Our Crowdfunding Groups
Our crowdfunding campaign has ended, but you can still support GROW by clicking here.
Who are we?
The GrassRoots On-site Work (GROW) Internship allows UCLA GlobeMed members to directly travel to our partner, Mpoma Community HIV/AIDS Initiative (MCHI) in Uganda. Interns work closely on sustainable partner-initiated projects—increasing accessibility to sanitary water, providing hygiene education, empowering local communities, and more. After a four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are excited to send interns again!
What we do!
MCHI is based in the rural Nama Sub-county of Uganda, where access to water is severely limited. This means individuals need to travel far distances to access water, and water sanitation is limited. Furthermore, many girls leave school around menstruation age due to a lack of access to period products and stigma. This year, MCHI and Globemed have also identified a need for social-emotional support for young students.
Globemed@UCLA works with MCHI on these issues through projects that focus on the sustainability and longevity of these communities. We aim to give communities the resources and power to strengthen and grow. The Water Access, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Project focuses on constructing boreholes as safe water sources for communities and education on proper sanitation and hygiene practices. The GROW Bruin team will also get to see the beginning of a new borehole's construction this summer. We also have the Project for Income Generation (PIG) which gives communities the ability to generate income that supports borehole maintenance.
The Sanitary Pad Project (SPP) aims to educate students on menstruation and to provide them with skills to make reusable sanitary pads. This project takes place at MCHI's Johnson Nkosi Primary School (JNMPS) and St. Mary's Kirwanyi Primary School.
We also promote student empowerment and retention in schools through a pen pal program between UCLA and Ugandan students, as well as our new project, GROW Corner. GROW Corner will provide a space for students to talk about their emotions, connect with their peers, and build their personal futures. Interns will begin working on further empowerment work this year.
How you can help!
By donating to our campaign you can directly support the building of global communities. Not only will they help with trip expenses, but go back to Mpoma citizens, helping build long-term healthy practices in communities. By supporting our GROW interns getting to Uganda, you can help MCHI strengthen and start projects, while also helping Globemed@UCLA understand how we can continue to support MCHI. Anything helps! Donate what you can as you will be contributing to something not only valuable but vital: the building of the world! Your help will help build empowered communities with generations of safer sanitation, access to water, and strong, powerful global citizens. Together we can build a better tomorrow. Grow Bruins!!
Amazzi bwebulamu; water is life
If you'd like more information about our mission and projects, check out https://globemedatucla.wordpress.com/
CLICK HERE TO READ THE UCLA FOUNDATION'S DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS FOR DONORS
Should this fund reach the campus minimum required for the establishment of an endowment or quasi-endowment, The UCLA Foundation reserves the right to convert this fund to an endowment or quasi-endowment. Please click here to learn more about how the UCLA Foundation invests and manages its endowments.
This donation will allow the interns to survey five students at JNMPS for the Sanitary Pad Project!
This covers the cost of food and housing for one day for one of the three interns!
This amount will help us be able to survey the boreholes and residents in three villages on WASH
This amount is equivalent to the cost of teaching a week of SPP curriculum for primary school children at two schools in Mpoma!
This amount can help the GROW interns set up furniture for an empowerment and mental health space called GROW Corner!
This amount would help us go to a village and assist in the construction/planning of one of the two new boreholes! This will be the start of helping increase water access for two new villages!
This donation will further help subsidize the cost of flights for the interns to Uganda!