LEAD Uganda

By John

There are many aid organizations in Africa, but most of them can only provide the most essential needs of survival - food, shelter, and perhaps the most basic of educational resources. Of course, there is a definite need for these things, and it is appropriate to address that need first and foremost. But what we sometimes forget is that the bare necessities of survival are not an end unto themselves. They are a means to an end, and that end is not mere survival, but prosperity. And for many, that end is still much too far out of reach. Too often a child is provided with tuition fees for school, but cannot complete or utilize his education, because he still must work 8 hours a day to eat. Too often a family is provided with food for the week, but still is left with no way to provide food for themselves.

LEAD Uganda is a program created with this problem in mind. LEAD provides complete educational and leadership resources to AIDS orphans, former child soldiers, and child laborers who have been impacted by the violence wreaked by the LRA in the north of Uganda. The vast majority of the children have lost at least one parent to war or disease. Some are formerly abducted child soldiers. Some were forced in the conflict to kill in order to save their own lives. About 70 of these students are supported by LEAD Uganda, up to the age of 18, and they receive everything that they need to attend the best schools and universities in the region - books, school supplies, medical care, food, clothes, emotional support, and a family. In short, they are provided with not just help, but with a chance. Some students have been accepted to international universities, and a large number have graduated at the top of their class, and remained in their homes to improve their own communities. To read more about the organization and the stories of these students, please visit LEAD Uganda.

LEAD Uganda is regularly supported by Forefront Church, a non-denominational Christian church plant in New York City, and at the end of this month a contingent of members will be visiting the organization's headquarters in Kampala. We will be leading a series of summer seminars for all of the students, hopefully providing them with some of the academic and leadership resources to which most Ugandans are never exposed. The Ugandan educational system is still very much based upon absorbing information and regurgitating it, and many of these students are never told to think for themselves, whether about the texts that they read or the issues facing their society. At the same time, a single final exam in most of their courses is the sole factor determining their eligibility for advancement, and the culturally biased nature of these test makes it very hard for them to succeed. Therefore, we will be focusing mainly on critical thinking activities and advanced standardized test-taking strategies, hopefully imparting to them some of the strategies that we take for granted here in the states. At the same time, we expect to learn ten times more from them about life than we could ever teach.

If you have a moment, please do visit the website of LEAD Uganda, and if you have any desire to help, you can donate both to the program directly or to the significant cost of the journey. The entire trip will be just over a week, and so the effect of the journey will be small. But we hope that it will be the first of many small efforts, eventually spelling a large impact for the community in Kampala, and certainly for the way that we see rest of the world.

John lives in New York City following his dream in a music career and ministry. He is CEO of Endless Road Records and a member of the band, The Waywords. He is part of the group who will be going to Kampala. If you would like to help financially support John's trip, please visit John's 'ChipIn' site. The site will take donations through September 12, 2009.