girls for girls for childvoice uganda

They Flush Because They Can

Help us build flushing toilets at the ChildVoice Lukome Center in Northern Uganda!

Hi, we are Leah and Abby, we are 10 and 13, and we live in Raymond, New Hampshire. In April 2019 we had the opportunity to travel to Uganda (our parents came too). We went with ChildVoice, an organization that helps kids from war torn Uganda, South Sudan, and Nigeria. They have built a center in Uganda for girls who are between thirteen and twenty years old and have little kids of their own. They had to leave their villages because of war and were not allowed to go to school when they were very young, some as young as we are. They don’t have parents, or their parents can’t take care of them, and many of them were hurt by bad people for many years. They live in the Lukome Center for eighteen months where the staff give them counseling and teach them skills like baking, housekeeping, hair salon, farming, driving and others. This way, when they graduate, they can take care of themselves and their kids. They often go back to their villages, and because of the skills they learned and how they were able to heal, they can help their entire community. ChildVoice has helped many girls get their lives, dignity, hope and happiness back.

For the past 15 years, the staff and the students have used composting toilets. They are in bad shape and need to be replaced. Not only are they old but they are not composting well anymore. Those are a great adventure when you are camping for a night or two but are smelly and generally gross to use every day in a place where temperatures often reach 100 degrees. Can you imagine? We can because we used them, and it is no fun. So every 2 months someone has to climb in and dig out all the waste. They also only have 8 working toilets for as many as 100 staff, students, kids and visitors.

We are raising money for them to replace the existing toilets with new flushing ones. That way, nobody will have to be digging waste anymore. These toilets will also be more sanitary, won’t smell, and will last much longer than what they have now.

People say that kids these days only think about themselves. We would like to prove them wrong, but we need your help. We are just little girls, but we know that with the help of friends we can accomplish a lot. We are asking all girls and boys from zero to ninety-nine to partner with us in our “they flush because they can” campaign. As Desmond Tutu said, “Do your little bit of good where you are. It’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

No amount is too small. Every little bit helps, and we know that together we can do it. 

THANK YOU!

P.S. Note from Mike and Sandy, Leah and Abby’s parents. If you would like more information about ChildVoice and their programs and to read more detailed accounts about the girls at the Lukome Center please go to www.childvoice.org