Update 3/2022

This is such a great update to write! Over the past 3 months, we have been busy meeting with Ugandan and American partners of the different projects we are involved with and excited about the opportunities that are ahead of us! Since January of 2022, the country of Uganda is beginning to operate more as normal and it has allowed us to work on our partnerships and some of the projects we started while we were living in country and during the pandemic.

School Update:

Divine Wisdom Jr. School re-opened after nearly two years of covid closures. It has been wonderful getting updates from the schoool and seeing the children back in classrooms. New teachers and staff have been hired to meet the growing needs of the school.
Carson & Aliana through support of family and friends raised money for the annual "5th grade Field Trip" on April 6th. This field trip was planned by the Divine Wisdom teachers in accordance with their government curriculum. The staff with take the 5th grade students to the capital city for a tour, museum visit and to see wild life. For many students this will be their first time out of the village! The first annual 5th grade field trip was sponsored in early 2020 (prior to the pandemic) and we are glad to get this going again!
In our next update we will share the progress of a new kitchen for the school (see photo below).

Economic Development Update:

In our November update we shared that a microloan project would be started, working with Ugandan social workers who are currently supporting Divine Wisdom Jr. School. The social workers have identified and prepared 14 groups. Ten of the groups will complete a piggery project and four will do goat rearing. The social workers are part of an organization called Children of Hope (COH) and now partner with Divine Wisdom Jr. School. We met the director of COH when we lived in country, and one of the partner churches (River City Church, CA) started working with COH to bring on social workers to meet the growing needs of Divine Wisdom Jr. School.
The social workers met with those selected to participate in the microloan project. Participating members come from the villages of Bulunga, Ntansi and Bubogo all in the Kamuli District. The teams have selected a lead for each group as well as where their project will be started. The social workers tell us that they "are very impressed with this and we hope that some of these projects will commence officially next week".

Next Steps:

Brian and I (Katie) will travel to Uganda for 10 days in June to check on the projects being supported. Brian will meet with with the COH Social Work department, local and international connections to determine viability for larger scale businesses, and meet the groups that are part of the first mircoloan project. Katie will complete a teacher training that will be a continuation of the work started with teachers during the 2019-2020 school year.

Thank you for continuing to pray for the people in Uganda. We are grateful for your continued support.