Kenneth's Ministry

Kenneth (center, checkered shirt) with some of the students he prays with.

My name is Kenneth Kitamirike. I am a literacy teacher here at Refuge and Hope. Working here has given me an opportunity to share the love of our Lord with people from different parts of Africa.

I started a lunch hour fellowship here a few months ago for students interested in praying together and learning more about Jesus. Everyday, during our lunch hour, students come from different classes, different countries and different tribes to fellowship, worship and pray together.

During the fellowship, we share the Word of our Lord and we talk of His goodness in our lives. God is so good. His love is beyond measure. The more I serve him, the more I feel his love in my life.

One of the things the Lord has taught me during the time I have been at Refuge and Hope is that all I need to do is to trust him and let him take the lead! 

Teacher Gilbert

My name is Gilbert Mujulizi. I teach Bible and English at our school, the Center of Hope. I also serve as Refuge and Hope's sustainability manager. I joined the Center in 2012 fresh from university and have never regretted working here. Why? Because I've seen our work transform the lives of many people I thought I'd never see smile again. 

As a Bible teacher, my role is to share the love of Christ with all the people who come to our center. I feel very blessed to do this since I've seen many people's lost hopes being restored through Christ Jesus.

The people we serve here mean so much to me, but I never realized how much I meant to them until I had the chance to spend time with them outside of the classroom. I've spent some time doing that recently and I'm feeling very encouraged about what they have to say about me and the impact Refuge and Hope's services are having on them.

I mentioned that in addition to being a teacher, I'm the sustainability manager at Refuge and Hope. This is a very important and challenging role. In this capacity, my job is to generate new, steady sources of income to ensure that our programs can continue running, even if we see a drop in donations from our supporters.

One of the programs we've implemented to generate an additional source of income in an evening English class for non-refugee Ugandans who want to learn to read, write and speak English more proficiently. This program targets middle-class Ugandans who can afford to pay the full fee for the class (unlike our refugee students who's fees are highly subsidized.)

I'm also responsible for ensuring that all of our programs and operations are running as efficiently as possible to ensure we're not wasting resources unnecessarily. It's not a glamorous job, but it's critical to the longevity of our programs and organization.

Every year, we see an increase in the number of refugees we're serving. This means we need to work even harder each year to secure more support from donors and to operate in a more sustainable manner.

My prayer request is that everyone -- existing donors and students, future donors and students, other agencies working with refugees, and the community at large -- will recognize the impact Refuge and Hope is making on the population of the refugees it serves. I also pray that God will continue to provide for our organization as we continue to extend His love to those we serve.

It’s About Thriving, Not Just Surviving

Like many of you, we often find ourselves conflicted by the age old question: Why do bad things happen to good people?

Of course, we don’t expect to fully comprehend the answer to this questions during our time here on earth. But we can’t help but wonder why some children -- including our own -- have the “luxury” of an education (even when they consider it a burden...”Oh Mom, do I have to go to school today....”) while so many of those who desperately want and need an education have been denied this basic human right. They have the ability, but they don’t have the opportunity.

Lino and Angelo’s high school graduation, with AG and KJ

Fortunately, understanding why bad things happen to good people is not our job. Our job, rather, is to lend a hand to people when bad things do happen. To date, we have been helping refugees in Uganda by teaching them to read, write and speak English, by offering Bible courses, and by providing vocational training so they can rebuild their lives here in Kampala, back in their home countries, or wherever they settle.

We offer good and much needed programs to the refugees we serve. But we need to be able to offer even more. We want to do more than simply enable our students to survive. We want them to thrive.

Of the 400 students we serve each term, more than half have not been afforded the “luxury” of attending or completing school. In countries afflicted by war and conflict, there are sometimes no schools to attend. If there are schools, there may be a lack of teachers and very few, if any resources. Traveling to and from school may not be safe. Many students learn under trees with no books, pens or paper.

When they’re forced to flee, their educations are interrupted. It may be years before they’re in a stable enough environment to return to school.

We've often thought to ourselves, If we could just help our students complete school... imagine how far they could go!”

But here in Uganda, refugees are required to return to primary school if they want to complete their educations. This often means adults and youth must return to primary school. Sometimes as far back as the first grade.

A refugee youth, wearing the uniform of a primary school boy.

Can you imagine returning to the first grade now, knowing you have another 12 years to go before you can complete school and get a job? Neither can we.

On top of that, they have to pay school fees and buy the required uniforms, books and supplies, which they simply can’t afford. Very few are ever able to complete school, which makes finding a job even more difficult.

For years Jade and I have dreamed of being able to provide our students with an accelerated education program that would enable them to complete school and earn a nationally recognized diploma in a quick and dignified way.

We researched the possibilities and prayed about this for some time. A few months ago, we learned about the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) program.

The ACE program offers just what our students need: an accelerated education program that will enable them to earn a nationally recognized high school diploma in just a few short years.

It sounds like an answered prayer. But it also sounds a bit out of reach for us as it comes with a pretty hefty price tag. The startup costs alone (training teachers, registering students, purchasing scholastic materials and expanding our facilities) will run about $35,000.

But we can no longer deny the fact that it’s time to expand our offerings to include a program such as this. By enabling our students to earn a high school diploma, they’ll be better equipped to thrive in Uganda, or wherever they go. Who knows, they may even become the change-makers and leaders their home countries will need in the future.

With prayer and faith we’re stepping out into unchartered territory for Refuge & Hope. Implementing the ACE program will be a massive undertaking and a huge expense. But our students deserve this...just as much as my daughters deserve to go to school.

We hope you’ll support us by making a contribution to our #UNLEASHED campaign (which we've launched specifically to fund the ACE program), by praying with us, and by sharing information about this campaign with your friends. 

First Sports Day of the New Semester!

The students at the Center of Hope always look forward to the occasional Sports Day! At a glance, it’s an opportunity to step outside of the classroom, enjoy the lovely Kampala sunshine, and have a little fun. Look a bit closer and you’ll notice that it’s really about building and strengthening friendships, working together as a team, and providing a safe, close-knit family environment! You see, for so many who come through the doors of the Center of Hope-- the teachers, staff, and fellow students are their family.

Teacher Lydia competes in the teachers vs. students round

So, to honor the start of the new semester, we hosted a Sports Day last week! Since many of our students were moved up to a new class, it was a great opportunity for them to bond with new classmates and their new homeroom teacher. Some of the games included “Bottle Filler”, “Step on the Balloon”, “Two-legged Race”, “Guess What?” and even a scavenger hunt.

Red class vs. Blue Class in the Bottle Filler competition

Cheers from the onlookers on the sidelines!

Students were put into teams based on their homeroom class and competed against the other classes. You’d better believe there were some lively hugs and high-fives, spirited cheers, not to mention the many students who were made heroes for the day as they led their team to victory. Here are some photo highlights from our Sports Day!

Classmates enjoying the day 

Everyone was sure looking smart for Sports Day!

Team Yellow singing a victory chant

A friendly-- but competitive--soccer match

International Women's Day 2014

On March 7th, the Center of Hope hosted its fourth annual International Women's Day Celebration. Over 250 women gathered to dance, eat, fellowship, and celebrate the unique ways that God created women! 

This was the most diverse group of people ever!  Women came from all over East Africa, including countries that we had not represented in previous years. Women shared their testimonies of challenges faced in their country and in Uganda. They also shared about what the Center of Hope community meant to them. Youth shared how women within their community had become their mothers and women shared of how other people within the community helped them and were there for them during very difficult times in their lives. 

I hope you enjoy the lively and colorful photos. It was the most special day!

Blessings,

Missy

Children's Day

       Today was an amazing day. We celebrated Christmas with over 100 children from our refugee community with a special program just for kids. It was a time for the children to get to play, learn, create, sing and praise God together. The day was organized by a wonderfully generous group that we have visiting us from First Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. The group will also lend a hand in tomorrow's huge International Christmas Celebration.

      I was given the assignment to photograph each of the kids, so I had the privilege of greeting and snapping a quick shot of every sweet little face that walked through our gate. Not only was I so impressed by all of the students eagerness to learn and participate, but I was also impressed by our youth, who were our "helpers" for the day. They registered and gave name-tags to every child, led them to their rotations and guided them through each activity, most of the time happily participating in all of the activities as well. Today would not have been possible without them encouraging the kids and helping the staff as much as they did. Their leader, Haryet, simply amazes me with the things she has done with the youth. With the help of her program and support of each youth, they're becoming strong, confident leaders who love and value themselves and others around them and that was clear today.

 It's just such a blessing that we get to see these youth grow into strong young adults and that we get to see the children, of all different cultures and backgrounds, hand-in-hand sprinting through our center, laughing and playing together.

"If you're happy and you know it, raise your hand!"

Looking up at the parachute during the rec rotation

One of our great FBC volunteers at the rec rotation!

We loved that many of the mothers stayed and were able to sit and talk while the kids participated!

Dressed as a Shepard 

Decorating frames- Again HUGE thanks to FBC Austin for organizing this day for the children of our community! 

We are so thankful for this day and the people that helped make it happen!! 

-Holly 

car wash

Youth Car Wash at the Center of Hope!!!!

We are very proud of the youth for coming up with the idea of washing cars to try to earn money. Today was the first ever car wash and it was a success...well at least until it started pouring rain!