Katikamu Plastering and Laying the Floors

Katikamu is in the final stretch of the school building project that they have been working on for close to six months now.

A skilled laborer is hard at work plastering the outside of the building. The outside of the school building is almost completely plastered. Soon it will be ready for paint!

George William looks proudly onto the amazing progress made in just the last few weeks.

The classroom walls have all been plastered and the space for the chalkboards have been prepared.

The floors have all been laid. Once dry they will begin painting the classroom walls. Some of the classroom furniture has been delivered by the carpenter and welder that have been busy building it. The teachers housing is also well on it's way to being plastered. The electricity has delayed the welder in completing the windows and doors. Once installed the plastering can be completed.

Katikamu Almost Complete

After being on vacation in Thailand for the last four weeks I was eager to get to the school building site in Katikamu to see the progress the community had made in my absence. I was pleased as always to find that things had moved along smoothly. The school and teachers housing is near completion now.

The classroom block is almost complete. It only requires plastering, painting and the laying of the floors.

The children of Katikamu are incredibly curious about the new school building.

The insides of the classroom have been built all the way up to the ceiling and plastering of the walls has already begun.

The teachers housing for the project is also nearing completion. The windows and doors should arrive within the coming days and then the community will be ready for plastering, painting and laying the floors.

The community is very enthusiastic about the school project. Ben mentioned that parents from the community have already begun knocking on his door asking when they can register their children for the next opening school term.

Vivian Glyck, founder of Just Like My Child visits Uganda

Vivian Glyck, founder of Just Like My Child Foundation and Denise Mullins of The Collective Heart move around with the District Education Office for Luweero to review some potential school building sites.

Vivian and Denise move around the Siira Memorial Primary School to see what is already on the ground and what needs to be in place

Vivian is greeted by many of the Parents of Siira Memorial Primary School

Vivian takes a photo with the Primary Seven girls of Siira Memorial Primary School after giving them a very empowering pep talk about working hard in school and staying safe


Vivian and Denise spend some time with the Katikamu community where the school building project is currently taking place.
Denise Mullins is greeted by the children of Katikamu where The Collective Heart & Just Like My Child school is being built

Vivian and Denise are impressed by how far Katikamu has gone with the school building project and moved by the communities willingness and efforts

Vivian interviews some of the mothers of the Katikamu community and finds that they have been desperate for a quality learning environment that ensures their children stay safe and have a bright future

The children of Katikamu will soon have access to a quality learning environment

The Katikamu community members have formed a committee that manages the school building project

Vivian Glyck plays with some of the Katikamu children who are eager to touch her skin and wear her sunglasses

Vivian and Denise spend some time hanging out with the Just Like My Child Foundation Scholarship RecipientsJLMCF Scholarship Recipients Left to Right: Namata Josephine, Nankubuge Veronica, Nyangoma Rachael, Nalubombwe Josephine

Left: Denise Mullins of The Collective Heart Center: Kiberu William, JLMC Scholarship Recipient Right: Vivian Glyck, founder of JLMCF


A much needed incubator has been purchased for the Bishop Asili Hospital by Just Like My Child FoundationSister Teddy demonstrates how the incubator operates. She is incredibly grateful for the incubator. Being in charge of the maternity ward at the hospital she sees many babies lose their lives that could have otherwise survived by a machine we take for granted in our developed countries

Vivian and Denise meet up with some of the important in country partners that work behind the scenes to move significant projects that save lives forwardDenise Mullins, Vivian Glyck and Tessa Davis meet up with Save For Health, an organization that is assisting Bishop Asili and JLMCF to distribute bed nets throughout the community

Left to Right: Denise Mullins of The Collective Heart. Sister Ernestine Akulu, Administrator of Bishop Asili Hospital. Vivian Glyck, Founder of Just Like My Child. Akware Judith, headmistress of the nearly completed primary school in Katikamu. Tessa Davis, JLMCF Country Director and Maria, Bishop Asili Guesthouse care taker

Vivian Glyck spent a great deal of her time in Uganda participating in meetings about existing and future projects with Bishop Asili Hospital. She invited Travis Mottet, who is referred to by JLMCF as a their "financial wizard" and "superstar board member" to help facilitate discussions and design financial management tools that will allow Bishop Asili Hospital to prepare for improved infrastructure.
Left to Right: Travis Mottet, JLMCF board member. Vivian Glyck, founder of JLMCF. Dr. Charles, Bishop Asili Hosptial surgeon/doctor. Sister Ernestine Akulu, Bishop Asili Hospital Administrator

Travis carried Peace Packs with him all the way from the children of San Diego to Uganda, Africa.
The children of Katikamu receive Peace Packs that were put together and given as a symbol of friendship from elementary school children in San Diego California, where Just Like My Child Foundation is based

The children of Uganda are happy to have a hand made ball fashioned out of plastic bags and banana fibers to play with.

The recipients of the Peace Packs were very grateful to receive such a kind gesture of friendship from the children in the United States

Vivian and Travis get one last look at the school building project in Katikamu before flying out of the country. The roofing is well on it's way!!

Katikamu Completing the Veranda and Building the Foundation

Katikamu is hard at work preparing for the final building stages of the classroom block

Most of the necessary roofing timbers have been measured and cut

Mr. Oliang Ben, the project coordinator is eagerly anticipating the completion of the final building phases

The building up of the veranda is now complete

The community members have finished digging the foundation for the teachers housing and now have begun laying bricks

Mr. Oliang has done an amazing job working with the construction supervisor to coordinate this challenging building project

Katikamu Building the Veranda and Digging the Foundation

As always, Katikamu is hard at work on the community school building project

The building above the ring beam level is completed.

The skilled laborers are preparing the timbers for framing the roofing

As the unskilled laborers wait for the timbers to be completed they fill their time building up the veranda

The community members have been hard at work digging the foundation for the teachers housing

Soon they will be ready to lay the bricks for the foundation

Moon Beads

Just Like My Child Foundation has donated hundreds of moon beads to Bishop Asili Hospital. The hospital will sell the moon beads at a subsidized rate to women interested in family planning methods.

Uganda Health Marketing Group delivered moon beads to Bishop Asili today.

Women use moon beads to help count the days of their cycle, starting with the red bead on the first day of their period. There are different colored beads used to represent the different phases of the menstrual cycle. This helps a woman to understand which days she is most likely to conceive during her cycle.
With moon beads a woman gains the knowledge she needs to keep track of her menstrual cycle and the empowerment necessary to either avoid her husband during fertile days or work with her husband to plan a family responsibly.
UHMG brought literature along with the moon beads that will help educate women about how to use the beads most effectively.Moon beads are a safe and low cost contraception option for women in Uganda.

Scholarship Parents and Guardians Policy Meeting

I traveled to Kikoiiro for the scholarship parents & guardians meeting. I found all of the mothers & grandmothers gathered with the community leader. I explained that the reason I was here today was to go over a new policy that Just Like My Child Foundation has created for the scholarship program. I explained that our rationale for creating a policy was that after a year of the program being in place we ran into some challenges that we didn’t foresee. The policy ensures that there is optimal parental involvement in the program, that the child is performing at a high academic level and staying out of trouble ensuring a continued scholarship, that the donors are getting what they are paying for and that all major stakeholders are giving something to ensure the success and sustainability of the program. I went over the policy with them step by step and gave them all the opportunity to ask questions and give opinions about the policy.

Community Leader, Chati translates for me as I explain the new JLMCF Scholarship Program Policy

Sister Angela of Bishop Asili and scholarship recipient Nankubuge Veronica listen attentively as we go over the new policy step by step

All of the women were so incredibly happy about all I had to share. They expressed that they had been frustrated up to this point that they hadn’t been involved enough in the program. They have felt for a long time that they were being left out of their child’s life. They didn’t want to mess up their child’s opportunity by complaining about it. They were very relieved that the school is now in Kakooge, which they feel is a reasonable and affordable expectation in terms of visiting days. They had all feared that they were missing a major part of the relationship that they once had with their child. Now that JLMC is requesting their involvement they will feel more comfortable with their child and not so out of the loop.

The grandmother of scholarship recipient Namata Josephine, signs the terms of agreement for the new policy Chati assists all of the participants of the meeting in signing the terms of agreement

This meeting today was without question one of the highest points of my three plus years in Uganda. The parents and guardians of the JLMC scholarship program’s reaction to the new policy we’ve set exceeded every expectation that I could have possibly conjured up. These women are strong, capable and willing to do what it takes to make sure their child is not destined to the same fate they have been unfairly dealt. I had to fight back tears more than once during this meeting because my heart just swelled up with optimism and promise for the future of all women throughout the entire world.

Nankubuge Veronica's mother is especially pleased with the new scholarship policy because it aims to ensure her daughters safety and success.