Over the last three months, Sister Schools has been hard at work running supply drives at schools throughout the Seattle area. Now, we have the joyous job of sorting all these amazing gifts and preparing them for shipment to Uganda.
As we sort through the items, the common thread is the amazing sincerity with which each item is given. Whether it’s a brand new box of 500 crayons, carefully chosen from the store to create as much joy for their sister school as possible, or a Ziplock full of used pens and crayons meticulously sorted out from a child’s own collection, it’s clear that every gift comes straight from the heart!
This year, we are especially excited to be overwhelmed by the amount of books we’ve received! It is so special to see the gently used treasured volumes that children pull from their own shelves to send halfway around the world. Books are some of the most impactful items we send to Uganda, carrying the biggest benefits for improving students’ literacy and academic outcomes, so we’re thrilled to be sending so many books this year!
Now that all the items have been collected, we are in the process of sorting everything and preparing it for shipment.
For customs purposes, everything has to be carefully grouped and itemized, before being packaged and labeled for the long journey across the sea. In addition, items from each Seattle school must be kept together and clearly labeled, so that everything reaches the correct sister school in Uganda. Thankfully, Saraa, our Seattle Program Assistant, is very detail oriented!
Once everything is packed, we consolidate it all into shipping pallets and work with our logistics company to get them loaded onto a ship bound for Mombasa, Kenya. From there, the pallets will be loaded on a truck to make their way overland to Kampala, Uganda. Our Uganda team will meet the truck in Kampala, and unpack the pallets into small trucks or vans to transport the gifts to the correct partner schools. Once at the schools, every gift can finally be put into the hands of a child, on a library shelf, or into a teacher’s supply cabinet!
It’s a long journey, but all worth it when you see the connections built between our students in Uganda and in Seattle! We’re so grateful for everything the kids donated this year, and can’t wait to send it all on its way.