African Alliance
Just over three months ago, I joined LinkedIn. I don't know why, I just felt that I should. Shortly after creating my LinkedIn account, I became aware of Kebba Omar Jobe. He posted on LinkedIn regularly and each post was intelligent, enlightening, and was presented for the purpose of making the World a better place. I began to follow Kebba and to engage with him on LinkedIn. The more I learned about the work he does to protect the Environment, to help the women and young people of The Gambia and throughout Africa, the more my respect and admiration for him grew.
It was on September 12th that I met Eric Ssewakiryanga, CEO of Dream and Hope Achievers Family in Wakiso, Central Region, Uganda. Eric had created a post on LinkedIn to make the community aware of his struggles in Africa.
Dream and Hope Achievers Family (DHAF) is a Community Based Organization (CBO), recognized by the Government of Uganda but they receive no financial support.
Eric has accepted responsibility for housing, feeding, and educating 20 orphaned Ugandan children. The children were scheduled to return to school on September 18th and they needed to raise $600 for food and supplies. After researching Eric and the DHAF, I found that Eric is a good man, a spiritual person, and that he is utterly devoted to helping the children he has taken in. I was deeply moved and became determined to help Eric get his food and supplies for the school year.
I created several posts on LinkedIn, even a video, and received a lot of interest and well wishes, but no financial help for Eric and the children. As days passed, Eric became increasingly desperate. Their food supplies were depleted and the children were getting hungry. I could only imagine my new friend Eric being forced to helplessly watch as these children grow hungrier. I became more determined to find a solution. If Eric could accept so great and wonderful a responsibility, then I could do no less. Not if I wanted to retain my self-respect.
Instinctively, I knew that I must call upon Kebba, to tell him about Eric and his struggles and seek his counsel. It was already clear to me that Kebba is a man of wisdom and experience, someone who could guide me in my efforts to help Eric. It was the best decision I could have made.
Kebba patiently listened as I told him Eric's story. He has heard this story many times and did not hesitate to offer his personal assistance.
After confirming for himself that Eric is a man of integrity and dedication, Kebba became a part of the conversation and the source of the solution. He congratulated Eric for the creation of DHAF and the work he has done for the children and offered to help. With Kebba's support and experience to guide him, Eric has a real chance to not only support the facilities he has in place, but to expand them and be able to help even more children in Uganda.
Together, the three of us have formed an unbreakable alliance. Kebba is creating an Organization devoted to helping Eric establish Community Farms that will produce enough food to feed his people and help to pay for the school. With this support, as well as the support Universal Divinity intends to provide, DHAF is on the way to becoming a Non-Government Organization (NGO) and will be significantly more likely to receive International attention and relief.
As I write these words, both Kebba and Eric are working tirelessly to make our vision a reality. This is a top priority for all of us. With every day that passes without help, Eric and the children are facing food insecurity. Time is not a luxury that they have. For that reason, as Executive Director of Universal Divinity Ministry, I have requested that the Universal Divinity website be launched several weeks before schedule. Our nonprofit status is still in the filing stages, but we cannot in good conscience wait another day to make our services available.
I am very proud that I had the opportunity to meet Kebba and then Eric on LinkedIn. It is an honor to have been the one to connect them with each other and to have been the catalyst to the formation of our alliance. I was guided every step of the way by my connectedness to the Universe, my empathy and intuition, and my Free Will. I was led to this moment by a Conscious Universe, and I will do my part.
I thank the Universal Divinity Board of Directors for recognizing the importance of launching our Ministry early and for supporting the African Outreach Initiative I proposed. It is of greatest urgency that we support our fellow citizens of the Universe, to guarantee their basic human rights and dignity, and to ensure that they are fed and able to receive an education.
I am a Minister who wears boots, not shiny shoes. I don't believe a person can really give their all without getting a little dirty. I pledge to personally support Kebba's generosity and Eric's dedication, and I have promised them that I will visit them in The Gambia and Uganda. There is much that can be done to help with education, in providing them with Spiritual Counseling, and to participate in rescuing the many at risk women and children from dangerous people and places. Each of these women and young people will have good work and educational opportunities in a safe environment, thanks to Kebba and his Women and Youth Empowerment Organization, The Gambia.
View the information, videos, and photographs that Eric has provided for me to post here. A link will be provided where you can make donations to support Eric. Every cent of every donation is used to support the African Outreach Initiative, Eric, and the hope and dream achievers family.
I thank you on behalf of Universal Divinity and those who your donations will impact so positively.
(Image Credit: Eric Ssewakiryanga, CEO of Dream and Hope Achievers Family in Wakiso, Central Region, Uganda.)