The Beginning
The unplanned conception of 2-4 Life Project took place in 2010 when our founder, Zina, embarked on a 5-week volunteer trip to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. During this time she devoted her days to a shelter for street children, an orphanage, and the country's only animal shelter.
Much of her time was spent working at the animal shelter assisting the staff in caring for rescued dogs and cats. On other days, Zina found herself at the orphanage or in Kisenyi slum supporting homeless children. She quickly recognized the children and animals were victims of parallel backgrounds, each had endured street life, hunger, and abuse, yet each were still so willing to give love and trust.
Zina decided to introduce puppies from the animal shelter to the children at the orphanage who had never touched a dog. In a moment of watching the interaction between a fearful yet curious child and a puppy who had experienced abuse at the hands of humans, yet still wagged its tail, a small seed of a concept was planted. The simple love they brought to each other was inspiring.
After returning from Uganda, the visions of the children and animals were constantly on her mind pulling Zina in a direction to take action. With the encouragement of a friend, she took to her Facebook page to share photos and experiences from her time in Kampala. She had hopes of raising funds to assist each of these groups with their most basic needs but struggled with how to ask for help. Then a powerful thing happened - many of her close friends offered assistance immediately, and when they shared the stories, even strangers were drawn to take action.
With an incredible support team behind her, the next step was to form an organization which was aptly named 2-4 Life Project: 2 feet, 4 paws. Without a straight forward plan and limited resources, the path of our mission began to pave itself as we listened, learned, and adapted. Dedicated supporters kept us moving and we learned to fill voids where we could have the greatest impact.
Zina and other volunteers have returned to Uganda every year since, and with each visit we learn, network, streamline, and develop partnerships. Each year we have evolved and our transformation has brought us to where we are today: Project Education, Project Medical Care, Project Animal Care, all managed with our Core Values at the forefront - Integrity, Open-Mindedness, Compassion, and Respect. We are committed to enhancing the lives of children and animals in Uganda.
