It’s a sunny and exciting day in Uganda. People roar with enthusiasm as water that was once filthy is finally being filtered and becoming suitable for drinking. She radiates nothing but love upon seeing the smiles on their faces. As she continues to drill water holes, pure joy fills her heart.

During her time as a leadership missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints in Northern Africa in 2013, permanent substitute teacher Pamela Moore noticed the water wasn’t clean, orphanages were overflowing, education systems were broken, school infrastructures were falling and streets remained in poverty. After this realization, her goal was to help the people make their own money and drill wells to provide cleaner water. In July 2017, Pamela traveled to Uganda to start her non-profit organization named It’s for Africa. In order to pay for these trips, she worked as a substitute teacher when she wasn’t in Africa.

“Being a sub and working with different organizations is very challenging for me because I am older,” Pamela said. “I should be retired, but I’m so incredibly committed to service. I am always engaged in doing meaningful tasks when I am not subbing. Originally I don’t remember that I was subbing specifically [to raise money for] my African service, but as time has gone by that is my main reason for subbing.”

Pamela continuously works on numerous projects. Her help isn’t temporary. She teaches people in Africa how to make incomes without the help of others. One family she helped started independently raising pigs to provide both food and money for themselves. 

“The impact we’ve had is hard to measure because we had [several] different projects, and some have been more successful than others,” Pamela said. “We know our water project has had a huge impact on thousands of people because a well can cover a whole community. We’ve helped smaller groups establish apiaries, piggeries and other enterprises. They are slowly learning how to earn some sort of income for the work they put in.”

She couldn’t do it all herself, so she invited her granddaughter, Chloe Moore, along to help. Although she was only 12, she carried a deep passion for assisting those in need.  

“I wasn’t able to help with drilling the holes, but I helped build the schools,” Chloe said. “My sister and I would mix mounds of termites with water and step in piles of them up to our knees. We would take those piles and throw them onto sticks, and that’s how we built the walls and huts. It was disgusting, but that’s how we contributed.”

Another problem in Africa is the low life span due to a lack of proper birth ethics and infrastructure. Board member of It’s for Africa Dr. Dan Ferguson worked to change this. His goal was to make sure women maintained healthy and successful pregnancies. 

“One thing we take is kits for pregnancies to keep [the mothers] sanitized, like plastic mats and little hats to keep them clean while giving birth,” Ferguson said. “It helps the survival rate increase because the first few weeks are vital to the kids, some don’t make it past one month.”

The less-developed country is in need of attention from others. With the It’s for Africa organization, Pamela and her team were able to achieve the goal she had always dreamed of which was to make a positive change in Uganda, even if it was small. It takes time to see progressive improvements as change doesn’t happen overnight.

“Helping others makes me feel connected to people around the world,” Pamela said. “We’re all one human race and by serving [those in need] I feel drawn closer to them. I consider them a part of my family, my brothers and sisters. There’s just a wonderful feeling when I do service, no matter where it is.”