Smile to the Sky
The Mission Continues
Following a host of set-backs due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Smile Mission team are back! Based in Kampala, Uganda and Stockholm, Sweden, the NGO continue to strive towards their goal – to tackle social injustice and implement self-sustainable solutions for healthier-happier living standards.
“We believe that working closely with communities through their day-to-day challenges will bring back their smiling faces.” -Duncan Njuki (Smile Mission Chairman)
The Road to Tierp
Teaming up with UK based The Lucy Faithfull Foundation (LFF), Smile Mission representative Lee Neary took to the skies of Tierp in a sponsored 4000m skydive. The skydive was arranged through Stockholm Fallskärmsklubb in Gryttjom, Tierp.
All donations raised (Sek 2950) by public sponsors were forwarded to LFF’s Stop it now! campaign, aimed at preventing online circulation of child pornography and supporting families affected by child sex abuse.
“Motives for charity work can often be an area of contention, but this particular event was personal,” Lee (36) mentioned following the event on 2021/05/01, “notions of privilege, systemic responsibility and wrongful distribution of funds have left many people skeptical of fundraising – understandably so. But there’s no
place in society for tainting a child’s innocence or capitalizing on the damage done.”
Over the last few years, the Stockholm based treasurer and event organizer for Smile Mission Sweden has walked the Camino de Santiago and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise support and awareness against female genital mutilation (FGM) and poor sanitation hygiene standards for schools in East African communities.
“It’s extremely difficult to decide where our energy and attention should be channeled.” Lee further explained, “One of the most valuable and heartbreaking lessons I have come to learn along this journey – is that you cannot help everybody! It’s impossible. It’s exhausting. But do what you can when you can, if you can.”