Uganda's capital, Kampala, is home to more than two million people. Many of its inhabitants live in the squalor of slums without running water and often with no electricity. Clustered in such areas are people who fled northern Uganda's 20-year civil war. Many of the homes are comprised of a single woman, often uneducated and unskilled, and several children. The woman may be the actual mother of the children or may be an aunt, grandmother, or simply a friend. Lack of income coupled with the high cost of goods in the capital means she struggles to provide food, rent, clothing, medical care, and other basic necessities, and cannot afford the luxury of sending the children to school.

Hope Alive! began in Kampala, and some of the first children enrolled have grown, graduated from secondary or vocational school, and are now working and making a difference in their communities. Several of them have become Hope Alive! mentors to a new group of Kampala students. The site is currently not enrolling new students as Hope Alive! shifts its focus to smaller towns and communities in Uganda.

Surrounded by some of the most active of Uganda's rebel bands, Gulu District suffered immensely during the two decades of Uganda's most recent civil war. Tens of thousands of its inhabitants lived in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps on the outskirts of the population center, Gulu Town. Thousands of people were killed and thousands more abducted by the rebels. The IDP camps were supposed to offer protection to the Ugandans, but instead, they were called by one UN official "the world's largest neglected humanitarian emergency." Lack of water, food, medical help, employment, and security resulted in deplorable living conditions. AIDS was also common in the camps. Many families were child-headed households, with no adult in the picture and with children as young as eleven trying to care for younger siblings.

When the Hope Alive! site opened in 2006, besides medical care and schooling, Hope Alive! was able to provide household goods (bowls, spoons, towels, mattresses, blankets, etc.) to the child-headed families as well as breakfast and dinner at our Feeding Centre (lunch was provided by the schools). Peace has come to the North, and in 2009 the IDP camps disbanded and the students moved back to their family homes and villages. Today, Koro Site supports the families still reeling from the effects of the devastating war that disrupted any and every sense of stability in their lives. 

We’re on track to launch a new Hope Alive! site in Koch Lii, about 28 miles southwest of Koro (Gulu), in January 2026. Upon surveying every household in an approximately one-mile radius (a total of 135 households), we learned that 64% of households had children who were not enrolled in school, and 57% of households had children who had missed at least 30 days in the last term (most often due to the inability to pay for school). The 20-year civil war waged by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) as well as the AIDS epidemic has delayed and complicated development in northern Uganda, specifically in the areas of education, healthcare and economic opportunities.

To address some of these issues and to come alongside the most fragile families, Hope Alive! will eventually enroll 150 children from the most dire situations in the community. We will partner with the local churches and other community leaders to identify the most vulnerable children and, through sponsorship, ensure their education, engage them in discipleship and give them, their families and their community hope for a brighter future.