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76: A Mission To Create Hope and Transform Lives in Uganda (Part 2)
158 Plays1 year ago
This week’s episode originally aired October 27, 2021 on Jill Devine’s other podcast, Two Kids and A Career.
Andy Wiggins and Todd Larkin are the Co-Founders of Hearts & Hope for Uganda. Hearts & Hope is a St. Louis-area 501c3 nonprofit focused on transforming poor villages in Uganda through clean water, health & wellness, education, and small business development. Since its founding in 2011, Hearts & Hope has established 8 schools which provide education to over 2,000 children!
Through Jill’s (and Andy & Todd’s) church, Messiah St. Charles, her family has been given an awesome opportunity to help a child in Uganda because of Hearts & Hope for Uganda. The boy Jill’s family is sponsoring is Derick Zigwanamuto in the village of Butogonha. You can follow along in their journey with Derick and Hearts & Hope for Uganda. Since this is the first time Jill and her family have ever done anything like this, she thought it would be a good idea to have Andy & Todd on the podcast to talk through Jill’s questions because more than likely, others may have the same questions as Jill and her family.
Hearts & Hope’s 11th Annual Party with a Purpose is SOLD OUT, but you can still help! This annual event is the only fundraising event for Hearts & Hope and ensures that our vision becomes a reality!
Donation page - https://heartsandhope.org/product/DON-PWAP-2023/fund-a-need-2023
Normal Goes A Long Way Website: https://www.normalgoesalongway.com/
Normal Goes A Long Way Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/normalgoesalongway/
Normal Goes A Long Way Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Normal-Goes-A-Long-Way-110089491250735
Normal Goes A Long Way is brought to you by Messiah St. Charles: https://messiahstcharles.org/
Two Kids and A Career: https://www.jilldevine.com/podcast
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Transcript
Introduction and Jill's Faith Journey
00:00:00
Speaker
The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. Christianity has become known for judgy people, strange words, ancient stories, confusing rules, and a members-only mindset. This is why I stayed away from the church for so long, but it's not supposed to be that way. I'm Jill Devine, a former radio personality with three tattoos, a love for a good tequila, and who's never read the entire Bible.
00:00:24
Speaker
Yet here I am hosting a podcast about faith.
Purpose of the Podcast
00:00:28
Speaker
The normal goes a long way podcast is your home for real conversations with real people using real language about how faith and real life intersect. Welcome to the conversation.
Continued Faith Conversations with Todd and Andy
00:00:40
Speaker
The conversation with Todd Larkin and Andy Wiggins continues in this week's episode. I encourage you to go back to last week's episode if you haven't had a chance already to listen to that before you continue to listen to this week's episode. So whether you're hitting pause to go do that or you're ready to get into it, let's go ahead and continue the conversation.
Personal Story: Sponsoring Derek
00:01:04
Speaker
You know, that's core to us is it's deeply personal and either you can go visit your child or, you know, if you do go and you know, you have friends who connected you to hearts and hearts and hope, you know, our hope is that you would also, you know, be there to represent your neighbors and your friends who are also sponsoring a student and, you know, be their representative to that child and let them know that, you know, I know this person who's sponsoring you and that you're building this relationship with.
00:01:28
Speaker
When you say it's personal, in the short amount of time that we have made a sponsor decision, yes, I am looking at Derek and his family right now as I talk to you. So I have mentioned this in some of my episodes, but I have this vision board. So yes, I recorded my closet and I have a vision board in here and Derek
00:01:54
Speaker
and his family are in here to just remind me whenever I see him like, okay, you know, things could be worse. Things could be better, but things could be worse. And what does Derek need? And obviously, I want to spread the word about hearts and hope and all these great things that you're doing, but I also want to represent
Cultural Perspectives on Sponsorship
00:02:16
Speaker
other people like me who have questions who are a little confused and concerned about the sponsorship. And by that, I mean, what do I do? How do I be there for Derek? How do I talk about Derek to others? How do I talk about Derek to our own children and
00:02:37
Speaker
You guys really provided some perspective to me on that because I didn't know how we addressed Derek and our family. And by that I mean when we were at church and we saw that it was the day that you could go and you guys let the people pick who they want to pick. You know, my husband and I looked at each other. We said, yes, we want to do this.
00:03:02
Speaker
He said why don't we go ahead and do this and then we'll go get the girls because they are basically what's it known as sunday school and i said why i think they should be a part of this process and he said yeah you're right so we went and got them from their sunday school classes and the oldest
00:03:21
Speaker
we said to her because she would understand we're like okay so we have this opportunity to help a boy or girl in a different country and they don't have things like you have and we want to help them and so would you like an honorary brother or sister?
00:03:37
Speaker
And by surprise, she's like a brother. And then it didn't even dawn on me until we started getting into the sponsorship, like, is that right to say? I can't. As a mom, how would I feel if somebody was like, oh, they said that your daughter is their honorary
Family Dynamics in Uganda
00:03:57
Speaker
daughter or
00:03:58
Speaker
Things like that. That's another conflict that I think people don't understand or know what to do or how to wrestle with. I was hoping you could talk me through it and the listener through it. I think one of the things that we talked about, I think it was probably over lunch a while back, around this topic is it's easy to struggle with that because I'd say in a lot of cases,
00:04:23
Speaker
They are so, so just grateful that they're leaning into the relationship quickly and kind of wholeheartedly. They can offer appreciation. They can offer kind of themselves. And so this whole notion of what do you call them, right? And we always just say, really, it's kind of like,
00:04:51
Speaker
You're not adopting them. They're not your children. The families and the extended families over there still have and need to have the ownership and the responsibility to raise these kids. They take it and they want it.
00:05:11
Speaker
But leaning in, and I love how you just said that, an honorary brother or sister. Because I think that shows the respectfulness of the situation, which is, I think a lot of people want to feel like these kids are part of their extended families. At the same time, we're not really trying to replace other people in their lives.
00:05:37
Speaker
And that's i think sometimes where the struggle comes but i think you know what what you said that that phrase of honorary brother sister honorary you know son or daughter i think that's you know that's wonderful you know that other thing that i think we mentioned was just how.
00:05:53
Speaker
culturally, they're so different, you know, to where I believe we said, we're telling you the story how everywhere we go, everyone's got, you know, like 10 kids, you know, and, and some of that is, is true, but it's, it's not, it's not the way we would have perceived it, you know, because when we hear, Oh, this is my son, this is my daughter, right? We're, we're immediately in the US thinking biological over there.
00:06:21
Speaker
No, if they have somebody in their family because it's such a tight knit family, you know, community and culture, they'll call nieces and nephews, sons and daughters. They'll call somebody that, you know, has lost a parent that lives with them.
00:06:39
Speaker
and hasn't gone through so-called an official adoption process, a son or a daughter. And so you almost over there, you have to almost unpack if you really wanted to understand. It's like, OK, well, how many of those kids are yours versus your sister's versus? But for them, I asked this question once, well, why would you not just recognize that as that's your nephew?
00:07:06
Speaker
Well in their culture that would be insulting because then i'd be treating that child differently than my own which to me was like a crazy crazy selfless concept right because here i'm like well i'm gonna i'm gonna treat my biological kids different than you know my nieces and nephews or
00:07:26
Speaker
children in Uganda that we're trying to help and you just kind of realize it's just culturally, that's who they are,
Economic Challenges for Guardians
00:07:35
Speaker
right? And that's one of the things we love about them. It's incredible. It's so beautiful and yes, so beautiful. This is something else we talked about at lunch that the moms, I mean, I don't want to pass
00:07:51
Speaker
the judgment that the dads aren't in these kids' lives, but when you look at a lot of the stories from my understanding, there's a lot of fathers that are not present. So what about the moms? Are they wanting people to come and sponsor their children, or do they have
00:08:10
Speaker
kind of a guard up as far as what is expected. So for many of these children and their guardians and parents, they're in very challenging situations.
Impact of Sponsorship on Education
00:08:24
Speaker
In most cases, they are, I'd say probably the number one occupation that we have for our families. The guardian or the parent or the aunt is a day laborer, a peasant, and they work in a field and they're taken care of
00:08:40
Speaker
their kids, you know, their other family members' kids. And in many cases, you know, we've seen situations even on that first or second trip to Uganda where a mom has, in one case, she had twin daughters and she had to make the difficult decision of which one can go to school and which one's going to go with me into the fields and help me earn a living.
00:09:03
Speaker
So when we launch a sponsorship program in a village and look for candidates for that sponsorship program, our team actually goes into that local village, works with the local leaders from the church. If there's a school there, we work with those school leaders as well. And they actually go out and select, interview the families, understand the situation that they have to make sure that the kids that are being sponsored are the neediest in the community.
00:09:31
Speaker
So that is truly a blessing because then mothers don't have to make that difficult decision that I just described. And what we found when we were creating Hearts and Hope, when we started to look at schools and how do they typically run, you know, there are government run schools that are, a typical classroom is 120 students in a classroom with one teacher and a blackboard and it's rote learning and it is what it is.
00:09:58
Speaker
And if you're very bright, you can perhaps get through, right? In schools that, you know, Hearts and Hope helped manage for several years, that typically what happens is you'll fill up a school or a classroom and about a third of the kids are able to pay their tuition on time. Another third will pay occasionally and they'll
00:10:20
Speaker
they'll pay but they'll be in arrears and you know eventually they'll make it up but it's a struggle for them but they have some level of income and then there's a third of the kids that never pay and what ends up happening with them is they'll go to school that first day and they'll sit in the classroom for several weeks getting as much education as they can and then when the bill comes due at the end of the month
00:10:42
Speaker
and their parents haven't paid or they haven't shown up with their school fees, the bursar, the treasurer for the school chases them away and says, you know, don't come back until you have your school fees. And they'll go back and work in the fields with their parents for several months.
00:10:58
Speaker
earn enough money to come back with school fees and they'll pay the school fees. And then they'll sit there for another month until the cycle begins again. And what ends up happening is they get a little bit of education spread out over multiple years, but it's not truly, you know, the type of, you know, the level of education needed. And so our hearts and hope sponsor program is intended to focus on those kids who ultimately, you know, wouldn't be able to attend a quality school like this.
00:11:24
Speaker
and pay for their school fees and so that they don't get chased away. And so it truly is, you know, I will say most parents that are, you know, come into the program, view it as a blessing and are, you know, excited to be a part of it, not only just from the
00:11:38
Speaker
paying of their school fees, but also because they now have someone across the world who's investing in their family's life and building that relationship. So I would say
Hearts and Hope: Program Overview
00:11:51
Speaker
it's always a challenging question. That's a challenging situation to be in, but ultimately it's a blessing.
00:11:57
Speaker
I believe that there are going to be many more conversations that can be had between the three of us and even between your team on the development of hearts and hope and the development of what's happening in Uganda. So I have tons and tons and tons and tons of questions, which I will save for some other episodes.
00:12:23
Speaker
as we wrap things up today, I think probably the best thing to wrap up with is that sponsorship. So I don't know if maybe I thought that a sponsorship was always open or how does that work as far as when somebody can jump on board with that and exactly what they're paying for.
00:12:46
Speaker
We always have children available for sponsorship. We did a sponsorship drive at Messiah, and that coincided with the launch of a partnership in the village of Butagona. That partnership was launched because we had a generous donor that was willing to invest in the capital infrastructure and build a school, but we needed to fill the school with kids. And so Messiah agreed, hey, we'll do a sponsorship drive, which we can do any church or organization that wants to do that will come to your
00:13:15
Speaker
location and host a sponsorship drive, and you can get your organization, your church involved. But we do have children available on our website, heartsandhope.org. And we have eight villages that we're partnered with. And there's children in every one of those villages that are looking for sponsors. And they either are, and we also highlight students who may have lost their sponsor, where someone has sponsored that student and gotten them several years into their education, but unfortunately, weren't able to continue with the commitment.
00:13:45
Speaker
So you can visit our website and click sponsor a child and you can look at student profiles and across eight different villages and select one.
00:13:56
Speaker
go through the checkout process, you'll get a welcome packet in the mail. That sponsorship program basically pays for a year's worth of tuition. In our primary schools, Hearts and Hope actually helps fund the teacher's salary, so we pay the teacher's salaries in each of those schools. But your student would get admission to that school, a uniform, quality leather shoes, which for many of them, the school uniform and the shoes, this is their Sunday best. They get meals, lunch every day.
00:14:26
Speaker
as well, a mosquito net. We also have the opportunity for people when they do sponsor a student to contribute to our medical fund, which allows us to respond to any acute situations that may come up, any urgent, critical care. But we also use that fund to help provide for preventative treatments, such as anti-malarial, antifungal, anti-worm,
00:14:52
Speaker
medication for the students. So there's opportunities to contribute beyond just the sponsorship program. Also, when you check out the website, you can see to the social media handles. And I encourage anyone and everyone to follow along because seeing some of these cool stories, like it's not all doom and gloom. Like when I see some of those kiddos singing or playing soccer, it just makes me smile because it's like, all right, we're all doing something.
00:15:22
Speaker
We're doing something to make these kids have a great day. Like it's not always the sadness as the hook, you know what I mean? Like there's good. And when you were talking about the sponsorship too, like and going back to the whole personal story, I have to say like your team is so great at this where anytime we can have any kind of communication, we're gonna get it. Like I remember getting an email
00:15:49
Speaker
saying, oh, hey, here's a picture of Derek on the day that he got notified that he gets to go to school and they sent that picture and it was really cool. It was just like, okay, this is why we do this. This is really awesome. Yeah, we're very fortunate that we have an incredible staff. We're still very small. We just have two full-time and two part-time employees in the US.
00:16:19
Speaker
We've got a bigger team over in Uganda, but they care so deeply about, you know, this mission and these kids that they want to do everything they can to make these connections. And, you know, our little tagline when you kind of built this all is develop relationships, create hope, transform lives. And, you know, it's kind of
00:16:49
Speaker
sappy or kitschy or whatever you want to call it, but it does start with that relationship piece. And so through those relationships, we are creating hope and transforming lives. And so we take very seriously doing anything we can to allow people to feel connected to their sponsored child, to the community they're part of or supporting because we feel the more people feel connected,
00:17:17
Speaker
the more good we're going to do at the end of the day. And not only will lives be changed in Uganda, but I think what we also continue to find out is the other mission is people in the US that get involved, their lives change. They feel better about themselves because they're finding a way to give back to somebody that just needs a little extra support or encouragement.
00:17:43
Speaker
Yeah, I gotta tell you that most of the people that you guys know, that I know and work with at the church, am I so giddy the day after we sponsored Derek? You guys.
00:17:59
Speaker
Look, we're sponsoring a boy. Here's this. Here's pictures of them. And they were smiling and laughing because it reminded them of their first time. And some of them are on their second or third
Reflecting on Positive Sponsorship Impact
00:18:11
Speaker
kid. And it just is this really cool, infectious,
00:18:16
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I'm helping. I'm doing something. This is what I should be doing and I want to do. And it's just really exciting. It's a great organization. And I just want to thank you both for all that you're doing. I mean, it really truly is saving lives. It's making a difference in other people's lives. It's changing lives. And I cannot wait to just be along this journey with you guys and keep talking about the next 10 years.
00:18:43
Speaker
Well, we, of course, appreciate you having us on, getting involved, you know, on a personal level, but, you know, your willingness to help, you know, do what you do, you know, exceptionally well, which is, you know, tell stories and kind of get the word out. That's greatly appreciated. You know, that's what this is, at the end of the day, all about, is introducing more people to, you know, the wonderful people of Uganda. So we appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you so much, Jill. Appreciate it.
00:19:10
Speaker
I really hope that these last two weeks of conversations have inspired you to want to do a little bit more. I would love for you to check out Hearts and Hope. If it's not Hearts and Hope, maybe it's another organization, but it is definitely eye-opening to see the difference that you can make.
Call to Action: Engage with Sponsorship Programs
00:19:32
Speaker
And as I mentioned, we have in our family a personal story now with Derek and
00:19:38
Speaker
It's something that I just encourage you to learn more about, whether you want to sponsor a child or just even learn a little bit more about hearts and hope or about taking a mission trip with them or someone else.
00:19:55
Speaker
Your help means so much more than you even realize. And as I mentioned at the end of last week's episode, they have an event every single August called Party With a Purpose, and it sells out pretty much every single year. This is their biggest fundraising event.
00:20:14
Speaker
With it being sold out, you can still help out. You can still donate. You can still take part in the silent auction that they have and all of the information you can find at normalgozalongway.com. It's in the show notes for this episode and last week's episode. And I just want to thank you. Thank you for considering it. Thank you for anything that you contribute. It really, really, truly makes a difference.