Suubi Lyaffe, Uganda
Donation protected
**UPDATE: 4/29/20**
Reem has been in Uganda since January 21, 2020 on unpaid leave to help the families and the children she has built relationships with for the past few years. During this time, Reem has been using the donations she received from this "gofundme" page and her own personal savings to provide for these families. She is using her personal savings to pay for her personal expenses such as food, travel, lodging and expenses.
Reem continues to be hesitant in re-opening this page because she doesn't want to burden anyone. With COVID-19, it's easy to live our healthy and comfortable lives at home, while ignoring how COVID-19 has impacted the world. Reem continues to do something we all dream of doing but our current comforts change our minds.
Reem has the guts to do something not a lot of us can do. Lets support her in her journey. Lets support these children. Any and all donations made through this account will go directly to Ugandans in need.
During her time in Uganda, she has used these donations for the following purposes:
Around March 1, 2020, Reem sent me the following message: Here are photos from the walk through I did in a village last week. We selected grandmas, widows and the poorest families with kids or disabilities. We are providing each family with at least 1 to 3 months of food, plus clothes, mattresses, bed sheets, blankets and hygiene toiletries (soap, reusable sanitary pads, toothpaste, toothbrushes).
Around March 14, 2020, Reem sent me the following message: This is for the village outreach that I sent out pictures from a week or two ago. The elderly and poor families we selected (need based). We are delivering Wednesday inshallah. They gave out: beans, soap, cooking oil, shoes, bed sheets, blankets, mosquito nets (4), pillows (2), shoes (50+ brand new pairs).
Around March 18, 2020, Reem sent me the following message: Thanks for your family and friends (12 year old boy, who had been sleeping on wooden planks), he is sleeping on a real mattress with real bed sheets and a real blanket for the first time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My friend Reem Awad is currently in Uganda, East Africa, for her fifth humanitarian trip. We met each other during our undergraduate and since then I have been impressed with her selflessness and desire to help those in need.
She first began volunteering in Uganda in 2017 through a non-profit. During her first trip, she fell head over heels in love with the country and its people.
Although she has stayed in Uganda for a few weeks at a time, this time around, she took off three months from her full-time employment as a police officer to travel back to Uganda and help those in need.
Every time she comes back, she talks about the children with so much love and care, the moment I heard she was leaving again, I knew I had to do something. Before her trip, she rarely packs anything for herself but rather asks and fills her bags with donations instead. In Uganda, Reem purchases clothes from local members of the community and donates them before coming back empty-handed.
The center Reem works at is a place for special needs children. Families who need assistance caring for their special needs children come to this center. Some need help while they go to work full-time, while others need help with their children overall.
Some of these special needs children have been abandoned by their families because of the stigma of being disabled. They are essentially orphaned and live at the center where she donates her time.
Reem also helps take the children to town to get any medical help they may require.
I asked Reem to write a few words about the work she does there and she said the following:
I can sit here and write a book about my experiences, and all of the incredible things I've learned from people who have so little, yet are so grateful and happy. However, they say a picture is worth a thousand words so I will keep the text minimal and let the photos speak for themselves.
My primary work is with Suubi Lyaffe, a special needs center in a remote village called Muting. Our kids are boys and girls between the ages of 1 and 20 with various levels of special needs.
Reem spends weeks out of busy schedule to help those in need without expecting anything in return - she does this out of the goodness of her heart. Every penny she spends there is her own money - travel, lodging, food, expenses and donations.
Reem was very hesitant in creating this page because she was worried no-one would care to donate. She believed this centre and these children weren't important enough to matter.
It's easy to live our healthy and comfortable lives, while ignoring the world outside. But what Reem is doing is something we often dream of but never have the guts to do - spend our time and money on someone less fortunate than us.
Reem has the guts to do something not a lot of us can do. Lets support her in her journey. Lets support these children. Any and all donations made through this account will go directly to Ugandans in need.
Reem has been in Uganda since January 21, 2020 on unpaid leave to help the families and the children she has built relationships with for the past few years. During this time, Reem has been using the donations she received from this "gofundme" page and her own personal savings to provide for these families. She is using her personal savings to pay for her personal expenses such as food, travel, lodging and expenses.
Reem continues to be hesitant in re-opening this page because she doesn't want to burden anyone. With COVID-19, it's easy to live our healthy and comfortable lives at home, while ignoring how COVID-19 has impacted the world. Reem continues to do something we all dream of doing but our current comforts change our minds.
Reem has the guts to do something not a lot of us can do. Lets support her in her journey. Lets support these children. Any and all donations made through this account will go directly to Ugandans in need.
During her time in Uganda, she has used these donations for the following purposes:
Around March 1, 2020, Reem sent me the following message: Here are photos from the walk through I did in a village last week. We selected grandmas, widows and the poorest families with kids or disabilities. We are providing each family with at least 1 to 3 months of food, plus clothes, mattresses, bed sheets, blankets and hygiene toiletries (soap, reusable sanitary pads, toothpaste, toothbrushes).
Around March 14, 2020, Reem sent me the following message: This is for the village outreach that I sent out pictures from a week or two ago. The elderly and poor families we selected (need based). We are delivering Wednesday inshallah. They gave out: beans, soap, cooking oil, shoes, bed sheets, blankets, mosquito nets (4), pillows (2), shoes (50+ brand new pairs).
Around March 18, 2020, Reem sent me the following message: Thanks for your family and friends (12 year old boy, who had been sleeping on wooden planks), he is sleeping on a real mattress with real bed sheets and a real blanket for the first time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My friend Reem Awad is currently in Uganda, East Africa, for her fifth humanitarian trip. We met each other during our undergraduate and since then I have been impressed with her selflessness and desire to help those in need.
She first began volunteering in Uganda in 2017 through a non-profit. During her first trip, she fell head over heels in love with the country and its people.
Although she has stayed in Uganda for a few weeks at a time, this time around, she took off three months from her full-time employment as a police officer to travel back to Uganda and help those in need.
Every time she comes back, she talks about the children with so much love and care, the moment I heard she was leaving again, I knew I had to do something. Before her trip, she rarely packs anything for herself but rather asks and fills her bags with donations instead. In Uganda, Reem purchases clothes from local members of the community and donates them before coming back empty-handed.
The center Reem works at is a place for special needs children. Families who need assistance caring for their special needs children come to this center. Some need help while they go to work full-time, while others need help with their children overall.
Some of these special needs children have been abandoned by their families because of the stigma of being disabled. They are essentially orphaned and live at the center where she donates her time.
Reem also helps take the children to town to get any medical help they may require.
I asked Reem to write a few words about the work she does there and she said the following:
I can sit here and write a book about my experiences, and all of the incredible things I've learned from people who have so little, yet are so grateful and happy. However, they say a picture is worth a thousand words so I will keep the text minimal and let the photos speak for themselves.
My primary work is with Suubi Lyaffe, a special needs center in a remote village called Muting. Our kids are boys and girls between the ages of 1 and 20 with various levels of special needs.
Reem spends weeks out of busy schedule to help those in need without expecting anything in return - she does this out of the goodness of her heart. Every penny she spends there is her own money - travel, lodging, food, expenses and donations.
Reem was very hesitant in creating this page because she was worried no-one would care to donate. She believed this centre and these children weren't important enough to matter.
It's easy to live our healthy and comfortable lives, while ignoring the world outside. But what Reem is doing is something we often dream of but never have the guts to do - spend our time and money on someone less fortunate than us.
Reem has the guts to do something not a lot of us can do. Lets support her in her journey. Lets support these children. Any and all donations made through this account will go directly to Ugandans in need.
Organizer
Komal Khan
Organizer
Woodbridge, VA
Inspired to help? Start a fundraiser for someone you know
