We ended 2018 knee deep in planning, dreaming, meeting, and preparing for 2019. The hard work paid off as we are excited to be able to launch our first group of 2019 in the next couple of weeks!

Ufulu Groups will be partnering with Grace of God Children’s Home (GOGO) for it’s first group of 2019! We want to introduce you to GOGO and let you be familiar with the work that they do!

GOGO is a transitioning community center in Mwenera Village run by Titu and Hlupie Chirwa. In the past, GOGO was a residential orphan care center. With directives from Malawi Social and Welfare to transition all residential facilities into community based centers, GOGO has been pro-actively re-unifying residential children back with their parents and guardians. With these new changes, the Chirwa family have been dreaming about how they could best use GOGO facilities to serve the surrounding community. GOGO now has a Pre-School and After School Program that provides tutoring and other activities to vulnerable children in Mwenera. They also have launched a feeding program for the children that come to GOGO each day.

As the Chirwas continue to dream about ways they can serve their community, they desired a way to equip vulnerable families surrounding GOGO. That is where the partnership with Ufulu Groups came in. After multiple meetings, we agreed that Ufulu Groups’ model was just what was needed in Mwenera to empower local families, who in the past would have been relying on the residential facility to give relief to their family, but now can be empowered to create their own sustainable businesses to keep their families together.

After research and multiple interviews, Ufulu Groups hand picked seven single mothers to join this Group. The women have chosen to train in tailoring. Along with training, the women will participate in Business/Budgeting Classes, two days of Trauma Training/Counseling and also have an opportunity for an income generating project (more on this later!)

Single parents have been enrolled + media consent forms filled out. An incredible staff has been hired to serve this Group, staff orientation has taken place, and we can’t wait to get started! We are thrilled to be working together with the Chirwas and GOGO and can’t wait to get under way!