The Citizen, 2015-02-19, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015.
Blyth native creates NPO focused on Ugandan mothers
While the Lulu Tree was first
established in June, 2014, the not-
for-profit organization founded by
Blyth native Emily Wierenga is just
beginning to do its most important
work yet.
The project began with Wierenga,
the daughter of Blyth’s Ernest and
Yvonne Dow, taking a blogger’s trip
to Africa with the World Health
Organization early last year.
It was a short visit, she says in an
interview with The Citizen, where
she spent three days in Uganda and
two days in Rwanda before she
returned to her home in western
Canada.
While in Uganda, Wierenga met a
child her family sponsors. She also
met the child’s mother, a peasant
farmer, who had walked four hours
just to meet her.
It was during this meeting that
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
Canada, she began researching
mission organizations reaching 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,
which can be found at
www.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.
Many mission organizations, she
says, come with a high level of
dependency. The goal of the Lulu
Tree is to create independent,
equipped mothers who will learn the
skills and trades to support
themselves, as well as their children.
The sponsorship programs began
last month and under the Lulu Tree
umbrella there are already four
Ugandan women who are beginning
to learn the skills to be profitable in
their world, with two training to be
hairdressers and two training to
become tailors. The expectation is
that the women will have completed
their training by July.
Wierenga says she’s very “anti-
white saviour” meaning that with
this program, not only is she
attempting to equip Ugandan
women with the tools to succeed, but
she’s also working with a number of
Ugandan women to help administer
the program in Africa, while
partnering with Uganda’s Remnants
Haven Ministries, located in the
slum of Katwe, creating, for these
women, belief in themselves.
She says it was important to her
for the program to involve as many
local people as possible. There is,
however, a Canadian board of
directors and an American team
working on the project as well.
As the founder of the project,
Wierenga oversees the entire
initiative, including hiring the
Ugandan Staff Mama Esther
Natakunda Tendo and the volunteer
national co-ordinator Carol Masaba.
Wierenga says she’s far from
alone in the project, however,
especially when it comes to
financially supporting the project.
On the project’s website, there is a
shop that is full of products that have
been created and are being sold by
Canadian artisans. These items,
Wierenga says, are all being donated
by artisans, who, when they sell an
item, donate the proceeds back into
the project as the initiative’s only
current form of fundraising.
The shop is currently being
overseen by Jodie Vanderzwaag, a
woman who owned a profitable
business before shutting it down to
work with the Lulu Tree.
For now, Wierenga says, the shop
is a part of the Lulu Tree’s website,
but it will gradually be distanced
when the organization is granted
charitable status.
To learn more about the Lulu Tree,
or to get involved, visit the website
at www.thelulutree.com.
NOTICE TO DOG OWNERS
in the Municipality of
Morris-Turnberry
2015 Dog Tags and Licences are now available:
(Monday to Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
and Fridays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)
at the Municipality of Morris-Turnberry Municipal Office
41342 Morris Rd., PO Box 310,
Brussels, ON N0G 1H0
All dogs must be licensed in compliance with By-law No. 80-
2013.
A copy of the complete By-law is available for review at the
Municipal Office.
All dogs must be identified by means of a tag and licence, issued
for a (1) one year period by:
Thursday, April 30, 2015
The fee schedule shall be as follows:
1.All Dogs (except those listed in #2)
- male, females and spayed females
FIRST DOG $20.00 per dog
ALL OTHERS $30.00 per dog
2.Pit Bulls, Pit Bull crosses, Staffordshire Terriers
FIRST DOG $100.00 per dog
ALL OTHERS $110.00 per dog
3.Kennel Licence Fee $85.00
(for a kennel of dogs that are registered or
eligible for registration under the Animal Pedigree Act)
4.Late Payment Charge $20.00 per dog
(Shall be assessed in addition to the licence fee,
if the licence and/or tag is not purchased by April 30)
Excrement:
The By-law requires dog owners to forthwith remove excrement
left by a dog, from property other than the premises of the owner
of the dog.
Any person contravening this provision is subject to a $125 fee.
For further information contact:
The Municipality of Morris-Turnberry
Telephone: 519-887-6137 Ext. 24
Fax: 519-887-6424
E-mail: mail@morristurnberry.ca
*** Tags can be picked up in person or
ordered by telephone ***
MEETING NOTICE
Municipality of
Morris-Turnberry
The upcoming meetings for the
Municipality of Morris-Turnberry will be held:
Thursday, February 19 at 7:30 p.m. Budget Meeting
Tuesday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. Regular Council Meeting
Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. Joint Council Meeting with the
Township of North Huron,
regarding Industrial Land
Strategy – being held at the
Hot Stove Lounge, North
Huron Wescast Community
Centre
Tuesday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. Regular Council Meeting
and Meeting to consider
2015 Budget and Belgrave
Water Rates
CORPORATION OF
THE MUNICIPALITY OF
MORRIS-TURNBERRY
Notice is hereby given that the Council of the Corporation of the
Municipality of Morris-Turnberry, will be giving consideration to:
1. The ‘2015’ Budget with the intention to adopt and/or amend
the budget
2. The ‘2015’ Water rates for the Belgrave Water System
The meeting will be held:
Date and Time: Tuesday, March 17, 2015 at 8:00 p.m.
Location: The Council Chambers located at 41342 Morris
Rd., Brussels, ON
Everyone is welcome to attend
Nancy Michie,
Administrator Clerk-Treasurer
Municipality of Morris-Turnberry
NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING TO
CONSIDER 2015 BUDGET AND
BELGRAVE WATER RATES
Seeing a need
Emily Wierenga, a native of Blyth and the daughter of Ernest and Yvonne Dow, is seen here
on a recent trip to Uganda. It was on this trip that she saw a need and decided to step up,
creating the Lulu Tree, a not-for-profit organization based on helping Ugandan mothers to gain
the skills to not only care for their children, but to hold down a job in the country. (Photo submitted)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen