Project 76: A Place to Call Home - Uganda

Right now, more than 122 million people are displaced from their homes because of armed conflict and civil unrest. That number is staggering on its own. But here's what makes it even harder to sit with: fewer than 1% of those refugees will ever be permanently resettled. For the vast majority, displacement isn't a chapter — it becomes their whole story. The average refugee lives in displacement for 10 to 26 years, with few legal rights and even fewer protections.

So what does daily life actually look like inside a refugee camp?

When thousands of people flee a crisis all at once, shelters go up fast. Built to be temporary, designed to hold people for a few months, maybe a year. But when conflict drags on and more people keep arriving, those camps don't close. They grow. Makeshift structures become the walls families live within for years, and what started as emergency housing slowly becomes a worn, overcrowded neighborhood with no clear path to something better.

That's the reality our newest partner, Every Shelter, is working to change.

Every Shelter doesn't just provide housing — they build capacity. They work alongside residents to design shelter solutions using local materials and building techniques. They train refugees to construct and repair these homes, building real skills and generating income within the community. It's a holistic, hands-on model where refugees aren't just recipients of aid but participants in their own recovery.

For Project 76: A Place to Call Home, Mite's Giving Community is partnering with Every Shelter to support their Paa Bora shelter program in the Rwamwanja and Nakivale refugee settlements in Uganda.

Paa Bora means "better roof" in Swahili, and these shelters deliver just that. Engineered to go up in a single day, they give newly arriving families immediate cover, privacy, and safety. But they're also designed with the future in mind. The A-frame structure provides instant stability, and when a family is ready to build a more permanent home with bricks, the original frame lifts onto their new walls as a finished roof. One shelter, two stages, and a structure that grows with a family as they begin to rebuild their lives.

Our donors will provide building materials for approximately 280 Paa Bora shelters, creating job opportunities for refugees involved in the construction process and strengthening skills and self-reliance across the community.

You're helping refugees build more than a roof. For families who have had everything stripped away, a stable shelter isn't a small thing. Join us in helping them find sanctuary.