GROWING PAINS: ONWARD AND UPWARD!
In 2016, the Mugumo Project has been growing out our bangs. Yes, that’s right—non-profits have hair. We had a great look in 2015 and now we’ve spent the last 10 months clipping our bangs to the side, pinning them back, incessantly flicking them out of our face, persevering to our new, more fabulous ’do. . . Bizzare hair metaphors aside, transitions are awkward and growth—the real, quality kind—shouldn’t be comfortable. While I’ve been going through my own transition (and been extraordinarily uncomfortable. Thank you, Army), so many wonderful people pitched in to keep the wheels turning for Charity and Judi. As things even out, we are ready to look onward and upward!
First, I would like to announce the launch of our own in-house mentoring program, Hope Mentors. Raising children is never easy and our group of sponsored kids come with a unique set of issues that have become more and more challenging for Charity to handle on her own. By matching the children up with mentors, we aim to provide them with additional channels of support and examples of good character and citizenship. By January 2017, we hope to have vetted our first group of mentors and to have started their initial counseling training. This program is Charity’s brain child and we are all very excited to see how our Mugumo family grows! An enormous “Asante!” to the NC Women of the ELCA for providing the funding for Hope Mentors. Read Charity’s initial program proposal here. This is a work in progress, but an extremely important one.
Second, it’s time to bust out the hot cocoa and grab your scissors—Operation Baridi Blizzard is back! Last year’s blizzard was a huge success and we were able to fill Nairobi Children’s Home with beautiful snowflakes from all over the world. This year, we hope to spread holiday cheer to Nairobi Children’s Home and possibly Machakos Girls’ Home as well. Get your friends together and have a snowflake cutting party for NCH! Mailing deadline is Dec. 16th to the following address:
Jessie Hagen
P.O. Box 492
Fort Leonard Wood, MO
65473
Again, thank you for staying by our side while we grew out our bangs. We promise to keep this hairstyle for a while. . . Your loyalty during our growing pains is very much appreciated!
Happy cutting.
Jessie