Community members are rallying to fill a 40ft shipping container to send from Castlemaine to Uganda, supplying essential items to children in need, and they need your help.
Campbells Creek local Steve Argent is the founder of I Am Someone, a community-led organisation supporting at-risk children and families in Uganda, Kenya and Sierra Leone.
For the past 20 years, Steve and a dedicated team of volunteers have developed eight villages, and built 12 schools and five water wells. They have helped 15,100 children get an education and given 481 children a home.
Now it’s time for the next phase of their work in Uganda – they aim to set up a music, cooking and sewing school and create a retail and work space for those getting ready to head out into the world. The shipping container and all of the items it holds are essential to making this latest project a success. In fact, the shipping container itself will be converted into a restaurant as part of the initiative.
The I Am Someone team has already loaded a ute into the container to help access the remote communities they work with, and they are also hoping some wonderful person might be able to donate a minibus/minivan to help get the kids to and from their schools.
Gathering and loading is an enormous task, but they’ve done it before (four times!), so it’s definitely achievable.
“We have a long list of things we need, including bedding, shoes and clothes,” Steve said.
“Some of these kids have never even worn a pair of shoes before, have never slept in a bed, and only own one item of clothing.
“Buying these things in Uganda would cost four times as much. We’re so privileged here in Australia, we often buy too much, so grab a bag, fill it up and drop it off to one of the collection points,” he said.
“Plus, we’ll also be recycling around 22 tonnes of stuff that will be kept out of landfill, so that’s pretty cool.
“We’d love it if some of the local schools could get involved, get the kids to donate things they don’t need anymore. They desperately need phones and laptops, so if you’ve got an old one at home that still works, throw that in too!”
If you don’t have anything to donate, you could host a fundraising event to help I Am Someone raise the money to send the container to Uganda and buy any extra items needed. Alternatively, you can donate funds directly at: iamsomeone.org.au/the-container-project (here you can also find a full list of items they are seeking).
To find your nearest collection point, email thankyou@iamsomeone.org.au or if you’re interested in helping out at a working bee – collecting, sorting and packing – you can join the small team who will be hard at work every Sunday and Monday from 2pm until August 25 at Lot 9, 19 McShanag Road, Castlemaine (donations can also be made at this location). Any new folk willing to help will ensure this project’s success!
