Fun Faces!

Face painting is always a hit with the kids! Sometimes they want volunteers and aunties to do the decorating and sometimes they want to decorate themselves!

Local Sprouts

How far do you walk for water? To the tap? To the store? To a village borehole? To the river? Is it clean? Is it safe? As a basic necessity for life, Local Sprouts encourages you to think about it the next time you take a sip to quench your thirst. Want to make a difference & bring clean, safe drinking water to a local school or children’s home? Click through to Malayaka House and get the water flowing!

 

 

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Our Aunties Rock!

Awesome Aunties!

It is impossible to speak of Malayaka House without speaking about the Aunties’ contribution and sacrifice to our cause. Their love and care brought our babies back from death’s door to complete recovery, and we owe them everything. Our Aunties are seven very special women who are the nurses, teachers, chefs, housekeepers, guardians, friends, role models and mothers to our children. They adore each and every child as if they were their own, something priceless to a child who has no other family to speak of.

As every mother knows, raising children is a tiresome and often selfless act, let alone in an environment established for recovering and rehabilitating sick and broken kids. The Aunties have the responsibility of bringing the kids back, both physically and mentally, and there is only one way of doing this, which is through love and compassion. Our team of “All-Star Aunties” has perfected the art. They have crafted a family that revolves around equality, friendship, and respect.

It is hard to imagine that one Auntie can put 20 children to sleep, in the same room, and succeed. The Aunties do this every day with a skill and expertise that has become renowned. When the Aunties go about their work they do not struggle or stress, even if a kid is flipping out and chaos is everywhere. The Aunties are calm, collected, and in full control. This makes it comfortable and less intimidating for our many wonderful volunteers to get 

involved because not only are they caring for the children, young and old, they are also meeting the needs of our steady flow of guests and visitors.

Auntie Robina harvesting to cook up a storm!

Caring for the little ones is easy compared to managing our 15 teenage girls, but the Aunties have found their way with them as well, and they have done so by building strong relationships. Every child in the house depends on the Aunties to guide and counsel them through their problems. They are consistent, light-hearted, and peaceful, the ingredients that allow everyone to participate on their own accord. If an Auntie asks someone to do something, the task is accomplished whole heartedly and immediately. The kids work alongside the Aunties every chance they get, and because they are appreciated for their contributions, and efforts they always come back to help out the next time around.

Saturday Safari with the Aunties

Each of our Aunties was found in our local village of Lunyo, within walking distance of our home. Like many Ugandan women, they were all in desperate states, most with children of their own but unable to find work to support their family. They tried to depend on men to support them, but often that situation was not in their best interest, to say the least.

Laughter fills the day at Malayaka House!

The Aunties create their own rotating schedule, with two staying with the children at night. They manage this among themselves and work together to adjust it as needed. Their independence extends to their lives outside of Malayaka House, to include bank accounts, identification, and healthcare… benefits the majority of Ugandan women do not have access to. We pay them a competitive wage because they earn it, and then some. We wish we could pay them more. They are each the highest wage-earners of their households and are now able to support themselves, their children, and their extended families.

We hold our Aunties in the absolute highest regard. It is because of them that our children are thriving.

Exciting to see Uganda so many times on the list! Great job to all the finalists! Good luck!

Say Cheese!

The vision of making and supplying mozzarella cheese to restaurants and hotels stems from the relatively high demand for pizza in Entebbe, and the difficulty businesses face trying to acquire high quality cheese. A friend and Italian restaurant owner taught our girls the fine art of making delicious mozzarella cheese, and we have built a special mozzarella cheese house for smooth, clean, and efficient operations. It has a sink, counter, deep freezer, storage shelves, and a large industrial gas cooker…everything required for a well-positioned enterprise.

A cheese business aligns well with our intention of one day serving organic pizzas to the community supplied by fresh milk and organic vegetables from our own farm.

Currently, we have four customers and distribute roughly 12 kilograms of mozzarella per week. Our objective is to cover expenses, provide two jobs, turn a profit, and to eventually establish the first pizza delivery and catering operation in Entebbe.

Malayaka House employs Permaculture methods at our house and community projects across Uganda.

Traveling

Public transport is widely used for short trip and long journeys. Sometimes it is a bit of a walk just to get to the main road and luggage can be heavy to carry. Ugandans are creative to make the traveling easier. Heads above!

Bakery & Pizza Night

We decided to create an opportunity for our older girls to develop their baking skills while lessening our dependence on increasingly expensive cooking gas by building a fuel-efficient wood-fired brick oven at Malayaka House. Construction was complete in April of 2011, along with a proper kitchen around it to keep the area clean, safe, controlled, and dedicated to our business activities.

Bookkeeping, scheduling, and keeping track of supplies are all skills demonstrated by our teens as they run the bakery and pizza restaurant.

Jacinta, one of our home’s oldest children, is training a team of bakers as we develop a prosperous income-generating activity that feeds the healthy market in Entebbe for good bread, high quality cakes, and pizza.

Supplies all laid out for a busy night ahead!

We have expanded our baking activities to complement our guest house, steady flow of volunteers, and friends in the community. Two evenings per week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we host Malayaka House Pizza Night. The menu consists of a build-your-own pizza, a loaf of bread to take home, dessert, and fresh juice. A team of hosts and waitresses works alongside the bakers to welcome guests, take orders, and provide first-class service to our customers.

Setting the scene with tablecloths made in our Craft Workshop, where teens learn the ins and outs of sewing.

Our pizza nights began in February 2012 and have become a popular social event in Entebbe. The United Nations employees and Swift Air flight attendants and pilots have provided a solid base of support and consider Malayaka House pizza “the best pizza in town”. Our next step is developing a delivery program targeting these satisfied customers and expanding our market.

Home grown veggies are often used in making our pizza and sauce!

Have fun for Malayaka House!

All the fun and games of Malayaka House can be contagious! But there is no reason for all the fun to be just in Uganda! Want to have fun and benefit Malayaka House? Why not organize an event with the proceeds going to Malayaka House? Maybe a yoga class! Or a concert! Or a craft fair, fun run or marathon! The options are endless! Be in touch if you would like to organize an event. We’re happy to assist in whatever you have in mind!

 

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

From high gloss to hand made, Hakim transformed a magazine photo into a work of art! Such a talented guy!