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Side By Side

Side by Side Ministries is in Bethlehem in Uganda’s Kyotera District (previously Rakai). War and the HIV epidemic devastated this region and left thousands of orphaned and destitute children. Pastor Ntale Pius was the founder of Side by Side Ministries. Tragically, Pastor Pius passed away in March of 2017, leaving his wife, Ntale Brenda, and two daughters, Ntale Jemimah and Namuyomba Jane, to run the thriving ministry.

Engage Hope partnered with Side by Side Ministries in 2010 and focuses support on the Bethlehem Side by Side Wisdom Center Primary School adjacent to the Bethlehem Side by Side Church. The school currently provides Christian education for over 500 children.

Engage Hope raised funds to support Side by Side in the following projects:

• purchased bunk beds for the girls’ and boys’ temporary dorms
• repaired the well on the school property
• provided the school with a printer/copier/scanner
• constructed a new classroom block (each block has five classrooms)
• constructed boys’ and girls’ showers
• purchased and installed a water filtration system to combat a typhoid outbreak
• constructed boys’ and girls’ dormitories
• purchased bunk beds for the permanent dorm
• built new pit latrines and a septic tank

Engage Hope has initiatives that offer assistance in the following ways:

Sponsor-a-Child – Through Engage Hope, generous individuals from the United States sponsor children in the Side by Side program to provide them with a Christian education, minor medical care, a daily meal, and the teaching of life skills to enable self-sufficiency.

Short-Term Mission Trips – For several years, Engage Hope sponsored students from Prestonwood Christian Academy on their March trip to Uganda. Also, Engage Hope sponsors an additional team, made up of anyone interested, that visits in June or July. Team members share the gospel with students through Bible stories and arts and crafts. Teams also provide medical, dental, and vision clinics, teacher training, discipleship training, work projects, and door-to-door evangelism. The goal of each Engage Hope trip is always to meet physical needs while sharing the gospel of Christ.

Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) – ACSI is an international accreditation organization that sets high standards and offers quality training and support for teachers in academics and biblical integration to increase the quality of Christian education. Engage Hope paid for Bethlehem Side by Side Wisdom Center Primary School’s membership in ASCI and for the headmaster and all teachers to attend the ACSI Transformational Teacher Training.

COVID Relief Fund – To prevent the spread of COVID, the Ugandan government locked down the country, including closing schools and prohibiting public and private transportation. Engage Hope raised funds to send to Ministry Partners to help them purchase food for families of sponsored children and other families in their ministries who were going hungry. Also, Engage Hope partnered with Prestonwood Baptist Church to send monetary gifts to the teachers in our ministries’ schools to help the teachers who were not getting full pay during the COVID lockdown.

Yearly Meet the Need Campaign – Every summer, Engage Hope raises funds for our ministry partners that allow them to meet the greatest needs of the students in their programs. Ministry Partners have distributed mosquito nets, mattresses, blankets, shoes, school supplies, soap, and other necessities.

Yearly Christmas Party – For years, Engage Hope has raised funds to give to each of our ministry partners to allow them to provide a Christmas party for the children in their programs. The parties include a meal for the children, fun activities, and sharing the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth. Children look forward to these parties all year long!

To sponsor a child from Side by Side, please click here to be redirected to their sponsor page.

View Side by Side Children

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Revival Outreach Ministries

Revival Outreach Ministries, led by Pastor Margaret Bakashaba, is in the southwestern part of Uganda in beautiful Kabale. Revival Outreach’s mission is to offer Christ’s love to orphaned, homeless, and helpless children by giving them a Christian education, shelter, food, medical care, and the Word of God. In addition, Revival Outreach sends church members out to preach the gospel in the deep villages and starts church plants to help transform communities with the Word of God.

Engage Hope began partnering with Revival Outreach in 2014. Since that time, Engage Hope has provided funding for the following programs and projects:

House of Hope – The House of Hope is a place to call home for vulnerable children living on the street, where they are given shelter, education, love, food, clothes, medical attention, and above all, they are taught the Word of God. Through Engage Hope, generous donors provide the monthly rent for the house. Donors have also provided sheets, mattresses, and blankets for the children in the house.

Ebenezer Christian Academy (ECA) – Revival Outreach founded a primary school, Ebenezer Christian Academy, in 2014 that currently provides a Christian education for 550 children.
Generous supporters of Engage Hope and Revival Outreach donated funding for the following projects and programs for Ebenezer Christian Academy:

• purchased land for the permanent school building
• purchased and installed a 1,000-gallon water tank
• constructed a new kitchen
• constructed the administration building, which included a library, medical clinic, and administration office
• drilled a new well for ECA
• constructed dormitories for Primary 7 students
• provided electricity and water for the dormitories
• provided a photocopier for Ebenezer’s teachers and staff
• built pit latrines
• provided textbooks
• provided monthly monetary support to purchase thread for weaving school uniforms
• provide monetary support to help feed all the children attending the academy
• provide monthly financial support to Ebenezer Christian Academy teachers
• Engage Hope raised funds to construct a permanent school building for Ebenezer Christian Academy.

Engage Hope also offers assistance through the following initiatives:

Sponsor-a-Child – Through Engage Hope, generous individuals from the United States sponsor children in the Revival Outreach program to provide them with a Christian education, minor medical care, a daily meal, and the teaching of life skills to enable self-sufficiency.

Short-Term Mission Trips – Engage Hope leads a short-term mission trip to Revival Outreach every summer. Team members share the gospel with students through Bible stories and arts and crafts. Teams also provide medical, dental, and vision clinics, teacher training, discipleship training, work projects, and door-to-door evangelism. The goal of each Engage Hope trip is always to meet physical needs while sharing the gospel of Christ.

Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) – ACSI is an international accreditation organization that sets high standards and offers quality training and support for teachers in academics and biblical integration to increase the quality of Christian education. Engage Hope paid for Ebenezer Christian Academy’s membership in ASCI and for the headmaster and all teachers to attend the ACSI Transformational Teacher Training.

COVID Relief Fund – To prevent the spread of COVID, the Ugandan government locked down the country, including closing schools and prohibiting public and private transportation. Engage Hope raised funds to send to Ministry Partners to help them purchase food for families of sponsored children and other families in their ministries who were going hungry. Also, Engage Hope partnered with Prestonwood Baptist Church to send monetary gifts to the teachers in our ministries’ schools to help the teachers who were not getting full pay during the COVID lockdown.

Yearly Meet the Need Campaign – Every summer, Engage Hope raises funds for our ministry partners that allow them to meet the greatest needs of the students in their programs. Ministry Partners have distributed mosquito nets, mattresses, blankets, shoes, school supplies, soap, and other necessities.

Yearly Christmas Party – For years, Engage Hope has raised funds to give to each of our ministry partners to allow them to provide a Christmas party for the children in their programs. The parties include a meal for the children, fun activities, and sharing the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth. Children look forward to these parties all year long!

To sponsor a child from Revival Outreach, please click here to be redirected to their sponsor page. To learn more about Revival Outreach, please click here to be redirected to their website

Check Out Revival Children

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Passion Christian Ministries

In 2010, God called Babi Kasadha Emmanuel “Emma,” a young man fresh out of nursing school, to share the gospel with young pregnant girls considering abortion. He counseled them to choose life for their unborn babies. He rented a small 10’x10’ space and started the Care Medical Center clinic. In 2010, Engage Hope partnered with Emma to help him save as many of these babies as possible.

God has blessed Emma, and the ministry has grown in unbelievable ways. Care Medical Centre now falls under the umbrella of Passion Christian Ministries, a Christian non-governmental organization (NGO), including Passion Christian Assembly Church, Passion Christian High School, Healing Hope Malnutrition Clinic, the Busunju sustainability farm, and the Lake Victoria outreach program.

Engage Hope first partnered with Emma in 2011. Since then, Engage Hope and its generous donors have expanded the partnership to include many different areas of the ministry. Following are some of the programs and projects run by Passion Christian Ministries that Engage Hope has participated in to help them further their mission:

Care Medical Centre – This was the first ministry under the Passion Christian Ministries umbrella, started by Kasadha Emma. This ministry involves counseling young pregnant mothers to choose life for their unborn babies. Expecting mothers are given pre and postnatal care and taught how to care for and nourish their newborns.

Healing Hope Malnutrition Clinic – In 2015, with funding from Charles and Candace Priest, the Malnutrition Clinic opened on the second floor of Care Medical Centre. Teams of doctors and nurses from the clinic travel to remote villages 6-8 times per month. These outreaches include assessment, nutritional training, feeding, medical treatment, and always presenting the gospel. There are typically salvations during every outreach. Severely malnourished children are brought back to the Malnutrition Clinic and treated until they can be returned with their mothers to the village. Besides providing general funding for the Malnutrition Clinic, Engage Hope has raised funds for the following:

• through donors, funded a complete renovation of the clinic
• provided van maintenance, including replacing tires, oil changes, etc.
• donated mattresses and blankets for the babies and their mothers
• purchased Bibles to distribute to the mothers of the malnourished children •purchased a van to use on malnutrition outreaches to return malnourished babies to the clinic with their mothers

Passion Christian High School (PCHS) – opened in 2016 to provide Christian education with academic excellence to secondary students in Uganda. PCHS currently has over 500 students. Engage Hope has helped financially with the following projects:

• provided funding for the construction of Passion Christian High School
• provided salaries for teachers
• provided desks and bunk beds for students
• purchased lightning arresters, fire extinguishers, library books, and chairs
• dug a well to provide clean water for PCHS
• provided computers for the computer lab
• constructed and furnished the library with furniture and books
• built several expansions, including dorms, a great hall used for chapel and national exams, and additional classrooms
• installed water collection tanks and a filtration system

The Busunju Sustainability Farm – Engage Hope facilitated the purchase of the farmland. This land is used to grow food for mothers staying at the clinic, in the Malnutrition Clinic, and for students and staff at Passion Christian High School. Growing their food helps cut the costs of feeding mothers and students dramatically.

Lake Victoria Outreach Program – Engage Hope partnered with Joshua Expeditions in 2017 to start this outreach program to Buuvu Island in Lake Victoria. Passion Christian High School students travel to the island and provide discipleship training, complete various work projects, and engage the community in door-to-door evangelism.

Engage Hope also offers assistance to Passion Christian Ministries through the following initiatives:

Sponsor-a-Child – through Engage Hope, generous individuals from the United States sponsor children in the Passion Christian Ministries program to provide them with a Christian education, minor medical care, a daily meal, and the teaching of life skills to enable self-sufficiency.

Short-Term Mission Trips – For several years, Engage Hope sponsored a team of Prestonwood Christian Academy (PCA) students on a short-term mission trip to Uganda. Care Medical Centre and Passion Christian High School were always on their itinerary. The PCA students visited the clinic and assisted nurses in feeding malnourished babies, cleaning the nursery, and sharing the gospel with mothers staying there. Students also participated in door-to-door evangelism and attended malnutrition outreaches, where they helped screen babies, share the gospel, distribute food and medication, and interact with the families present.

Engage Hope leads two to three short-term mission trips to Care Medical Centre and Passion Christian High School every summer. Team members share the gospel with primary students attending the church Awana program through Bible stories and arts and crafts. Teams also provide medical, dental, and vision clinics, malnutrition outreaches, teacher training, discipleship training, work projects, and door-to-door evangelism. The goal of each Engage Hope trip is to share the gospel of Christ and make disciples by first meeting physical needs, which opens the door to meeting spiritual needs.

Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) – ACSI is an international accreditation organization that sets high standards and offers quality training and support for teachers in academics and biblical integration to increase the quality of Christian education. Engage Hope paid for Passion Christian High School’s membership in ASCI and for the headmaster and all teachers to attend the ACSI Transformational Teacher Training.

COVID Relief Fund – To prevent the spread of COVID, the Ugandan government locked down the country, including closing schools and prohibiting public and private transportation. Engage Hope raised funds to send to Ministry Partners to help them purchase food for families of sponsored children and other families in their ministries who were going hungry. Also, Engage Hope partnered with Prestonwood Baptist Church to send monetary gifts to the teachers in our ministries’ schools to help the teachers who were not getting full pay during the COVID lockdown.

Yearly Meet the Need Campaign – Every summer, Engage Hope raises funds for our ministry partners that allow them to meet the greatest needs of the students in their programs. Ministry Partners have distributed mosquito nets, mattresses, blankets, shoes, school supplies, soap, and other necessities.

Yearly Christmas Party – For years, Engage Hope has raised funds to give to each of our ministry partners to allow them to provide a Christmas party for the children in their programs. The parties include a meal for the children, fun activities, and sharing the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth. Children look forward to these parties all year long!

To sponsor a child from Passion Christian Ministries, please click here to be redirected to their sponsor page.

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Good Samaritan

Nambiriizi Good Samaritan Christian School is in Uganda’s Kyotera district (previously Rakai). The area is one of the most remote and impoverished areas in Uganda. Sometimes, the school cannot be reached by vehicle because the roads become impassable with even small amounts of rain. Thousands of children in the area were orphaned during the war and the HIV epidemic. Over 20 years ago, Pastor Sserwanja Josham founded Nambiriizi Good Samaritan Christian School to help these hopeless children. His son Kagawa Moses, the first student at the school, is now in charge. Currently, over 300 children attend Good Samaritan. These children are provided with a Christian education and taught critical vocational skills. Pastor Josham also leads the Miracle Center Church, located adjacent to the school.

Good Samaritan became part of the Engage Hope team in 2011. Since that time, Engage Hope has provided funding for the following projects:

Pastor Conferences
built a house for a young single mother with HIV and her three children
dug a well, which provided the only clean water in the area
licensing for Good Samaritan Primary School
construction of a new classroom block
provided the school with a new scanner
provide salaries for qualified/certified/accredited teachers
roof and classroom wall repairs
installation of a solar panel that enabled classrooms to have light for the first time, as there is no electricity in the area
construction of latrines to replace existing latrines that were leaching waste into the ground
purchased updated textbooks and revision materials for students
construction of the teacher’s living quarters
purchased land to be used as a playground and athletic field for student

Sponsor-a-Child – through Engage Hope, generous individuals from the United States sponsor children in the Good Samaritan program to provide them with a Christian education, minor medical care, a daily meal, and the teaching of life skills to enable self-sufficiency.

COVID Relief Fund – to prevent the spread of COVID, the Ugandan government locked down the country, including closing schools and prohibiting public and private transportation. Engage Hope raised funds to send to Ministry Partners to help them purchase food for families of sponsored children and other families in their ministries who were going hungry. Also, Engage Hope partnered with Prestonwood Baptist Church to send monetary gifts to the teachers in our ministries’ schools to help the teachers who were not getting full pay during the COVID lockdown.

Short-Term Mission Trips Beginning in 2012 and for many years following, Engage Hope sponsored students from Prestonwood Christian Academy on their March trip to Uganda. Also, Engage Hope sponsors another team that visits in June or July. On both trips, team members share the gospel with students through Bible stories and arts and crafts. Teams also provide medical clinics, teacher training, discipleship training, work projects, and door-to-door evangelism. The goal of each Engage Hope trip is always to meet physical needs while sharing the gospel of Christ.

Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) – ACSI is an international accreditation organization that sets high standards and offers quality training and support for teachers in academics and biblical integration to increase the quality of Christian education. Engage Hope paid for Nambiriizi Good Samaritan Christian School’s membership in ASCI and for the Headmaster and all teachers to attend the ACSI Transformational Teacher Training.

Yearly Meet the Need Campaign – Every summer, Engage Hope raises funds for our ministry partners that allow them to meet the greatest needs of the students in their programs. Ministry Partners have distributed mosquito nets, mattresses, blankets, shoes, school supplies, soap, and many other necessities from funding provided by our Meet the Need Campaign.

Yearly Christmas Party – For years, Engage Hope has raised funds to give to each of our ministry partners to allow them to provide a Christmas party for the children in their programs. The parties include a meal for the children, fun activities, and sharing the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth. Children look forward to these parties all year long!

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The Cross Healing Ministries

The Cross Healing Ministries is a Christian non-governmental organization (NGO) operating in Uganda. Its founder, Pastor Odong George, began Cross Healing Ministries to extend hope and care to people affected by HIV/AIDS, poverty, drug abuse, domestic violence, and divorce. Pastor George leads The Cross Healing Ministries Church in Kampala, The Cross Healing Primary School in Lamwo, and the Lawmo Cross Healing Church.

Engage Hope’s affiliation with Cross Healing Ministries began in 2013. Since then, Engage Hope has focused on assisting the Cross Healing Primary School and the surrounding community.

In 2014, Engage Hope funded the construction of the first classroom blocks for The Cross Healing Primary School. The school is in the district of Lamwo in far northern Uganda, just south of the South Sudanese border. This area was devastated by the war with Joseph Koni and the Lord’s Resistance Army. Hundreds of families were displaced, and the region left poverty-stricken. There are currently over 200 students receiving a Christian education in the primary school. Engage Hope has assisted in the following:

• purchased and Installed a water collection system
• purchased and installed solar panels and lights in the classrooms
• provided mosquito nets for all sponsored children to help combat the spread of malaria
• drilled a water well for the school and community
• built an additional classroom block
• built the teacher’s quarters
• built the kitchen for the primary school
• purchased and installed windows and doors in the Cross Healing Church in Kampala

Engage Hope also offers assistance through the following initiatives:

Sponsor-a-Child – Through Engage Hope, generous individuals from the United States sponsor children in the Cross Healing program to provide them with a Christian education, minor medical care, a daily meal, and the teaching of life skills to enable self-sufficiency.

Short-Term Mission Trips – Engage Hope sponsors one to two short-term mission trips to Cross Healing Primary School annually. The January trip is with First Baptist Church Covington out of Louisiana. On each trip, team members share the gospel with students through Bible stories and arts and crafts. Teams also provide medical and dental clinics, teacher training, men’s and women’s conferences, and door-to-door evangelism. The goal of each Engage Hope trip is to share the gospel of Christ and make disciples by meeting physical needs, which opens the door to meeting spiritual needs.

Medical Outreaches – Malaria is a massive problem in the Lamwo area. There is no medical clinic in the area, and it is not uncommon for adults and children to die of malaria – a disease easily treated with drugs that they cannot obtain. On several occasions, Engage Hope has mobilized a medical team of doctors and nurses and sent them on the 8-hour drive from Kampala to Lamwo. On one trip, 90% of those tested were positive for malaria! The medical team treated them on the spot, and not one life was lost. Engage Hope covered all the expenses of these trips, including the purchase of test kits, medicine, doctor’s fees, and transport.

Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) – ACSI is an international accreditation organization that sets high standards and offers quality training and support for teachers in academics and biblical integration to increase the quality of Christian education. Engage Hope paid for the Cross Healing Primary School’s membership in ASCI and for the headmaster and all teachers to attend the ACSI Transformational Teacher Training.

COVID Relief Fund – To prevent the spread of COVID, the Ugandan government locked down the country, including closing schools and prohibiting public and private transportation. Engage Hope raised funds to send to Ministry Partners to help them purchase food for families of sponsored children and other families in their ministries who were going hungry. Also, Engage Hope partnered with Prestonwood Baptist Church to send monetary gifts to the teachers in our ministries’ schools to help the teachers who were not getting full pay during the COVID lockdown.

Yearly Meet the Need Campaign – Every summer, Engage Hope raises funds for our ministry partners that allow them to meet the greatest needs of the students in their programs. Ministry Partners have distributed mosquito nets, mattresses, blankets, shoes, school supplies, soap, and many other necessities from funding provided by our Meet the Need Campaign.

Yearly Christmas Party – For years, Engage Hope has raised funds to give to each of our ministry partners to allow them to provide a Christmas party for the children in their programs. The parties include a meal for the children, fun activities, and sharing the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth. Children look forward to these parties all year long!

If you want to sponsor a child from The Cross Healing Primary School, please click here to be redirected to The Cross Healing Ministries’ sponsor page.

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Central Baptist Church – Wakiso

Central Baptist Church

Pastor Frederick Kaddu Kibuuka is the Senior Pastor at Central Baptist Church, Wakiso, located in Kampala, Uganda. The mission of Central Baptist Church is “to draw people to Christ through Christ-like acts of kindness and service and to help people live overcoming and victorious Christian lives – making disciples.”  This mission sums up the life of Pastor Fred. He was born and raised in the community where he now serves, and he has dedicated his life to helping young girls escape the streets of Uganda by giving them a safe place to live, educating them spiritually and academically, and preparing them for a self-sufficient life.   Engage Hope partnered with Pastor Fred in 2013.  Since that time, Engage Hope and its generous donors have provided funding for the following projects and programs run by Pastor Fred:

Pastor Training – Pastor Fred coordinates and leads twice-monthly pastor training for pastors and staff.  Engage Hope provides funding for the training.

Wakiso Senior Secondary School and Wakiso Rays of Hope Primary School are Christian schools founded in response to the desperate need of the many orphaned children in the region.  Many of the students attending these schools do so on scholarships provided by the school and pay very little for their education.  The school provides students with employment, such as helping with school construction and repair during the holidays or cleaning classrooms, which helps students pay for their school fees.  No student is turned away due to inadequate finances.  The schools offer a safe and conducive learning environment for many children in the Wakiso Township, surrounding villages, and beyond.  Engage Hope funds the salaries of six qualified teachers and has provided equipment for the chemistry lab at the Senior School and testing desks.  As part of the funding for the chemistry lab, a water collection system was installed to enable water to be pumped into the lab.

The Girls Restoration Home (pictured above) is a house that accommodates 50 girls from ages 11 to 16.  Pastor Fred sends teams out across Uganda looking for girls to rescue.  Young girls are brought to the home, fed physically and spiritually, clothed, educated, and given a chance at life they would otherwise have never had.  One of the first girls taken in by Pastor Fred now runs the home.  They have started an Ebenezer Project by teaching the girls to make jewelry in hopes of selling it to fund any needs.  Engage Hope provides money for the girl’s medical expenses and clothing.

Engage Hope also assists Pastor Fred through the following initiatives:

Sponsor-a-Child – Through Engage Hope, generous individuals from the United States sponsor children in the Wakiso program to provide them with a Christian education, minor medical care, a daily meal, and the teaching of life skills to enable self-sufficiency.

Short-Term Mission Trips – Every year, Engage Hope sponsors two to three short-term mission trips to Wakiso Senior Secondary School, Rays of Hope, and the Restoration Home.   Team members share the gospel with students through Bible stories and arts and crafts.  Teams also provide medical, dental, and vision clinics, teacher training, discipleship training, work projects, door-to-door evangelism, purity talks, and sanitary pad distribution.  The goal of each Engage Hope trip is to share the gospel of Christ and make disciples by first meeting physical needs, which opens the door to meeting spiritual needs.

For several years, Engage Hope sponsored a team of Prestonwood Christian Academy (PCA) students on a short-term mission trip to Uganda.  The PCA students visited the Wakiso Senior Secondary School and the Rays of Hope Primary School.  At Rays of Hope, students shared the gospel with the children through Bible stories and arts and crafts.  Wakiso Senior students went as translators with the PCA students to the Village of Hope in Kyerima, where they shared the gospel door-to-door.  Teams on this trip also provided dental and vision clinics, purity talks, and distributed sanitary pads.

Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) – ACSI is an international accreditation organization that sets high standards and offers quality training and support for teachers in academics and biblical integration to increase the quality of Christian education.  Engage Hope paid for Wakiso Senior Secondary and Rays of Hope’s membership in ASCI and for the headmaster and all teachers to attend the ACSI Transformational Teacher Training.

COVID Relief Fund – To prevent the spread of COVID, the Ugandan government locked down the country, including closing schools and prohibiting public and private transportation.  Engage Hope raised funds to send to Ministry Partners to help them purchase food for families of sponsored children and other families in their ministries who were going hungry.  Also, Engage Hope partnered with Prestonwood Baptist Church to send monetary gifts to the teachers in our ministries’ schools to help the teachers who were not getting full pay during the COVID lockdown.

Yearly Meet the Need Campaign – Every summer, Engage Hope raises funds for our ministry partners that allow them to meet the greatest needs of the students in their programs.  Ministry Partners have distributed mosquito nets, mattresses, blankets, shoes, school supplies, soap, and other necessities.

Yearly Christmas Party – For years, Engage Hope has raised funds to give to each of our ministry partners to allow them to provide a Christmas party for the children in their programs.  The parties include a meal for the children, fun activities, and sharing the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth.  Children look forward to these parties all year long!

If you would like to sponsor a child from the Rays of Hope Primary School, please click here.

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African Hearts

African Hearts Community Organization (African Hearts) is a Christian, non-governmental organization (NGO) operating in Uganda, East Africa. A grassroots charity, African Hearts, was established in 2001 to help address the growing numbers of children and youth living on the streets of Kampala. Forced to the streets by the death of parents, family abandonment, violence, or hardship at home, street life leaves children exposed to exploitation, abuse, addiction, and extreme poverty.

In 2010, African Hearts became Uganda’s first Engage Hope ministry partner. Since that time, Engage Hope and its generous donors have been able to partner with African Hearts in many areas of their ministry.  Following are some of the programs and projects run by African Hearts that Engage Hope has participated in to help them further their mission:

Transition Home – African Hearts currently operates a residential children’s home, the Transition Home, in Ssenge (approximately 30kms outside of Kampala).  Children who reside in this home are provided with shelter, food, love, education, and the other necessities of life, as well as programs to re-integrate them into society.  The home usually houses 16 former street boys rescued from the Kisenyi Slums.  They are home-schooled, discipled, and then transitioned into the African Hearts Junior School.  Engage Hope provides funding for the monthly operation of the home.

Daily Slum Feeding – African Hearts has a slum ministry that feeds about 80-120 slum boys daily in Kisenyi Slum.  They teach them the gospel of Christ and basic literacy skills and provide minor medical care.  Some of these boys are taken from the slum to the African Hearts Transition Home to start a new life.  Engage Hope provides funding for the food used to feed the boys daily and for hernia surgeries and other minor medical and dental procedures for the boys in the Kisenyi slums.

African Hearts Junior School – African Hearts Junior School offers a holistic educational program that provides over 500 students (boarding and day pupils) with spiritual support, two meals daily, school supplies, and health care.  Extracurricular activities for the students include dance, debate, chess, music, and sports.  Engage Hope provided funds for various projects and initiatives at the school, including:
• daily feeding of the children attending the school
• construction of the medical clinic, purchase of medications, and the nurse’s salary
• drilled a well to provide the children with fresh water
• construction of a new dormitory
• funding for a new generator
• completed construction of the Early Childhood Education Building

Pastor’s Conference – African Hearts and Engage Hope joined forces to coordinate and hold a pastor’s conference for pastors in the area.  Engage Hope provided funding for the conference.

Youth Business Fellowship – African Hearts began this program to help young new business owners obtain small business loans to start new business ventures.  The program also helps young new business owners create a savings plan.  Engage Hope provided seed money for the first small business loans offered by the Youth Business Fellowship program.

Hummingbird House – Girls who find themselves in the slums or grow up in the slums are often exploited sexually from as young as 12 years old. Many are ‘lured’ to a life of prostitution with the ‘reward’ that they may be able to have a place to sleep and occasionally get something to eat. Hummingbird House is a ministry that rescues these young girls living in the slums.  Girls can move into the Hummingbird House, where they can attend school and learn skills to help them become self-sufficient.  Engage Hope provides monthly rent and funding for the operation of the Hummingbird House.

Kyerima School – Engage Hope raised funds to repair the damaged roof at the school in the African Heart’s Village of Hope project in Kyerima, Uganda.

In addition to helping African Hearts with their programs, Engage Hope has initiatives that offer assistance in the following ways:

Sponsor-a-Child – Through Engage Hope, generous individuals from the United States sponsor children in the African Hearts program to provide them with a Christian education, minor medical care, a daily meal, and the teaching of life skills to enable self-sufficiency.

Short-Term Mission Trips – For several years, Engage Hope sponsored a team of Prestonwood Christian Academy (PCA) students on a short-term mission trip to Uganda.  African Hearts is always on their itinerary.  The PCA students visit the African Hearts Junior School and share the gospel with the children through Bible stories and arts and crafts.  They also share and interact with the children from the Transition Home and have a yearly soccer match with the boys from the Kisenyi Slum Ministry.
Engage Hope coordinates trips for two to three teams traveling to Uganda in June and July.  These teams visit African Hearts Junior School and interact with the children from the Transition Home, Hummingbird House, and Kisenyi Slum Ministry.  The teams also provide medical clinics, teacher training, discipleship training, door-to-door evangelism, and a special meal for the boys in the Kisenyi slums, including meat, fruit, and soda.  The goal of each Engage Hope trip is to share the gospel of Christ and make disciples by meeting physical needs, which opens the door to meeting spiritual needs.

Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) – ACSI is an international accreditation organization that sets high standards and offers quality training and support for teachers in academics and biblical integration to increase the quality of Christian education.  Engage Hope paid for African Hearts Junior School’s membership in ASCI and for the headmaster and all teachers to attend the ACSI Transformational Teacher Training.

COVID Relief Fund – To prevent the spread of COVID, the Ugandan government locked down the country, including closing schools and prohibiting public and private transportation.  Engage Hope raised funds to send to Ministry Partners to help them purchase food for families of sponsored children and other families in their ministries who were going hungry.  Also, Engage Hope partnered with Prestonwood Baptist Church to send monetary gifts to the teachers in our ministries’ schools to help the teachers who were not getting full pay during the COVID lockdown.

Yearly Meet the Need Campaign – Every summer, Engage Hope raises funds for our ministry partners that allow them to meet the greatest needs of the students in their programs.  Ministry Partners have distributed mosquito nets, mattresses, blankets, shoes, school supplies, soap, and many other necessities from funding provided by our Meet the Need Campaign.

Yearly Christmas Party – For years, Engage Hope has raised funds to give to each of our ministry partners to allow them to provide a Christmas party for the children in their programs.  The parties include a meal for the children, fun activities, and sharing the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth.  Children look forward to these parties all year long!

If you would like to sponsor an African Hearts child, please click here to be redirected to the African Hearts sponsor page.  To learn more about African Hearts, click here to be redirected to their website.

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