The Citizen, 2016-03-31, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2016.
Blyth native travels to Uganda for Lulu Tree project
Hard at work
The Lulu Tree, an initiative started by Emily Wierenga, daughter of Blyth's Ernest and Yvonne
Dow, has taught Ugandan women skills that have helped them get to work in a variety of
professions. Here are some of the project's women working in a Ugandan hair salon. (Photo
submitted)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
This week, Emily Wierenga, the
daughter of Blyth's Ernest and
Yvonne Dow, will meet for the first
time those on the ground working on
her initiative The Lulu Tree in
Uganda, after a two-year period of
success and expansion.
Wierenga left for Uganda last
weekend, although her travel
arrangements had been in question
for a few days due to circumstances
out of her control.
The Lulu Tree founder was
scheduled to fly to Uganda by way
of Brussels, Belgium, the site of
several terrorist attacks last week.
Throughout the week Wierenga
knew her flight had not yet been
cancelled, but there was plenty of
uncertainty surrounding it. However,
she left for Uganda on Friday as
planned and by Sunday she had
arrived, safe and sound, reported her
father Ernest.
Wierenga formed the not-for-
profit organization in June, 2014,
after a trip to Africa with the World
Health Organization. During that
trip and by way of a chance meeting
with a single family, Wierenga
identified an immediate need among
the women of Africa.
In meeting this Ugandan woman
and her son, who was in need of
care, Wierenga discovered a glaring
hole in the mission world.
She could tell that the Ugandan
mother had been humiliated with a
Canadian having to sponsor her
child and it was then that Wierenga
wondered about support for third -
world mothers and young women.
"My spirit was really troubled by
it," she said.
When Wierenga returned to
High-level speaking
Colby Dale, left, and Courtney Bachert recently
represented the Blyth Lions Club at the District A9 Effective
Speaking Final in Neustadt. Dale was the Junior division's
first runner-up, while Bachert was the first runner-up in the
Senior division. (Photo submitted)
Canada, she began researching
mission organizations that reached
out to women in an effort to partner
with them, but to her surprise, there
weren't any, so she started one.
The Lulu Project began in June,
2014 and is currently in the process
of obtaining its status as a registered
charitable corporation. It was
created with the slogan "Preventing
tomorrow's orphans by equipping
today's mothers."
On the organization's website,
thelulutree.com, those who are so
inclined can sponsor a mother, rather
than a child. The aim of the
organization, Wierenga says, is self-
sufficiency.
In an earlier interview with The
Citizen, Wierenga said that she's
very "anti -white saviour" and was
striving, through the organization, to
empower Ugandan women, rather
than mobilizing a team to swoop into
Africa and provide aid. The goal, she
said, was to train these women to
care and provide for themselves,
thus, establishing a culture in the
country.
She says it was important to her
for the program to involve as many
local people as possible.
The system has been successful,
she said, and it continues to grow.
The program began by teaching
Ugandan women skills that would
enable them to keep jobs and
provide for themselves and their
families.
The first year, organizers focused
on REST (Rehabilitation, Education,
Shelter and Trust) and now in the
second year, there are both the
MAMA (Mobilizing African
Mothers to Action) or BIRD
(Becoming Independent and
Redeemed Daughters).
The group is also working to
distribute child -birthing kits, which
contain a number of small items
North Americans would take for
granted, including a razor. If a
woman needs to give birth at a local
hospital, she needs to bring such
items with her and, due to poverty,
this often simply wasn't an option,
or the woman would scrounge in the
dirt for a razor, which Wierenga says
clearly isn't safe.
A kit costs sponsors only $10 she
says and through the program The
Lulu Tree has already helped 600
women.
The program is continuing to
expand throughout Uganda, she
said, with the creation of the Mukulu
program.
This program was born out of
necessity, when someone involved in
the initiative found a three -day-old
baby wrapped in plastic and left for
dead. They hoped to care for the
child, but without the proper
certifications, the program was
unable to take the child in.
Now, with this program made
official, the infrastructure is in place
for The Lulu Tree to care for
orphans, matching young girls with
an elder sister or daughter, if the
situation were to arise.
Due to Wierenga's insistence on
stimulating the local economy,
rather than bringing in North
Americans to do all the work, the
initiative relies heavily on local
Ugandan women, all of whom
Wierenga has never met face-to-
face.
First she created the company
after returning from Africa, then she
and her husband had a child,
so between 2014 and the present,
she simply hasn't been in a
position to travel halfway around
the world until now.
While the internet and programs
such as Skype have made meeting
face-to-face a virtual reality,
Wierenga is looking forward to
actually meeting these women. But
in many ways she feels like she
knows them well already, she said.
With this week-long trip, however,
Wierenga hopes to expand the
program's reach into Sierra Leone.
She will be spending the tail -end of
her trip in Sierra Leone, staying at
the house of a local pastor who has
volunteered his space to her.
The need in the country is great,
she said, with over 14,000 teen
mothers in a country that has been
ravaged by Ebola. So when an offer
like she's received has been
extended, it's nearly impossible to
turn down, she said.
A lot has been happening in the
last two years, Wierenga says, and
especially within the last three or
four months, and she says it's great
to see the energy behind the project,
adding that it's encouraging to see
the concepts actually working on the
ground.
Wierenga is due back to her home
in Alberta early next week.
For more information on The Lulu
Tree, visit thelulutree.com.
Letter to the Editor
No plan to close
arena says Blaney
THE EDITOR,
Given the number of rumours
about the Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre that are floating
around, I think it's time for some
straight talk on this very important
topic.
There is no plan on the part of
Huron East Council to close the
Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre and as long as I
am on council, I intend to do my
damnedest to keep it that way.
I was not elected to close
community centres and don't intend
to start now.
I am also sure that if you speak
to any of your councillors from
Brussels and Grey they will tell you
the same thing.
Sincerely,
David Blaney
Councillor, Municipality of Huron
East, Brussels Ward.
The Citize
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