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Ufulu Groups

Introducing Our New Director

November 5, 2018 · 2 Comments

 

 

We are so excited to introduce you to our new Director of Ufulu Groups, Theodora Chapeta. Theo graduated with honors from African Bible College in 2013 with a Bachelors Degree in Mass Communication. She has extensive experience in radio, management, training, and public speaking. Theo has worked with the Malawi Government as a Social Protection Services Officer for the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare. In her spare time, she volunteers with the Navigators and is a member at Flood Church.

We are thrilled to have Theo on team Ufulu and look forward to the growth that will result through her leadership!

Posted by cwilson / Filed In: Uncategorized

Half Way There

September 21, 2018 · Leave a Comment

We wanted to update you on our first Lilongwe group and progress so far! We are over halfway through with the New Beginnings Group and have learned so many valuable lessons as we continue to develop our programs!

 

The hair training is moving along phenomenally!  The mamas have learned how to care for natural hair. They have become efficient in different types and styles of braids. They have mastered extensions and weaves. Over the next few months, the women will tackle steaming and wig making. Already, several of the moms have developed customers near their homes with the skills they have learned!

 

 

The make-up training is progressing as well! The women had practicals a couple weeks ago where “customers” came in and had their make-up done. The mamas were graded on professionalism, communication, and application. The day was so beneficial to give the women feedback on where they are excelling and which areas they need to improve on in the upcoming months.

 

The daily lunch is running smoothly. The mamas and their children look forward to this break in the middle of the day where they can come together and share a nutritious meal and reenergize before the afternoon classes.

 

 

The Business and Budgeting Class is equipping the women with the necessary tools to be successful in their Hair and Make-up Businesses. The women are currently learning how to construct a business plan and think through the strengths and weaknesses of their future businesses. Learning how to budget and save are such critical tools needed to be sustainable in the future!

 

 

Our Group Counseling has been SUCH a joy and an area where we are seeing tremendous impact. The women have been learning about trauma, shame cycles, healing, and where Jesus is in their pain. We will definitely continue to use this program in every group as we can see healing take place along with chains being broken and ufulu (freedom) being found.

 

 

The Pre-School program continues to be a place where the children look forward to coming each day! The Mothers have been giving feedback to the teachers of the growth they are seeing in their child at home. New songs, Finger plays, and English words are popping up at home and surprising the Mamas! We continue to develop this program and work on a model that can be reproducible in all of our groups.

 

 

We are excited to share that we have a new group in the works and we can’t wait to tell you more about it in the upcoming weeks!

Posted by cwilson / Filed In: Uncategorized

Pre-School Program

July 8, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Our Pre-School Program is off to a great start and we are really learning many valuable lessons about what we want each of our pre-school sites to function like.

 

 

Our goal with our pre-school program is to provide a safe and flourishing environment for the children of the women in our Ufulu {freedom} Groups to learn, while their mamas are being trained. We also want these children to gain tools necessary to begin their education journeys, so that they can thrive academically when they start school.

 

 

We want the mamas and their children to be on site together learning and growing. We desire for the mamas to feel at peace while they are training,  because their children are being cared for and having fun in a safe environment.

 

 

The first few weeks  gave us a lot of material to learn and grow from as our wonderful pre-school director navigated through the challenges of having multiple children at varying ages. When a baby was crying, a toddler might be feeling needy, or a pre-schooler would make a mad dash for the door.  But, after 5 weeks under our belt, we have worked through many of the kinks and are moving into a good schedule.

 

 

The children are enjoying Bible stories and worship music, outdoor play, music and craft time, along with a good afternoon nap!

 

 

The favorite time of the day, may just be when the mamas and children are reunited for a meal together at lunch!

 

 

We are really encouraged with the way the pre-school program is developing and are excited about having one on each site where our parents are trained, spiritually discipled, learn about business and budgeting, receive counseling, and are empowered and equipped to thrive!

 

Because what makes our hearts beat, is seeing parents and their children flourish together as a family!

 

Thank you Play Street Museum in Texas for your generous donation of quality toys, that our children are thoroughly relishing!

Posted by cwilson / Filed In: Uncategorized

First Group Launch

June 15, 2018 · Leave a Comment

We are so excited to have launched our first Ufulu Group this June! The past few months have been full of meetings, paperwork, and all the tiny, but lengthy and important details that go into registering an organisation. We are thrilled to announce that our registrations have been approved with the Malawi Government! Three cheers!

Ufulu Groups is pleased to be partnering with New Beginnings for their first Lilongwe Group! New Beginnings is a local ministry in Lilongwe that has been operating for one year. They work specifically with expectant girls and young mothers who need support. Together, we are offering the women in our group:

Spiritual Discipleship
Hair and Make-up Training
Daily meals
Child care for their children
Budget and Business Trainings
Tutoring
Healing and Trauma Counselling
Life Skills
Parenting Classes

We are so thrilled to be joining forces to empower and equip these young mothers!

Along with our first official group comes all the “fun parts”. Sharing stories, showing our day to day trainings and routines, celebrating successes and learning from challenges. One thing that you might notice with our photos, videos and story-telling is that you may not see many faces. You also may see some photos with faces blurred out. We wanted to share with you the “why” behind these photos.

 

Our Core Value #7 states…..

We believe in telling the stories of life change in our single parents and their families with permission, dignity and respect.

One of the first items we go over with our parents who enter our program is a media consent form. This form asks each parent permission to share their photo, their story, their names, and even their voices. It gives them full power over how they do or do not want to be portrayed on social media and with our donors. The parents are told very clearly that their answers on their media consent form do not in any way affect their status in our program.

I wanted to share a bit of a personal story that made this Core Value so important to us and was a factor in shaping our view on the importance of media consent forms.

A couple of years ago, my family of 6, along with our friends were at the airport waiting to pick up some people. We were sitting in seats and just chatting with each other. Out of no where, a group of young adults ran toward us and grabbed my arm and started posing with me and taking pictures. They also continued to do this with my children and my friend. It happened so fast, I really did not have time to process the event. But, when they left, my friend and I started talking, and we both felt kinda violated. The young adults did not ask us our names; they did not ask us permission to take our pictures. We had no idea what exactly they were doing with our photos, and I was pretty uneasy about where the photos would end up- especially those photos with my children in them. It really made me think about how I felt and how I see visitors constantly doing this here in Malawi.

Malawi hosts many visitors, especially during the Summer months, as lots of teams are coming into country to do short term missions trips. We see well meaning and curious tourists get off the plane with cameras in tow, snapping pictures of new sights, people, peculiar things and cute children. I wonder if the people who are having their pictures snapped wonder who it is that is taking their photo and what they plan to do with them? I relate as a mother to how uncomfortable/scary it is not knowing where your child’s photo is going to show up. And if we are not ok with people coming into our neighbourhoods and taking pictures of our homes, children, etc. without permission, than we shouldn’t be ok with doing that to other people, even if they don’t look like they care.

For these reasons, we want the parents in our program to feel comfortable that they have the power over their photos. I used to think that Malawian people were just friendly and enjoyed having their photos taken and really didn’t care if strangers were coming into their neighbourhoods/villages and snapping pictures of their house, family, children without permission. But then, as we started using the media consent forms, we actually realised that this was false thinking on our part. Actually, many people do really care and have an opinion on the topic. As we launched our first group, all of the women in our group, except for one, asked for their face not to be shown when sharing photos on social media and with donors.

So, we continue to learn and strive to do better and earnestly try to live out our Core Value #7.

Check out this website ethical storytelling, for great resources and conversations on how to ethically tell stories for those people you are working and serving with. We hope to continue to listen and learn from others on how to grow as better ethical storytellers.

Posted by cwilson / Filed In: Uncategorized

Eden and Emeralds

January 9, 2018 · Leave a Comment

Ufulu Groups is so thrilled to be partnering with Eden & Emeralds!

Eden & Emeralds is a beautiful online shop founded and owned by the sweetest Mama, Jeleah. She specializes in making hand lettered pouches to make mama life easier! Her pouches are on-trend, beautiful and durable!

 

Jeleah has such a heart for orphan prevention and family preservation, fueled by her experiences in interning for Pure Mission in 2012.

 

In February 2018, Eden & Emeralds will be launching their Give Back Collection!

When you purchase a Mama and Baby Pouch, you’ll  find beautiful chitenje fabric from Malawi, lining your pouch.

You can also shop other items from the Give Back Collection: the adorable stuffies or  paci clips.

 

All of the profits from the Give Back Collection will benefit Ufulu Groups! How awesome is that?!

We think Jeleah {the founder/owner of Eden and Emeralds} says it best, “Every time you open your Mama Pouch or Baby Pouch to take care of your baby, I hope you’ll be reminded that your purchase is helping a Mama in Malawi take care of hers.”

You can also find Eden and Emeralds on Instagram.

Go check them out and read more about Jeleah’s full circle, God story in partnering with Ufulu Groups

Posted by cwilson / Filed In: Uncategorized
Tagged: Eden&Emeralds

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Welcome to Ufulu Groups! We exist to empower vulnerable and under-resourced single parents through skills training and dignified work, resulting in family reunification and family preservation.

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