My daughter and I sponsor 3 lovely girls to go to school in Uganda through Step Up. We have sponsored them since January 2023. We always donated to different charities in some way but wanted to find somewhere we could support and know where the money was actually going! We receive regular updates by message and video from our sponsored girls, Angel, Jacklin and Nankya. It’s nice to see they are enjoying school and that our sponsorship benefits their lives. We also send them parcels a few times a year with little essentials like soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, along with an assortment of toys, books or clothes. The team in Uganda work so hard to keep these children fed, clothed, in school and looked after.

I was so keen to help that I suggested to a group of friends on Facebook that we do something collectively to help Step Up. So between 57 of us ladies, we sponsor 5 children to go to school. We ensure they have uniforms and school essentials paid for, a birthday party/gift for each child and send them parcels of essentials from the UK every time a shipment leaves. We have also bought them each a mattress and net to protect them from mosquitoes and lessen the chance of them catching malaria.

As a group, we sponsor Francis, Shadrack, Catherine, Vicky and Angelina. We call them our little angels! We have seen the team in Uganda wipe tears from sad little eyes, provide hugs where they were needed, heal injuries and ailments by paying for medical assistance and spread love and kindness throughout the school and surrounding areas. The children who attend school have a better chance of succeeding in life when they have a good education behind them, which not only assists the child themselves but has an overwhelming impact on the family and their ability to support themselves in the long term.

So it is with huge thanks that we continue to love and support both the team in the UK and those in Uganda, who are literally changing lives day by day, every day.