Impact The Lives Of 60 Illiterate Teen Girls And Help Them Learn To Read And Write In 2025
Expat Money® Literacy -
A Further Step On The Path To Freedom And Self-Reliance
It's 2025, and the 4th fundraiser by the Expat Money Community to support the Literacy Program for teen girls in the Namuwongo slum of Uganda -- girls who have never been to school! Thanks to you, we have been able to bring reading, writing, math, English, digital literacy, and creativity to over 250 girls from the poorest families, and they are thriving!
At Touch the Slum, every program is FREE to the girls in the program. In the Literacy program, they learn all they need to advance to a vocational skill in Skills for Life -- and get a job or start their own small business upon graduation. At the bottom of the social ladder, teen girls who have no education or skills are often abused and exploited, and many become pregnant. This program gives them a way to a self-sustaining future, and they love it!
We so appreciate your support for 2025, and know it will be the best year yet!
Exchange rate on transfers is averaging 3550 UG shillings to $1 USD, and our costs per month for 60 students are approximately $1,000.
BASE RECURRING EXPENSES PER MONTH:
Teachers Salary 2@350,000/mo annual = 8,400,000
Security Guard, Cook Salaries 750,000/mo annual = 9,000,000
Teaching Aids 500,000/mo annual = 6,000,000
School Supplies 200,000/mo annual = 2,400,000
Food (one meal per day per student + staff) 8,350,000/mo annual = 10,000,000
Rent 400,000/mo annual = 4,800,000
Electricity, water, trash 300,000/mo annual = 3,600,000
Charcoal 100,000/mo annual = 1,200,000
Meet some of the teen girls at Touch the Slum, our program for teen moms and teen girls in Uganda's largest slum. All of them have been in our Literacy Program, generously launched by donations from the Expat Money Community in 2021. After raising over $6,000 in 2022 for this year, we are excited to partner with the Expat Money community for the third year to fund 2024.
Teen girls in the Namuwongo slum are at the bottom of the social ladder. They rarely have the opportunity to attend school, and are often encouraged into sex work by their peers and even their mothers or aunties. This leads to a cycle of pregnancy and illness that is impossible to escape.
Ten Eighteen works with teens like Faith and Brenda from the slum by providing vocational training, crisis support, counseling, mentoring, daycare, free clinic, and residential homes. Girls struggle in their vocational classes when they cannot read, write, or speak any English. That's why we added the Literacy program in January 2022, which has been a huge success. Most girls have become functionally literate and able to speak English in 5 months or less! (But the ones who take longer stay as long as they need.)
In 2024, we will have 2 terms and a total of 60 girls go through Literacy. We will be able to instruct 30 girls per term - and everything in our Touch the Slum program is always free for the girls. Our goal is give every teen girl the skills she needs to avoid turning to sex work, to create an income for herself through employment or entrepreneurship, and to have a sustainable income for herself and her family.
Exchange rate is calculated at 3600 UG shillings to $1 USD
BASE RECURRING EXPENSES PER MONTH:
Teachers Salary 2@350,000/mo annual = 8,400,000
Security Guard, Cook Salaries 550,000/mo annual = 6,600,000
Teaching Aids 500,000/mo annual = 6,000,000
Food (one meal per day per student + staff) 600,000/mo annual = 7,200,000
Rent 300,000/mo annual = 3,600,000
Electricity, water, trash 200,000/mo annual = 2,400,000
Charcoal 100,000/mo annual = 1,200,000
BASE TOTAL: 27,008,400 ($7502)
NOTE: Money raised over this amount allows us to purchase art supplies, games, basic tablets, and other extras to help the girls learn.
Ten Eighteen takes no administrative fees or salaries from donations, so 100% of donations to this project will go to the project. (You will have the chance to also pay the card processing fees to defray that cost.)
Mwebele nyo!
OUR CAMPAIGNS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS:
How We Will Impact The Lives Of 180 Illiterate Teen Moms And Help Them Learn To Read And Write In 2023
Expat Money™ Literacy Program 2.0 - A Further Step On The Path To Freedom And Self-Reliance
NOTE: While we didn't make our goal for 2023, we were still able to grow our program from
40 girls a year to 60, with $6,250 raised!
Meet some of the teen moms who live at Touch the Slum's Ross House, a residential program for teen moms in Uganda's largest slum. All of them have been in our Literacy Program which was funded by the Expat Money Community in 2021. You all raised over $8,000 in ONE DAY last year to start this program!
Teen girls in the Namuwongo slum are at the bottom of the social ladder. They rarely have the opportunity to attend school, and are often encouraged into sex work by their peers and even their mothers or aunties. This leads to a cycle of pregnancy and illness that is impossible to escape.
Ten Eighteen works with teen girls and teen moms like Kalunji and Sylvia from the Namuwongo slum by providing vocational training, crisis support, counseling, mentoring, daycare, free clinic, and residential homes. Girls struggle in their vocational classes when they cannot read, write, or speak any English. That's why we added the Literacy program in January, which has been a huge success. Most girls have become functionally literate and able to speak English in 5 months or less! (But the ones who take longer stay as long as they need.)
In 2023, we will expand the Literacy Program that the Expat Money Community funded last year by moving to a separate location and tripling the size of the student body. We will be able to instruct 60 girls per term for about $90/girl - and everything in our Touch the Slum program is always free for the girls. Our goal is give every teen girl the skills she needs to avoid turning to sex work, to create an income for herself through employment or entrepreneurship, and to have a sustainable income for herself and her family.
The Literacy 2.0 Project has two components: the hard costs of setting up one new classroom (we are moving our current classroom), and the recurring costs of running the program:
Exchange rate is calculated at 3700 UG shillings to $1 USD
ONE TIME EXPENSES:
Furniture 5,000,000 UG shillings
White board 400,000 UG shillings
Carpet 250,000 UG shillings
LED Display Screen 700,000 UG shillings
Notice boards 600,000 UG shillings
Tutor books 800,000 UG shillings
Pots, plates, cups 3,000,000
Charcoal stove 1,500,000
TOTAL: 12,250,000 UG shillings ($3310 USD)
RECURRING EXPENSES PER MONTH:
Teachers Salary 2@350,000/mo annual = 8,400,000
Security Guard, Cook Salaries 550,000/mo annual = 6,600,000
Teaching Aids 500,000/mo annual = 6,000,000
Food (one meal per day per student + staff) 600,000/mo annual = 7,200,000
Rent 1,200,000/mo annual = 14,400,000
Electricity, water, trash 200,000/mo annual = 2,400,000
Charcoal 100,000/mo annual = 1,200,000
TOTAL: 46,200,000 ( $12,486 USD)
PROJECT GOAL: $15,800 USD for 2023
Ten Eighteen takes no administrative fees from individual donations, so 100% of donations to this project will go to the project. (You will have the chance to also pay the card processing fees to defray that cost.)
Mwebele nyo!
How You Can Impact The Lives Of 20 Illiterate Teen Moms And Help Them Learn To Read And Write In 2022 - $8,000 RAISED IN ONE DAY!
Expat Money™ Literacy Program In Uganda - A Step Forwards On The Path To Freedom And Self-Reliance
Gloria is a 17 year old single mom to Fidel, age 1. She had almost no schooling as a child, and can't read or write in English or Luganda, and can't do basic math. She is not alone!
The Namuwongo slum is Uganda's largest slum, home to an estimated 30,000 people. Uganda has the world's youngest population, with 65% of people age 18 or under. According to UNESCO, 76% "of people ages 15 and above [in Uganda]... can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life." (From our experience, this is number is too high!) But the barriers to education are many:
- There are no free schools and many families can't send even one child to school. When they have to choose, they will send a boy over a girl.
- Girls who do attend school are often sent home because they lack access to sanitary pads, and cannot attend for a week a month once they have entered puberty.
- Schools have been closed since late March 2020 due to COVID19 lockdowns, and aren't scheduled to reopen until late January 2022 at the earliest. Many have aged out during this time.
Ten Eighteen works with teen girls and teen moms from the Namuwongo slum by providing vocational training, crisis support, counseling, mentoring, and residential homes. Girls like Gloria struggle in the vocational classes because they cannot read, write, or many times speak any English. They need extra tutoring and support to learn tailoring and hairdressing, and aren't even candidates for our upcoming computer lab. They also can't do basic math, which is critical to be able to run a small business for themselves.
In 2022, we will create a LITERACY CLASS, which will teach Gloria and others like her these basic skills in 4-month terms. We will be able to instruct 20 girls per term for less than $325 a month -- and everything in our Touch the Slum program is always free for the girls. Our goal is give every teen girl the skills she needs to avoid turning to sex work, to create an income for herself through employment or entrepreneurship, and to have a sustainable income for herself and her family.
The Literacy Class Project has two components: the hard costs of setting up the classroom, and the recurring costs of running the program: (exchange rate is calculated at 3430 UG shillings to $1 UDS)
ONE TIME EXPENSES:
Furniture 2,100,000 UG shillings
White Board 400,000 UG shillings
Carpet 250,000 UG shillings
LED Display Screen 600,000 UG shillings
Notice/bulletin Board 600,000 UG shillings
Tutor Books 800,000 UG shillings
TOTAL: 7,150,000 UG shillings (about $2100.00 USD)
RECURRING EXPENSES PER MONTH:
Teacher Salary 400,000
Teaching Aids 85,000
Teaching Materials 70,000
Food (one meal per day per student + teacher) 350,000
Rent (portion of compound overall rent for classroom) 100,000
Electricity (portion of compound bill for classroom) 100,000
TOTAL: 13,200,000 UG shillings (about $3900.00 USD)
PROJECT TOTAL: $6000 USD for 2022
Ten Eighteen takes no administrative fees from individual donations, so 100% of donations to this project will go to the project. (You will have the chance to also pay the card processing fees to defray that cost.) We have the space available in our Namuwongo Ross House Compound, and a teacher ready to begin in January 2022. All we need is YOUR HELP!
Webele nyo!
