t was chilly outside but warm inside and wonderful to hear from another of our members about the incredible, life-changing and affirming work she is doing in Uganda. But anyone who knows Patty Seybold won’t be surprised. 

Patty has been involved with the African Food & Peace Foundation for over three decades now.  It’s a US-based 501 (c ) 3 that provides scholarships, schooling, training and mentoring to girls and their families in rural Uganda. The program includes a secondary school, four-year university and technical school. It also does a whole lot more:

The students are taught to envision – literally, by drawing a picture of their goals - what they want in three to five years: A new home, a piggery or other new source of income, higher-level schooling. After the visioning, they are taught the means to work to achieve their vision. Not only are the young people creating change, they are also returning home and getting their entire families involved in the change they hope to create. This includes everything from microfinance to finding the inner strength to make savings and denial worth the effort.   

The results are amazing: Patty showed us “before” and “after” pictures that the girls – young women, really – had achieved. This holistic, visionary methodology to build change was developed through the reality that financial aid by itself doesn’t work; that people have the inner means to improve their situation – if they are empowered and educated to do so.

And the work has not gone unnoticed. Already, MasterCard has come through with a training program that has improved the lives of 70,000 people in the communities four hours west of Kampala that are touched by the program.  

It is a remarkable program. But then, Patty is a remarkable change-maker.  

Earlier, during happy/sad dollars, much was said both about the destruction our beloved region experienced, and the fact that adversity brings out the best in us. So stay warm and dry, and see you next week, when we will hear what’s new at the Memorial Library.    

Want to learn more about Rotary and all the good we do, here in the region and around the world? Ask a Rotarian, or come to one of our meetings, every Thursday at the Rotary Building, 66 Montgomery Road. You’ll be glad you did!