Girls’ hostel in Uganda completed

All thanks to Hope St donors!

It’s been a long haul… Hope St received the first donation for this girls’ hostel in January 2020, and we finally raised all the funds required in January 2022. We sent the funds as we received them, and the team in Uganda built the hostel bit by bit.   

I look at the photo of the girls settled into the hostel, it’s written on their faces, but I can just imagine the excitement these girls must be feeling. They’ve been able to truly grasp a hope that was previously outside their reach.  A hope that they’ll walk out of this school with skills they couldn’t have dreamed of attaining in their remote villages.    

It can be hard to put ourselves in their shoes… the poverty they have grown up in, the poverty that would be theirs and their families’ future without this training. It’s something very hard for us to comprehend.  Most people in their villages are uneducated, more especially the girls. Most people are unable to afford basic health care, young teenage girls are being married off for a bride price. The average age of first pregnancy is 14. 

Now these young women have a hope that they will be able to pay for their brothers and sisters’ education, their own children’s education and health care…   

The ORA Uganda director, Anthony, would love to thank you personally. Here’s the message I have received to pass on to you:   

“Today we have seen transformation of the lives of our students. Those who are far can now study without any problem. Thank you. Thank you so much to all who sacrificed their resources for the sake of our community members. May God bless you abundantly. May God remember all your sacrifice for the people of Uganda. Awadifo, awadifo, awadifo!” (Thank you, Thank you, thank you!) 

It’s a privilege to have connected kiwis with these girls, to enable kiwis to make such a difference to their lives and lives of many others that will follow them.