Meet Rose and Josephine

This radiant young lady is Josephine, sitting with her grandmother, Rose! We wanted to share a bit of her story with you, as she and her grandmother are the newest members of the TMRP family!

Since we began The Mighty River Project, our prayer has always been that our work would grow in a natural, Ugandan-led way. Dorothy, our lead basket artisan, has hand-picked all but one of our other basket artisans based on their family's need and the quality of their work. We trust her heart in this, as she is the one on the ground reaching out to her community.

When Dorothy approached us about Josephine and Rose, it was to ask only if we could find a school sponsor for her neighbor friend Josephine. She shared with us that when Josephine was a year old, she moved in with her grandmother, Rose, and the pair have been together ever since.

Knowing that the heart of TMRP is holistic support and parent/grandparent partnership, we wanted to see if we could become allies for this family in a deeper way than school sponsorship alone. Dorothy confirmed that Rose has been learning to make baskets while spending time with the Mukisa Twezimbe basket-making group, and we quickly made the decision to add her as an artisan, meaning she and Josephine would get consistent and fair income, medical care, and mentoring in addition to child sponsorship. Instead of impacting Josephine educationally, we get to pour into both grandmother and granddaughter in ways that, when combined, will create lasting change for both.

Josephine and Rose are already reaping the benefits of being a part of The Mighty River Project. Rose is receiving a salary for her baskets, participates in discipleship group with Lois, and can take Josephine to the clinic at any time at no cost to them. Josephine has had her feet measured for her school shoes, and will receive her uniform and head off to her new school year soon!

All of this is fantastic, life-changing news for Josephine and Rose, but it also comes at a substantial monthly cost. To underwrite the costs of medical care and education for each of our artisans and their children, we match each person with a sponsor; each artisan has a medical sponsor, and each school-aged child has a school sponsor. Josephine and Rose both need sponsors, not only to provide for medical and education costs, but also to have partners to cheer them on with letters and photos. The relationships being forged between TMRPers and sponsors are amazing, and these families are so grateful for the partnership and friendship.

If you'd like to sponsor this family's medical care for $40/month or Josephine's education at $30/month, email sponsorship@themightyriverproject.com to request more information. Thank you!