STRENGTHENING AFRICAN TIES

                                               

     Join us at Christ Church in making sure that children in a rural district in Uganda have every opportunity to thrive despite a lack of resources, due in part to repercussions of an HIV/AIDS crisis that left families less able to provide for them. Our focus is on Sabina Primary School, where parishioners began sponsoring eight students in 2020. They commit to supporting one child at a cost of $50 monthly or $600 annually. That amount covers expenses such as school fees, boarding, uniforms and shoes and a sweater for each child. Those who sponsor a student have the chance to develop a relationship that lasts from primary school to a young person’s departure for university or vocational education and beyond.

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     By 2022, parishioners were sponsoring nine students, seven (*) of whom can be seen in this collage. They ranged in age from 8 to 15, with the oldest on the top row. Left to right, first row: *Sandra, 15; *Brian, 14; *Marvin, 13; Grace, 12; second row: *Patricia, 12; *Jackson, 12; Mathias, 12; Maria, 11; third row: *Sylivia, 9; Zaituni, 9; Laban, 9, and *Herbert, 8.

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     To learn how to help, contact us: https://www.christchurchcolumbia.org/contact 

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      For more than a decade, Christ Church had supported Sabina Primary School and its library through the organization, Children of Uganda (COU). In late 2019, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese that owns Sabina entered into a management agreement with a newly formed organization, Friends of Sabina (FOS), which is co-managed by two former members of the COU Board of Directors. The FOS leaders receive no payments or cost reimbursement for their efforts on behalf of Sabina.

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     The primary school educates 321 children, 138 of whom are boarders and 183 are day scholars. This latest effort comes in the context of ongoing support by Christ Church that began with the establishment of the school’s library. The free-standing library has evolved into the Ssanje Community Resource center, playing a vital role for residents of this part of Uganda’s Central Region that is west of Lake Victoria and north of the border with Tanzania. Parishioners provided books, computers, and furniture and continue to pay for internet and the librarian’s salary with funds from the Vestry-approved annual Outreach Commission budget.