Why Help Team Buhara
Where Your Money Goes
- $1 a day tests approx 100 villagers for HIV
- $3.50 buys a new pair of shoes for a child
- $15 buys a pig to reproduce and supply meat
Team Buhara is a Ugandan organization. The leadership is made up of Ugandans, working for their community. This is not a western NGO; in fact, the ‘western’ representative – who became a friend by accident! - is living in NYC, close enough to chat on facebook or set up a coffee conversation about Team Buhara. Ugandan men and women run the program’s work, ensuring that their neighbor’s children go to school, eat well and can reach the doctor.
The scope of Team Buhara is small enough such that every penny goes directly to the village. There are no overhead costs: if a donation is made toward pigs, the next Friday, the Finance Committee marches to the market to haggle for a swine. Using the donated camera, they take photographs. Those come back through the internet, and the proceeds are recorded in carefully maintained records, sent both to donors and the local Ugandan government.
Team Buhara finances go through a closely watched system. What happens: the NYC representative receives donations, registers them and then transfers them to a business account. From there, the Finance Committee, made up of three members of the organization, goes directly to the bank and signs – together! –to withdraw funds. Spending on shoes or tomato seeds is registered in receipts, which are collected, scanned and sent back to NYC for verification. The local Ugandan government also collects the accountability, as the organization is legally registered.