Living Beyond Self

We continue to share stories of people from all over the world that are living beyond themselves. 

Our light today is on Alok Jacob, a passionate humanitarian making the lives of teenage mothers, orphans  

and the elderly better in Lira, Northern Uganda.

Alok Jackob is the program manager of Plan for the village’s organization- Uganda based in Lira District Northern Uganda.  He is also a cohort 35 YALI RLC East Africa alumni.

He shares with us about the amazing work he is doing in his community.

What was your inspiration to do the things you are doing? 

 I was touched when I was moving around in one of the villages in my sub county, when I met a young girl of 16 years carrying a baby.

She reckoned to me that the baby was hers and I was moved with her story of the hardships she went through raising the baby.

This made come up project that is meant for the teenage mothers, school dropouts and some orphans. 

By this,  I believed their lost hopes were going to be restored and smiles created on their faces through vocational skills training. 

Tell us the about the projects you have done too that have impacted lives.

 Plan for the Villages Organization Uganda conducts vocational skills training for both girls and boys who falls in the categories of school dropouts, teen mothers , orphans and vulnerable. 

The organization also supports the elderly people who can not afford some of the basic needs like food and other necessities as some of them are neglected by their own children and relatives. 

We have impacted a lot in the lives of the youth who have benefitted from the vocational skills programs as most of them can make money out of the skills and tailoring machines given to them.

Have you faced any challenges and how have you overcome them?

 When Uganda received its first case of COVID-19 in early March,  the whole country was put in lock down situation.

 Transport and other services were not in operation and this made service delivery very in effective. 

 My organization suffered as we could not deliver services to our beneficiaries; we could not reach them because of social distancing, by then face mask were not there and communal gathering were not allowed.

 This made the  beneficiaries  suffer especially the elderly people who were depending entirely on our food support . Jacob says.

This situation caused us to reduce some of services, we stopped trainings and even worked in shifts because of social distancing. He adds.

 As an organization,  passionate about giving back to the community. We took it upon us to visit the  chairperson Task force of the lead sub county where we operated in.

 We were given letters of authority that allowed us to carry out some activities amidst lockdown without breaking the presidential directives.

 Tell us the about the projects you have done too that have impacted lives.

What message would love to tell the young people out there?

 To the young people, do not lose hope because in life there are hills and valleys that you will go through to achieve your dreams. 

Be change agents in your communities by doing well to the people that you live with and respect your parents and guardians no matter the situation you are in because you will never be forsaken. 

I will also quote from Steven Covey from his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which I recommend everyone to read.

" Seek first to understand then to be  understood". When you follow this habit, you develop the ability to be an empathetic listener. You see others in the way they see themselves and their world.

Alok Jacob

Uganda.