above all, let your love for one another be intense

A brief overview of what I have been doing these last few days:


 I am working with
three men who have begun a program called the Lazarus Community which
is essentially a program consisting of over 150 members (significantly
populated by elderly widowed women who are taking care of their
grandchildren due to the death of their own children (sorry if that’s
a bit wordy and confusing). Our hope is to develop a website to
increase the attention to the dire need of assistance in funding these
grandchildren through school, as well as help to provide materials for
our crafts program to help generate the household income.
I am trying to bring together everything I have learned in school
involving developing a program, but it is a lot different and much
more challenging in the “real world.” I have begun putting information
that is vital to understanding Lazarus Community. We are visiting the first village throughout these next couple of
weeks.  The village is called Ntinkalu where 65 of our members (all elderly widowed women taking care of their grandchildren)..we will be visiting each member individually.  I have also
developed a questionnaire so that I am asking each woman the same
questions to make connections between each member.
Here's some of the background I have developed thus far including our mission, vision, and goals:

Lazarus Community: Luke 16: 19-31

Background:

Lazarus Community is a community based organization (CBO) involving members of a community living in the villages of Ntinkalu and Kakira, Uganda.  These sub-counties are significantly inhabited by elderly widowed women and orphaned children.  Lazarus Community was developed in response to the severe concentration of poverty and lack of knowledge and skills among the community members.  The founders of the Lazarus Community were inspired to start the program after their continued correspondence with the people of the village. After establishing a meeting place at a primary school in Ntinkalu, the program began developing.  First, the hope was to sensitize the community members with information regarding HIV/AIDS, such as, how it is contracted and the consequences of the disease. Later, it was discovered that a large majority of these women are responsible for their grandchildren largely due to losing their own children to HIV/AIDS.  Hence, other programs were introduced to help sustain income and good health involving gardening, child sponsorship, and crafts.   

Vision:

Empowering the community members with knowledge, skills, and spiritual formation required to bring about sustainable development

Mission:

Uplifting the general standard of living through economic and social involvement of the Lazarus Community by developing income generating programs such as a Crafts Program and gathering weekly to increase communication between Community Members

Goals:

To ensure that community members are engaged in income generating activities, behavior change, and life skills to uplift their standard of living

I hope this information helps you to better visualize what it is that I am trying to do with my life and time here...please feel free to question/advise..I will also keep you updated on the progress of our website.
Much Love to you All,
Anne Therese