OUR STORY
Our story begins with a small village in Uganda, Bugiri and a young man called Mugonzi.
I was working in Ireland when our paths crossed and even though we met online I felt right away that this is the beginning of something true and important. Mugonzi was looking for help and support for his community and for an organisation he and his friends started a year ago. They were trying to run an orphanage and took care of 28 kids - 11 girls and 17 boys. But actually they were looking after half of their village. Whenever they were meeting for lunch they also served food for other people in need in their area, taking care of more than 100 people. That inspired me a lot and made me feel that they have a true wish and calling to help their community.
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Mugonzi was also looking for help for a 7 year old boy called Rajab. He had serious skin problems, swollen stomach and other serious issues. Rajab’s family didn’t have any money to send him for a health scan and I was lucky enough to offer my support. It of course sounded like many charity scams that I have heard of and many friends of mine advised me to not get involved as this does not sound like an honest thing but I followed by gut. And thank god I did - after many different scans, appointments with different doctors, long trips that Mugonzi and Rajab started often 4 AM in the morning and after many hours they spent in waiting rooms, we finally got some answers, found a nice children’s heart doctor and started a treatment for Rajab. Three months after, now when I am writing this, Rajab’s skin has completly healed and the swollening in his stomach is decreasing every day. It is a beautiful thing to see the smile on his face and to witness the dedication and generousity of Mugonzi while helping and supporting this young boy.
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The cause of Rajab’s health problem was of course infected drinking water as it is the
cause for a lot of health problems in their area. I was now trying to work together with
Mugonzi to find how we could improve the life quality of his people. One of my requests
was that we will find ways how to do it in a sustainable and regenerative way that can be
mindful about their nature and also support their own economy. Luckily Mugonzi agreed
and actually shared a business idea with me for which he lacked capital. He had learned
agriculture and took care of the garden of his community and wanted to start
an eco-fertilizer company, which could offer his people better crops while also taking care of their
drinking water while other commerical fertilizers are doing the opposite. He also had already calculated how the business could work and how it could offer jobs for many people and boost their economy. This made me feel really hopeful about starting and supporting a community there, which could work together with nature instead of misusing and exploiting it. A community with hope for a better future.
After being in contact with Mugonzi for almost three months every day I can truly say that he has all my trust and I know that he has what it takes to take his people forward. This will be the first project of our foundation and I am really hopeful. We are trying to raise the life quality of these people and to do it with a respect and love towards our planet - to find sustainable and regenerative solutions for their problems. This will also be our main goal in Little Bridge Foundation - to offer support and help and to connect different people in need (or flora or fauna) with sustainable and regenerative solutions.
We have a dream that one day we can live in a world where the stronger offers his hand for the weak, where humans treat nature with respect and work together with mother Earth as guardians and gardeners, so that our next generation can also have access to clean water, clean air, wild nature, healthy food, love and peace.
Anyone who values these ideas can turn to us for advice or support.
Henessi Schmidt
Founder of Little Bridge Foundation
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