Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2013 | Page 138

ISLAND LIFE

Helping hand for Uzima
Three Islanders have joined forces to
provide vital and much-needed help
for orphaned children in Africa. Joy
Mowle, Steph Hickman and Dave
Stubbings raise funds for the Uzima
Orphan Centre, Western Kenya.
So far they have raised enough
money for the centre to build
shelters, buy cows and chickens, roof
a classroom and do a hydrological
survey with a view to putting a
borehole for water in the centre’s
grounds.
Joy explained: “I first came in
contact with Uzima Orphan Centre
when I was visiting another nearby
charity in rural Western Kenya in
2010. At the time a large African
charity (AMREF) had given the
centre a start-up grant to support very
vulnerable children in the local area
with day care, giving them food and
education. Every child is carefully
vetted and is either an orphan, has
special needs or a medical condition
such as AIDS. They all live in extreme
poverty.
“I visited them yearly after that,
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taking small gifts of money raised,
but watched each year as the orphan
centre struggled to stay open and
dropped from 128 children to 88.
Their diet became just one meal of
boiled maize each day, and more and
more children had to be turned away.”
A year ago Joy offered to help
Uzima by trying to raise more funds.
Her friend, Steph Hickman knew
first hand of the poverty in Kenya
from a holiday she had there and
she offered to assist. Dave Stubbings
agreed to become treasurer after
hearing about the orphan centre. He
designed a website which has been
extremely useful to the project, www.
uzimainourhands.org
Joy said: “We were registered as a
charity on August 1 –‘Uzima in Our
Hands’. Our fund raising efforts so
far have included ‘buy a chicken or
cow for Uzima’ campaign; a pub quiz;
a sponsored circumnavigation of the
Isle of Wight; a live gig by local young
bands, supported by West Wight
Sports Centre and cake sales. Many
people also donated clothes, shoes

and school items that we took out to
Kenya on our last visit in February.
“Victorious Life Church, Newport,
has been very supportive, especially in
our latest ‘sponsor a child scheme’ run
through the website. People sign up to
support Uzima by sponsoring a child
at £10 a month which will bring in
the regular funds. We appreciate that
in the recession people are struggling,
but hope most people could manage
less than £2.50 a week. We have
had a good response but many more
children need sponsors. If we get the
100 we’re aiming for it will cover the
costs of running the centre and we
can focus our efforts on raising money
for the bore hole and a permanent
building.”
Joy added: “Some 99.5 per cent of
our funds have been donated by Island
people, and we thank them. Without
everyone doing their bit we wouldn’t
be able to help Uzima.”