Global

The Ohusomesa Omuhaana Project (OHOP) aims to promote female education in rural Uganda. Our first project is in a small village called Busolwe, in the eastern Butaleja district, close to the Kenyan border. Busolwe, like the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa, struggles with many challenges. These challenges range from poverty and malnutrition to forced marriages and a lack of rights and privileges for females. The goal with this project is to eliminate one of the main challenges that girls face in attending school — finances. Although families desire to send all their children to school, if they do not have enough funds, they will most often send their sons over their daughters.

These cards were created by the children of Busolwe who came out to support their sisters and friends when three University of British Columbia (UBC) student volunteers hosted a “Girls Day” on July 3, 2010. The goal of this day was to create individual and unique artwork that would inspire and result in positive change in their village That artwork was then brought back to Canada and transformed into a series of 14 greeting cards that featured their artwork on the cover, along with a portrait of the artist and their short biography.

During the summer of 2010, UBC students also worked with many girls that attended secondary schools in Busolwe. Girls that excelled in their studies and showed promise but lacked in finances applied for the OHOP scholarship. The scholarship application consisted of a few questions regarding family life and their future goals but the main component was an essay on the importance of female education. The girls were informed that this project was new and that nothing, in terms of financial aid was guaranteed. However the girls were still hopeful in what they could accomplish, and so are we!
The goal here is to sell as many cards as we can to help out bright, young Ugandan girls who could otherwise not continue in their studies! All proceeds from the sales of these cards will be sent back to Uganda to support these young women in their future endeavors.

The cards are $3 each or 10 for 25$. They are available for purchase at Theo’s Restaurant (Penticton), Kettle Valley Station Pub (Penticton) and 10,000 Villages in Penticton. Check our store for online ordering.

Contact Kelsey at the email below for your order,

On behalf of our partner community in Busolwe, we appreciate your assistance in creating change through children’s art and education.

More information about this project can be found at:
http://busolwepubliclibrary.yolasite.com/

You can also contact Kelsey at: kmallison15 @ gmail.com