Of particular concern was the plight of so many young widows and grandparents in the some of the most remote villages. It was decided that an initiative should be launched to fundraise specifically to help these desperate people. This started what we now call the Village Projects.

Support through our Village Projects comes in two main forms, as one-off gifts of crops, livestock and household supplies or project support as part of a scheme where an AIDs widow, for example, is supported for a year to become self sufficient through the breeding of pigs, goats or hens.

Working with village community leaders and Pastors, CRU identifies the most needy of families for support. Once a family is identified a series of meetings takes place to confirm what type of support would be most beneficial eg. A Pig, Goat or Hen Project. Once funds have been raised the programme of support starts. Whilst this can vary according to family circumstances, a typical scheme for Goats runs as follows:

CRU’s Project Manager for the scheme (typically an Ugandan based volunteer) will meet up with the widow and agree what support will be made available and the conditions of support.

For a Goat Project, we will usually:
+ supply materials to build a goat house;
+ if no extended family can help we will also build the goat house; + provide up to 7 young goats (one male, six females);
+ provide guidance on breeding;
+ provide for the initial months food for the goats;
+ give additional food for the family (so they don't eat the goats!!);
+ give money for school fees and medicine, as these children are often some of the most malnourished children in the village.

Once the scheme is up and running, the family will be visited at least once a month, sometimes more, to provide support and supplies for the next month. Once a six-month breeding cycle has been completed a donation of one of the goats is received by CRU to put toward one of the next projects. As the year progresses the level of financial support is reduced as the family become increasingly self-sufficient.

Click here for more details of village projects

The cost for running these schemes for a year is typically between £500 and £600 and has proven to be very beneficial to the family and the community as a whole. Much of this money is raised through our Gift Certificate Scheme.

In addition to these projects support in the form of gifts of blankets, bedding, crops and one-off gifts of animals are made.

In some instances, often with 'grannies', support is needed in the form of assistance to build a new house, where her existing mud hut is in very poor condition and she has no means to repair or replace it.

Click here for more details of granny projects