The Problem
Child sponsorship organizations meet an urgent need in humble Ugandan communities by coming alongside families to provide the assistance needed for children to go to school. To be clear, without the critical efforts of these ministries and NGOs, most children from hard places in Uganda would not go to school.
For many understandable reasons, sponsorships for 90%+ of students stop after high school. The likely outcome for these students is a life of extreme difficulty. Their certificate of graduation has no inherent value and unfortunately, there are very few opportunities for meaningful employment.
Even if a student is sent to a university, vocational school, or somehow manages to find a way to earn money, there is a void of relational mentoring and transitional support. There also exists the real problem of “culture shock” when students from humble communities move to universities and programs in large cities. Moreover, the job market is squeezed and extremely competitive. Because of the honor and shame culture from which they come, young people are further limited by the expectations of their community and the stigma of certain jobs which would otherwise represent a great opportunity for consistent earning.
In spite of multi-millions of dollars in funding and countless, well-intended programs running for decades, the outcomes from education for students in Uganda have remained largely unchanged. That is unacceptable.