Hope Orphanage needs hope - in the form of urgently needed funds for food, clean water and electricity

If you're reading this -- thank you for taking the time!

My wife and I have been helping support a humanitarian organization in Western Uganda for several years. Hope Orphanage Primary School and Outreach Centre is run essentially by ONE man whose heart aches for the often-growling stomachs and at-risk daily existence of hundreds of children and youths in his town of Kasese, near the unstable and conflict-ridden Congo border. Some have no parents; others lack a stable family or home environment, and director Mbaju Philmon has labored to provide a safe place offering education, food, care, Christian fellowship, sleeping quarters when needed, and possibilities for hundreds of Ugandan youths -- enrollment, as Mbaju reports, is currently at 536, with 357 who stay overnight.

This is a verified, registered organization, established in 2015. It's important to understand that it is a street-level resource for Kasese's underprivileged, with no budget for marketing or promotional mailings. Funds received are used in essentially a hand-to-mouth manner. Letterhead stationery, a custom logo or a website would be a laughable luxury in a setting where even publicly available water can be contaminated and risky to drink.

As time allows, Mbaju does his own outreach for funds via social media and has been assisted by faithful supporters in America who have run crowdfunding campaigns that have crucially helped to keep the organization afloat and the children fed and housed. I have created this campaign because other fundraisers have become inactive in recent months due to unforeseen circumstances. All reserves have been depleted, leaving Mbaju unable to buy food or prepare for next month's utility bills, let alone allow for medical emergencies or unforeseen expenses. Truth be told, even with regular supporters still stepping up as they are able, funds typically run out before month's end. At the current level of enrollment (which is trending upwards), the monthly budget for basic needs sits at about $2,300 in U.S. currency.

The goal here is to meet the most urgent and immediate needs, pay off debt for food obtained on credit, and provide some cushion to get them across into January 2027 with sufficient food, supplies and operating costs in hand. Most urgently needed is the first $2,000 of the total goal, which will relieve severe lack and cover costs for the immediate future.

Longer-term solutions are necessary and, Lord willing, will soon be in the works, but these hundreds of children and youths are on the verge of lacking even basic, subsistence-level nutrition as I type this.

Honestly, I don't like to ask people to dig into their pockets, and I myself sometimes feel weary of being inundated with requests from other very worthy ministries and organizations. Unmet needs in the world are so immense that it can be overwhelming. Please don't feel pressured by the need, which I believe will be met in as-yet unseen way, because I believe in a loving and merciful God.

I'm simply making the need known, because one never knows where a piece of the solution might be found . . . and a need must be spoken before it can be answered. If you can do something and you feel moved to pitch in -- or, just as importantly, to pass this fundraiser along to others -- it can absolutely help make an immediate, measurable and meaningful difference.

In closing, I was personally blown away to see these children and youths so enthusiastically expressing praise to the Lord during a recent chapel service, in spite of their lack.

(View video in thumbnail above, under page title)

Imagine how much gratitude, joy, and thanks to God would rise up if this lack were to be addressed!