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!
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!
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!
Former Head Teacher at Ocer Campion Jesuit College, Fr. John Chachu, passed away on July 22 at 59 years old. His loss was a devastating shock to the OCJC community, as he had been involved with the college for several years, and was well established in the college community. Fr. Chachu was a Jesuit priest originally ordained in Sudan in 1988, later sent to Ocer Campion Jesuit College in 2014. Under his leadership, enrollment at the college had risen from just over 600 students to over 700.
Upon the news of his death, many in the OCJC community began to raise money to bring his body back to Gulu so he could be buried there. The community truly loved him, so much so that, when news spread that only 20 people could attend his burial due to Covid restrictions, a cause went up to request that his burial be open to the entire community. Parents, students, and teachers alike wanted to be able to attend, and after some discussion, the burial ceremony was opened, and 700 people attended (double the projected 250 mourners).
Fr. Chachu came from a family of 6 children, and was one of two surviving members; he and one of his sisters. He had been raised in Sudan in a faithful family. In Gulu, he was the only Jesuit priest there that spoke the local language, a skill he was very proud of, noting that he was “very much in this place.” He embraced Gulu as his home, and felt very connected to the community. Likewise, the community loved him. Many students paid homage to Fr. Chachu at his burial, and others sent messages and stories to the school. The students at OCJC truly saw him as family. At his burial, one of his students, Susan Akera, noted “he was a father to many of us who were orphaned.” Another student expressed, “we will miss our father, our parent.”
In an unreleased interview, Fr. Chachu spoke lovingly about the community. One of his biggest concerns was that many prospective students could not afford to attend OCJC, but even some who could not pay were still welcomed into the program. Fr. Chachu cared deeply for the situation of those children in Gulu, commenting, “they literally have nothing, and as a school now, we cannot… send them away.” According to many in the community, Fr. Chahcu was a stern, disciplinary teacher at OCJC, yet even so, he was loved and widely known to have loved everyone. He kept close contact with the families, even outside of school, and was very encouraging to all of his students. His student Susan Akera described him as “the most forgiving priest I have ever come across. He would quarrel on us and within minutes he would start making jokes to us.” Another student agreed, stating, “He created a social environment that was equal for us all irrespective of who you are.”
The OCJC families and staff will sorely miss Fr. Chachu, and his contributions to the community will not soon be forgotten. Fr. Chahu was known for truly loving his students and for being a well rounded, disciplinary role model to the children at OCJC. It is with great sorrow that the OCJC families and teachers say farewell to Fr. Chachu. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Join us as we launch a monthly giving circle to share our blessings. We are called to build up the Body of Christ, the Church. At eChange Endeavors we do this by supporting widows, single parents, orphans and those with disabilities either directly or through local Catholic institutions. We seek to leverage previous investments made in education, personal development or institutional capacities to ensure those at risk won’t fall by the wayside. Together we are helping to transform problems into opportunities inspiring hope and strengthening community!
We help hardworking mothers such as Gloria to ensure they can provide for their children. When she needed a hip replacement surgery due to an accident, we stepped in to help. We also supported Pascal to finish University after his Mother died and his Father was no longer able to generate enough income for both him and his younger brother who was still attending high school. When Esther’s husband died, we assisted with food and helped her start a micro business. Later when the eldest reached high school we helped with the higher fees. We have given a small grant to Children’s Community Care to finish a classroom for children with mental disabilities so that mothers would have a safe, clean, and stimulating environment in which to leave their children while they went to work in the street markets.
We also raise funds for OcerCampion Jesuit College both scholarships and an additional housing for international volunteers to work at the school. We are seeking resources for technology and textbooks for St Athanasius Primary School, which serves mostly poor families living in the slums of Kampala. St. Elizabeth’s Home & Vocational Institute rescues young women from the streets, trafficking and prostitution. We are seeking to raise funds for a solar solution and sewing machines so that local money collected can feed and support more women. We are seeking to help rural health clinics diversify their service capabilities to create a more sustainable model. None of these good works would be possible without your generous support over time.
So join us today and become part of our circle of giving to ensure we can say YES to helping our brothers and sisters in Uganda when we receive their requests. To join simply click on our DONATE button that will take you to a PayPal payment page. You can pay via PayPal, credit or debit card. Just make sure to tick the box for re-occurring payments and your giving will be automatically processed each month.
$10/month enables an entrepreneur to start or grow a microenterprise
$20/month enables young adults to participate in Catholic youth camps
$25/month provides one teacher with a mini-laptop
$30/month supports a student in primary school
$50/month provides a small grant to a health clinic or partner
Thank you for becoming part of our Endeavors Circle of love and hope in the world!
