Global Citizen Journey

Our dear friends and partners at UMOP (Uganda Martyrs Orphanage Project) have been hit doubly hard by a huge storm and Covid.  Their dreams and hard work have been swept away:  let's respond with generosity to heal their broken hearts and help them realize the school's motto, "Hope for The Future."  The kids are safe but scared.  All the food stocked was destroyed as well as books, computers and classroom materials destroyed.  In the words of director Bernard Omuse (see him dancing below with the children in happier times), "It is unimaginable what a setback this has been.  I am devastated. Some of you may recall the long journey this has been for me!  Building one class at a time, using all my life savings and sometimes a generosity from a few friends..."

UMOP cares for almost nine hundred orphaned children. (see photos below) Many of these children came from the streets where they were in danger of drug and sex abuse.  When the eldest sister of Bernard and Father Centurio was diagnosed with AID years ago she was banned from her dream of becoming a nun.  In the years before her death she took in many abandoned children amidst the AIDs epidemic and began teaching them.  UMOP was founded by her brothers in her memory to continue to school and house those and many more children. They rely on donations and do not receive funding from the government.  Visit their Facebook page  here.  UMOP is dedicated to excellence and compassion. engaging students in extracurricular activities such as spelling bees, sports and community service as well as academics. Gretchen and Susan have spent joyous times there witnessing first hand what an exceptional school and community UMOP provides. Gretchen hosted Peace Camps and Susan brought compassionate listening to teachers, staff and villagers.

UMOP is a sister organization of Peace Camp International of United Village (outreach projects of Interfaith Community Sanctuary), and Global Citizen Journey . Donations are tax deductible as they go directly through GCJ's 501(c)3



Our fundraising goal of $8,000.00 will pay for all of the reconstruction, school supplies lost, as well as help refill their food supplies.  The Tororo District, where Ma’s Jr. School and Great Aubrey Memorial College  are located, has been hit hard by the social restraints due to Covid-19, as well as political tension in the country.  Together, we can help the education institutions under the UMOP umbrella stay open to serve their students, some of whom have been waiting almost a year to get back to school. Every dollar will make a huge difference.

My name is Dennis Gaither, a delegate for the Global Citizen Journey October, 2018 project in Kashmir, India.
This will be my third project with GCJ, an organization dedicated to service projects in conjunction with local partners in troubled parts of the world, as well as "grassroots citizen diplomacy."  The service part of this project involves providing funding to several predominantly girls schools in rural Kashmir lacking even rudimentary water or sanitary facilities, much less teaching materials or even flooring.  Our local partner in Kashmir is ELFA (Education and Livelihood for All), dedicated to service for vulnerable individuals, especially women and children regardless of ethnicity or religion.

Grassroots Citizen Diplomacy is really about bringing people of diverse cultural, ethnic, religious and economic backgrounds together. Ten delegates from the US and 12 delegates from Kashmir and other states of India will live and work together on the school project, and environmental project, as well as time spent in circle to explores ways of communicating with and understanding one another better. 

I believe person to person exchanges bring grassroots understanding and weave a living, global neighborhood that brings wisdom and healing to us all. When we bring ourselves – with open hearts, listening ears and ready hands –we are deeply touched and transformed by each other’s stories and by the sweetness of essence in every being.

Whatever support you can offer will be deeply appreciated (suggested $50 to $200)– by me and the other participants in Global Citizen Journey of course, but most of all by the women, children and communities in Kashmir.  They are so thrilled to have this offer of support!
Funds are needed as soon as possible, even before we arrive in October to begin work on the project and make advance reservations for our delegates from India as well as the US.

Uganda is calling to Global Citizen Journey (GCJ) :  through our relationships developed at Maher in India we've become connected to an extraordinary project Maher is partnering with as part of the United Village project: Uganda Martyrs Orphan Project . And through Compassionate Listening we are connected to several villages of Jews (yes, Jewish Ugandans !).  With your support, Executive Director/Founder Susan Partnow will be able to spend several weeks with these communities to scope out the possibilities for a future GCJ delegation and to provide workshops and facilitation to these communities in service of their needs and requests while there:  teaching Compassionate Listening, sharing Restorative Justice/Restorative Circle Processes, Conversation Cafe -- and engaging the communities in a Town Hall process that empowers participants and ignites initiatives to solve local problems.  Funds are needed to help defray travel costs; to pay for the costs of the Town Halls; to help sponsor Ugandan participants to join in the trainings and meetings; and to support these deserving communities.  Your support will benefit many individuals - especially youth, women and girls: the orphans at the Martyrs Project, and the Jewish community in Namatumba and Mbale.  GCJ and Susan will be so grateful to you for making this important Uganda work possible!  She will write blogs to let you share in the joy, service and learning.