"All promises are empty here"

When I first arrived in Lugazi, Uganda I traveled to a village called Kawoto. This is possibly one my favorite places on earth. After speaking with the head woman of the village, Rose, I got ready to leave and began speaking with a group of young girls. They spoke English very well and I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up. One said she wanted to be a secretary, another a doctor, and the last an engineer. These were such beautiful goals. These girls lived in a village who worked as laborers to a man named Mehta who owned almost all of the sugarcane fields of Lugazi. Their families lived on about 75 cents a day. They had a school in the village but no teacher due to a lack of funds to pay them. Without schooling, the dreams of these beautiful girls would never come true. As I said goodbye to these girls with my mind racing with thoughts of what work we could do with this village one asked if I was ever coming back. I said that I would like to very much. She stared into my eyes and boldly stated, "All promises are empty here."

For this young girl promises had been made and promises had been broken. This was a life changing moment for me. I vowed to myself that I would not break my promise to her.

I returned about a week later and began working with her village. By the end of the summer, our team and her village together had implemented a small jewelry making business and a income generating cabbage farm.

The projects were not what changed my life. It was the vow I made on Kawoto Hill. The people I met and came to love more than life itself. After meeting amazing people like the girls from Kawoto Hill I knew my life would never be the same. When I returned to the U.S. Kristen Daniels and Melissa Sevy got together and Co-Founded a nonprofit organization, Musana Jewelry. This has drastically changed my life as I am still a full time student, work as many hours as a student can, and try to run a nonprofit at the same time. People ask me all the time why I am doing this. It may not make sense to them, but they didn't meet the girls on Kawoto Hill, they didn't see the look in her eyes when she said, "All promises are empty here."

My promises can NEVER be empty.