Groundbreaking Ceremony for Neema’s New Campus
Gaëlle Beltran-Grémaud, Executive Director, and Irine Tundwe, Program Director
By Pamela, Head of Counseling Department
We held a Groundbreaking Ceremony a couple weeks ago to lay a stone foundation before starting construction of our new campus. We were thrilled to welcome twenty guests from the community! During the ceremony our guests shared some words:
The landlords of Neema’s current property and shop expressed their gratitude for Neema, sharing how they’ve been able to support their families through the rent we pay. They said Neema is also a source of blessing to their family through the devotion that we have every morning.
Titus, the pastor of the church some of our staff attend, came to the event along with his wife. He said Neema has empowered the community through uplifting girls. By expanding Neema’s work, it will create a positive impact to the community, reduce women's vulnerability in the community, and create employment.
The head teacher of the local primary school said Neema has helped the community and that the counseling sessions we offer to the school has helped curb the rate of teenage pregnancy. He invited Neema to attend meetings for local school leaders so that he can introduce us to other schools so that we can extend our counseling services to them.
A representative and advocate of the legal office, as well as an engineer, attended. The advocate assured us that they are our legal officers, and that they are working hand in hand with the engineers to make sure our new campus is completed within six months!
Neema’s chaplain Carol Sudi attended the event along with her husband and son. She preached from Isaiah 43:19 about the “new thing” that the Lord is doing through the construction of this campus!
Titus blessing the land with oil, a symbol to ensure that all the processes of the construction may be successful
Our students travel to the new land on a bus
Groundbreaking at the new land
Some other guests who attended were the Village Assistant Chief, a representative of Zoe Ministries and Brimar Itd., and the director and staff of REACT where Neemwa was previously housed, as well as Neema Shop’s landlady.
Our staff shared how grateful they are to be able to help vulnerable girls and create job opportunities for our community. Then we were off to the land for the ground breaking, where the pastor and chaplain blessed the ground, and then Irine and Gaëlle broke the ground. We prayed for our land and finished by planting 6 trees symbolizing the tight community we have built and want to foster with this new campus.