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We are inspired by the extraordinary love and kindness of Annitah Kawuma.  She is a wife, mother, accountant, and community leader. She and her husband have five children, four of their own and one adopted girl. Her fourth child has special needs due to an accident sustained when he was in her womb.  In addition, she supports Fr. Tony Wach, Director of Ocer Campion Jesuit College, as the senior accountant for the college.

Born out of her own experience she founded Children’s Community Care in 2015 to help support other mothers and families in her community struggling with the daily challenges of care for a child with special needs. Uganda has limited support systems for these children, additional life challenges, and misunderstanding of disabilities that lead to stigmas and isolation.  For many of these mothers, there is no place to take the children during the day while they are working that is safe, clean and stimulating for the children. And affording a caregiver at home is beyond their means. In addition, special transportation to doctor visits and treatment is expensive, extra clothes and blankets needed are all washed by hand, and food preparations are manual and time-consuming. Emotional and spiritual support nominal.

As professionals with jobs, Annitah and her husband are better off than most families in Uganda, but resources are still very tight.  When Annitah could rightly just focus on her own child and large family, she continues to see and help those suffering around her. Through Community Children’s Care, she works tirelessly to help increase livelihoods, resources, and emotional support for mothers and families with special needs children. In addition, in her limited time, she fosters the broader community by working to raise awareness and convey the beautiful gifts these children are from God.  In coming together and raising one unified voice, Annitah and the mothers are better able to collaborate with educators, students and other families to transform the attitudes of the community one person at a time.

Currently, Annitah and her husband are working to establish a joint rabbit farm to provide an additional source of income for CCC families with special needs children.  They have donated the land and are seeking additional funds to renovate and expand the facilities needed to house the rabbits and the additional feed. As we anticipate the arrival of Jesus this Christmas season, we prepare ourselves in our Advent journey through prayer, penance, and good and joyful works!  Please support our efforts this Christmas to raise $1,000 for Annitah and the other members of Community Children’s Care. Every little bit helps. Join our Endeavors Giving Circle today!

In this season of Thanksgiving we would like to thank you for your enduring support of our programs, especially the students at Ocer Campion Jesuit College.  With the help of your donations and prayers, missionaries and lay Catholics such as Fr. Tony and Jackie have been able to build anew the futures of children affected by war and displacement through education, faith and compassion. 

Jackie Lourdes Alaroker is from the Acholi tribe in northern Uganda.  During the war years her family sent her to Kampala for safety and to finish her education.  After graduating from Makerere University with a degree in education, she worked for the National Association of Women Judges.  When the conflict in the north was resolved she began looking for opportunities in Gulu to help with the restoration of the community. Through a referral she was introduced to Fr. Tony Wach, S.J., Director of Ocer Campion Jesuit College.  Not long after the school opened its door he invited her to work alongside of him helping on a part-time basis with the students on scholarship.  Quickly, the work became too much for Fr. Tony to handle alone, and Jackie came on board fulltime in her current role as the Sponsorship Coordinator for the College. 

 The financial capacity among the student of Ocer Campion Jesuit College varies greatly, with many families unable to support their education at all.  Through the sponsorship program students receive support for school fees, books and uniforms as well as soap, bedding and beyond. As a sponsorship student herself, Jackie knows firsthand how valuable educational contributions are in the lives of children living in poverty, especially those growing up in a war-torn community. The power of donations towards education is immeasurable transforming families for generations.  Jackie has dedicated herself to seeing a child with no hope receive the opportunity to attend school, which she considers her greatest joy. 

Scholarships received are never detached. At Ocer Campion, the sponsorship program begins with admittance and follows the student throughout their academic career. Once admitted into OCJC on their own accord, Jackie begins her work to build a relationship with the student and their family. She sees value in blending school and family life, as visiting the home and understanding the family members provides insight into the student and the challenges facing them. She monitors the students academically and socially throughout their time at Ocer Campion to ensure that they are maintaining sponsorship standards and reaching to achieve the school motto: Beyond Academic Excellence.  As well, those students that are orphans are assigned a foster family, either a teacher, staff member, or friend of the school community to ensure their wellbeing.  Throughout the program, Jackie and staff work to bring up children who are well rounded, who “love to serve,” and go beyond their classwork to help people. 

While extremely rewarding, Jackie finds her position at Ocer Campion to come with great challenges. The greatest encompasses the sadness and fear of disappointing people when she is unable to help. Though sponsorships increased from 50 students to now more than 160 students since she first began, Ocer Campion continues to turn away students due to a lack of funds. 

Although she and the students do not always know where the money will come from, they maintain their faith in God and believe that their prayers will be answered. Jackie is ever grateful for and excited to see the impact of heartfelt donations for Ocer Campion Jesuit College as they ripple throughout the community to the whole country. 

We invite you to give the gift of education to more students needing sponsorship, and support and prayers to wonderful lay Catholics, such as Jackie. Join our Endeavors Giving Circle today!

As our children have been hard at work in the classrooms, our missionaries are working hard to spread God’s love farther. eChange Endeavors is proud to support our Brothers and Sisters on their journey in Uganda while bridging communities across the ocean together and closer to Christ.    

Born and raised in Western Kenya, Brother Silas joined the Jesuit Novitiate in 2009.  Following the Novitiate he was sent to India to complete his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Biology. Before going on to finish his Master’s in Philosophy he has been assigned to teach at Ocer Campion to help fill the gap in a shortage of good science teachers in Uganda.  

Uganda, and Northern Uganda specifically, Brother Silas notes, has lost the value of education because of the conflict that once raged there. As a result, the students at Ocer Campion carry the burdens of the war and longstanding poverty with them, even though they may not have experienced it themselves. Though this adds a psychological element into the lives of the students at Ocer Campion, Brother Silas believes the attention to a student’s psychological wellbeing has made him a better educator. Through his teaching, he is determined to captivate the minds of his students and provide multidimensional lessons that stretch beyond science and into their daily lives.

Brother Silas values Ocer Campion’s unique approach to education, to the community and to the Northern Ugandan culture. Ocer Campion exudes a Jesuit philosophy of education, which promotes the formation of special student-teacher relationships that provide students individual care and allows for free interaction between students and their teachers. This philosophy extends beyond the classroom and encourages Ocer students to do more. This is done through the school’s clubs which target specific student interests, such as choir, Magis community service club, or the science club, headed by Brother Silas.

Brother Silas recognizes that Ocer Campion, its goods works, and its amazing student population would not be possible without faith and support from its donors. As Ocer Campion Jesuit College continues to grow its student body and faculty, and develop its unique culture through through Christ, Brother Silas believes that the futures of Ugandans are getting brighter and Ocer Campion is on its way to becoming a village of champions.

With the help of donations and prayers, missionaries like Brother Silas and Fr. Tony, SJ, are able to help rebuild a war-torn community encompassed in faith and compassion. Brother Silas is excited to see Ocer Campion Jesuit College becoming a place where children come and walk out men and women for others. We would like to thank you for your enduring support of our programs. We invite you to give the gift of support to other teaching missionaries and the gift of learning to a deserving member of the Gulu community. Join our Endeavors Giving Circle today!

Thanks to your support Simon Peter Omollo has become a vibrant young Catholic leader in his community.  This wasn’t always to be his story. The second oldest of 5 children of faithful Catholic parents, his father was a Mentor teacher at a Teacher’s College and his mother a peasant farmer.  While it was Simon Peter’s dream and that of his parents that he should graduate from university, there were no extra resources available for him to attend university after finishing A levels.  Active as a youth leader in his parish, St. Theresa in Achilet, in the Archdiocese of Tororo, he was recommended by his parish to participate in the youth leadership camp designed and lead by eChange Endeavors founder Laura Frederick in collaboration with the John Paul II Justice and Peace Center.  This two-week youth leadership camp provided Simon Peter and many youths the opportunity to grow in their faith, learn about Catholic social teaching, build community, and develop leadership skills. In addition, through this experience, he was introduced to the Mill Hill Missionaries in Uganda, which lead to his joining their formation program for three years.

Following his time with the Mill Hills Simon Peter finally had the opportunity to begin attending University.  He was accepted to St. Lawrence University and began studying education to teach at the secondary (high) school level.  In the middle of his second-year disaster struck their family. His father, Raphael Owori, was diagnosed with esophagus (throat) cancer.  In a country that has only one radiation machine and limited medical support for cancer this a devastating blow, not only emotionally, but financially affecting both current and future livelihood of the family.  Without insurance, all the family resources were directed towards his father’s medical needs to fight this terrible disease, thus leaving nothing for Simon Peter’s education fees. He would have had to drop out of university.  With your generous support, we were able to step in and fill the gap covering his university fees for the last two years of his education. With immense gratitude from the whole family, Simon Peter continued on with his coursework, his father kept fighting to regain his health, and his mother worked to feed the family from her garden labors.  

Sadly, Simon Peter’s father succumbed to cancer shortly before his graduation.   While the loss of Simon Peter’s father brought great sorrow to the family, Simon Peter’s graduation brought much joy and hope!  As a university graduate and qualified teacher, Simon Peter would be able to get work and help his younger siblings finish school too, something his mother would never be able to have afforded on farming alone.  This has brought status and support to his mother, now a widow in her community, and ensured that the family does not fall into abject poverty. Simon Peter’s education achievement has also continued his father’s legacy of prioritizing education for the good of the family and the next generation of Ugandan youth.

Subsequently, Simon Peter was chosen as a scholarship recipient to enter a one year program in Franciscan Spirituality at Tangaza University College in Nairobi, Kenya. Leveraging our existing investment in Simon Peter, eChange Endeavors contributed to the scholarship, helping with room, board, books and supply costs. Simon Peter graduated in May of 2018 ever grateful for our prayers and support he received from our Endeavors Giving Circle.  He continues to be a very active youth leader in his parish and to work for the good of his community, even galvanizing food aid in the midst of the drought in the Spring of 2017. He looks toward his dream of becoming a high school teacher and is open to one day entering a masters program in education.

With your generous support, we were able to turn a devastating crisis into another story of joy, enriching people’s faith in God and renewing hope in our Christian community globally.  Thank you!  

If you are not yet a member, consider joining our Endeavors Circle today.