Helping people to help themselves
„Self-determined and independent“
The name says it all: Gejja means “surpassing oneself”. And this is exactly what Gejja e.V. is about. Founded in 2021, the registered German charity wants to support girls and women in rural Uganda to surpass themselves – by achieving economic independence, by leading a self-determined life, and by acquiring education and skills. Gejja e.V. is the German arm of the “Gejja Women Foundation” that was founded in 2015 in Mpigi, Uganda. Founder Angella Marjorie knows the situation of Ugandan women only too well: she experienced the country’s realities first hand.
This is how you can contribute:
Change requires action. Every contribution counts. Any kind of support you can give is welcome and urgently needed: from donating money, to volunteer engagement, to spreading our message on social media.
Contribute via donation
Even small contributions can have a great impact. At Gejja e.V., every single Euro you donate will go towards local projects.
Contribute via field engagement
You want to help hands-on in rural Uganda? We invite you to support our local activities as a volunteer.
Contribute via social media
People will only support us, if they know what we do. So please spread the message on social media. Your posts will help us a lot.
They’ll help us:
Thanks to all partners
Rebecca Trienekens-Domrös
Founder of Gejja e.V.
„I have seen the situation of women in the Mpigi district first-hand. I was there. And that is why I decided to help them. “
Our pledge:
You donation gets there – in total
Donations only make sense, if they actually get to where they are needed. We make sure they do – all 100 percent of them – because at Gejja e.V., we are all volunteers who work for free. Transparency is important to us. We want donors to know exactly where their money goes and what it achieves. That is our pledge.
What we have achieved so far
women
work for the Gejja Women Foundation in Mpigi.
schoolchildren
have been touched by the Gejja campaign for sexual and reproductive health.
sanitary towels,
were handed out or sold. All of them washable and reusable.
Our mission and vision:
Projects that really help
The vision of Gejja Foundation is ambitious, and Angella Marjorie spells it out clearly: “We want to see well-skilled, economically independent, and self-determined women who have control both over their bodies and their lives, and who stand up for their rights.”
A series of different projects, many of them triggered from Germany, support her towards this vision. The German charity Gejja e.V. aims at generating comprehensive support for these projects: financial, personal and non-material.
Local projects range from producing hygiene sets and setting up small local startups, to developing permaculture schemes that enable people to utilize even small areas sustainably. At the site of the Gejja women’s center in Bulyasi village, a purification plant provides clean water to the local population who has no access to safe drinking water.
Annual Reports 2021
It is easy to promise transparency. But we keep our promises. The proof is in our annual reports. They present our projects, highlight their progress, and illustrate how the donations we received were utilized.
of young Ugandan women under 18 are pregnant or have a child already.
Source: gejja.org
That is the absence rate of girls due to their menstruation
Source: gejja.org
That’s the average age of the Ugandan population.
Source: countrymeters
This is where your support goes
CENTER FOR PRODUCTION AND TRAINING
Gejja Foundation knew that if they wanted to produce hygiene articles and provide training to girls and women, they needed to create a safe space for them. So they set up a Women’s Center in Bulyasi village in the Mpigi district. The center was built with the support of IBS Foundation, a social enterprise that specializes in the production and supply of climate friendly building materials.
Uganda’s Mpigi district
Mpigi district is located in the vicinity of Lake Victoria and covers an area of about half the size of Luxembourg. It is the home of the Gejja Women Foundation. Despite the great physical distance between the Foundation and its German arm – about 10.000 km – the two organizations work closely together. All projects are fine-tuned in transcontinental cooperation and subsequently implemented locally by the Gejja Women Foundation.
„Because the well being of women is one of my core values – worldwide”
Christina Zilkens, co-founder Gejja e.V.
Our Projects:
Menstruation loses its threat potential
For girls in rural Uganda the onset of the menstrual cycle can be a fateful turning point in their lives. Lacking adequate female hygiene products, the girls are often too embarrassed to go to school. All they have in terms of sanitary hygiene are plant leaves or pieces of plas-tics. That is why we at Gejja produce, distribute and sell hygiene sets for girls and women.
Permaculture: small effort, big yields
70 percent of the Ugandan population work in agriculture, which makes soil quality a very important issue in the country’s rural areas. Much of the farmland, however, is exhausted. That is why we pro-mote a near-to-nature approach to agriculture called permaculture.
Easy access vs. privilege
Acquiring higher education or special skills is a privilege in rural Uganda, particularly for girls. Attending secondary school will often remain a dream for them. The reasons are manifold: lack of financial means, early marriages, and/or teenage pregnancies.
Equal rights for all
In rural Uganda, social disadvantages and discrimination starts early. Girls and women rarely get the chance to live up to their potential. That is why Gejja Women Foundation strives towards gender equali-ty.
PAULA provides clean water
Most people in Mpigi have no access to clean water. They drink murky, contaminated water from waterholes that serve cattle and hu-mans alike. Gejja Women Foundation solves the issue by providing PAULA, a water purification plant.
Enhancing independence and social status
Most women in Uganda are financially dependent on their husbands. This makes it close to impossible for single mothers or widows to build a life of their own. We want to support these vulnerable groups by helping them to secure a livelihood for themselves.
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