Uganda Land of Promise Foundation
info@ugandapromise.org

Where we started, where we are, and where we're headed.

This is the story of a group of children in Bugiri, Uganda, and the family they've become since 2020.

The mud-and-stick hut the children lived in during 2020
The hut and the small piece of land with fruit trees
The rented storage section where the children lived for six months before moving into the house

Where we started

These kids were once part of a much bigger group being cared for by adults whose real interest was in using their images online to raise money, while more than 40 kids were packed into one small house and fed in ways we don't believe were humane.

We came into contact with that organization looking for help, and it didn't take long to realize something was wrong. We built a relationship with one of the carers there, someone whose heart, we felt, was aligned with ours for the true care of these kids.

Together we followed a vision: a small piece of land in town with a few fruit trees, and a fresh start. Only a handful of the kids chose to follow, not knowing where they were headed. It was a huge step of faith for all of them. We built a hut out of mud and sticks, the one pictured here, and they lived in it for about a month, exposed to the weather.

A neighbor who saw how they were living offered to rent us a small storage section of a building nearby. We accepted for the children's sake, and they lived there for about six months while their carer stayed on in the mud hut.

The house as it looked when they first moved in, still under construction
The same house today, finished and lived in

Where we are

Around that time, we grew close with another neighbor who was partway through building a house of his own. We spent time with him hoping to learn enough to one day build ours, and what started as learning turned into a friendship that's lasted ever since.

We found ourselves wishing for a house like the one he was building. That wish was answered almost word for word: he asked us to move in at the end of 2022 and care for the construction site while he worked in Kampala, visiting only when he'd saved enough to keep building. In May 2024, he sold us the house outright, a blessing for him and for us. The kids who once slept on dirt, believing for something better, have been living there ever since.

They all attend private school, and every one of them is doing well. We don't use the word "orphans". We never have. From the start we set our hearts on being a family, and we taught them to look for beauty in creation, to see that if the same creator cares for the lilies and the birds, He surely cares for them too. We took our own step of faith from their childlike belief, and we've watched them become a family that struggles together, grows together, and has seen God's hand through all of it.

We don't publish the children's faces online. The way most people wouldn't publish photos of their own family to strangers on the internet, we don't either, because that's exactly what they are to us.

The children and carers walking together toward the river near their home

Where we're headed

There are still real, ongoing needs: school fees, food, healthcare, and the cost of everything continuing to rise. For years this has been carried by a small few of us, and we've realized the mission is bigger than we can sustain alone.

Some of what's ahead is significant: bringing running water to the house instead of relying on the water hole on the property (already a huge improvement over the kilometers they used to walk for water), a more reliable power solution since electricity comes and goes more than we'd like, and continuing to improve the house against the mosquitoes and water conditions that bring so much illness.

We track every dollar that comes in and know exactly what it goes toward: tuition, healthcare, food, and the local labor that makes all of this possible. We see each of these kids as fertile soil, full of potential, worth caring for and feeding daily. If any part of this resonates with you, reach out and we'd love to share more about where things stand and how you can help.

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