Build A Future In Uganda

So my good buddy Brandon Baca shed some light to where I could possibly help in time and resources.

I wanted to do a project outside of sponsoring kids and building water wells so Brandon turned me on to building a school. I've always had a soft spot to teaching a man to fish vs giving them the fish

 

So it made sense to help break the cycle of poverty … was more about educated a sustainable system for a community to grow and prosper from.

Brandon Baca wrote me this letter and I wanted to share it with you and one of my passions to why I continue to work as hard as I do with my clients and building my systems…. to educate, and elevate people to a new level.

I want to thank everyone who has helped in this project and anyone who has taken the time to read this post.

Thanks in advance.

Enjoy

 

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Rushere, Uganda

There is a town called Rushere in Uganda, Africa that is home to 30,000 people, 3,000 of which are orphans. The life expectancy here is 45 years.

The majority is living on less than one US dollar a day. Children are collecting dirty water in contaminated oil cans and carrying it back to their homes to be used for drinking, cooking, and bathing…everything. Rushere is a frontier of unmet need and ripe with potential for the Gospel to be shared. We can help.

When I first arrived in Rushere with Attack Poverty, I was greeted with smiling faces and children running up to me yelling “Mzungu”.  That’s Ugandan for white man.  I was struck by the number of kids who did not have adequate clothes and seemed to need improved nutrition and education.  I wondered, “What can we do?!”

We began with water, and quickly established three safe water points in partnership with Living Water International.  Once the points were in place and working, we gathered together the community leaders and asked them, “What are your top priorities?”

Over the next two years through several community workshops, we discovered that EDUCATION was next.  Specifically, SECONDARY EDUCATION.

You see, there are a lot of kids who get primary education, and then fade off.  WHY?  There are not enough schools!  NOT ENOUGH SCHOOLS?  Is that all it takes???

There are thousands of kids unable to take the next step and think about tomorrow (or even envision their future).  Imagine if all you had was a fifth grade education.  How far would you go in today’s economy?

 

WHY A SECONDARY SCHOOL?

Education is key to the long-term development of any community!  In order to break the cycle of generational poverty and build leaders, we must create opportunities for children to have a proper education.  Currently the majority of the kids in Rushere, Uganda will stop attending school between the ages 8-10 years old.

“Gallup polls from 2009 to 2011 find sub-Saharan Africans with a secondary education are less likely to live in poverty, stressing the need for universal access to this level of education. Across the 38 countries surveyed, a median of 85% of adults with a primary education or less are living on less than $2 per day (based on household income in international dollars), versus 62% of those with a secondary education. Those with a secondary education are also less likely to say there were times in the past year when they did not have enough money to buy food they or their families needed 

Though many sub-Saharan African countries have made great strides toward achieving universal primary education, access to secondary education remains spotty. There is only enough capacity for 36% of children in the region to enroll in secondary education, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's 2011 Global Education Digest. ” – Gallop.com

Without proper education, these children will stay dependent on outside resources, lack the proper tools to contribute to the long-term survival of their community, and continue to contribute to the cycle of generational poverty.

 

Let's build a school that will start to educate over 200 kids,  and transform the future of an entire community!

With this school, we will implement a Child Development Program that will work with at-risk students to ensure they have proper clothes for school, food to eat, a healthy home environment, and leadership development opportunities!

Over 200 opportunities to change the world!

Over 200 lives transformed!

Over 200 chances to impact the future!

Take the Next Step!

 

Learn More and Donate – Click Here

 

 

WHO IS ATTACK POVERTY?

Attack Poverty is global organization that serves locally, adopting pockets of poverty and launching what we call ‘Friends Initiatives'. These initiatives are long-term commitments that require mutual relationships and collaborative efforts with local organizations, churches, residents, and stakeholders committed to community transformation.

Attack Poverty exists to empower people to attack poverty in their life and community.  They do this by strengthening under-resourced communities through spiritual growth, education, revitalization, and basic needs.

For more information – attackpoverty.org OR [email protected]

 

 

Brandon Baca is the Sr. Director for Programs & Development at Attack Poverty where he leads the organization to develop sustainable programs for lasting transformation.  He enjoys collaborative partnerships, ground level community-based development, telling stories of life change, and being a catalyst for transformation.