Every $20 donated funded one mama heal and thrive through trauma therapy and extensive business training with Beauty for Ashes Uganda. This is no small thing. It is exponential and game-changing for 1,230 single mamas and widows (our sisters!) in Northern Uganda and their 7,500 children. Yup: that’s nearly 9,000 women and their families in Uganda. | December, 2019 – Uganda
$3,240 Donated!
THANK YOU from our sisters in Uganda!
This is one of the villages of women with whom our generous Seeds community is partnering to support the sistahs in receiving trauma therapy and extensive business training. They are grateFULL – you’ll see what I mean when you hear their voices and see their smiles!
WHY this MATTERS to ME …
Because my life’s WHY is fueled first and foremost by LOVE – and my soul sistah Brandi Lea, founder of Beauty for Ashes (BFAU) radiates LOVE in who she IS and what she DOES. What this organization is doing among a community of vulnerable, brave, and never-givin’ up women in Northern Uganda is fueling and sustaining unshakable worth and jaw-dropping opportunities to these amazing mamas and their children. (Watch my conversation with Brandi in the link below.)
It matters.
It matters a lot.
It matters a lot today.
TWO amazing ways we partnered to empower mamas with more TOOLS for both healing and thriving in this world!
1) Partnership with Tutapona to bring a team to Northern Uganda for 6 months to walk every single one of our mamas through trauma therapy. REAL group therapy where they will learn and grow and HEAL! In fact, with past participants in these programs, Tutapona has seen a 60% decrease in PTSD symptoms. (Watch my conversation with Tutapona’s founder in the link below.)
2) Partnership with the ever-amazing Sarah Ray and her brand-new curriculum to bring 4-6 months of business training. She went in 2014 to teach two mamas from every group and they are STILL talking about it and her! This program will be training our literacy coaches and our staff in a 16-module curriculum to walk our mamas to even greater levels of thriving in their businesses will rock their worlds. (Watch my conversation with Sarah Ray in the link below.)
WHY this is so IMPACTFUL & IMPORTANT …
You might be wondering why these mamas have trauma and why is there a community of single moms and widows? (The answer to that requires a bit of a history lesson.) These sisters live in a unique part of Uganda that has made their trauma stories complicated. They are far enough north that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) came violently through their villages, far enough south that they were deeply impacted by the Bush War (civil war with Idi Amin) and far enough east that the Karamojong Raiders have greatly impacted them. Thus, in the last forty years, they’ve been impacted by three different sets of war or rebel movements. Brandi and her organization have heard over and over how these sisters are gripped with fear, flashbacks, and PTSD. The impact of this trauma in their day to day lives is real and palpable.
Brandi and her team believe in healing and beauty – always and for all – even in the midst of the worst of the worst.
I want to see our mamas heal. They’re worth it. Their kids are worth it. I can hardly imagine without tears what it will be like for them to experience healing and more training. I can’t wait to watch them SOAR! Over the years of working with these mamas, we’ve heard their hopes for both trauma therapy and business training, and believe they are right about the impact both will have on their families. This is what they’ve said to us:
“When we heal, our minds will have peace.
When our minds have peace our businesses will thrive.
When our businesses thrive, our children will flourish.”So, it is to their requests, their wisdom, their hope for the future that we are launching this program in 2020. Thank YOU for joining us, -Brandi & the BFAU mamas
CREATIVE ways to CONTINUE to support this organization …
- Donate HERE. A few creative ideas for GIVING: ASK FOR A DONATION to be made as a gift for your next birthday … GIVE a gift in honor of someone you love for an upcoming holiday or celebration. FORM A TEAM on Facebook or GoFundMe and raise funds for a special occasion or celebration in your life … or just because you want to!
- Share this page with 5 people passionate about trauma therapy, business training, global community, human rights. Let’s see how we can EXPAND this organization’s community connections!
- Watch the replays below of the Seeds Storyteller Series with the team of sister-collaborators working together in Uganda to bring healing through trauma therapy and thriving through business training. Check out more replays on YouTube.
- Connect with, follow, and friend Beauty for Ashes Uganda: website, Facebook, instagram, YouTube.
WATCH | Be informed, inspired, and ignited …
Stories of unstoppable bravery, sisterhood, and love with Brandi Lea | Uganda. We will be talking about why it matters so very much to her to resolutely walk into dark places and look for beauty in her work as founder of Beauty for Ashes Uganda … the answer lies in her inspiring and powerful story of unstoppable bravery, sisterhood, and love. More here.
Business skills for those experiencing poverty = Freedom, love & abundance | Sarah Ray. We will be talking about why it matters so very much to her to see her friends experience FREEDOM, LOVE and ABUNDANCE and how she believes that bringing business skills to those experiencing poverty does just that. More here.
Trauma rehabilitation for refugees & people affected by war | Uganda & Iraq – with Julie Gaede. We will be talking about why it matters so very much to her to work with those victims of rape and mutilation, former child soldiers, sex slaves, children, refugees and anyone affected by the horrors of war. More here.
JOIN US as an EVERYDAY PHILANTHROPIST …
As part of our call to all to be an everyday philanthropist, each month I spotlight a project or program in the world. Our partner’s focus is in at least one of these five categories: human rights, education, health, community emergencies, and art-activism. I am blessed with a huge pool of changemakers in my community – so there is never a lack of trusted organizations with whom to partner.
This sort of “everyday philanthropy” is about an unrestrained generosity rooted in the reality of your everyday life. Generosity feels good. It is part of your purpose on the planet. It finds ways to share with others the treasure trove of whatever you have and whatever you love. It makes a difference with your small and large acts alike … living with a commitment and connection to your sisters and brothers near and far. Explore and discover your unique – right here and now – calling to be an everyday philanthropist today.
I get it: These stories and the very invitation to give and to BE philanthropists isn’t always comfortable. Or easy. Sometimes it’s the world’s pain pricking our hearts that wakes us up to see – and say yes! – to our destiny.
So, today and together, let’s dispute the suggestion that philanthropy is an exclusive club only for those deemed wealthy. Today and together, let’s dispute that the only thing that matters and makes a difference is giving in “big” ways. The movement that will be unleashed when we live as generously unrestrained philanthropists WILL light up the world.
You are loved.
We belong to each other.
Let’s standTALL together and light up the world!
xo, -Sarah Davison-Tracy, Seeds of Exchange
