Love Mercy

Christmas is a time of year for spreading joy, which can sometimes make gift giving difficult for people who seem to have it all. Our online store has lots of options for people who might be difficult to buy for, or who might prefer that you give a gift to someone else on their behalf instead. Check out our top 5 picks for Christmas this year: 1. Gift tags - Pack of 5 for $6.50 posted Finish off your gift wrapping perfectly with these tags. $5 treats a child with malaria at the Kristina Clinic, so your gift will be changing a life in Uganda.   2. Love Mercy Print -$15 postage included These beautiful Australian designed and printed art print comes mounted on matt board and ready to be framed.  These prints fund our life changing projects in Uganda, so every purchase makes a difference. 3. The Spark Book -  $25 posted The perfect inspirational coffee table book. Eloise Wellings featured alongside many other inspirational Australian's striving ahead in

Sunflowers... photo captured by River Bennett from theWolfpackmrs Today we were welcomed with singing and dancing by 200 of our Cents for Seeds women from the village of Barr. Barr women are the pioneers of the Cents for Seeds program, they were the first village that we ran the program in, back in 2010. They have been the most innovative and entrepreneurial group of women that we've worked with, coming up with many of the ideas which have improved the program. They've really taken the program to the next level in terms of sustainability for which we are so grateful and proud.    We listened as they shared their farming challenges and triumphs this year.They had yielded a good harvest from the first planting season but devastating drought caused them to lose most of their crops in the second planting season. For the first time in five years they were unable to return their loan of seeds. We had the opportunity to encourage them and reassure them that we are not going an

I recently had the pleasure of catching up with the creative soul Bianca Cash, a gorgeous woman who is running her own business with passion and joy. She has created this beautiful print (below) which encapsulates so much of what we value as an organisation. Each print helps to fund a Cents for Seeds loan for a rural woman in Uganda. I wanted to find out what makes this chick tick! 1. Can you tell us a little about who you are and what you do? I'm a full-time freelancer graphic designer and photographer, but a lot of my work is typography based. 2. Can you share with us about your experiences in Africa? I've been really lucky to travel to East Africa three times. The first time was with my family. We visited our sponsored children in Uganda and Tanzania. It was my first time overseas and it changed everything. It sounds really dramatic but I never had the desire to travel anywhere, especially not a developing country. In 2007 I started sponsoring two girls in Tanzani

In celebration of International day of Rural Women this week, we have two guest bloggers who we will be featuring in honour of their work supprting rural women all over the world. We asked Lauren Shuttleworth, founder and director of Words With Heart to tell us about her heart for rural women and her quest to support them...  Can you tell us a little about who you are and what you do? I'm Lauren Shuttleworth and I'm the Founder of Words With Heart - an eco-friendly stationery and printery social enterprise that funds women's and girls' education projects in the developing world. We sell a range of products including notebooks and journals, and more recently with the launch of our printery, custom business cards, greeting cards, invitations and more. Every product we sell funds a specific number of education days for women and girls. We partner with charities doing incredible work in this area, and currently fund projects in Sierra Leone and Cambodia. Can you s

Caitlin with Love Mercy Intern Athena at the Zonta Young Women in Public Affairs dinner I was recently asked to share the story of my career with a group of inspiring young women who are the end of their high school journey. It was an interesting chance for me to reflect on the last 10 years since leaving high school myself, and the highs and lows of starting an organization from scratch. Here are 5 key lessons that I've learned along the way. 1. Know your motivation. Coming from a long line of educators,  when I was growing up I wanted to be a teacher. On the eve of the university preferences deadline, I visited a UNSW open day and discovered a brand new degree, a Bachelor of International Studies in Development . I knew straight away that this degree was for me, and changed courses accordingly. I was also given some great advice by a mentor, who told me to start collecting inspiring articles, job postings, and interviews that made me excited to study. A cle

Read all about the brains and the beauty of this girl... We can't wait to have you back in Sydney Cassi! Q & A – Cassi Jenkins 1.     How did you get involved with Love Mercy? Africa has always held a special place in my heart. I can’t explain why, it just has. In 2010, I was part of the first Love Mercy Foundation (LMF) observation trip to Uganda. A team of ten of us travelled to Lira to identify the most pressing needs of the community. It was on this trip that we began discussing the construction of the Kristina Health Centre. Since that time, I have always been an LMF supporter and have volunteered in whatever capacity I am needed. In late 2013, Caitlin took maternity leave and I had just started a new part-time job. I offered to help LMF while she was away and have just stayed on! 2.     When did you decide you wanted to pursue a career in charity work? Since I was 16 years old, it has been my dream to be a human rights lawyer. Throughout high

Continuing with our Mother's Day theme, Caitlin Barrett shares her experiences with us when it comes to balancing motherhood, study, and directing the operations of Love Mercy full time. 1. How did you get involved with Love Mercy and for how long have you been CEO? I was the CEO from the day we started Love Mercy. Only now after 6 years have I started using the title and feel comfortable with it. It still makes me giggle… Eloise and I met in 2008 and both shared an interest in Uganda. I had been volunteering for Invisible Children, a U.S based organisation working to help rescue child soldiers. When I met Eloise, she told me she had a dear friend who was a child soldier himself. Later that year I met Julius and instantly knew that I needed to be involved in Eloise’s vision. She wanted to establish a formal way to help Julius in his dream to bring restoration to his home village of Awake. We met with a few other close friends and family members and formed

In the lead up to Mother's Day this week, we wanted to showcase our very own super-mum Eloise Wellings. Eloise is a professional athlete. She juggles training, is a mother to an energetic toddler, and still finds the time to inspire the vision and passion behind Love Mercy. Today we get a sneak peak into her daily life, and how she manages to pack it all in! 1. Tell us what goes into a typical training day for an Olympic runner. My alarm goes off at 5.25am and I'll get up and do some stretching and have a coffee. I'm normally out the door for training at 6am. Depending on what is scheduled for that day, I will run anywhere between 7km and 24km in the morning and then usually a second run in the evening and a gym session somewhere in between. Generally I run anywhere from 15-27km per day and spend about 4 hours in the gym per week. I try and use my home gym whilst Indi, my 2 year old daughter is asleep in the middle of the day. I usually crash out at ab

How much damage can one mosquito do? We might complain about stubborn itches in summer, but in an area like rural Uganda, just one bite can lead to serious, and often deadly consequences. This World Malaria Day, we are shedding light critical situation in Uganda, where malaria is the leading cause of death, and exploring how the fight against malaria can be better fought. In the Otuke district in Northern Uganda, many people live with little access to services, in environments where malaria transmission is high and there is little available treatment. This region is suffering from the effects of drought and famine, and bears the scars of conflict following Uganda’s civil war. Cassi our Manager, has witnessed the impact of the disease first hand. “The population here is very limited in terms of resources. Towards the end of the dry season especially, people often have spent all of their savings on school fees, and so when it comes to their health, they liter

Those clouds contained rain! For all those in Australia who remember the McCain ad: ‘Marg, Marg, the rains are ‘ere!’ – that might give you a general appreciation of my excitement levels around the time the rains began. Towards the end of the season, Uganda became a dry and barren land. Everything was covered in rich, red dust and the air was thick and hot (emphasis on the HOT). I enjoy the heat but when there is no water to jump into within a 120km radius, the enjoyment seems to just evaporate away (… get it?). It was the 24th of March, the day the rains returned. I remember because it was the greatest day in history, and because I won a bet. Early in March, Florence (Love Mercy's agriculturalist) and I had been discussing the weather and the likelihood of the rains coming early. We made an executive decision that they would not be coming any time soon and decided to amuse ourselves while we waited by guessing the exact date on which they would return. Florence said 18 March

Cassi & her mum Cathy who is visiting and volunteering at the clinic took a trip in a communal 17 person taxi over the weekend. This was the result of the dusty roads! In Uganda, the period from December to March/April is known to all as the ‘Dry Season’. This is not merely because of the lack of rain but genuinely because everything you see and touch is completely and utterly, bone dry. When I first arrived, I found the climate fairly pleasant. While we did have some very hot days, the heat was a dry one and not the humid kind that frizzes your hair 3 seconds after you take a step out the door. Given I did not pack a hair straightener on this trip, I found this most convenient. However, over the past week, with the rains ever so slowly approaching, the wind has picked up and life has become a red hot dusty mess. Frizzy hair is now the least of my worries… To set the scene a little, imagine you are laying at the solarium for 24 hours a day. The temperature never drops, not ev

It’s hard to believe but it has already been a whole week since I arrived in Uganda! It’s only now that I feel as though I’ve finally started to settle in and begun getting my bearings for this place back again. Sticking to tradition, I’ve done nothing half-heartedly and have literally thrown myself in headfirst and learnt a few useful lessons along the way. Below are a few I thought I would share. Lesson one: the pace of life here is not the same. On my second day in Lira I quickly learnt that as much as I would like to try, I cannot operate at the same speed or the same intensity as I do at home. In Sydney, I’m used to being busy and constantly on the go and often find myself feeling inefficient at times when I have nothing to do or no one to see. Over here however, everything is done at a sloooooowwwww and leisuuuuuurelyyyy pace and your daily activity is somewhat limited. So goodbye efficiency, hello frustration! On this particular day, the sun was beating down from about 9am s

There could be nothing more annoying than finding yourself stuck next to a 26-year old female who sobs uncontrollably for the first half hour of a 14 hour flight from Sydney to Dubai. On that note, I would like to apologise to the girl who sat in seat 84J for any inconvenience my wailing may have caused, but when you are sent off at the airport with a myriad of letters containing endless amounts of love, encouragement and support, from some of the most incredible friends anyone could ask for, it is all too easy to let the emotions take over and get the better of you. That, or quite simply the fact that I cry in ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost’ every time I watch it, may be a general indication of my emotional state… I essentially had no hope of keeping it together! Following on from my overly dramatised departure from Sydney, I arrived in Dubai only to find my connecting flight to Entebbe was delayed by approximately 2 hours. This gave me more than enough time to spend pondering my own th

Here at Love Mercy, we have spent the last 5 years growing and improving our three projects on the ground in Uganda. In that time, we have managed to touch thousands of lives through the help of our generous donors. We have reached a stage where we are looking to expand our influence by getting a bit more savvy with media and communications. As such, we are proud to offer the right candidate a 6-week unpaid internship, with the possibility of taking on paid casual work following the successful trial. Role Description We are looking for the right person to join our small but growing team in a volunteer capacity. Key Responsibilities -        Produce written press releases on behalf of Love Mercy for various events and stories -        Compile a database of media contacts using existing networks to increase media exposure of the foundation and to book interviews with founders Eloise Wellings and Julius Achon -        Compile a corporate spon