Dear Friends,
I wanted to update you on the purpose and function of our higher education fund. When we first started this ministry, we quickly realized that we want to provide our children with every possible opportunity to succeed. We were not going to abandon them when they completed secondary school, so we committed to helping any of our students who qualified to attend vocational school or college.
This is a challenging venture, for we are not asking our sponsors to commit more than the $420 a year that they pay in sponsorship fees. The cost of most vocational schools is around $1000 per year, and the cost of a college education is approximately $2500 a year. We created our Higher Ed fund to fill the gap between the sponsorship funds and the costs to attend institutions of higher learning.
The statistics tell us that only 6% of Ugandan children go on to any type of higher education. With a Ugandan unemployment rate that hovers around 70%, we want to give our children every possible chance to acquire or create jobs & break the cycles of poverty that are so prevalent in each of their families.
The challenges are not only financial in nature. We have also learned that the children in P7 face enormous pressure to do well on their end of year national exams. These are commonly referred to as the “Primary Leaving Exams” and the scores on that test will determine:
- IF the child is eligible to attend secondary school, and
- Which secondary school will accept them.
If the child does not do well on that exam, then their only option is vocational school.
Our Higher Education Fund also enables us to pay the extra boarding costs for some of our secondary children. It has become an important way to fill in the gap between sponsorship and any additional costs of education for our children.
Visit the Higher Ed page on our website to see those who have graduated and those who are currently attending a vocational school or college.
Currently, we have 5 children in vocational school, (Dorine, Angel, Mathias, Davis, and Hillary), one in Medical School (Shumayiya), and 3 that we hope are headed to college this fall (James, Judith, Julius).
Judith and Mathias are siblings, and they, with their brother Jonathan and mother Faith, have struggled to survive since their father died several years ago.
Faith is a sweet believer with a huge heart. She has done everything possible to keep her family together, but it has been a real struggle. She even took her sister, who was very ill, and her two children into her small two-room house when they needed a place to live. This family is precious to us (as all of our families are) & to see Judith and Mathias continue their education is so exciting. They are funny and smart and talented and we are excited about this next chapter of their lives. Thank you to all of you who have given to our Higher Education Fund; you are enabling these children to have opportunities they never dreamed of a few short years ago.
God is doing a great work in the lives of these kids! He is so faithful to provide exactly what we need when we need it. Keep trusting Him, my friends, in everything you face, for He is also doing a great work in you!
We are currently diving deep into the issue of trust in our Ladies Bible study, and it’s been so encouraging and convicting to look at areas in our lives where we are or are not trusting God. Where we are trusting, we will find peace, joy, and gratitude, and where we are not trusting we will face anxiety, doubt, and fear.
Our memory verse for this week is Psalm 143:8:
“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.”
We continue to pray that God will show us the way, each and every day, to best fight for the forgotten children of Uganda. Don’t forget to pray for your child today, and pray for Angel, Dorine, Mathias, Davis, Hillary, Shumayiya, James, Judith, and Julius in their higher education pursuits.
Much Love,
Jan