For one group of young students in Northern Uganda, it was a moment that changed their lives forever. Rebels had surrounded their class and told the students they must join them as child soldiers in the bush. One little girl said she wanted to go home to feed her younger siblings. She was shot dead even as she finished her sentence. “And who else wants to go home?” the rebels asked. The students fell silent. They followed the rebels into the bush, where the boys became soldiers and the young girls, some as young as seven years old, became ‘wives’ to the rebels. Those that survived experienced horrors that would shape the rest of their lives.

This story was told to Crossroads by one of those child soldiers, now an adult, and it just hints at the brutalities that marked the war in Northern Uganda. In Uganda the fighting continued for over two decades, effectively concluding in 2006. In 2005, Crossroads was asked to send a shipment to help an organisation caring for children in this conflict zone. We had the donated school furniture, clothes and other goods in our warehouse ready to ship. All we needed was the sponsorship to carry the goods to Uganda. PIL stepped up to the plate, helping to carry the container to Mombasa free of charge. We were pleased to have PIL Hong Kong’s General Manager, Johnny Au, visit Crossroads to join the container loading.

For 22 years, Crossroads has been in Hong Kong connecting people in need with those who can help. In a world where more than 1 billion people live in poverty, we aim to be a ‘crossroads’, helping businesses and others find how they can use their core strengths to be part of the solution. As part of that goal, we collect high quality donated goods and redistribute them to equip non-profit projects both locally and around the globe. Thanks to the support of companies like PIL, we are now shipping more than 80 TEUs of donated goods every year to help orphanages, hospitals, colleges, refugee relief and other projects in places of need. Each container is loaded with carefully and appropriately selected goods, designed to bring maximum sustainable impact the communities being served.

Since helping us help Uganda in 2005, PIL has sponsored a wide range of Crossroads’ shipments, including:

• Expanding a project to help street children in Cameroon access education
• Building a brand new computer lab and fitted out classrooms at Zambian schools, for children who had never used computers before
• Equipping an agricultural and food programme in Ebola-affected areas of Sierra Leone
• Expanding the capacity of an enterprise teaching job skills to people with disabilities in Tanzania

PIL sponsored shipment to Cameroon, with goods to help street children access education

Computers from PIL sponsored shipment set up a Zambian school's first computer lab

Crossroads staff load a shipment of aid bound for Ghana, sponsored by PIL

PIL staff at container loading for children in Ugandan warzone, pictured with former child soldier and now NGO worker

And what about those goods in Northern Uganda, 12 years on? They’re continuing to impact lives, every single day. Children still sit at school desks from Crossroads’ PIL-sponsored shipment, they still play on playground equipment sent from Hong Kong, and the project offices are still equipped with furniture from those containers. Unemployment in some of these war-scarred areas is as low as 1%, but goods from Crossroads’ shipment are helping to train Ugandan youth in the kind of skills that are most likely to help them earn an income, and build up their communities again. PIL's generosity helped us make an investment in lives, with long-term returns.

The partnership between Crossroads and PIL continues into this current year, with PIL having offered ongoing shipping support. Such a relationship enables Crossroads to make solid arrangements with our NGO consignees, and so to step into the future with confidence! By helping with sponsored shipments, PIL is playing a significant role in changing lives in places of need.

“Words can’t express the value of our empowering relationship with PIL,” said Malcolm Begbie, founder and director of Crossroads. “They set a wonderful example to other businesses of how to help strategically, using what they do best to make a difference in the world.”

Without the help of PIL and others like them in the Hong Kong community, Crossroads wouldn’t exist. We are so very grateful.

Want to know more about Crossroads?
We can help you partner on development projects, shop fair trade, book a team building day, or take part in our experiential simulations which help groups understand issues of world need. Visit www.crossroads.org.hk , to get connected. We’d love to talk!