Helping hands Uganda is a Canadian registered charitable organization that begun in 2006 when Tracy and Erin worked together and shared an office space. During their office talks, they quickly discovered that they both had common values of helping the underprivileged.

Tracy was born and raised in Eastern Uganda, so she knew first hand what it met to live in poverty. Her vision had always been to help the less privileged people, just go by through basic necessities of life. And her dream quickly evolved after a few office conversations with her co-worker Erin. They started by sponsoring 5 children, and the number went up to 17 children in a matter of months. There focus was in the areas of education, healthcare, food security and an income generating activity, to benefit not only the sponsored child, but also their siblings and caregivers/parents and in a few cases, their whole village benefited in some ways.

Tracy’s sister Margie works with Compassion international in Uganda and has extensive experience working with such children. She is also a Christian with a strong belief that everyone deserves better and works to show children that they have not been forgotten. Margie was a key player in setting up the program on the ground.

The charity stands as a tribute to Tracy Teckla and Margie’s parents, Mr. Lawrence and Mrs. Joan Mary Wanyama, who were charitable individuals but passed away early in life. After operating for 9 years, HHU suffered a setback in 2015, and activities were put on hold, while Tracy was dealing with personal challenges.

By God’s grace all is well and the charity resumed their work in 2018. They picked up from where they left off, this met contacting the previously sponsored families first, before recruiting any new children into the program. As the charity revamps their activities, Tracy and Margie are very much excited to take it to the next level.