At barely more than 20 years old, a woman with ties to the Yorkton area helped save a Ugandan orphanage and found her life's passion in the process.
Shortly out of high school in 2005, Terra Moore decided to put her world on hold and spend a year volunteering in Africa. It was during this first trip in 2006, as she moved between aid projects in the eastern part of the continent, that she met fellow Canadian Andria Young.
Young was teaching children at the Grace of God Orphanage in eastern Uganda, but was becoming increasingly discouraged with the conditions there.
Moore went to see the site firsthand, and the need for the combined school and orphanage in the country's Iganga District was clear.
"It's a really overpopulated area along a major road route coming from Kenya," says Moore. "I think both of those factors are a part of why it has such a high HIV/AIDS rate."
About 80 children lived at the site and attended the school, but the facility was struggling to function. The charity operator who brought Young to the country to teach had turned out to be a fraud, pocketing thousands of dollars intended for the orphanage. The children lacked school books, clothing, medical care, and sometimes even food.
The orphanage's founder and director, Pastor Elizabeth Mwogeza, was a ray of hope. She remained adamantly dedicated to the orphaned children despite her own failing health. But the situation looked unsustainable, especially with the pastor foregoing her medication to buy food for the orphans.
With Andria heading back home at Christmas, Moore did what she could during her short stay in the area. Using money donated by friends and relatives in Canada, she bought the children toys and a Christmas meal, then left for her next volunteer commitment.
When she returned to the orphanage in January, its circumstances were still dire. This time, using more money sent over from home, she helped establish a garden on a small plot of land at the site.
"And then I just continued," Moore says. "I stayed there and started doing other things: buying books for the school with money people had given me, and starting up a little shop to raise some money. Just little things like that."
After nearly a year in Africa, Moore headed home - a place she considers divided between the Lloydminster area where she grew up and the Yorkton/Melville area where her parents now farm. She didn't expect to return to the orphanage for perhaps four or five years.
But the faces of the children she had met stayed with her, and Moore kept in contact with the Grace of God Orphanage. Pastor Elizabeth's health was worsening. In May of 2008, she died.
Moore returned to Uganda two months later unsure whether or not the project was beyond repair. Most of the initiatives she and others had created had fallen to pieces, and the orphanage was once again struggling with basic necessities.
But the overwhelming need remained, and once again there was hope. Moore was heartened to see that several teachers and other employees had stayed on at the school despite losing their salaries. One man in particular - Paul Makula, who had been involved with the orphanage from early on - had stepped up into a leadership role following Pastor Elizabeth's death.
It was now clear to Moore that the project had to continue, and that it would need the oversight of someone like herself.
The orphanage was reborn as Ekyaro Kyaife - "Our Village" - with Moore and Makula as co-chairs.
Today, 105 children attend the Nursery to Primary 7 school at Ekyaro Kyaife, 80 of whom sleep at the site. The rest come from poor families in the area. The project employs 11 staff members.
Work since the loss of Pastor Elizabeth has been ongoing, both in Uganda and in Canada. Moore - now 25 - and the project staff have been establishing guidelines for the children's care, nutrition, and education as well as seeking ways to make the site more self-sustaining: acquiring land and steady sources of food.
"That's kind of the stage we're at, is just trying to get some of these foundational things in place," says Moore.
Shortly out of high school in 2005, Terra Moore decided to put her world on hold and spend a year volunteering in Africa. It was during this first trip in 2006, as she moved between aid projects in the eastern part of the continent, that she met fellow Canadian Andria Young.
About 80 children lived at the site and attended the school, but the facility was struggling to function. The charity operator who brought Young to the country to teach had turned out to be a fraud, pocketing thousands of dollars intended for the orphanage. The children lacked school books, clothing, medical care, and sometimes even food.
Moore's role with Ekyaro Kyaife changes daily. In Canada, she is handling paperwork and recruiting donors. In Uganda, she is teaching in the classroom, digging in the soil, and balancing the budget.
The orphanage's new leadership brings with it a larger vision for the project that involves more than just tending to the children's daily needs and education. Moore sees an opportunity for long-term social restoration in the area. Some of the children, for example, have relatives who are still living but unable to provide for them. Ekyaro Kyaife makes efforts to maintain contact between children and family members to keep these relationships alive.
"It's been really positive seeing how the relatives have responded," Moore says.
Looking outside the project site, the orphanage has attempted to involve local widows, who are often left with nothing after the deaths of their husbands.
"We gave them startup money so they could rent a piece of land and plant a crop, and then we guarantee them a market ... for food that we need at the project."
The results have been promising, and support from Canada has been growing as well. Numerous church groups and individuals from the Yorkton area and elsewhere have provided money.
"It's been really encouraging seeing how it's grown from just me going there, and now there's a lot of different people who really have a heart for it and are committed in different ways," says Moore, who hopes to see donations increase even further once the organization is officially registered as a charity in Canada.
Currently at home on the Alberta/Saskatchewan border, Moore is returning to Ekyaro Kyaife this month - and she's not going alone. Her brother Matthew Moore and friend Kelsey Fraske-Bornyk will join her.
Besides helping with the daily labor of the project, the two will be bringing new perspectives to the school's children; Matthew will teach engineering and entrepreneurial skills, while Kelsey will teach art and guitar classes.
"What Kelsey and Matt are doing," says Moore, "is opening the children's minds up to different ways of thinking."
For Moore, this latest visit will last until July, but she intends to keep returning into the foreseeable future.
"These one-time things, donations or volunteering, are good, but it takes a lot of time to really establish something. I'll definitely be continuing on until I feel I don't need to."
