You're never too young to make a difference - just ask Winnipeggers Katie Muirhead, Leigh McClarty and Katie Boyd.

In 2006, when they were 18 years old, the three friends started Kwagala Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps families living in and around Kyababezi, a small village in rural Uganda that Muirhead visited during a seven-week volunteer stint.

A lack of public health education (Muirhead recalls villagers using the same water for bathing, drinking, cooking and washing clothes, for example) means that syphilis, typhoid, and malaria are extremely common in Kyababezi. HIV/AIDS is also a major problem, as villagers - many of whom live in polygamous relationships in which women have little sexual autonomy - have had virtually no access to safer sex education.

Kwagala began its work with an income-generation scheme, importing and selling handmade jewelry in support of women such as 29-year-old Teddy, who lost her father and all seven siblings to AIDS, and who now uses her earnings to provide for more than 10 nieces and nephews.

Next, Kwagala created a sponsorship program, paying for school fees and uniforms so that children can further their education. Currently, 27 children have been sponsored through the project - 11 of them by Muirhead herself.

Kwagala is now set to host its second benefit show, taking place at the Pyramid Cabaret on Jan. 11.

Showtime is 9 p.m. and features music by the JD Edwards Band, Serena Postel and Ian La Rue. Jewelry will also be available for sale. Tickets cost $10 ($12 at the door) and are available at Music Trader, Into the Music, the U of W Info Booth, and by contacting Kwagala directly at kwagalafoundation@hotmail.com.

While developing and maintaining Kwagala Foundation has been a learning process for all three young women ("We had assumed it would be easy, and it totally isn't," laughs McClarty) the hard work has definitely been rewarding - particularly for Muirhead, who was able to return to Kyababezi this past summer.

She was greeted by hordes of excited children and their appreciative parents, and was presented with a thank-you gift on behalf of the village - a banana leaf full of fried ants (which she says she graciously accepted but couldn't bring herself to eat).

"There's a lot of people our age doing a lot of good things, and there's a lot of people our age doing nothing," says Muirhead, who'll be returning to Kyababezi this May.

"A lot of our friends have that angst of 'I'm just not satisfied in my life' and I think we have that advantage. We found something that we're all so passionate about."