This past Saturday, Ugandan Gold employee Jill Whitecap gave a presentation on Ugandan Gold’s operations and philosophies at First Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. Apparently someone was listening, and Ugandan Gold was mentioned by Ruth Anne Dailey in an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about how giving is so important, but giving in the wrong way can be disastrous.
At Ugandan Gold Coffee, giving the people of Uganda a better standard of living has always been our focus. The need for clean water in Africa is one of the most pressing issues today. Just giving people clean water isn’t enough. We have always sought to partner with the Ugandan people so that together we can create solutions with them– creating jobs, providing training, enabling a better standard of living. This is why we sell our coffee – not only do the profits provide the ability to drill water wells, it also pays for the workers at our coffee farm, the operation of a model food farm and the workers who are drilling the wells.
It allows us to give people clean water, and to be a catalyst for changing the standard of living for so many in the region. It might be a lot easier to raise support and purchase coffee to sell or to send teams of westerners to drill wells.
It might even be cheaper. But it wouldn’t be right, and it wouldn’t truly help the Ugandan people in the end. Instead, we’re training Ugandans to drill wells. In fact, some of our well drillers have even left our staff to start their own businesses in Uganda, and we couldn’t be happier! Ugandan Gold truly is a gift that keeps on giving.
So, we thank you for all of your support. We thank you for purchasing coffee which allows us to not only give Ugandans clean water, but to train them and equip them to change their own country. Your support allows the people of Uganda to stand on their own two feet, and to give back to their communities. It also, we hope, helps them feel their worth – both with God, in their communities, and to the world.
Thank you again, and while you’re here, click on the link below and read the article by Ruth Ann Dailey in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It’s an excellent article on the dangers of giving incorrectly, and how charities like Ugandan Gold are doing the right thing by empowering the people with whom they work:
Ruth Ann Dailey: “To Give is Divine, but ‘Toxic Charity’ Lurks”
