Thirty-one women and 198 children refugees in Uganda need support in relocating to a safe home before their refugee camp is bulldozed in December and junior Kira Weiss is is doing something to make a change.

These refugees had been living in an internally displaced person camp called Acholi Quarter, and this is where the women began learning how to craft paper bead jewelry.

However, over the past summer, the refugee camp was sold and the people were forced to find new places to live. After visiting with the Ugandan women, Kira opened up her project.

“I didn’t actually mean to start ‘Home by the Holidays’, it kind of fell on to me,” Weiss said. “When I asked the women what was going on, they immediately became hopeful that I would help them.”

The goal of the program is simple: raise money to help these women and their children relocate to a safe place where they can rebuild their lives. The program has raised over $23,000 to date, with an overall goal of $43,000.

“We want to allow them to start new homes up North where they fled from Joseph Kony in 1991,” she said. Kony has now left the area and the women dream of going back to their friends and family to return to their old lives.

Home by the Holidays was inspired by a trip to Africa that she took when she was just 12 with another Monte Vista alum created organization, FUNDaFIELD. In 2007, Garrett and Kyle Weiss, Kira’s older brothers, started the FUNDaFIELD program in which they raise money to build soccer fields for schools in Africa.

“I immediately fell in love with the beautiful paper bead jewelry that was made throughout the country by different women’s groups,” she said on her CrowdRise site. “I brought some home and everyone wanted more! PAPERbeadsFROMafrica.com was launched as a FUNDaFIELD fundraiser and to support the women who made them.”

Weiss set up a booth at the Danville tree lighting ceremony to sell the jewelry and raise awareness about this situation. She was interviewed by a local news outlet which also helped get the word out.

All  of the money fundraised by the paper bead jewelry helps these families with transportation to temporary homes, along with clothes and even school fees.

They’ve made a large impact on the children of Africa, with already having built ten soccer fields in local communities. They also provide equipment along with hosting tournaments between the schools.

Their love for soccer contributed in the start for their project, as the siblings wanted to make this sport available to children in smaller communities in Africa. These two fundraisers work hand in hand to improve the lives of the families of Africa and have made phenomenal progress throughout the past seven years.

Not only has this fundraiser benefited the people currently in refuge, but has implemented values in the students at MV. Kassidy Halstead, sophomore, says that this project has impacted her in different ways.

“It’s really impacted me because it makes you appreciate what you have and how not everyone is as blessed as you are, and to appreciate everything that’s given to you,” Halstead said.

On her Crowdrise site, Weiss has listed how anyone can help. She suggests a flat donation, sponsoring one person for $188, sponsoring one family, starting your own Crowdrise site to support the effort, or even just spreading the word on social media. Supporters can go to crowdrise.com and search “Home by the Hoildays” to make a donation.

There are many other students here at MV who have also been a part of the Home by the Holidays team: Kathryn LaBarbera, Hayley Littlefield, Gabby Klein, Taylor Chang, Kassidy Halstead, and Dylan Ross.

Junior Dylan Ross has been a part of the FUNDaFIELD program since the start, and was very excited to join Kira with her project.

“I really like this project because it’s something very different; in FUNDaFIELD, we raise money for soccer fields, but with this project we are able to raise money to help move women and children in need,” Ross said.

Members of the Home by the Holidays team also have profiles on the Crowdrise site, and making donations to those profiles will link directly to the project as well.

 “BASICS” WILL COST $28,000

TRANSPORTATION for 229 people/belongings: $3,145.19

FARM TOOLS for each family: $594.52

FARM SEEDS for each family: $1,189.04

SCHOOL FEES for 150 students: $13,808.16

SCHOOL UNIFORMS for 150 kids: $2,186.29

TEMPORARY HOUSING, mud huts: $6,904.08

CONTINGENCY: $1,000.00

“LUXURIES” WILL COST AN ADDITIONAL $15,000

SCHOOL LUNCHES for 150 students: $5,607.45

DRINKING WATER WELL: $8,822.57