Blog.
Our main goal at, 1Heart1Mind is to create self-reliance and we do this through 4 areas of focus. Education Healthcare Micro-finance Solar Energy. 2021 brought lots of ups and downs, but our team stuck it out and did their best! In fact, they did pretty amazing. Below you’ll find the impact 1Heart1Mind had throughout 2021. Even though Covid brought its challenges, we were still able to make an incredible difference. So far in 2022, we have more students and staff members than we’ve ever had. With just under 200 students and about 30 staff members we’re ready to have an amazing year. This year we're determined to create more jobs, provide more meals, give more children a quality education, distribute more clean energy and much more! Be sure to follow along to see where this year takes us! Self-Reliance Number of living wage jobs - 23 Education Total number of students - 161 Number of scholarship students - 41 Number of boarding students - 70 Number of meals provided - 54,431 Healthcare - Suncrest Clinic (opened in July 2021) Number of patient visits - 65 Number of patients provided with medication - 95 Number of charitable patients seen - 34 Amount of charitable services provided - $123.00 Microfinance - Zion Microfinance Ltd Average amount of new loans each month - 25 Average number of active loans each month - 135 Total loan amount deployed for 2021 - $958,561 Energy - Go Solar International Number of lights sold - 226 Number of households - 179 Number of additional study hours - 1,700 Amount of customer savings - $641
Did you follow along our Instagram page to see the new 1Heart1Mind Suncrest Medical Clinic being built? If you missed it, swipe through the pictures just above. The clinic is located on the same property as the 1Heart1Mind boarding school and serves all of the students, staff and surrounding community. The property is in a rural area of Eastern Uganda. There isn't access to quick and easy access to quality healthcare. We believe that everyone should have access to on going basic healthcare. That is why the 1Heart1Mind team built this medical clinic. Hundreds now have the access they deserve. The key to the new clinic is our amazing nurse, Shifa Namataka. She is incredible and such a valuable part of our team. She is very driven and motivated, and can offer over 350 different treatments and services. Since the clinic opened in July, Shifa has had 45 appointments all ranging in different medical needs. We can't wait to see the impact the Suncrest Clinic and Shifa will have over the years. The children start school in January and we know that will be the beginning of this healthcare impact. 51% of people in Uganda don't have any contact with healthcare facilities. Because we are located in a rural area, we are able to help change that number and give people a better quality of life. In 2009, Uganda was ranked 186 out of 191 nations when it comes to healthcare. In 2020 it stood at 158 out of 191. We are just one small clinic, but we can't wait to see the difference made, and lives that will be changed because of it and our amazing staff! We have some amazing donors who made this clinic possible. The generous team over at Suncrest Hospice came together to make this happen. We can't thank you enough! We truly couldn't make a difference without giving people like this. Be sure to follow along our Instagram and Facebook page to see more clinic updates!
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New Area of Focus! Microfinance!
We have some exciting news!! Some of our very generous board members provided a playground for the children! If you have attended any our fundraisers at The Gem Studio this past year, then you helped make this possible! So a big thank you to all of our amazing supporters. The children work so hard in school and being able to see them play and have fun with their new playground is amazing. Making sure the children are getting physical activity and playtime is important. The American Academy of Pediatrics in a clinical report called, The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children, show that having time to play with friends and family is extremely important when it comes to building growing brains, bodies and social bonds. They note that all of these skills are key in today’s world, so encouraging play is what all children need. Their research shows that having playtime helps children to plan, organize, get along with others, and regulate emotions. Interestingly, playtime also helps children with language, math and social skills and even cope with stress. They also note that outdoor play is especially important in letting children use all of their senses and can improve their attention span. At 1Heart1Mind, one of our main goals is to provide vulnerable children with a quality education. We know that letting the children have playtime and physical activity will help them learn and reach their academic goals. Having this outdoor area dedicated to play is just what the children need to learn and thrive. These children live in rural areas, and the school is also located in a rural area to give children who wouldn’t normally have a chance to get an education. We want to provide the children with a full school experience regardless of its location. We want them to enjoy their time at school both learning and playing. Watching the children laugh and play on the new playground has been incredible. They deserve the world, but we love seeing that simply playing with their friends makes them so happy. “Play is fundamentally important for learning 21st century skills, such as problem solving, collaboration, and creativity, which require the executive functioning skills that are critical for adult success.” - The Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Have you ever been so thankful to wake up in the morning and just flip your light on? It's so easy and we really don't think too much about it. When the sun goes down for the night, we don't have to stop working or put homework on hold because we don't have light. What about when our phone needs to be charged? We simply plug it into the wall and are good to go. Thousands of people in Uganda use kerosene lamps for lighting and 85% of the population lives without access to electricity. What you might be surprised to learn, is how dangerous kerosene use can be. When burned, kerosene produces harmful toxic and carcinogenic poisoning, fires, and even explosions. It can increase asthma, cancer, eye irritation, skin irritation, and respiratory issues. In a country where there is already a lack of healthcare access, there needs to be a change. The population in Uganda is over 42 million, and of that over 32 million people live in a rural part of the country. This can also add up to be more expensive than you would think, especially when you're living on less than $2.00 a day. The kerosene lamp itself is about $5.00 + about $57.00 a year to fuel. A small solar lamp is $9.00 altogether. Many of these solar lamps have usb ports to charge phones with as well. It's such a simple, effective and long term solution that we love presenting to people. Thanks to solar energy solutions, we have been able to help thousands of people live healthier and safer lives. We have an incredible solar team working very hard in Uganda to help many live better lives!
This post is all about our area of focus Basic Needs. Everyone deserves to have clean water, daily food, housing and access to healthcare. At 1heart1mind, we strive to provide all of these to vulnerable children. 61% of Ugandans live on less than $2 a day. With a population of 41.49 million, 24 million people do not have access to clean water. 35% of Ugandan children are malnourished which can cause extreme brain development issues. Uganda has 2.5 million orphans, of that 1.2 million have aids. 1heart1mind provides over 150,000 meals a year. We also have a water pump and rain water catch system so that the children at the school and surrounding community can have clean water. Hundreds of people have access to this clean water and it has had a huge impact on the community. We have brand new dormitories and latrines for vulnerable children to use. Our latest project in the basic needs area, is medical clinic. We are going to start building really soon and are really excited about this project! The clinic will not only serve those at the school, but also the surrounding community. Our business manager, Moses has been working with a local nurse to get everything started! Stay tuned for updates on the medical clinic and other basic needs projects! Thanks for reading!
Another one of our areas of focus is education. We feel that one of the most valuable and life changing things we can offer these children is a quality education. We currently (when we're not in a world wide pandemic) have 150 students at the school and are excited to keep adding to that. Here are some of the reasons why we feel education should be one of of areas of focus - The enrollment rate for primary school is 91%, but the completion rate is 53%. More than half of the population of Uganda is under the age of 15. More than 15% of school- aged children are unable to gain access to an education. In Uganda, more than 700,000 girls between the ages of 6-12 have never attended school. We have an amazing staff of teachers and attribute a lot of that to our head teacher, Michael Emurwon. He is such a hard worker and does his best to make sure the students are getting an amazing education. The children truly love to learn and get so excited when they go to class. In their free time you can most likely find them scattered in the school yard reading. We had an amazing donor provide them with hundreds of books and we've been able to create a small library. One of the best ways you can support the students at 1heart1mind is by sponsoring one of them! Head to our "Get involved" tab and sign up to be a sponsor for $45 a month. A little goes a long way in Uganda and you could make truly make a difference in a child's life. Thanks for reading and keeping following along to learn more!!
1heart1mind has 3 areas of focus - Education Energy Basic Needs Let’s take a look at how we focus on promoting clean energy in Uganda. We strive to build programs of sustainability within local communities. These programs help to generate poverty reduction, increase financial inclusion and promote sustainable economic growth. We work with local co-operative organizations to create financial access to and distribute household solar lighting solutions. These affordable products eliminate the use of kerosene lighting, improve the quality of health and education while improving household income. Our solar manager Allan, meets with partners, then the partners take the solar products, distribute them and collect the payments. You have to put a down payment on the product, then make weekly payments. When you make your payments it keeps your products turned on. Obviously once you pay off your product it is unlocked and stays on. Solar is what originally started 1heart1mind. When our board members first travelled to Africa back in 2009, the use of kerosene and its dangers are what inspired them to make a difference. They knew there had to be an easier, safer, and more financially sustainable way to use lighting. Keep following along to learn about the impact 1heart1mind has made with solar energy!
Hi there! We are 1heart1mind. Thanks for following along and supporting us! We are so excited to connect with you and share a little bit more about what we do. Who 1heart1mind has a two fold mission that works to give vulnerable children a quality education, as well as a local solar team that provides affordable clean energy solutions through micro-financing. What Through a boarding school experience, we work to give vulnerable children a quality education. Currently we have 151 students registered. We have a great team of teachers that are continually working to improve so our students get the best education. We also have a solar team that works to provide clean energy options in a way that is financially suitable. We do this through micro loans. Why and How We operate in a very rural area of Uganda where there isn’t access to quality education. We wanted to provide an experience where vulnerable children can come and have daily meals, clean water and a quality education. After our board members learned how dangerous kerosene lamps are, we knew there had to be a better solution. Our Ugandan solar team works with local co- operative organizations to create financial access to and distribute household solar lighting solutions. Where We operate in rural Uganda, around the Mbale area that is very close to the east side bordering Kenya. We hope that you have been able to learn a little bit more about what we do. If you have any questions or want to connect with us, shoot us an email at 1heart1mind@gosolargroup.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
