Blog – Page 2 – eChange Endeavors

High Tea for High Hope

You are invited for High Tea at Williams Place

Saturday, May 20th, 3-5pm

Hosted by Michelle Waters Williams & Laura Frederick

R.S.V.P. by May 18th

Life in Uganda is hard. After two decades of conflict, difficult repatriation, a global pandemic that resulted in further economic hardships, severe weather shifts–too much to too little rain destroying crops most people in northern Uganda are battered and desperate. YOUFRA (Young Franciscans) steered by Sr. Margaret Awor, LSOSF, and her team are working to help counsel and reconcile families, guide faith formation, improve livelihoods, and ensure the next generation of children don’t also miss out on education. We are stepping into help YOUFRA members and their families renew their hope and faith in God and life.

Join us May 20th for High Tea and hear Laura Frederick, Founder of eChange Endeavors, share stories of the lives that have been touched by our support. Laura has been working in Uganda since 2000 and lived there between 2006 to 2011.

We are seeking to raise $14,500 for the YOUFRA Youth Centre in Lira to renovate the building and facilitate greater program delivery. Funds will be used to refurbish the outdoor bathrooms (showers and toilet) at the Centre as well as much needed basic repairs to the building, plus purchase furniture (tables, chairs, and beds) along with materials and facilitation for programs. These improvements will enable YOUFRA to host retreats and trainings for 25-150 young adults in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s at a time. Having a place to take a break from home to sing, pray, laugh, learn and connect with other youth renews their hearts, minds and dreams and builds skills among the youth. Retreats are focused on the Sacraments, spiritual formation, and strengthening families. Trainings cover topics such as shoe making, hair styling, baking, farming, communication, team building, financial management, and beyond. Will you join us and make a gift of $100 to $1,000 or more today?

Donate Now!!

We have reached $9,300 towards our goal of $14,500. Could you help us bridge the gap?

Join hands with us today and give to help this community recover from two decades of civil war. Through counseling, livelihood and life skill training we are helping a generation of youth reclaim their lives. We support former child abductees of the Lord’s Resistance Army who lost their opportunity to education and now economically disadvantaged in the community to thrive and provide for their families. Donate Now!

The new L – shaped design will have 6 toilets with two basins each for the ladies and gents, plus 5 shower stalls. A clean, beautiful and modern look for the area. We are reusing all the bricks we can in the innovations. We are refurbishing the toilet doors for new shower stall doors. Moving the solar water heater that hasn’t been used from the other-side of the center to install on the bathroom to provide warm piped water. We are making use of paint that helps repel mosquitoes to reduce chances of malaria. This will be a great inspiration for the whole community as well as having a functional benefit.

Donate Now!!

Donate Now!!

A New Academic Year Has Begun!

Ocer Campion Jesuit College Literature Class

We begin a fresh year of academic study across Uganda as we step into the new. Ocer Campion Jesuit College in Gulu has 600 plus student with one-third on scholarship. St Joseph College, a Franciscan high school in Tororo has 150 students with nearly all students on partial or full scholarship. Most of their parents are farmers struggling to eke out a livelihood. Without your generous support these youth would be growing up without an education. As you know, Catholic education is key to helping children become fully who God desires them to be. Just $50 per month, or $200 per term, or $600 for the year helps ensure one more youth is able to reach his or her dreams. You can make a transformative difference in their lives and that of their families. Collectively we help bring a brighter and more faith filled future to all of Uganda. Will you help one of these students reach their dreams? Donate Today!

For our students in Lira attending public day school there are still many personal requirements that are out of reach for the parents including school uniforms, sturdy shoes, socks, books, paper, pencils, pens and markers, rulers, and lunches. We are seeking $100 per term for these children. Their parents are former abductees whose lives and education was interrupted when they were captured and dragged into the bush and forced to fight for the Lord’s Resistance Army. While the conflict is over 17 years now, the parents have yet to recover–emotionally, educationally, socially, and financially. Through the Young Franciscan (YOUFRA) Centre we are working diligently to help the parents redeem and reclaim their hope and dreams for families and a good future. The Centre offers counseling, spiritual development, and livelihood training for these parents. As well, the Centre staff is working diligently to ensure their children have access to quality education. Could you give something today to help these children have a good future? Could you help right an injustice done to their parents? Donate Today!

Obed & other children at YOUFRA Centre Lira Town

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Thank you for your prayers and donations. Together we made a wonderful impact this year!

Thanks to your generous support we helped 13 students complete another year of high school, 2 students start university studying education and medicine, and a dozen primary children with boarding, food, clothing, mattresses, blankets, and medical aid.

We helped YOUFRA train 24 young adults in shoe making, and provided counseling in two different villages for 25 young men and women, former war abductees. We also raised funds to build a chicken house for the Youth Centre in the new year!

We helped sponsor the Xaverian youth program in December that hosted 415 youth from the Kampala Dioceses at Chiro Camping site.

We helped Community Children’s Care and other families with medical issues and emergencies, including a brain injury and Hepatitis C that kept two fathers in their 30s alive. These fathers are beginning to work and provide for their families once again.

Thank you for all the love and charity you have shown these families. We are helping to transform lives, families, the Church in Uganda and the country.

May you all have a blessed and beautiful 2023!!!

Chicken House & Hope for the New Year!

YOUFRA Youth Centre in Lira provides support to former abductees–men and women, in the Lord’s Resistance Army and their children. They under went severe mental and physical hardships while in captivity. 17 years later they are still suffering from lack of education and employment opportunities, mental traumas, and stigmas in the community. Tragically these stigmas are also being passed down to the next generation. The Little Sister of St Fancis through the Young Franciscans of Uganda (YOUFRA) are working to help heal and reconcile the families. One key strategy is providing economic opportunities for the former abductees and educational opportunities for their children.

The Youth Centre is home or boarding to about 15 different children plus a few mothers and staff. To help improve diets and sustainability of the center we want to help them convert this old cow shed (see photos above) into a chicken house. The free range chickens will be more protected from cats and birds and they will be able to acquire laying chickens too. Both eggs and meat will compliment the vegetables and onions from the garden and their main crops (beans & corn), which will greatly improve their health. We are seeking $650 for the chicken house renovation and start-up.

As well, we are seeking $550 for the children for mattresses, sheets, blankets, socks, under wear, soccer balls, jump ropes, puzzles, pack backs and a nice Christmas dinner. Plus extra clothes and shoes for Obed, the boy by himself in photo below, is 12 years old. He was brought to the center when he was 6 years old and left to be cared for by Sr Margaret, LSOSF. Besides a school uniform he possesses only the long sleeve shirt and trousers he is wearing, and one other t-shirt and shorts. He needs basically anything and everything—fleece/sweater, trousers, shirts, shorts, tennis shoes, flipflops/sandals, personal care products, and reading materials.

We have the opportunity to bring renewed hope to these children and their families as we begin a new liturgical year and a new calendar year. Might you be willing to be a Magi to these children bringing your wisdom, prayers, and treasures?

Donate here!

Thank you. May God’s mercy, love and joy abound in your hearts and families this Christmas!!

Christmas Dinners & Bundles 2022

Our Christmas dinner initiative has been greatly enjoyed both our giving and receiving families, we have decided to do it again this year! We have set our goal of 50 Christmas dinners to reach poor families, children, elderly and disabled individuals. Might you give $25 today to help one family or two seniors have a blessed and joyful Christmas?

We connect with families through our partners Children’s Community Care, YOUFRA Youth Centre Lira, YOUFRA Disabilities group Soroti, the Xaverians, St Joseph College, and John Paul II Justice & Peace Youth Leaders.

Economic problems abound in Uganda on the tails of the pandemic, lockdowns, back to back bad harvests, inflation, now Ebola breakouts, and more business closures causing a ripple effect of despair and discouragement acrosss the country. In this season of hope, you can spread God’s love and mercy with a small gift of $25 for one family.

We want 50 families and more to experience the unexpected joy of Christmas this year. Families with special needs children, as well as teachers, students, widows, orphans, and individuals with disabilities.

A good Christmas in Uganda is to attend Church followed by a dinner feast together that includes meat. Children look forward to this day all year long. Without our support this year shall be just another meal of beans and portio (corn meal).

Your gift of $25 will buy 1 chicken (or equivalent beef/goat), plus rice or potatoes, veggies, additional sides, sodas to share, and Christmas cake for a family of four to six. Bundles include rice, meat, sugar, oil and soap.

Will you help us bless 50 families with a Christmas Dinner gift?

We have already received contributions for 30 Christmas Dinners, we just need another 20 to meet our goal!

Donate here!

May God bless you and your family this Christmas season for unto us the Christ child is born ever new in our hearts!

Join us for summer fun! Dancing, Drinks & Donations

Happy Feast of the Ugandan Martyrs!

Shrine of the Ugandan Martyr’s – Feast Day Mass

Greetings Friends,

On this the Feast of the Uganda Martyrs, June 3rd, I wish you a blessed day and year! Thank you for all the ways you support the Catholic Missionaries and families in Uganda. Your prayers are invaluable to me and for them. Your financial support is catalytic. You have kept people from falling into abject poverty. You have helped them realize more fully who God made them to be. You have kept hope alive! You have shared God’s love and mercy. You have helped families set a new pathway in life.

In 2022 alone, Ossana, Leah, Mary, Mark and many other students are back in high school. Gerald was able to buy a laptop and has initiated his online studies in Biology/PreMed with a university in Washington State. Joseph, Esther, Sharon and many young children have been assisted with much needed, even critical healthcare and treatments. Families have kept going because of food aid. Twenty youth learned to make beautiful sandals to wear or sell for additional income. Hearts have been uplifted through the spiritual programs offered through our partners.

You have blessed so many lives. May God also richly bless you! Laura

Back to School For Sponsorship Students

Ocer Campion Jesuit College (OCJC) and Eastside High School (Franciscan) have been paving the way for success for the children of poverty-stricken families. These schools depend on generous donations to support both student tuition and school improvements. For OCJC, over a third of its students rely on scholarships provided by sponsors. For Eastside High School, that number reaches over half of the student body.

Leah is one student at Ocer Campion JC who has been given the opportunity for success thanks to the kindness and generosity of scholarship sponsors. The second of three children, her mother was widowed after her father passed away due to Hepatitis C in 2010. The family has struggled with poverty since, and Leah’s mother, a farmer, has found it difficult to provide for her children’s basic needs, even more so for an education. Since economic crashes following COVID restrictions, the family has faced further poverty and health problems, threatening to keep them out of school. Leah and her siblings have been blessed to continue their education entirely through scholarships, an opportunity that gives them hope for a better future.

Another student at Ocer Campion JC who has received aid via the gracious giving of sponsors is John Mary, eldest of three children. John Mary’s parents have been active in youth leadership programs, youth activities at their parishes, and Church choir. The family lives in the capitol city of Uganda, Kampala, and has faced many challenges in paying for rent and food. With prices steadily on the rise, and no stable income for either of John Mary’s parents since businesses closed due to COVID, sponsorship has been a saving gift enabling John Mary to pursue his education.

Wondering how you might help poverty-stricken children in Uganda stay in school and achieve success in life? You can support the poor rural families in Gulu and Tororo, Uganda by offering prayers, joining our monthly giving program or making a one-time donation. Just click the red donate button on the right side bar.

Scholarship sponsors play a vital role in providing students at Ocer Campion JC and Eastside High School with the opportunity for an education and future success. Please consider sponsoring a student today and giving them the chance for a better life!

Christmas Dinners

Would you consider donating $25 to cover the cost of Christmas dinner for one family in Uganda?

Gerald Ogenrwot, Grandmother, Brother & Family

We had such a positive response to our Christmas dinner initiative last year by both the giving and receiving families, we have decided to do it again this year!

Life continues to be hard in Uganda. Schools were shut down again in June and still not yet been allowed to open again. This has left many at home with not enough to do. Teenage pregnancies have soared in the country. The weather went from too much rain in 2020 to too little rain in 2021 further destroying crops. The President and administration continue to shutdown markets and business activities, despite minimal cases and few deaths from COVID. Economic problems abound causing a ripple effect of despair and discouragement. In this season of hope, you can spread God’s love and mercy with a small gift of $25 for one family.

We want 50 families to experience the unexpected joy of Christmas this year. Families with special needs children, as well as teachers, students, widows, orphans, and individuals with disabilities.

To have a good Christmas in Uganda is to attend Church followed by a dinner feast together that includes meat. Children look forward to this day all year long. Without our support this year shall be just another meal of beans and portio (corn meal).

Just $25 will buy 1 chicken (or equivalent beef/goat), plus rice, additional sides, sodas to share, and Christmas cake for a family of five to eight.

Will you help us bless 50 families with a Christmas Dinner gift?

We have already received contributions for 10 Christmas Dinners!

May God bless you and your family this Christmas season for unto us the Christ child is born ever new in our hearts!

“O give thanks to the Lord for he is good; for his love endures for ever.”
Psalm 107:1

Mobility, What a Gift!

Have you ever lost your mobility, even for a short while? I have twice in my life and it sure has made me appreciate gaining it back, pain free! Gloria lost her ability to run, jump, ride a bicycle and squat easily when she was 11 years old due to a moped accident. Gloria was living with her Grandmother and three brothers at the time of the accident. Her father had died when she was 7 years old, after which she was pulled from school to help her mother at home. So she never had the opportunity to learn how to read and write. And a few later she lost her mother when the mud hut they called home collapsed on her. Following the accident there were no resources available to take Gloria to a hospital. She was left to simply “heal” on a mat at home. Her right hip became infected and what the accident didn’t destroy the infection ate away. Ever since that time her left hip has supported her ability to move around.

The lack of a good right hip and an over dependence her left hip caused it to deteriorate. In 2011, after years of pain, she had her first left hip replacement surgery. She became pain free for five years and it was glorious! In 2016, the pain came back requiring her to have a second surgery because the components and cement were not strong enough given her active labor intensive life. Once again life was good.

In 2017, she moved to Gulu, Uganda and began working in the new Jesuit Residency cooking meals and cleaning. Unfortunately, last year, 2019, the pain came back with a vengeance and has not subsided. At first, they were not able to do the needed follow-on surgery in Uganda. We have been seeking opportunities outside of the country without success. This year however, the hospital has acquired the necessary surgery equipment and will soon be receiving a visiting doctor that has the speciality expertise for her third surgery. Consequently, we are seeking $3000 to facilitate this additional hip surgery to get Gloria pain free again. Could you contribute this Lent to help Gloria regain her mobility pain free? Donate here! Thank you!!

Interview with Gloria before her second surgery.