About Us
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J Neysmith and his wife spent two years in the early 1970s as CUSO volunteers in Sierra Leone, West Africa. His interest in directly funding projects in Africa was renewed when his daughter Jocelyn spent a year (2002-2003) as a volunteer with Canadian Crossroads International in western Kenya. She introduced us to the Ugunja Community Resource Centre (UCRC), which was partnering with other community leaders to start and grow the Nyasanda Community Secondary School. In response to their request for help with the purchase of textbooks, employees at RBC Royal Bank raised $900.00. Nyasanda school now has more than 350 students who use these books on a daily basis, and in 2007 the school graduated its first girl to be accepted to university. |
As we expanded our scope in the years since then, we began using the name “Hands Up Out of Poverty™”, as this reflects the nature of our partnership with women and girls – to work with them to complete a secondary education and to achieve sustainable incomes to support their families. We accomplish this through:
EducationWe pay the school fees of girls in secondary school who live within the local community and maintain a good average grade (most of these girls have lost one or both parents). We also supply textbooks and laboratory equipment, and have begun supplying sanitary pads to girls in order to allow them to attend classes during their periods.
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AgricultureWe have two main agricultural projects: greenhouse farming and dairy goat milk production. The greenhouse environment controls the vagaries of the dry season and torrential rains, allowing women to produce nutritious vegetables year-round and to sell surplus crops for cash income to support their families. Dairy goat milk is highly nutritious, compared to cows milk, and is thus very beneficial to those with a compromised immune system; it too can be sold to supplement incomes.
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HealthWe have been able to source used wheelchairs, walkers, other mobility appliances, bandages etc. from health care providers and suppliers in Ontario and ship these to clinics in Africa. Along with that, we are involved in supplying electricity to rural clinics which allows them to operate on a 24 hour basis, thus improving mother-child health care.
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MicrolendingWe have given micro loans to a medical clinic in Matangwe and an agricultural training project in Songhor, Kenya. Microlending allows groups of women who have already started a regular savings plan to borrow interest free money to enhance their opportunity to generate income. We have also lent for advanced education, greenhouse farmers, dairy goat herders, and business start ups.
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Other Projects
We have also partnered with other groups, such as The Working Centre in Kitchener, Ontario, with whom we supported a “Women and Bikes” education and practical training program to teach African women to ride and maintain bicycles. In 2011 and again in 2014, HUOOP™ worked with Binbrook United Church, near Hamilton, Ontario to complete projects in health care and supply funds for transports and agriculture products.