Choose Joy - t-shirts to raise funds for adoption!

I have not fallen off the planet, despite me seeming to have, given the serious lack of attention to my blog here! I want to start blogging again but then life gets so busy. So here I am! And I have a few announcements to make, but let me make them day by day...

First, the most wonderful news is that I have adopted a beautiful 11-year old Batwa girl who was a "double orphan" (both parents gone) from the village where I have worked in Southwest Uganda the past few years. She has lived with me for more than a year and we finalized the adoption in Uganda (but not yet in the US) in November last year. So blessed! However, to offset the costs of lawyer fees, visas, and an upcoming trip to America (her first of course), I'm raising funds. I have a T-shirt fundraiser that will run for just 13 more days.

Below are a few pics of the colors and styles available, and let me say, they are gorgeous!! My bio daughter Savannah designed the logo - she is so talented (she also had designed our RedemptionSongFoundation.org logo). I had the idea for the dandelion and using the Choose Joy saying which of course is part of my daughter's name - Joyce - plus a hat tip to Joy, a Batwa lady from my village who recently joined the angels in heaven.

Shipping is only $4.97 no matter HOW many you order! And these below are just SOME of the items. "Joyce Adoption Fundraiser" on Bonfire.com

Women's cut

Women's flowy tank

Women's flowy tank in Coral

 Unisex V-neck in Espresso

 Hoodie in green

Youth T

Women's cut in neon green

Youth T in purple

Many more -- please buy by March 8th! 

https://www.bonfire.com/joyce-adoption-fundraising-with-t-s/

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Artisan Co-op photo album online!

The Redemption Song Foundation started two artisan co-oops benefitting the impoverished communities surrounding Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. One co-op serves Karehe village, home to 11 families of Batwa or Twa "pygmies", an indigenous people who were evicted from their forest where they lived from time immemorial as hunter-gatherers when Bwindi Natl Park was established in 1991. Another includes non-Batwa women in Buhoma, Nkwenda and Rugando villages.

Post by Redemption Song Foundation.

Net proceeds from artisan sales are pooled & the basket weaving artisans decide how to spend it, with the caveat the money goes to better the community. In Karehe, we are discussing "kits" for each family that will have some basic supplies they cant afford, like basins for washing, new plates and cups and utensils, towels for drying off, or drilling a well or connecting the community's water supply closer so they don't have to get their water from a river that people urinate and defecate and wash in. The village decides! That is the core of the Redemption Song Foundation philosophy! In fact, from the first round of sales for Batwa, they decided to build a bridge across Munyaga river so they don't have to wade which is a serious danger for kids in the rainy season. Comment on the item you want to order, plus message me here your shipping address so I can estimate shipping (US addresses only, or Uganda addresses). If you cant comment, message me or email me at redemptionsongfoundation@gmail.com Even if you're not on Facebook this should be viewable, without the need to join FB!

Redemption Song Foundation hard at work!

Selfie of myself and Moses, a Twa child, on the way to his first day at boarding school with his best friends!

I have been remiss about blogging but busy in Uganda getting the Redemption Song Foundation (RSF) off the ground. Things are going great, but there's only one of me, and so much to do! Please check out the RSF Facebook page, for ongoing photos and stories of our work on the ground, with the Batwa (Twa) "forest pygmy" population around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and other marginalized and impoverished communities. We are now officially approved as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so any donations are tax deductible. Join us in Giving Hope by Building Healthy Communities and Sustainable Ecosystems! We have a women's artisan co-op -- you can order products via commenting on the Facebook page and they'll be shipped to you after payment is received! Check below for all the people-clothing, hungry child-feeding, getting kids in school-doing, hope-giving, basket-weaving, income-generating, latrine-digging in preparation for house-building and classroom-building we are doing with the photos below (or on the Facebook page).

Mutwa (Mutwa is the singular of Batwa or Twa) child Beckham, who I adore! You will recognize him as the "face" of the Redemption Song Foundation on the website, and RSF Facebook page, and one of the 2 kids who really inspired my move to Uganda.

Beckham and his brother Shivan -- such cutie pies!
 My latest two articles:

• The WASH Approach: Fighting Waterborne Disease in Emergency Situations. To report this story, Wendee Nicole visited two refugee settlements in Northern Uganda, Arua District’s Rhino Camp and the settlements of Adjumani District. She celebrated Global Handwashing Day 2014 with dozens of young children at Rhino Camp. Environmental Health Perspectives Jan 2015 plus many of my images! PDF version here
• Is the Human Cost of Saving Gorillas Too High? Forest dwellers known as Pygmies were evicted when their homes became national parks a generation ago. Now they're fighting back. My feature published at Take Part on Nov 25 2014 plus a photo gallery of my images: Up Close & Personal with Endangered Gorillas.

At the Redemption Song Foundation, I have been busy...
Giving boys and girls a safe and fun place to play (my yard!).

Building the 5th grade (primary 5) classroom at the Rugando Parents School, starting a "classroom sponsorship" program & giving hygiene packs for girls who menstruate so they don't drop out of school.

Giving kids' shoes for school, and...

clothing for boys and girls (dress here and many others donated by Made with Love).

Feeding hungry kids,

Including some who were left alone, who were way too young to be left alone...(and playing with my two sweet kitties, Amashemererwe and Rokundo)

Washing kids (with warm water!) or giving them a place to clean (in the shower here), if older.

And trimming toenails and fingernails to help prevent "jigger" infestations.

Starting a women's artisan coop which pays women directly a fair price

and raises additional money to be spent as the coop decides.

Getting kids in school, including these three wonderful Batwa ("pygmy") boys, who I am so proud of. They started Bishop's boarding school yesterday, and had dropped from school altogether before this.

Helping parents enroll their families in health insurance, and getting kids to the hospital for care, like sweet Beckham...

   

who has an unusually large belly, full of worms. And we had him treated for malnourishment a few months back. This is him on the way, they stopped to bathe in the river (I know, I know... old habits die slowly)

And facilitating the Batwa men and community to build a pit latrine,

 

and covering it so kids don't fall in,

So this young boy Moses (far left) and his mom don't have to live in a stick teepee, hopefully by the time the rainy season comes in March. Join us, we welcome donations and need volunteers who are good at ... updating websites, starting a Mail Chimp newsletter, running the RSF Twitter feed, doing accounting or just working with Excel spreadsheets with financial info, and much more!

Visiting Refugees from South Sudan

Recently I visited two refugee settlements in Northern Uganda to report a story - Adjumani and Arua's Rhino Camp. This shot is from Adjumani's Ayilo settlement camp in North Uganda. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled from South Sudan -- the world's youngest nation (formed in July 2011) -- after violence erupted in Dec 2013 and early 2014. Around 60,000 live in the Adjumani settlement which is unlike a traditional refugee camp in that they live on land donated by nationals (Ugandans) and have land to grow crops and build temporary homes. All photos Copyright (c) 2014 Wendee Nicole

Young girls from the Ayilo settlement.

Big smile!

Love this shot of this young refugee boy.

I turned around as we were walking and a line of boys were following!

Boys will be boys!

Getting water from a tap stand. The yellow plastic jugs are called "jerry cans" and they are what everyone in Uganda uses to collect water for drinking, cooking and cleaning.

Me and some of the sweet refugee children at Adjumani.

A "tippy tap" is a contraption made for making it easier for people to wash their hands!

The Baratuku settlement camp is in a beautiful spot.

A colorful lizard on the rocks

The River Nile from Baratuku

This boy was perched on a boat on the River Nile, which we crossed by ferry going from Arua's Rhino Camp (pics below) to Adjumani.

After he jumped in! 

The sunset was beautiful over the Nile.

When I arrived, the first place we visited was actually "Rhino Camp" near Arua. There are no rhinos anymore, they all went extinct! Here they were celebrating Global Handwashing Day at one of the "child friendly spaces" with songs, dance, and a march.

Girls performing a song about the importance of washing hands to change their lives for the better.

Kids checking out the posters.

Kids watching the performance.

Breastfeeding is encouraged in women for healthy children!

The boys seemed more "worldly" than the kids in my area of Uganda. They all made hand signs when I'd photograph them. I got them singing songs in their local language for me right away! It was fun. I got some cool videos.

More of the refugee kids making signs for the pictures.

This woman is so picturesque! She and the boys played drums. It was a really wonderful week, and Oxfam, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) & the Uganda Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) have done a lot for these refugees since the chaotic beginning early this year. It hasn't received a lot of media attention in the U.S. but it was a major humanitarian crisis, which still hasn't stemmed in South Sudan.