Fifty percent of Uganda’s population is under 18 years old. More than one-third of Ugandans live on less than two dollars a day. Many live in single-room huts with no running water or electricity, some with as many as eight or ten people living in that one room. Some of the children impacted are orphans, some have only a mother, and many are living with a relative. Often a single woman, unskilled and uneducated, will care for several of her relatives’ children in addition to her own. In some households, children are the head caregivers.

Hope Alive! began in 2002 as a relief and development project to address the devastation caused by the 20-year civil war waged by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels under Joseph Kony. We continue to focus on the development and support of orphans and fragile families in Uganda, specifically in the slums of Kampala, the capital city; in the poor towns of Masaka and Kyabakuza in southwestern Uganda; and in the rural areas of Koro (Gulu) in northern Uganda, where the war had the greatest impact.

Hope Alive! works closely with local churches to share the Gospel and love of Christ with these children and their families, and to break the cycle of poverty plaguing them by meeting their need to education.