The Birth of Hope Alive! Part 3: Adjumani Site is established

My thoughts continually went to the north, where Uganda’s civil war had raged for almost two decades and where Sudanese, fleeing from their civil war, which was even older than Uganda’s, struggled in refugee camps. Friends moved to the little town of Adjumani, surrounded by 33 Sudanese refugee camps. The needs of the 80,000 refugees, already immense, were worsened by Uganda’s rebels, who were active in the area.

Even as Lugogo Site (now Kampala Site) started, I began flying to the far north. My friends would pick me up at the dirt airstrip, and I would meet with military leaders overseeing the camps, United Nations officials and staff from other relief agencies.

A Sudanese pastor that my friends knew took us to one of the refugee camps where disabled adults had been partnered with orphans. The two groups were supposed to support each other. Instead, they became even more marginalized, with almost no way to generate money or improve their situations. The immense needs of this group grabbed my heart.

In September 2003, I met with a bedraggled group of 33 students ages eight to late teens. One of the boys said to me, “The world has forgotten us.” Those words from a teenage boy in desolate, far-northern Uganda pierced my heart. 

We enrolled all 33 students that day. A couple of weeks later, I headed to the United States, asking God to guide me in securing the sponsors needed to open Adjumani Site. The response was overwhelming. More sponsors signed up than we had refugee children enrolled. I contacted the pastor and asked him to enroll more students.

In January, three pastors and I met with the children in a small mudbrick church. As we began showing receipts that their school fees had been paid and giving out school materials; the atmosphere became electric. The kids grew animated, smiling, laughing and clamoring for pictures to be taken as they showed off the supplies they had received. 

After the students had been in school for a few weeks, we returned. The students surrounded our vehicle, welcoming us with instruments and songs. They had written at least one of the songs, because the words included “We are the Children of Hope!”.

God had done something far beyond anything I had ever imagined! Not only was Children of Hope (now Hope Alive!) meeting the educational and financial needs of these kids, it had also given them an identity; they felt valued and cared for. People they had never met, on the opposite side of the world, wanted to help them. They were no longer forgotten.

We worked in the Sudanese refugee camps for 10 years, until Sudan’s civil war ended. At the height of those years, we had almost 200 Sudanese refugee students enrolled. Not only did they do well scholastically, they stepped into leadership positions in almost every school they attended and in their churches as well, leading worship and teaching Sunday school. They took what they had received, and, in turn, served others. It was beautiful!