Photo: Our Kampala program director Joseph seen here with some of his students at our primary school in the Katoogo slum colony.
Today we bring you an update from our programs in Kampala, Uganda. We currently have 168 children (ages 3-15) enrolled in our Children’s Hope Center School this semester — they are studying Luganda (one of the native languages of Uganda), English, science, social studies, math, reading, and physical education. 2 girls are living at our ‘She Has Hope’ rehabilitation home, and our native team is caring for 23 rescued orphans (10 boys and 13 girls, ages 4-15).
Our faithful field director oversees the operations of our school and the rehabilitation home, and the loving care of all of these children. We want to share his personal story of how he felt called to this amazing ministry in his own words:
I was once an orphan and I grew up struggling, and there was a certain family that took care of me and helped to study the little that I was able to study. When I became a Christian, I read the Bible and found so many Scriptures that tell us to help the poor and orphans. I felt a burden to begin a faith-based home for the orphans, the Kampala Children’s Hope Center School, and the ‘She Has Hope’ project. Nobody knew that I would grow up to become someone who could make a difference, and at the same time nobody knows that these children can grow up and become important in the future. If they get all of the required necessities to live and be educated, then they can become important people, helping their communities and nations at large.
So I feel good to be a father to the fatherless and a guardian. I love to watch the children play with each other, joking, singing together, and enjoying the day together. I love kids and I love taking care of them. The only challenge is when I do not have enough resources to meet their daily needs. But I enjoy living with them and watching them grow into adults. The children are very happy that they are now safe, with a comfortable place to sleep, eat, drink, get medical treatment, and an education. It makes them happy that they now have someone to care for them that they can call “Daddy,” and I love that. Thank you for your support to save the lives and the futures of these vulnerable children.
We are happy to report that we have partnered with the “Lift Up” organization to build a temporary structure for our Children’s Hope Center School which will keep our children and teachers on dry ground even during the rainy season.
The Kampala Hope Center School is saving the lives and futures of orphans and vulnerable children who are starving, living without adequate food, water, medical care, shelter, and education. We provide them with nutrition and a free education, including all the supplies they need to succeed in school.
The new Kampala Hope Center School will consist of two temporary structures with six classrooms (3 classrooms for each structure) with blackboards; it is a new structure that will be made of iron sheets, timbers, and cemented poles. This new site will be built on land next to our Kampala director’s church where the land is not prone to flooding. Our current Kampala Hope Center School building is located in a slum area which is prone to bad flooding. The structures will be painted and funding will also provide for furnishings for the school such as chairs, desks, tables, and small plastic chairs for the children.
Through our Hope Center School, we have also been able to serve 3 fresh-cooked meals a day to sometimes as many as over 2,000 children when funding is adequate to do so — that includes both our students and other children in the local slum colony where our school is located. The school provides a primary school education for grades K-8 to the children in this slum area of Kampala who would otherwise have no access to an education.
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Take a Closer Look: view more photos from this project and others