A Summer with Educate!
This summer Educate! experienced some incredible firsts—most notably hosting many first time visitors from the U.S. (along with some great returnees) and throwing our First Annual Job Creators BBQ. We felt so fortunate to meet and interact with our U.S. visitors who have supported us so much from afar. They have volunteered their time, energy, expertise and finances to help us run our programs for over 1,300 youth here in Uganda. So, we wanted to show our guests just where all their efforts have been going!
Our guests visited classes with our Mentors and had a chance to interact one-on-one with some of our students. They toured projects run by our students in their home villages. They ran workshops with our staff to build skills and capacity within our organization, and they sat in on weekly meetings to learn more about the daily operations of Educate!. Some of our visitors even braved a rafting trip on the Nile and trekked Bwindi National Park to catch a sneak peak of the gorillas in their home territory!
The exciting few months with our guests culminated in the much-anticipated First Annual Job Creators BBQ that Educate! hosted to celebrate and support our youth. The BBQ was well attended by a diverse group of Educate! supporters including students, teachers, government officials, diplomats, NGO workers, and many of our closest friends!
The event kicked off with a rousing brass-band performance by Educate! students from M-LISADA, an orphanage focused on cultivating art and music skills in children formerly living on the streets. We were then serenaded by up-and-coming Ugandan rock-star Rachel K who captivated us with her original compositions.
Rachel then jump-started our auction by auctioning off singing lessons to the highest bidder. A series of activities were auctioned off to raise money to support our programs. With activities such as salsa dancing lessons, dinner at an upscale restaurant, a home cooked brunch and most impressively lunch with the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, we were able to raise over $600!
The event concluded with a beautiful performance from Ugandan singer Tshila, who dazzled us with songs in French, English and Luganda! It was truly a remarkable day thanks to the wonderful performers and people in attendance.
With this exciting summer coming to a close, the whole Educate! team is feeling inspired and ready to reach even greater heights in the coming year! Thank you to all of our supporters in the U.S. and Uganda who are motivating us to constantly strive for greater results and last impact!
Thank you to David, Jim, Ellen, Debby, Matt, Linda, Tom, Skylar, Kyle, Mike, Bo, and Win for venturing all the way out here to visit us! And thank you to Jordyn, Karti, Rives, Melanie, Liz and Kathlyn for working with us and donating so much of your time to improve the work we’re doing! We hope to see you all again soon.