The name comes from a letter in the Bible from someone called John. He
says, “God is love, and those who abide [live/remain] in love abide in God,
and God abides in them.” 1

This is a wonderfully inclusive statement in a letter which is far from
inclusive. It says ANYONE who lives in love, whatever their belief or
philosophy of life, lives in God and God lives in them. And the same letter is
very clear about what it means to live in love.

“We know love by this, that he [that’s Jesus] laid down his life for
us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does
God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a
brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us
love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” 2

For me, my kindred in faith are not necessarily those who share my
Christian beliefs. They are those who, in the words of John, “do what is
true.” 3 For me, to “believe in Jesus” means to follow in his way of life, his
compassionate action and radical inclusion, whether consciously or not. I
know many Christian “believers” who are not my “kindred” in this sense of
“doing” love. And I have many dear friends who are atheists, humanists,
Pantheists, Animists, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindus, Wiccans, Pagans,
Sharmans (the list goes on and on) who are my kindred because they “do
what is true”. They live in love.

But why this website? Aren’t there enough humanitarian organizations
already? Yes and no. Elsewhere in the website I speak of how we respond
to rough sleepers who we see as we walk down the street. In Jesus
teaching our neighbour is whoever we encounter. When we encounter a
person who lives on the street we have a choice to close or open our heart.
There may be many seemingly justifiable reasons why we choose to walk
past without engaging with them. Most of them spring from fear of the
unknown. We fear what will happen if we open our heart, what will be
asked of us if we look them in the eye and greet them, what will happen to
our plans for the day or evening if we acknowledge them as a fellow human
being as deserving of dignity and respect as we are. We fear this unknown
person, their unknown life, and the unknown consequences of opening our
heart to them.

This is also what we fear when we hear of vast numbers of people,
especially vulnerable women and children in Africa and other parts of the
world suffering the most terrible hunger and disease. The unimaginable
numbers of those who are suffering are just too overwhelming to face.
Easier to give what money we feel we can spare to one of the large
humanitarian organizations that brings such needs to our attention. And
this is a good thing to do. The larger humanitarian organizations do
wonderful work. Yet it is their workers in poor communities who truly get to
look poor people in the eye, to greet them and acknowledge them as fellow
human beings deserving of the same dignity and respect as themselves.
They have already accepted the consequences of opening their hearts to
them. It is good to give money to such organizations, lots of money! They
are all terribly underfunded. Yet somehow it a bit like giving money to the
city mission and then walking past the person who lives on the street.
I am creating this website in the hope of empowering people who share my
heart to use social media safely to look a person or family in another
country who are poor “in the eye”, to greet them and treat them with dignity
and respect, to make friends with them, to stand with them in their
suffering, and with those in their own communities who have given their
lives to helping people like them.

This is the first thing this website is about. It is about using social media,
safely, to forge friendships between people who are poor and vulnerable
and people who are relatively wealthy, powerful and privileged.
The tricky bit is the consequence of such friendship. In the end we have to
ask, “Can I know that it is safe to also give money to those who are poor
and vulnerable when I have only met them online. The standard answer is
a resounding “NO!” It is not safe, ever, to give money to people who ask for
it online who we do not know in real life.
​
The second goal of this website is to do what is possible to change that, to
make it safe, one person at a time, one project at a time, to give money to
empower people, give them hope, and change their lives.

Uganda is not the only country with poverty. It is simply the “near edge” that
I have begun with. I began a year ago (defying my children and friends’
advice) to accept friend requests from people I met online who I had never
met in real life. I further defied the advice regarding those who give the
slightest hint of being scammers. The standard advice is to just block them
immediately. I took a different pathway and, while I gave none of them
money, I gave them the benefit of the doubt until I was sure they were a
scammer. In this way I received a rich and valuable education in the
patterns scammers follow, and in some of the more common scams and
how they proceed. The result is that that I can recognize most scammers in
the first two or three messages. Some are immediately recognizable from
the content of their very first message and can be blocked and reported
immediately. I still give others the benefit of the doubt so I can continue my
education!

It is simply how the year unfolded that once I had weeded out the
scammers (and those who lost interest when I told them I could not give
them money) I was left, mostly, with a group of friends in Uganda.
First of all I befriended James Kiige, a Bible teacher like me who works
unpaid for his Church and writes a column called “Soul Food”. Eventually I
met his wife and children, his elderly parents and the woman who shares
her home with them. Serendipitously my dear friend Kiige and his family
live in Kampala where the Extreme High school is located. So while I had
grown trust Kayemba personally enough to give my own money to help him
I did not feel I could ask the same of others. SO I asked Kiige to pay him a
visit. Kiige interviewed Kayemba as Kayemab showed him around the
school and videod the whole process. A lovely detail is that Kiige and
Kayemab found they grew up in the same area.
​
That visit was the first of two in which Kiige has interviewed for me
someone who runs a project and is asking for money and support.
Then there was a friend request from “Kasola Peter Okocha, mayor of Jinja
City”. A friend told me, “Well that one is a scammer for sure. Just block
him!” Then out of curiosity he did a Google search or two and found the
incredible Ugandan news story of a very outspoken comedian and radio
talk back host who was persuaded by his friends to stand for mayor. The
people elected him and ousted the ruling party.
Here’s a piece of the political upset!

  (Source: | THE INDEPENDENT | Jinja, Uganda | The Jinja Chief Magistrate’s court has dismissed an application
demanding for a vote recount in the Jinja City Mayoral seat.) 
The application was filed by Robert Kanusu, the former National Resistance Movement-NRM flag bearer
who was defeated by National Unity Platform’s-NUP, Peter Kasolo. Kasolo won the race with 11,899 votes followed by Forum for Democratic Change’s-FDC Frank Nabwiso with 10,398 votes while Kanusu garnered 9,810 votes. However, Kanusu’s lawyer, Martin Asingwire argued that there were discrepancies in the declaration of results forms in 22 polling stations, which robbed Kanusu victory. Kanusu further alleged that, during the process of tallying results, his client attempted to notify the returning officer, Jennifer Kyobutungi about the anomalies but she instead paid a deaf ear. However the Electoral Commission’s lawyer, Patrick Wetaka told the court that, Kyobutungi swore an
affidavit in reply stating that, the applicant and his agents were present during the tallying of results, where the results of his fellow contenders’ declaration of results forms tallied with those being read out by EC officials. While delivering her ruling, the Jinja Chief Magistrate Catherine Agwero stated that Kanusu lacked specific figures of the ballot papers which he wanted EC to recount and that he had not indicated in his application what exactly the court should address. Meanwhile, Kasolo’s lawyers led by Alex Luganda accused the applicant of attempting to manipulate the court into granting him victory, yet he lacked clear evidence to show cause. 

If you Google Kasola Peter Okocha you may also find some YouTube videos like Peter’s swearing in as mayor, a reassurance to his fans as a comedian that he won't quit comedy after being elected in Jinja! 

​One of the first things Peter did was found the “Kasola Foundation” to work with maternal health, education, health care, domestic violence reduction, and other areas of need in Jinja City.  Peter is a truly courageous human being. I have tried in vain to find a western humanitarian organisation to partner with the Kasola Foundation. It is, like all these things, underfunded.

I met Pastor Shahid and his wife Saima, a wonderful couple doing amazing humanitarian work in Pakistan. Then I met Kayemba Enock, the coordinator of the UNSFP and teacher at Extreme High. There were others in other countries but they have not sustained contact. I even befriended one young African who tried his hand at a military scam on me. The military scam to a single woman generally begins with a photo of a very muscular looking US military Colonel (usually on a peace keeping or secret mission somewhere) a lot of romantic complements and pet names, and an attempt to build a fake romantic attachment and trust. Eventually there will be a request to pay money to a third party to get a parcel delivered to you which will be very lucrative when it arrives (which it never will) but will cost you a significant sum right now. This poor unsuspecting young man started with the pet names and complements. I immediately told him I am a trans woman and lesbian and not interested in men so if he wanted friendship that was fine but he could desist immediately with the pet name and romantic talk or I would block him. That ruined his script but he did his best to make it up as he went along! Next I told him, “Now we both know you are not Colonel so and so on a peace keeping mission in such and such a country so, if you would really like to be my friend, why don’t you tell me your real name and where you actually live.” At that point he replied, “I’m scared mam!” And that began one of the more unusual friendships I have made in the past year. I became his “aunty” and met his family and heard his whole sad story. Unfortunately I have not yet felt I can be more than a friend to this young man even though he has very real financial needs. He is an unemployed tradesperson trying to support a family and wants to start his own business. This is precisely the kind of thing I would love to support. But I have no one in his country to visit this young man and do the basic "due dilligence"  one must do before giving to those one meets online. That is simply the reality of our online world and what I hope, one person at a time, one organization at a time, to change.

In Uganda and in Pakistan the plight of children is horrifying: children orphaned by HIV/AIDS now learning to live and survive on the streets, children sent out by their poor families to beg, and as “street workers”, and, in Pakistan, thousands of children sent out to work in brick kilns. African women and elders are also terribly vulnerable. The largest number of orphans and street children are girls and this reflects the status and powerlessness of women in Uganda.

​Many elders, both women and men, have HIV/AIDS. And so many of their adult children have no work and cannot provide for their medical treatment. So they are immuno-compromised and die of whatever disease claims them as was the case throughout the western world before we had treatment for HIV/AIDS. We lost an entire generation of gay people. Only now are we facing the challenges of caring for our queer elders because there weren’t very many left to care for until now.

In Africa HIV/AIDS is not only a disease of the queer community but of the entire population. So safe sex education is hugely important yet meets a great deal of denial and resistance in a population which is very devout and conservative yet in which sexual behaviour, in practice, still reflects deeply held beliefs and values around male virility and of course the simply reality that, in poor nations, having many children is one’s life insurance policy for old age.

The Uganda Nutrition School Feeding Program [US spelling seems to dominate Uganda along with other things US!] began with the recognition that to empower these vulnerable street children the key was education but they could not learn on empty stomachs. So from the outset UNSFP had this dual focus of educating children and feeding them, ensuring they had at least one nutritious meal each day. That single “nutritious meal” each day is normally beans and posho. Posho is the Uganda name for a Semolina like food enjoyed throughout Africa made from maize flour. The two are mixed together providing protein and carbohydrates. And the children express such gratitude for this meal. It’s not a lot to ask of those of us who have more, to help make sure they always get that meal. Yet so often, including today as I write this, Kayemba faces a new month with no money to buy the next months beans and posho. Hence this current idea and Givealittle fundraiser to help Kayemba buy four acres of land to grow their own food at the same time as teaching the young people farming and gardening skills.

From the outset UNSFP has been largely run by volunteers so that any funds received from other countries can go straight to buying food. Those who are paid are mostly paid from local fundraising, especially from the adult children who have graduated and made lives for themselves in the
community. The school also hires out its brass band and choir which helps a little.

So Live in Love will also be a volunteer organisation so far as that remains practical. It will always be non-profit. I expect it to continue to be the part of my working life that costs me money rather than earns me money! However I would really love it if Live in Love could somehow pay one key person in Uganda to do what he has been doing for nothing, my fear friend Kiige who is a qualified, yet unemployed accountant, in the process of gaining his auditor’s qualification, and who has the most perceptive instincts in the questions he asks when he visits places I ask him to “check out” for me who are asking for support for their projects.

And that brings be back to the beginning. I did not create this website as a funnel for western money that salves consciences without any need to engage personally with people who are poor. I created this website to help make it safe for people who share my heart of love for those who are poor to first of all befriend them, get to know them, treat them with dignity and respect and, perhaps in time, help change their lives.
Scripture references: 
​1/ 1 John 4:16b
2/ 1 John 3:16-18
3/ John 3:21

​Some extracts from the old CCALP website

Child neglect is the biggest crisis facing the world. It is even worse than corruption. Neglected children grow to become armed robbers or street children. Neglected children end up not going to school or dropping out early leading to future unskilled or semi-skilled labour force. They therefore, are potentially trapped in poverty circles since they are likely to attract very low pay wages that hardly cater for their individual basic needs as well as for their immediate families. ..
Children are the sacrificial lambs when families breakdown. Because they have no political right to be heard and no vote, they are usually marginalized
More than 150 million children between the ages of five and 14 years work for a living in developing countries, with half of the number working full time. About 1.8 million children are also exploited in prostitution and pornography and 1.2 million others become victims of trafficking annually
It’s the work of CCALP to serve as an advocate for children to release them from their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and to enable them to become responsible adults…
I always thought that beggars were those who were homeless – but these are not beggars. They are working children. These children work on the streets everyday and their number is increasing. I never saw these many beggars when I was growing up. Maybe it is the population. But now the street kids are everywhere, outside restaurants, outside malls and at traffic signals. Either begging or collecting scarps for selling Many children are selling scraps, but in my heart I feel angry with the parents for allowing this. At times I have seen that the parents are fit and fine and are simply using their kids…
Target group

• Children living with HIV/AIDS
• Street children
• Children living in excessive poverty
• Orphans and vulnerable children
• Children selling scraps (children working on streets)
• Working children (house girls, house boys, children working in stone quarries)

Every child has the right to education without discrimination. In Uganda, huge numbers of children are denied this right by their parents or guardian, yet the government of Uganda provides free education to every primary child…
Some reasons why children work on streets
The street children are not always homeless, but simply poor like the majority of other children. They explain that [their] parents are unemployed. They send their kids to beg, collect and sell scraps because they know that children earn more money as people do not like to give to adults. Also, people look more kindly on child street hawkers, and as a result the kids earn more money.
What the rural poor who come in droves into the city need is proper training.
In Uganda children are seen as insurance policies. Hence the rush to get married early and have children so that they can be made to work and support the family. The parents who force the children to work have no shame because they are uneducated and have themselves done that for 12-15 years. So they think it is normal.