Commentary | International Women’s Day
Special to the Acorn

Taking care of business – Ugandan women gather to attend an adult literacy class offered by The Greater Contribution in a structure the women built themselves.

When I think of honoring our sisters on International Women’s Day, I’m drawn to Uganda and the many trips I’ve taken to meet up with women in the small villages there.

I’ve been to Uganda 19 times since I founded The Greater Contribution in 2006, a nonprofit that provides microloans, education and business skills training to help Ugandan women lift themselves out of poverty by becoming entrepreneurs.

“Isn’t that an awfully rugged trip?” is the question I’m often asked. Sure, and it’s also where I’m the fortunate one who gets to connect with the women who inspire me most. Women who are turning their lives around despite dire circumstances.

More often than not, I return to our headquarters carrying a chicken or goat gifted to me from an appreciative “businesswoman.”

It was surprising to learn how solitary the lives of Ugandan women are. I’d been told they were regarded as “just kitchen women,” though I didn’t really know the depth of that phrase.

Culturally, they are to remain at home.

Many impoverished women had no friends and no contacts until they joined The Greater Contribution program.

They tell me that now they feel like they have a new family. And during a recent group mentoring class, when a woman shouted out “We love you for loving us,” I realized just how personal and transformative our work is.

However, I’ve also come to know that it’s often an uphill battle for women to enroll in our program. One woman reported that her husband demanded she stay home, saying that if she left to attend an informational meeting about it, she couldn’t return. But she did. She joined a loan group, took out a loan, built a business, and eventually went on to become a peer counselor mentoring other women.

And, by the way, her husband opposed her at every step.

Of all the women who touch my heart, the bravest are those with disabilities.

Doreen, who doesn’t have the use of her legs or hands, is known in her village as the most cheerful. She loves to make others laugh and resists any pity for her condition. She built a business to support her family. She even decided to run for office and now serves her district as the local Councilor for Disabled People, traveling by wheelchair to attend to the needs of others. There’s just no stopping her.

In my travels it’s thrilling to see the transformations underway when the village women believe in themselves and what they’re capable of. I see more women wearing shoes, more children in clean clothes, babies going to doctors, less meals skipped, and a confidence among them that’s contagious.

Our program director, Toffi, informed me that the ladies had been unable to find a vacant room in a church or school for their adult literacy classes—so, they built one. It was a remarkable moment when they proudly displayed it to me. Nothing was going to stop them on their journey toward becoming the women they were meant to be.

After they have been a part of the program for a few years and their village is prospering, I’m showered with bags of rice, beans and bananas, chickens, and even an occasional goat. But it was a visit to the village of Oliwiyo that left an indelible mark. A procession of ladies presented me with food items and two very special gifts: Beautiful ceramic birds nesting on pedals; a white bird for the peace that was brought to their village and a green one for the loans that brought abundance. I display them in my home office as a reminder of our outreach.

As of this year at The Greater Contribution, more than 30,000 microloans have been issued with a repayment rate of 98%. Typical incomes for women in Uganda prior to enrollment in the selfhelp programs is .35 cents per day. It’s many times greater than that after completion of the programs.

In honor of International Women’s Day, I am celebrating how the women we serve in Uganda inspire me. Perhaps it’s because we all share a sense of inclusion and belonging to something bigger than ourselves.

Karon Wright of Thousand Oaks is founder of the T.O.-based nonprofit The Greater Contribution.

When I think of honoring our sisters on International Women’s Day, I’m drawn to Uganda and the many trips I’ve taken to meet up with women in the small villages there.

I’ve been to Uganda 19 times since I founded The Greater Contribution in 2006, a nonprofit that provides microloans, education and business skills training to help Ugandan women lift themselves out of poverty by becoming entrepreneurs.

“Isn’t that an awfully rugged trip?” is the question I’m often asked. Sure, and it’s also where I’m the fortunate one who gets to connect with the women who inspire me most. Women who are turning their lives around despite dire circumstances.

More often than not, I return to our headquarters carrying a chicken or goat gifted to me from an appreciative “businesswoman.”

It was surprising to learn how solitary the lives of Ugandan women are. I’d been told they were regarded as “just kitchen women,” though I didn’t really know the depth of that phrase.

Culturally, they are to remain at home.

Many impoverished women had no friends and no contacts until they joined The Greater Contribution program.

They tell me that now they feel like they have a new family. And during a recent group mentoring class, when a woman shouted out “We love you for loving us,” I realized just how personal and transformative our work is.

However, I’ve also come to know that it’s often an uphill battle for women to enroll in our program. One woman reported that her husband demanded she stay home, saying that if she left to attend an informational meeting about it, she couldn’t return. But she did. She joined a loan group, took out a loan, built a business, and eventually went on to become a peer counselor mentoring other women.

And, by the way, her husband opposed her at every step.

Of all the women who touch my heart, the bravest are those with disabilities.

Doreen, who doesn’t have the use of her legs or hands, is known in her village as the most cheerful. She loves to make others laugh and resists any pity for her condition. She built a business to support her family. She even decided to run for office and now serves her district as the local Councilor for Disabled People, traveling by wheelchair to attend to the needs of others. There’s just no stopping her.

In my travels it’s thrilling to see the transformations underway when the village women believe in themselves and what they’re capable of. I see more women wearing shoes, more children in clean clothes, babies going to doctors, less meals skipped, and a confidence among them that’s contagious.

Our program director, Toffi, informed me that the ladies had been unable to find a vacant room in a church or school for their adult literacy classes—so, they built one. It was a remarkable moment when they proudly displayed it to me. Nothing was going to stop them on their journey toward becoming the women they were meant to be.

After they have been a part of the program for a few years and their village is prospering, I’m showered with bags of rice, beans and bananas, chickens, and even an occasional goat. But it was a visit to the village of Oliwiyo that left an indelible mark. A procession of ladies presented me with food items and two very special gifts: Beautiful ceramic birds nesting on pedals; a white bird for the peace that was brought to their village and a green one for the loans that brought abundance. I display them in my home office as a reminder of our outreach.

As of this year at The Greater Contribution, more than 30,000 microloans have been issued with a repayment rate of 98%. Typical incomes for women in Uganda prior to enrollment in the selfhelp programs is .35 cents per day. It’s many times greater than that after completion of the programs.

In honor of International Women’s Day, I am celebrating how the women we serve in Uganda inspire me. Perhaps it’s because we all share a sense of inclusion and belonging to something bigger than ourselves.

Karon Wright of Thousand Oaks is founder of the T.O.-based nonprofit The Greater Contribution.

The post Teaching Women to Reach Higher appeared first on The Greater Contribution.

When I meet with the groups of women we support in Uganda, it is usual to be met with exuberant songs and dances as I enter the villages.  They perform to express their appreciation for all the program has done to change their lives and to express their unbridled joy. Inevitably by the end of the day’s events, they also present my fellow travelers and myself with bags of corn meal, millet, beans, rice, bananas, avocados, beautiful African fabric, ceramics, live chickens, and occasionally even a goat. We are always overwhelmed at the generosity of these women who live in straw and mud structures and maybe own one pair of shoes but whose lives have so improved since the advent of the TGC program that they feel compelled to express their extreme gratitude with such gifts. 

The gifts are certainly an expression of love but there’s more. The women are now happy and proud to be givers and not beggars.  Now, in the village there’s a very palatable feeling of joy and love.

We’ve provided loan funds, education, and mentors, but they’ve done the hard work of defying the cultural expectations of their husbands and their communities. They needed someone to have faith in them.

The post “We love you for loving us!” appeared first on The Greater Contribution.

Guest post by Keith Gayhart – A few years ago, I learned that a dear friend of mine, Karon Wright, was leading a nonprofit organization supporting women in Uganda. As I learned more about The Greater Contribution, I was impressed with what it was doing for women living in extremely challenging circumstances with few opportunities for improving their lives. Clearly, this organization was not simply providing immediate assistance to women and their families; it was making a lasting difference that would reverberate across generations. 

It’s been a humbling lesson for me. I am a long-distance runner, and I have had the excellent fortune to compete in tough racing events worldwide…Greenland, Antarctica, Namibia, the Canary Islands, Siberia, the Canadian Sub Arctic, Mongolia and the Atacama Desert. People often express amazement over my athletic accomplishments, but it is obvious to me that what my friend Karon and TGC are doing is far more amazing…and done in a spirit of love and goodwill. 

I am incredibly proud to represent The Greater Contribution in this year’s “Racing the Planet’s 20-Year Ultramarathon” in Jordan November 5-11. It lifts my heart to know that as I carry my backpack across 155 miles of desert sand, I’ll be contributing, in my small way, to helping hard-working women give their families a better future.

If you would like to help power me forward in my quest to empower women in Uganda, you can join me by donating here: The Greater Contribution | DonationPay

The post Racing the Planet’s 20-Year Ultramarathon appeared first on The Greater Contribution.

Thousand Oaks, CA – When prices rise, the impact is worldwide, especially to women in rural Uganda who support their families with only a few dollars a day.

The Greater Contribution is making a move to change that with their “Move 2 Empower” fundraiser July 11-22 where funds raised online will provide immediate relief to the most impoverished Ugandan women beyond our borders, not with a hand out, but with a hand up, by believing in them.

For the past two decades the non-profit has provided more than 22,000 micro loans (with a 95% repayment rate) to women in remote villages of Uganda, along with literacy and business skills training, mentoring and peer counseling, so they can start their own businesses and lift their families out of poverty. Now their ability to provide basic necessities to their families is threatened from the recent Covid resurgences, soaring prices, and economic downturn resulting in a lack of consumer demand.

Anyone can join The Greater Contribution’s “Move 2 Empower” the women of Uganda by moving compassion into action with a donation, while urging friends, family and associates to do the same at www.greatercontribution.org. Supporters can also move within their communities by hosting fun fundraising activities where friends sponsor them for walking a committed distance or dancing for a designated amount of time.

“Proceeds will focus on immediate food insecurity relief,” says TGC President Karon Wright who founded the non-profit in 2006. “We will be providing seeds so our borrowers can grow vegetables within weeks and produce additional drought tolerant crops for the long term, so mothers don’t have to choose between only one meal a day, or removing children from school. Loan extensions will also offer much needed support.”

Realities for village women in Uganda served by TGC program:

*Casava flour, a staple of Ugandan diets, has risen 11% from last year.

*Basic food and non-alcoholic drinks increased 11% this year.

*The cost for soap increased from 2,000 Ugandan shillings to 6,000, and cooking oil has risen from 2,500 to 10,500.

*Recent fuel hikes have had a devastating impact on food prep, the supply chain, and getting goods to market.

“Movement and action create positive change in the world,” says Wright. “Together we can ‘Move 2 Empower’ the women of Uganda to persevere through yet another roadblock on their road to breaking the cycle of poverty forever.”

The Greater Contribution empowers impoverished women and girls in Uganda with compassion and respect. We provide financial support through micro loans, education, and development programs to reduce poverty, disease, hunger, illiteracy, and gender inequality. This assistance supports them in becoming equal partners in their families and respected members of their communities, opening doors to a more equitable and prosperous future.

Click here to donate.

Contact: Lisa Carey Public Relations
Phone: 818.889.1085
Emai: lisa@lisacareypr.com

The post The Greater Contribution Makes a “Move 2 Empower” Ugandan Women Struggling To Survive appeared first on The Greater Contribution.

Thousand Oaks, CA — When it comes to empowering women living in poverty, The Greater Contribution
makes a huge impact by starting small.

The organization’s monthly micro loans of $50+ to women in rural Uganda, Africa offer support along
with literacy and business skills training, mentoring and peer counseling, so that women can start their
own businesses and lift their families out of poverty.

The Greater Contribution’s formula for success makes dollars and sense. More than 22,000 micro loans
issued to date with a 95% repayment rate. Typical incomes for women in Uganda prior to enrollment =
.35cents per day; after completing the program = $17.73 per day (Increase of 405%).

“In the African culture where women are the breadwinners, our program creates sustainable incomes that
foster pride with our participants and their communities,” says TGC President Karon Wright, who started
the non-profit in 2006 with a group of local women who wanted to make a greater contribution to the
world by helping those most in need. “Best of all, by the end of the two-year program our borrowers are
often employing other women and men.”

The Greater Contribution is a 95% volunteer-based organization known for being frugal with low
overhead so that the majority of all donations go directly to empowering Ugandan women. The
touchstone of the non-profit organization is its ability to forge relationships, both with donors and
benefactors.

The organization works with local partners in East Africa to focus energies in the most remote villages of
Uganda where the need is greatest. Enrollment in the two-year program includes training and support
beyond the monetary funding. Mentors/volunteers meet in groups every two weeks to make loan
payments and support each other, and loans are repaid in full every three months, then repeatedly loaned
out again and again. Outreach also includes working with local organizations to distribute thousands of
free sanitary pads to girls to help improve their menstrual health and enable them to remain in school.

Almost three billion people worldwide live on the equivalent of less than $2 a day. And of those living in
extreme poverty, 75% are women and girls. The Greater Contribution serves the most impoverished
women beyond our borders in Uganda, not with a hand out, but with a hand up, by believing in them.

Click here to donate.

Contact: Lisa Carey Public Relations
Phone: 818.889.1085
Emai: lisa@lisacareypr.com

The post The Greater Contribution Gives Beyond Borders By Investing In The Power Of Women appeared first on The Greater Contribution.

I know we can all agree that the last two years have been more challenging than in many years past. So much darkness challenging us to remain positive and focused on what we can do to contribute to the world and others. Too often, the headlines are full of bad news, and the goodness of people and organizations goes unreported.

At the same time, I am humbled and amazed by the resilience of the women of Uganda, honored and inspired by the generosity and compassion of our supporters here. 

At the end of 2021, we raised more than twice as much money in our Black Tie No-Show Dinner event as the year before! Despite all the chaos happening in our lives, our supporters remained hopeful and compassionate and gave to help others in record numbers. I am deeply grateful to all those who donated and a remarkable team of 59 volunteers who sent Black Tie invitations to their friends and colleagues to make this incredible windfall possible. The $129,510 generated will fund enrolling 1200 more women into our program this year! Unprecedented in our history! 

If you’re following our work, you know that enrolling 1200 more women means giving them microloans to start small businesses, business skills training, mentoring, and adult literacy training, in short, a comprehensive jump-start on a new life! It is a huge gift to many deserving women and their families, changing their lives forever. 

Last year, we enrolled 800 new borrowers into our program. At the end of their first six months in the program, we asked them how TGC’s help had impacted their lives. Here are some of the comments we received.

• Now we are comfortably eating two meals a day. That wasn’t the case before.
• It changed my life because I can save, and in case of any emergencies, I can solve them now, and it has removed stress from me.
• My children will now study like other children too.
• I can buy clothes and shoes for my children.

and

• I am now proud of myself for getting a loan to develop a business. I was afraid to do that before TGC.
• This program has removed the embarrassment I faced begging little money from relatives & friends to survive.
• My husband now respects me, and now I have children eating good food.
• I was able to move out of an abusive marriage. I am happy I made this decision.

These comments are why we do this work at The Greater Contribution. They tell us the stories of the women we support, the difficult lives they lead, and why they need our support.

Join us in transforming lives like those describe above.  Donate at: https://secure.donationpay.org/greatercontribution/.

The post January 2022 – A New Year, New Opportunities appeared first on The Greater Contribution.

Matching Gift Challenge!

We are truly blessed to be able to begin this year’s event with an extremely generous matching gift challenge. TGC longtime donors and supporters Andra Ellingston and Fred Simmons are pledging to match every contribution received during our fundraiser up to $30,000. This means that your donation is effectively doubled: double the impact, double the number of women served, double the number of poverty stricken families saved.

Persistence With Assistance

Our theme for this year’s annual Black Tie No-Show Dinner is “Persistence with Assistance”. Our borrowers in Uganda have tough times encoded into their DNA. These women know only living on the edge…the edge of poverty, the edge of starvation and the edge of life itself. Yes, even in the toughest of times they persevere and yes, persist. They never give up on their children, their family or themselves. And it’s with the assistance provide by you through The Greater Contribution that they are able to move away from the razor’s edge into a life of promise and possibilities.

How it Works

For those unfamiliar with our Black Tie No Show Dinner, the concept is simple. Why go to the expense and labor of putting on a big shindig in a fancy ballroom, encompassing months of planning with you spending lots of money on a gown or tux and a babysitter… when you could just stay at home in your jammies, and instead donate the money you save to the most worthwhile charity we know of, The Greater Contribution.

Please donate today and double the impact and the empowerment!

The post Black Tie No-Show Dinner appeared first on The Greater Contribution.

Uganda continues dealing with economic and social hardships caused by the coronavirus. We will regularly update the situation in Uganda and how the circumstances there are pushing many families even closer than before to the economic brink.

October 2021

The economy is open once again, and our borrowers are able to conduct their small businesses.  However, some restrictions and some fall out from the countrywide shutdowns remain and challenge their jobs.  One of the effects is that inflation is growing, making it difficult for our borrowers to sell their wares and to buy daily necessities for their families.  Thus, they are caught between a tightening of the income and increasing costs. 

In addition, schools are still not fully open. The government had previously announced that all schools would re-open in November.  That target date has now been moved to January as the government ensures that all teachers are vaccinated against COVID-19 before fully re-opening schools. Their priority is to vaccinate the teachers and staff of medical schools first. Thus,  elementary and secondary school-age children will have tragically lost two years of education by next year’s re-opening date.  In addition, because children are now deprived of the lunch they would normally receive at school, food insecurity at home has increased. 

The COVID vaccine continues to make its way to Uganda, albeit in small quantities.  The BBC reports that “The government plan is to vaccinate 4.8 million of its priority group, including health workers and teachers, by December this year. The full re-opening of the economy is pegged on vaccinations.”  In a country of 44 million people, much more needs to be done. We are fortunate to have obtained the vaccine for all our staff members, who are especially at risk, as they regularly interact with large numbers of borrowers. 

While daily life continues to be fragile and at risk in a country where 90% of the population lives in dire poverty, there is some light on the horizon with the re-opening of the economy.  With the aid of our incredible supporters, The Greater Contribution has continued to operate all our microloan and affiliated programs. By the end of the year, we will have brought another 800 disadvantaged women into the program, continuing our work toward a better life for all Ugandans. 

The post Pandemic Update appeared first on The Greater Contribution.

The post The Gift of Gratitude appeared first on The Greater Contribution.

Hello Dear Supporters,

I’m just back from my 12^th trip to Uganda to oversee our program there and visit with the amazing women we serve.  The two major reasons for my trip were to speak at the graduation of 150 women from our two-year literacy program and to provide new micro loans to 250 women, bringing our total of active loans to 830!  Both very exciting events and I want to share some of those experiences with you.

The Graduation

I wish that you all could be with me on these trips to see all that your support provides.  The unbridled joy and gratitude of the women at this graduation was really remarkable and so touching.  They demonstrated why we all do this work.   At the graduation event, the women first greeted us with a banner announcing to their pride in their accomplishments and quite an accomplishment it is. These hardworking women work from sunrise to sunset to feed their families, run a small business (started with a TGC microloan), take care of their children and run their households and yet who found time to attend classes twice a week for two years!  Their joy and pride were further expressed as they came forward to receive their certificates of completion, hugging us and in some cases nearly knocking us over!  In a few cases, the women knelt to honor us and show their appreciation!  During all this, children in the audience witnessed their mother’s success, setting an example for them of the importance of education.

Loan Distribution Day

This is always a highlight of any trip I make to Uganda. On this trip we provided micro loans to 250 women!  By the time, this day comes along, the women borrowers have been selected by their peers to join to a loan group, they have been approved by village leaders as responsible citizens, they have attended three days of business skills training, they have been assisted in developing a business plan, enrolled in literacy classes and now they are eagerly awaiting the moment when they receive their loans; a loan that represents a dream come true, a loan that represents their only hope of getting out of poverty.  Their joy is explosive.  Here are some images from that day.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing a little of the joy and life renewal that your support brings.  In a world where 20,000 people a day (most of them children under the age of 5) die of preventable causes of poverty, these loans are life changing: giving hope, dignity and a chance for a longer life and a vastly better life with more meals, medical care, schooling for children and more!  Bless you for all you’re doing and for being a part of The Greater Contribution family.

Sincerely, Karon Wright

President, The Greater Contribution

The post Trip Report 2018 appeared first on The Greater Contribution.