2020 Annual Review

The Covid-19 pandemic required our partners and communities to rise to new challenges while doing their important work. We are inspired by their tireless commitment to others. We are also grateful to our donors who made it possible for our partners make it happen – thank you!

Project Ensonga
In March Project Ensonga quickly shifted from making feminine hygiene kits to face masks. Over 7,600 masks for children, teens and adults were delivered to 33 organizations across our Philadelphia area. This outreach introduced Project Ensonga to new groups to whom we distributed 673 Days for Girls feminine hygiene kits. We are grateful for our new partners: No More Secrets, Redeemed for a Cause and Hispanic Missioner of the Episcopal Church. We will continue to distribute most of our Days for Girls kits in 2021 within the Philadelphia area since international travel is on hold to most countries.

In addition to the masks and kits distributed, Project Ensonga sent monetary donations to our partners in Uganda and Guatemala which allowed them to sew Days for Girls kits. During the pandemic, this helped them employ women to sew and to supply girls and women with the kits. Funds were also sent to Days for Girls Liberian Refugee Project to purchase kits from local enterprises in Liberia. 500% inflation in the country due to the pandemic saw a huge increase in the girls and women who could not afford to purchase feminine hygiene product.

St. James School
Due to Covid-19, St. James School had to pivot to distance learning and connected to students via text, phone and online learning platforms. The school is also an important hub for the Allegheny West neighborhood and since the outbreak of Covid, school staff has worked to provide much needed food and support to the community.

ECHOES Around the World provided a $4,600 donation to the St. James School to cover the daily feeding of 200 people for a full week.

Uganda
Our partners in Uganda continue to be the core focus for ECHOES Around the World. Even with the world in lockdown and life so insecure, they have showed us their usual ways of pressing forward.

During our last visit in 2018 we were shown an outline of their new project: a large hospital and nursing school. They had already dug all the footings and were ready to build. During both 2019 and 2020 ECHOES has concentrated their fundraising efforts to support this cause. The numbers of new patients using the small Double Cure Medical Centre was rising to 1,500 a month plus HIV/AIDS and child immunization clinics. Our October 2019 fundraiser’s focus was funds to building of the Double Cure Hospital and Nursing School with the added pleasure of both Rev. Romans and Dr. Lydia being our guests. We raised over $125,000!

2020 challenged us how to keep going. A generous donor offered a $25,000 matching gift which we surpassed with the support of our board and many supporters. The funds raised were directed to the new building which grew by one floor to a 5th story hospital and nursing school. Local community leaders were so encouraged by this wonderful addition, they supported the engineer study which approved of the expansion!

The schools, Trinity Children’s Centre and Centenary High School, were not forgotten. Funds were sent to provide scholarship monies and much needed new text books, which resulted in outstanding scores in the national exams and support of the matrons who care for the students. COVID hit Uganda too and the schools were forced to shut. Staff were sent home to their villages with money and previously purchased food to feed their families, students of exam classes were encouraged to keep learning at a distance, but, just as it was for us, 2020 in Uganda was challenging.

The scheduled trip in 2020 was cancelled, but if you persist, there is always a silver lining. The addition of a Zoom account for Dr. Lydia brought us closer than ever before. She would joyfully take us on tours - floor after floor of the new hospital and nursing school to show us the progress and better explain their most urgent needs.

With the new hospital came the need for additional equipment and supplies. Project C.U.R.E, a non-profit which assesses the need for and coordinates the delivery of medical supplies and equipment to under-resourced hospitals and medical centers around the world, was contacted and again with the help of Zoom, Double Cure Hospital was assessed and approved to receive C.U.R.E.’s assistance. Since the receiving institution must cover the shipping cost of the cargo container (the contents are free!) our Giving Tuesday fundraiser and the kind support a Church in Florida provided with the funds needed to cover the $24,500 expense. The container is expected to arrive in Uganda in July 2021. To fully outfit the new facility, two additional containers will be needed.

Our Ugandan friends so often shake their heads in disbelief that folks who have never visited, not even met them, would support their efforts. We the Board, are also grateful; it would be impossible to provide this assistance without every donation that is freely given.

On a personal note, I would like to thank everyone who has served on our board through the years. Many have made the trip to Uganda, but not all of them, and yet they all give of their time and money, thank you.

Blessings,
Nereida Gordon
President, ECHOES Around the World