culinary student smiling at camera

A large part of my life path has been growing a peaceful existence; one that allows me to make a difference in the world, paving a path to better the lives of children brings me the utmost amount of peace. It brings my heart a world of peace and much joy to offer less fortunate children stability to allow them the opportunity to act like children and experience a ‘peace of mind.’

Peace starts within you. Without your inner peace, outer peace is impossible. I find this to be the number one lesson I have learned from the kids we serve in our orphanages and schools. Life is hard. It’s not always smiles. These kids came from some of the toughest places imaginable. Homeless, hungry, lacking education or family support. Through all their hardships, they stood strong in the face of adversity, and they envisioned a better life for themselves. They did not give up. They will not give up.

With all of the conflict in the world, we need to bring more giving and peace into our lives, no matter how large or small. In a blink of an eye we’ll be celebrating the start of a new year, and I hope it brings you vision, clarity, and strength. I hope you can stand strong to face the obstacles in your way. I hope you can find the strength to do the things you think you can’t, and continue doing the things you know you can.

Taking a lesson from our kids, I resolve to stand strong. I resolve to stand strong in all that I do. I resolve to stand strong for others who need the hand up, by continuing to continue raising money and fighting for orphaned children in Uganda.

Will you resolve to stand strong with me? Stand strong for yourself and for the less fortunate. Find a charity, family, or individual to help this holiday season: whether it’s buying someone’s groceries, making a donation, or volunteering your time for a good cause.

In Gratitude and Love,
Cristen Lyn

by

Dignity – The quality of being worthy of esteem or respect.

While we may not think about the word dignity often, it plays such a large part in the way we live our lives. Having dignity gives one a sense of worth, confidence, and respect for who they are as a person. This is important to understand because without dignity, our lives feel incomplete and worthless.

So, how does someone have dignity? This can happen many ways but the three most fundamental are feeling like you’re being heard, valued, and treated as an equal. Based on this, if you were to ask citizens of Uganda if they believed that they had the opportunities to achieve dignity, many of them would most likely say no.

This is especially true with the children we support. Due to non-existent government provided social services including education, the extreme poverty cycle continues with no way to break out. Schools like ours are the only way out.

Dignity transformations happen BECAUSE we educate orphaned children who grow up to be productive members of their society, and then are able to provide their children with an education to do the same.

Countless children at our schools are found on the streets, orphaned, or selling their bodies so that they can keep themselves alive. They have no sense of dignity because they don’t have access to environments that build them up through love, knowledge, and mutual respect. This is one of the many reasons we take them in, as we believe dignity is a human right.

Our Model at St. Elizabeth Girls Academy

  • take orphaned girls off the streets
  • socialization and trauma processing
  • vocational school or high school with an opportunity to attend college
  • job placement
  • post-graduation mentoring

Our Model at Kankobe Children’s Home (orphaned children from infants to the 5th grade)

  • therapeutic support
  • housing
  • education
  • upon aging out girls are placed at St. Elizabeth Girls Academy, boys a vocational or high school

Nearly 49 percent of Uganda’s estimated 45 million are under age of 15. Ugandan children are the single largest demographic living in poverty.

If you would like to join us on our dignity mission, please consider donating. The funds we receive from readers like you go towards building strong children.

Donate Today

Love and Blessings,
Cristen Lyn

by

Though Uganda’s economy is slowly beginning to improve with a 6.7 percent increase to their GDP in the last decade, the poorest areas in the country aren’t benefiting from this new boom.

Why is this? Because the new industries moving into Uganda require skilled labor forces, and the poverty-stricken areas have a severe lack of resources to learn these skills. This creates unfair barriers for those that are looking and willing to work, but unable to receive proper training.

Seeing the gap in education and the need for people to fulfill these positions, the Ugandan government has opened specialized vocational schools for people to learn skills in agriculture, construction, manufacturing, tourism, hospitality, and oil processing, one of Uganda’s most profitable ventures. These new programs are giving many the chance to succeed that did not exist prior to this boom. A handful of these programs are even giving international certificates which means that some will have the ability to work in other countries, opening them up to even more possibilities.

The decision to invest in education is also a good move by the Ugandan government as the country also has one of the youngest populations in the world, with over 78% of the population being under the age of 30 and around 70% of them being unemployed. By opening these vocational schools and investing in their younger age group, Uganda has the capability to reach upper-middle-income status by 2040. This will increase the overall income margin for a vast majority of the country’s residents.

Seeing how education and training vastly impacts someone’s way of life in Uganda, Hope for Hearts mission is to set our children up for success and give them the ability to secure these new types of positions. We invest in the youth not only because it will benefit them, but also Uganda as a country. With more skilled people in the workforce, Uganda’s up and coming industries will continue to prosper, creating an environment with less poverty, death, and orphaned children. Having more youth in schools also provides them with a safe environment, preventing them from getting recruited from armed forces or having to turn to low paying or demeaning jobs like prostitution.

In order to create opportunities for Uganda’s youth to survive and thrive, Hope for Hearts provides the resources and programs children need to learn relevant and useful skills. This includes courses in hospitality, cooking, and sewing to give the girls at St. Elizabeth’s the means to thrive in Uganda’s newly growing economy.

This younger generation has the capability to transform their nation, we just need to ensure that they are given the opportunity to do so.  Hope for Hearts wants to help the most poverty-stricken areas rise to these new standards, as no child should be left behind or forgotten.

Wishing you peace, happiness, and health,
Cristen Lyn