The Bear Necessities
UGCA strives to provide children in poverty stricken areas with the opportunities to obtain a better future. Through responsible and targeted aid, poverty can be overcome. In this light, UGCA is working tirelessly on aiding communities with the intention of raising them out of the vicious cycle of poverty.
Our project in Kenya strives to do just this. Beginning in January 2012, in partnership with Care for Kenya – an NGO focused on investing in social entrepreneurship – UGCA will focus on the development of boys in a rehabilitation center in Kibera, a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi. Our aid will not only be focused solely on provisions designated for food and education. It will provide them with housing with sanitation, which will be a key element in establishing a suitable environment for personal and communal development. However, more importantly, UGCA is committed to mentoring. We are dedicated to teaching the children codes of conduct, discipline, organization, and most importantly, hope and the knowledge that with enough effort and focused attention, there is a bright future to look forward to. Placing such attention on mentoring is of paramount importance to the personal growth of the boys, as well as for the community as a whole. Mentoring can provide the youth with critical and positive principles to guide their lives and to lead their communities with in the future. Many of the children we are helping are orphans as well. Providing them with food, access to education and housing is significant. Mentoring is invaluable, transformative and will certainly have a positive long-term effect on their lives. Moreover, UGCA has a steadfast commitment to help the youth in the rehabilitation center so that the future they hope for is indeed within their reach.
To conduct this ambitious project, UGCA has begun its funding program through its Bear Necessities project. Over the last few months, the UGCA staff has been making handmade quality teddy bears and selling them to generous donors and believers in our cause. This has financed the infrastructure for the Kibera project to be able to function properly. The Kibera project will be self-sustainable due to the continued production and selling of teddy bears. Women in a female empowerment center will make teddy bears, and the boys in the rehabilitation center will create the cards attached to them. This will generate work for the women and the youth in Kibera and will be sold to interested buyers abroad by UGCA. The revenue accrued from these sales will go to the development of the project and the continuance of the aid and mentoring mentioned previously. This project should become self-sustainable as of February 2012.
We are excited to begin our work in Kenya and we look forward to working closely with our partners in the Kibera project, Care for Kenya. While our project is ambitious, we hold the firm conviction that it will lead to a better future for the youth of the region. As we are greatly concerned with monitoring our progress and providing maximum transparency, we invite you to read our blog, which will be updated consistently from Kenya.
If you would like to support the work of UGCA in its Kibera program, please consider purchasing a teddy bear from our Bear Necessities project. Our handmade teddy bears are made from fine fabrics such as a variety of silks, Loro Piano cashmere, Etro, Rubelli and Lizzo – all courtesy of MS Design and Casting. Each teddy bear is sold for €50 and will delivered promptly within 15 business days.