{"id":159,"date":"2021-07-19T08:27:10","date_gmt":"2021-07-19T13:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/?p=159"},"modified":"2022-02-02T09:45:55","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T15:45:55","slug":"hands-of-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/2021\/07\/19\/hands-of-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Hands of Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bemidji State University social work graduates Jennifer Kovach ‘93<\/strong> and Jennifer Anderson ’94<\/strong> carry a passion for international service and helping others. Through a small storefront and international office in Bemidji, Minn., the duo is fighting extreme poverty in Uganda by championing access to educational, economic and health care resources.<\/p>\n

Anderson and Kovach recently received the 2020 Northern Minnesota Achievement Award from Bemidji State University President Faith C. Hensrud<\/strong>, acknowledging their work as consistent with Bemidji State’s mission, vision and values.<\/p>\n

In 2011, high in the rural mountains of eastern Uganda’s Bududa district, Anderson founded the non-profit ministry organization Hands of Action International.<\/p>\n

“Our team on the ground fervently searches for any missing child and our program has brought several perpetrators to justice,” Anderson added.<\/p>\n

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That same year, Hands of Action opened The Shikhuyu Needy Care School for children at risk of human trafficking, early childhood marriage and child labor. A year later, in 2012, Kovach joined Anderson at Hands of Action as a co-founder after working together as social workers at Bemidji’s Evergreen Youth and Family Services.<\/p>\n

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\nand passions for making our community and the
\nworld a better place for us all.”” cite=”– JENNIFER ANDERSON ’94″ parallax=”off” direction=”left” revealfx=”off”]<\/p>\n

Since opening, the Needy Care School has grown from just under 200 students to more than 900, and from one teacher to a staff of 50 including a headmaster, a librarian and a security guard. Students who have aged out of the Needy Care School can now seamlessly enter the Shikhuyu Secondary School of Excellence, another Hands of Action initiative that opened in 2019.<\/p>\n

“The children who were the first students at our school 10 years ago are now teenagers in our high school,” Anderson said. “One student told me she plans to become a member of parliament and work hard for the people of her village at the national level. Another student told me that she is training to be our first school nurse. My heart is exploding with excitement and I am so proud of these kids.”<\/p>\n

Soon after the nonprofit was founded, Anderson and Kovach looked to provide additional resources for students. A water collection and purification system was established to provide safe drinking water for students and, through a partnership with Steelys Drinkware, Hands of Action was able to provide stainless steel drinking cups for all students. Hands of Action also supports the delivery of sanitary supplies, life-saving medication, surgeries and dental care in Bududa.<\/p>\n

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“Most importantly, all students who attend the schools are fed,” Kovach said. “Children in Bududa often only eat once a day, and often that meal is only a banana. Having a daily meal is a critical component of the school system and is transforming the health of the community.”<\/p>\n

In addition to its work developing educational and safety resources for students, Hands of Action also offers programming specifically for women and girls empowerment and various lifestyle projects for gardening, farming and worship.<\/p>\n

A sewing center was started to provide the community an additional opportunity to earn an income. Now, the oldest students in the schools will learn to sew, and Hands of Action will transform the center into an economic development opportunity for students.<\/p>\n

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Despite the differences between Bemidji and Bududa, Kovach uses her experience to ground herself and her work to address basic human needs.<\/p>\n

“In all my years as a social worker, whether in Bemidji or Bududa, I have learned that everyone has a story,” she said. “Whether we are experiencing poverty, hunger, mental health obstacles, addiction, trauma, unemployment, shame, guilt, the desire to be a better parent, we all have a need for others to walk alongside us, to kneel down with us, to hold our hands, to laugh with us and cry with us — all while not judging us just because our story is different than theirs. I feel blessed to serve both communities.”<\/p>\n

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With their board of directors, mission teams, donors and countless volunteers, Hands of Action is also in the process of raising funds to build a sustainable, permanent structure to replace their current mud and tin school building.<\/p>\n

Funds for Hands of Action are secured through donations and The Hope Studio, a gift shop in downtown Bemidji that sells fair trade and handmade items from local and international artists. The studio also serves as the international headquarters for Hands of Action.<\/p>\n

“The shop is not only a store but also a place where people can come to be inspired, have deep discussions, pray and learn more about serving locally and internationally,” Anderson said. “My hope is to inspire others to use their time, talents and passions for making our community and the world a better place for us all.”<\/p>\n

“The work I do makes my life a never-ending adventure,” Anderson said. “I find so much joy and fulfillment from serving others and I cannot imagine living my life another way. By serving globally, I not only give of myself and my expertise but receive so much wisdom and experiences I would never have if I stayed in my own community.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bemidji State University social work graduates Jennifer Kovach ‘93 and Jennifer Anderson ’94 carry a passion for international service and helping others. Through a small storefront and international office in Bemidji, Minn., the duo is fighting extreme poverty in Uganda by championing access to educational, economic and health care resources. Anderson and Kovach recently received […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vol-36-no-1"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions\/487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}