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They say the best way to understand a culture is through the cuisine, and we believe this to be wholeheartedly true.

The importance and independence of cooking is why Hope for Hearts has created a culinary training program for our girls at St. Elizabeth’s Academy. The girls are trained in practical cooking experience to help provide a valuable skill to their local communities upon graduation. Many alumni have fulfilled their dreams of opening their own food stands.

Ugandan food varies from the simplistic to the exciting. The basics being a type of maize porridge called ugali served with a peanut stew and topped with chicken, goat or tiger fish.

Their national dish is one of the oldest in the world and one of the most versatile. The matooke, a green banana found in East Africa, is considered a staple of most diets. Unlike traditional bananas, the flavor is savory like a plantain, making them perfect as a focal point for many meals. They are usually served boiled and mashed alongside stews.

Some Ugandan street food favorites are barbequed meat on a stick (Muchomo), African donuts (Mandazi), and samosas. The influence of Indian cuisine is prominent in Uganda due to the large immigrant population in the country.

The most popular street food dish is a rolled egg called a rolex. It begins with 2-3 eggs that are cooked like an omelet and is then stuffed with cabbage, tomato and onion. It is then combined with a chapati before serving.

The recipe we have chosen is a spicy banana curry that gives you a taste of Uganda with a fuller, more exciting flavor. The original recipe says to serve it over basmati rice, but if you want a more authentic meal, you can pair it with ugali instead.

Spicy Banana Curry

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup sunflower seed oil
  • 2 onions, diced
  • ½ cup curry powder
  • 1 ½ tablespoons ground cumin
  • 4 teaspoons ground turmeric
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground black pepper
  • 4 teaspoons curry paste
  • 8 cloves garlic, pressed
  • 1 (10 ounce) can tomato sauce
  • 2/3 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 bananas, diced
  • 3 tomatoes, chopped
  • ¼ cup flaked coconut

Directions

  1. Heat the sunflower oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Stir in onions, and cool until they are translucent and soft (about 5 minutes).
  3. Sprinkle in curry powder, cumin, turmeric, salt, sugar, ginger, chili powder, cinnamon and black pepper.
  4. Cook and stir until fragrant (about 1 minute).
  5. Stir in the curry paste and pressed garlic.
  6. Cook for about 1 minute.
  7. Pour in the tomato sauce and yogurt, bring to a simmer.
  8. Stir in the diced banana, and simmer gently for 3 minutes.
  9. Mix in chopped tomatoes and continue to simmer for another minute.
  10. Stir in the coconut flakes just before serving.

We hope you enjoy your taste of Ugandan culture. We believe our training programs set our children up for success, and helps break the cycle of poverty. If you would like to sponsor a child please visit our donation page.

Peace and Love,
Cristen Lyn

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Recently I shared some insights on birthdays that were turned into national holidays. We discussed a few great, well-known, world leaders who earned a holiday in their honor. Jesus, Gandhi, George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. If you haven’t had a chance to read that blog, take a look here.

I want to share another story about an ordinary person, who became so extraordinary they too, were honored with a day for their life’s work – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

Avila Pakir Jainulabdeen (A. P. J.) Abdul Kalam was a well-loved and prominent political figure in India, having served as President from 2002-2007. But his path to the presidency was far from easy. His father was a ferry owner and imam of a local mosque, and his mother was a housewife. He was the youngest of 5 siblings. While his ancestors were at one time wealthy, they eventually lost their family fortune. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s family became so poor that from an early age he had to sell newspapers to help pay for his education and take care of his family.

Kalam worked and studied his way through good education and eventually graduated in Aerospace Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology. He served as the project director of India’s first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV II), and was Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India. He was widely known as “The People’s President,” and dedicated much of his life to education, writing and public service. He wrote several books and spent every moment he could speaking with students from remote villages to big universities.

There’s no doubt that A. P. J. Abdul Kalam would not have been as successful in his life if he hadn’t worked so hard to support his own education as a child. And you can tell he knew it by his dedication to teaching the next generation of students from all walks of life. His story has served as an inspiration for millions of students, and will continue to do so for years to come. For his dedication to education, in

2010 the United Nations named October 15 “World Students’ Day” in honor of A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s birthday.

In every student there is a future leader. From political figures to educators, scientists to small business owners, every leader has a role to play in making the world a better place. The American Dream has always been about turning rags into riches through hard work and dedication. What is often taken for granted in this scenario is access to at minimum a basic education. If you can’t learn to read and write, perform basic math tasks, etc. Your chances of finding a vocation that will lift you up in life becomes extraordinarily harder.

For country’s that are experiencing major atrocities on the home front, such as India or Africa, education most often takes a major back seat to securing basic necessities such as finding food and shelter. For every child that does not have access to education, the cycle of poverty continues. Whether it’s traditional or vocational, education is a barrier to entry to lifting children up from poverty to prosperity.

So in honor of World Students’ Day, won’t you help us take away this barrier for more children in the world? By making a donation to Hope for Hearts, you are providing the tools our kids desperately need to take them off the streets and give them a hand up to be the best leaders they can be in their community.

Donate Today

Humbly Yours,
Cristen Lyn

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Every 40 seconds, someone loses their life to suicide. Take a moment to think about that. I know it may be hard. Perhaps you’ve lost a friend or loved-one to suicide, or feel for those who have… for the people who felt they had no other options. It’s a difficult topic to explore, but it’s worth discussing in honor of World Mental Health Day.

Today is World Mental Health Day, a day to pause and reflect on mental health-related issues. This year’s theme is “Working together to prevent suicide.” Mental health is not a subject we often explore on this blog, but it is very much worth discussing. Father Mugaga and the nuns who care for the students in our schools not only have the task of feeding, sheltering, and educating these children, but also caring for their mental health and well-being. This care often includes helping children heal from traumatic pasts and the toll the past has taken on their mental health.

The children at our schools are all orphans who have faced several traumatic events in their lives. As a nation, Uganda is still facing several major issues including war, extreme poverty, the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases, etc. The impact of these tragedies has been widespread, but the most pertinent impact has been the deaths of so many citizens. One of the results of the unfortunate death toll in these cases is that children face uncertain futures, moving from family member to family member, until there is no one left to care for them. In addition to unstable caretakers, some children suffer from abusive caregivers before arriving at the orphanage.

Children who lack a consistent caregiver can develop disrupted attachment, which means that it is hard for children to form trusting, secure bonds with adults. The children have learned through lived experience that they can lose their caregiver at any moment, so they can develop significant difficulty attaching to other adults. Disrupted attachment is a severe form of trauma for children, leaving them to feel unsafe, unprotected, and vulnerable. This, combined with previous trauma that they have already likely experienced (war, poverty, disease, loss), leads to mental health symptoms that make it difficult for the children to function in a healthy way. Untreated trauma in children tends to mimic the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. They can demonstrate difficulty managing their behavior, with poor impulse control, inattention, hyperactivity, and defiance. This behavior makes it extremely difficult for the student to focus, but also interferes with the learning environment for the other children in the classroom. Often this can lead to a classroom in which the teacher is spending a significant amount of learning time redirecting the traumatized student’s behavior instead of teaching.

Poor mental health can have a major impact on everyone in the classroom, not just the affected child. Teaching and care-taking in an environment filled with traumatized children requires special people who understand mental health and the need for care and patience, rather than punishment. For the children in our schools, those people are Father Mugaga and the nuns who dedicate their lives to caring for these wonderful children. As much as we focus on the need to clothe, feed, and educate these children, their mental and spiritual well-being is also a priority. These children come to us at one of, if not the, most vulnerable points in their life. Many of them feel like they are broken, possibly seeing suicide as the only respite from life on the streets. Our schools give them shelter, love, and, most importantly, hope.

Although mental health is a primary concern for the children at our schools, it is difficult to concentrate on alleviating mental health symptoms when basic needs are unmet. This is where your help can make a huge impact on the long-term outcomes for these children. You can join Father Mugaga and the nuns and make a difference in the lives of these children, impacting generations to come. You can help our children focus on healing their mental health by making a donation to help provide for their shelter, food, and education. These donations allow them to truly focus on the important work of healing and practicing self-care at our schools, enabling them to learn, grow, and thrive.

For the truly disadvantaged in Uganda, counseling and therapy can be hard to access. However, as is true for the rest of the world, there are everyday things we can all do to help. In addition to donating to our children, there are also things you can also do on the home front to increase positive mental health for those around you. Think about all the self-care tips you’ve heard in your lifetime. Do you sometimes find yourself lacking the motivation to do some of these things? Perhaps you could use an extra push in the right direction? Be that motivation for someone else.

Today, in honor of World Mental Health Day, flip the script on suicide. Take 40 seconds to reach out to your friends and loved ones, especially those you may not have talked to in a while. Take the time to check-in with them and be there when needed. Show you really care by actively listening to them, and being there for them, without judgment. Break up their routine. Invite them to go to a yoga or tai chi class. Invite them to connect over a meal. Invite them to family game night. Invite them.

You never know the power a simple gesture of care and kindness can have on a life.

With love and gratitude,
Cristen Lyn

P.S. For more information on WHO’s A day for “40 seconds of action” to prevent suicide, click here

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Two balloons with peace written on them

What do George Washington, Martin Luther King. Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, and Jesus all have in common? They’re not just some of the most famous names known to the US and, in some cases, world-wide. Yes, all of these men were great and well-renowned for their achievements in life. And it’s because of these achievements, they are on the same list – people with whom holidays have been named after them and are celebrated on their birthday.

Prominent figures throughout history have had holidays named after them. George Washington’s Birthday is better known as President’s Day, celebrating the first President of the United States of America. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrating his life accomplishments to end racial segregation and work towards racial equality in the US. The most notable on this list – Jesus Christ. His life work is celebrated in more than 160 countries every Dec. 25.

These are all great men in history, who passionately worked towards creating a better world for mankind. Their holidays are all well known and celebrated, but did you know about International Day of Non-Violence? This day was named after Mahatma Gandhi, and thus why he is on this list. Gandhi worked tirelessly to promote peace and non-violence on this earth. And just in case he isn’t already immortalized enough through his acts and reputation, in 2007 the United Nations named October 2, Gandhi’s Birthday, the International Day of Non-Violence.

Two balloons with peace written on them

Gandhi took a country in political turmoil and saw that the way out was not through war and conflict, but peace and understanding. Instead of resorting to physical violence, he advocated non-violent methods including peaceful protest, persuasion, non-cooperation, and non-violent intervention such as marches and blockades.

Important to this steadfast belief that peace could be achieved through non-violent means was Gandhi’s belief in faith.

“Non-violence requires a double faith. Faith in God, and faith in man.”
– Mahatma Gandhi

Non-violence involves a certain inherent amount of trust that the person(s) you are practicing non-violence towards will not react in a violent matter themselves. There is a faith you put in God to guide everyone on the right path, and a faith you put in your fellow man (or woman), not to stray from that path.

So, which path will you choose? If society were to honor you with a day to celebrate your life’s accomplishments, what would we celebrate? I like to think the kids in our schools would be celebrated and remembered for their steadfast commitment to peace, and independence through education.

Father Mugaga and the nuns who care for these children will forever be remembered by many for their non-violent work to combat the aftermath of war in a time of political unrest. They take children off the street who otherwise may have been subject to a lifetime of corruption from warlords or slavery through inadequate education, and provide them with a hand up to the prosperity of an independent life.

Kids are the future of Africa. Among them there is the next political leader who will bring peace to the country through governmental change. There is the next doctor who will save countless lives and limbs of innocent victims harmed by the violent acts of war. They are the next era of business leaders who will know what it’s like to live in poverty, and thus strive to treat their employees very well. Because they remember what it was like to worry about finding their next meal, or shelter from a storm, and they will do everything they can to ensure nobody else has to go through the trauma they did.

These changes may be small when you look at the challenges of an entire country. But over time, and student by student, change will happen. The staff and students at our schools practice the value of peace through non-violent means every day. And eventually that will make the world a better place. Who knows, maybe one day one of them will go on to make such a profound impact on the world that they get a national or international holiday named after them. Be a part of making the next historic happy birthday. Sponsor a child now at https://hope4hearts.org/donate/.

Peace and Love,
Cristen Lyn

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Children at Uganda orphanage

Education is paramount.

Hope for Hearts is one of thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Uganda working to prevent future generations of children from ending up on the streets.

This is a child we are talking about, a child that if provided the means to an education can soar into a thriving member of society. A child who is living on the street, eating out of trash cans, prostituting and begging for food. These children have landed on the streets, some by personal choice to leave abusive and neglect homes with hopes to raise their life status from poverty; and others by death of a parent(s) due to civil wars and diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis, cholera and dysentery.

Children are the single largest demographic group living in poverty in Uganda. Nearly 72 percent of Uganda’s estimated 45 million are under age 24, and of that nearly 49 percent are under 15 years old.

Children at Uganda orphanage

Uganda is a country where the government does not provide any social services. Hope for Hearts currently works direct with orphanages and schools that target street children in Kampala and surrounding rural areas. In this city particular, as a social-economic transformation takes time to progress, the livelihood needs of these orphaned children are at the mercy of NGOs and donors like us.

Here’s a fact: NGOs seeking to support street children face threat of criminal sanction for offering assistance. Hope for Hearts helps schools that are operated lovingly by local nuns, and have not been disrupted by the corrupt officials or rebel factions engaged in civil war.

The future goal is to create more schools using this model to help meet the educational needs and emotional support for more orphaned children in Uganda. Our proven formula, has delivered a 90% graduation rate.

Hope for Hearts carries very little administrative costs, and donations go directly into supporting the necessities and education for orphaned children.

You have the opportunity to provide a life-giving gift to a child. Empower an orphan child through the gift of education.

DONATE TODAY