WHO WE ARE

OUR STORY

Love Mercy exists to empower communities in northern Uganda to overcome poverty caused by the horrors of war. Love Mercy began in 2010 in Sydney, Australia after Eloise Wellings, Australian Olympian, met Ugandan Olympian and former child soldier, Julius Achon.

“If I told you my story, your foot problem would become very small”

– Julius to Eloise

Our Vision

We see communities in northern Uganda thriving independently, by increasing access to health care, clean water, food security and income generation.

Our Mission

We exist to co-design innovative solutions and build on existing strengths with local communities to overcome poverty and increase wellbeing

Our Values

One humble person can make a difference.

Act Justly

to raise awareness of extreme poverty in Northern Uganda in order to create a more just world

Love Mercy

to show kindness to others, regardless of faith, background, race, religion or gender

Walk Humbly

to hold others in higher regard than ourselves, being trustworthy, accountable and transparent in all we do

Read about our projects

Meet the dedicated team behind the day to day operations on the ground in Uganda…

JULIUS ACHON

FOUNDING DIRECTOR

JIMMY OKULLO

LOVE MERCY UGANDA PROGRAMS MANAGER

FLORENCE ADEMUN

PROJECT COORDINATOR

JOLLY ACIRO

VILLAGE SAVINGS AND LOANS TRAINER

HILDA AROMBO

VILLAGE SAVINGS AND LOANS TRAINER

SHERRY OKELLO

AGRONOMIST

BETTY ACHENG

AGRONOMIST

…and in Australia!

ELOISE WELLINGS

FOUNDING DIRECTOR

REBECCA LLOYD

CEO

DEANNA DALY

MARKETING & FUNDRAISING MANAGER

Read about what our team do

Love Mercy Board Members

Roger Wellings – Founding Director - Owner at Raw Strategy

Roger serves the organisation by bringing his skills in finance, governance, systems and partner relations. He completed a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours in Finance and Accounting. He was the founding owner and manager of Fiji and Pacific Specialist Holidays in Sydney. He now acts as a consultant for tourism and property development in the South Pacific.

Eloise Wellings – Executive Director and Co-Founder - Australian Olympian

Eloise is a professional athlete and Australian Olympian. She serves as Love Mercy’s ambassador in a volunteer capacity and brings her vision and strategy to the board to direct the overall operations for the Foundation. She has in the past owned a small business as a personal trainer, and is a mother to two beautiful children.

Katie Rosser - Director & Chairperson - Director at Seldon Rosser

Katie Rosser joined the board in 2016 and took on the role of Chair in November 2017. Katie has a Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice Certificate, and is a UK qualified solicitor. She is co-founder and Director of Seldon Rosser, an executive recruitment and search firm. Katie’s experience in running a small and growing business adds value when advising on Love Mercy operations. Her recruitment experience is also invaluable in managing the HR needs of the organisation.

Danielle Thomson - Director & Secretary - Provisional Psychologist and School Counsellor

Danielle went to Uganda on the first Love Mercy trip in 2010. She was captivated by its people, particularly the Ugandan children. She is a Provisional Psychologist and School Counsellor and brings her skills in child protection and her passion for Uganda to the board.

Gerard Timbs - Director - Environment & Planning Lawyer, Partner at Holding Redlich Law Firm

Gerard joined the board in 2018. He is a qualified town planner and lawyer and practises in all aspects of planning and environmental law. Gerard is a keen runner and has completed 13 marathons, including an attempt at the Kampala marathon in 2017 on a trip to Uganda while visiting Love Mercy projects. He is committed to return to Kampala to finish it when he goes back next time. He serves the board with his skills in law, governance and strategic planning.

James Sutherland - Director & Treasurer - Chartered Accountant

James is a Chartered Accountant with broad experience across corporate and project finance. He has worked for Ernst & Young in their Sydney, London, and Johannesburg offices on client engagements across the AsiaPac, North American, European and African regions. After spending the last 5 years providing commercial and financial advice to government and private sector infrastructure developers across Africa, James returned to Australia in late 2017 and is now the COO of P2P business lending platform Grapple Fund. James joined the Board in July 2018 and serves the organisation as Treasurer by providing his skills in finance, audit, governance, systems and accounts.

Lizzie Borwick - Director - Director, Fundraising & Philanthropy, Amnesty International Australia

Lizzie is the Director for Fundraising and Philanthropy at Amnesty International Australia and has worked in fundraising across the health, international development, conservation and human rights sector for over 15 years with local, national and international not-for-profits. Lizzie joined the board in 2019 (and is mum to Fern, 8 and Archie 4).

Caitlin McGrath - Director - Senior Programme Manager, Adara Group

Caitlin is passionate about innovative solutions to poverty and transforming the not-for-profit sector to focus on impact and local communities. As the founding CEO of Love Mercy Foundation, Caitlin is proud of the team she led who reached 17,800 women with Cents for Seeds. Caity now works as the Senior Programme Manager at Adara Group, continuing her passion for maternal and child health in Uganda and Nepal. She serves the board with her development programme management skills and is happy to still be deeply connected with the work of Love Mercy

Strategic Partnerships

Love Mercy and the Achon Uganda Children’s Fund have been in partnership since 2012, with the opening of the Kristina Health Centre. AUCF aims to bring health care, education, and the opportunity to start a new life to the people of Northern Uganda.

We partner together in funding to increase impact in northern Uganda.

Love Mercy Uganda is the established Ugandan base of Love Mercy Australia.

Responsible for all operations in-country, the team consists of over 20 health care staff at Kristina Health Centre, 10 Cents for Seeds agronomy staff and subcontracted water staff for Well Worth It.

Our partnership with Water for Africa came after the 2018 Cents for Seeds impact report revealed access to water in cents for seeds villages has a significant impact on wellbeing. Since then we have drilled 38 wells to date, and repaired over 300. We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with the experts in the field.

Huber Social In 2018, we partnered with Huber to run our first survey measuring the social impact of Cents for Seeds. The results challenged and encouraged our team, motivating us to make changes to deepen impact and celebrate how far we had come. Since then, we have completed annual Impact Reports to measure the collective wellbeing of women participating in the program.

Read our recent features in the News and Media

Love Mercy Foundation acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.