May we all contemplate during this Octave of Easter the beauty and mystery of Christ’s Resurrection!
During this Easter season will you help us to transform the lives of these children and their future?
Give a Hand Home
For nearly two decades Gertrude Aketch has been taking orphans in to her home from her community in Tororo. She has gathered donations, grown crops, and partnered with local schools, like St Jospeh College to see that these children are fed, loved and receive a good education. She has even managed to push a few through university and one on to the seminary. To help with stability for the children she is seeking to start a bee keeping business on their land. This will create on-going reliable income for the home and children. Plus provide the region with essential honey and bees wax candles. We are seeking $600 to help them get started with their first 4 hives, gear, and flower field.
Will you join us this Easter season to raise $600 to launch a Bee Business for the children’s future?
Thanks to the great renovations that we helped completed last year to the primary classroom block at St Joseph College the high school has attracted more students. They have 30 new Senior 1 (freshman) students who came with their mattresses but are currently sleeping on the floor in the dormitory. They live too far away to be day students, so take advantage of boarding with the school.
We are seeking $1,000 to buy 10 triple decker beds like the ones in the photo. Will you help these 30 new students get a good night sleep so they can study well? Their presence helps with the financial stability and sustainability of the school too.
Will you contribute $100 for one bed for 3 students? Or $500 for five beds for 15 students?
We are seeking an additional $500 to help 8 more needy children to join the YOUFRA Youth Centre education program. They are the children of former war abductees sitting at home not going to school at all because their parents can’t provide basic requirements of uniform, back packs, school materials, mattresses, sheets and blankets. Will you help us buy 8 mattresses, 8 set of sheets, 8 blankets and school supplies for 8 more children?
Emma in photo below is happily making his bed after the beds were repainted this January. Help us put mattresses and children in the empty beds!
As we begin anew calendar year, Uganda also begins a new academic year. 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. (See photo above.) 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. For only $50 per month, or $200 per term, or $600 for the year you can help one youth stay in school and reach his or her dreams. Graduating from a Catholic school experience is transformative in their lives and that of their families for generations to come. Collectively we help bring a brighter and more faith filled future for all of Uganda. Will you help one of these students reach their dreams?Donate Today!
In Lira diocese, we are helping YOUFRA (Young Franciscans) to support 20 students in primary school with boarding and personal requirements. Their parents are former abductees whose lives and education were disrupted when they were captured, dragged into the bush and forced to fight for the Lord’s Resistance Army or assist with their personal needs. While the conflict is over 17 years now, the parents have yet to recover–emotionally, educationally, socially, and especially financially. We are working diligently with Sr. Margaret Awor, LSOSF, and staff of the Young Franciscan (YOUFRA) Centre to help improve their livelihoods, heal from the traumas, and ensure a second generation of families doesn’t loose out on education. Personal requirements for the students includes mattresses, sheets, blankets, school uniforms, sturdy shoes, socks, books, paper, pencils, pens and markers, rulers, and meals. We are seeking $300 per term for these children, plus an additional $700 for one-time purchases. Will you help the parents redeem and reclaim their hope and dreams for their families and a good future? Will you help ensure their children have access to quality education?Donate Today!
We are seeking to help our partner St. Theresa Catholic Parish in Achilet, Uganda sing joyously to our Lord on Christmas eve! The parish electric keyboard is now silent (dead) and their drums worn out with 20 years of use. We are seeking to raise $2,000 to help them acquire new musical instruments and accessories before Christmas.
The Fr. Joseph Becket Othieno is the pastor supported by Fr. Paul Okoth and newly assigned Fr. Patrick Masuti. The parish has over 20,000 members including children. It is located in a very rural part of Eastern Uganda, Tororo Diocese. The church holds about 900 members at once. They are waiting with joyful expectations for a special Christmas gift and miracle this year for their parish. Could you help them join the heavenly Chorus and ring out even more joyously their Christmas Masses?
Thanks to American Martyrs Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach, two generous individual givers, and UK partner FOAG we were able to raise $22,000 to renovate the main classroom building at St Joseph College in Tororo, Uganda. The roof had been blown off during Holy Week this year leaving the classrooms unusable. The school scrambled to create four make shift classrooms to finish the first term, then go a second whole term while construction was underway. We reached out to our partners and friends for help and the response was great!
With the funds we were able to redesign and build a fresh the roof structure to make it more durable for the long-haul. We extending the roof out to include a proper verandah with much needed space in the raining seasons. We replaced all the rotted wooden doors and windows with new metal and class ones. We re-poured the foundation, reconfigured the classroom layouts, wired the building for lights and technology, added ceiling boards, re-plastered the walls inside and out, finished the floors, and painted the whole building. When possible students were able to learn and get involved in some of the construction too! The building looks fresh and fabulous!Students, teacher, parents and community members are thrilled to have the revitalized space!
Thank you to all our generous donors for making this project possible! The school is back to operating fully and students are actively preparing for end of year national exams.
Win great prizes in our raffle — gift certificates to restaurants, manicure/pedicures, bundles of beauty, food, wine, and more!!
Tickets are $5 or 6 for $25 (one book). You can purchase at the Dance OR online, OR email us at endeavors@globalechange.com. For online purchases use our red donate button and specify in the reference for the raffle. Make sure to give an email and phone number. We will follow-up with you.
Can’t make the event? You can help us to reach our goal of $5,000 for Scholarships by donating today! These students would not be attending high school, vocational college or university if we didn’t step in to fill the gap. Join us in transforming their lives and that of their communities.
We had a very fun night of dancing! Thank you to all of you who joined us on the dance floor or supported from a far. We raised $2,000 for scholarships thanks to the event sponsorship, donations and event funds with $800 coming from the raffle. We hope you can join us again next summer. To support our scholarship program donatehere!
Prayers and good wishes to the people of Uganda today as they remember and celebrate the sacrifices of the Ugandan Martyrs. #PrayforUs!
Help us lift up the missionaries and families in Uganda by supporting our scholarship fund, school enhancements, youth development, health fund, and livelihood initiatives.
During holy week this year a big storm blew through Tororo Uganda and took the roof off St. Joseph College’s main classroom building. Leaving students and teachers quite alarmed and exposed. They are currently renting a hall at a guest house near the campus to make up for the lost classroom. St. Joseph College is already busting at the seam with 140 students from Senior 1 through Senior 4 and a P7 class. The missing roof has exasperated the problem and the exposed walls and building to more damage.
We are stepping in to help raise $20,000 to replace the full roof and other necessary renovations to the foundation, walls, windows, and doors. Will you join us to help these youth stay in school getting a good catholic education?
Thank you American Martyrs parish and FOAG for stepping in to help! Construction of the new roof begins this week. We are still seeking funds to help replace the windows and doors, paint, and provide much needed solar power for the school. Join hands with us and donate today!
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, learnandconnect with other youthrenews 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?
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.
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
