The Freedom to Attend School

Close your eyes then imagine living at the Equator in the midst of a tropical forest in East Africa! Not amazing enough, paste in the shores of Lake Victoria! Delighted by the quaint mud huts topped with grass roof? Note the neatly worked vegetable garden planted nearby to feed a family including ten children. Chickens scatter from the doorway amidst giggling children dashing out of reach of Mom's broom sweeping the dry ground. She pauses a moment to call to her oldest son sitting under a mango tree tending his goats, and maybe a cow or two.

Today is market day. The narrow walkways fill with families packing garden produce, handmade tools, woven baskets, rugs or brooms to be laid on colourful cloths. Women balance enormous stalks of bananas on their heads while babies dangle from brightly coloured Gomez' tied to bare backs. Men, pedaling well worn bicycles proudly laden with chickens, fish, or some handmade craft tied to handlebars, weave in and out seperating families.

We entered into this historic scene early in 1990, accepting God's call to rebuild children's lives. The infamous regime of Adi Amin had been erased leaving thousands orphaned. Since our work in Rwanda was finished, our mission would include building and managing a Ugandan orphanage for a charity in Germany. Dr. Kiseka, a 7th-day Adventist, was the new Prime Minister. His people's lives were shattered, roads bombed and buildings ransacked, he provided the land to house the orphanage. As the twenty year manditory curfew evolved into new hope for Ugandas future, we would embark upon a new adventure to assist thousands of orphaned children.

Realizing that when a parent dies, the village Chief assigns the orphaned children to live with a surviving family member, we had an awakening. Though these children were cared for, they would remain illiterate, there was no free education and government schools demanded fees. That orphan would be a labourer in his or her new family garden. What about all these children orphaned by decades of war, disease and poverty, whose numbers were reaching upwards of one-fourth of the Ugandan population? Orphanages were not the answer.

A new vision slowly emerged. Pen in hand I wrote letters to friends in Canada and the USA "...no free education ...89% illiteracy in Uganda ...orphans live with surviving relatives at home ...attend village Adventist Schools ...save children's homestead ...retain their native culture to preserve their individuality."

Our prayers were answered! Letters arrived from friends and FACE, Free African Children thru Education, was born. During our furlough we registered our charity with Revenue Canada then formed a treaty with the IRS in the USA. FACE volunteers resolved not to isolate children in orphanages; orphans would live happily at home with surviving relatives; “FACE Kids” would be given a sponsor to pay their school fees; orphans will attend local church schools near their village; and FACE would carefully monitor funds through the South Western Uganda Field (SWUF).

Today, 20 years later, we still connect sponsors with children. Praise God for the thousands of children who have been sponsored. The best part about FACE is that Christian Education affords the opportunity for these children to learn about their new friend Jesus! Praise God! “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Matthew 7:7

Just a Few Dollars Make a BIG difference!

Returning to Izinga Adventist Primary School revealed a dramatic change from what I had discovered the year before. Villagers had formed a committee to decide how to use the donated FACE funds. It was voted to purchase roofing, cement and timbers to build a new school. The people began the work by chosing a new site; clearing an area; making mud bricks to dry in the sun and with the community support, built the lovely building shown above. The school began as a small building and grew to house hundreds of children, not just the few pictured in front of the old school building below. What a blessing!

The next step was to build new desks, so dedicated men and women finished the work. Now the children are being blessed with a brand new school. FACE funds were only the beginning. Just a few dollars made the difference between a dark, damp, bamboo and mud building and this beautiful classroom to educate the whole village.

Jesus Christ is being brought to the children and adults of Uganda. Thank you donors for your dedication to the future of these children, you are now their "Aunties and Uncles." Is it possible to imagine how many children will be learning about their creator God as these families labour for literacy? Praise God!

Izinga Adventist School Before FACE

Finding Izinga Primary School was an amazing adventure for me. I left Jim in the pick-up truck to guard it, as was our custom, then stepped into the jungle to follow a well used goatpath. Simple directions from the headmaster, that I had met in town, should put me at the school in short order.

Two hours later...after forging a raging river on a two log bridge; navigating the enormous leaves of an endless banana plantation; venturing by tidy mud huts with neatly swept yards; directed by numerous gaulking villagers whose suprise declared my fair skin to be quite a shock; then finally encountering a Tutsi woman with an imposing machete. "We'bale," I proudly announced, then slowly articulated, "Izinga Adventist School?" She confidently motioned with her machete to follow rattling something in Luganda that was lost to my ears. I followed dutifully for nearly thirty minutes, at a rapid pace to keep up, until we emerged thru a whole in the dense folage. In the little clearing stood this precious, primitive dwelling. The courtyard bubbled with noisy children but no adults in sight. Children danced about giggling at one another running in all directions delighted, maybe frightened, by my unannounced appearing.
I greeted them with my usual, "Are you a bit okay?" a standard Uganda greeting. They straighten up tall like wooden soldiers broadcasting with one voice, "We are alright, Sir!" That was the only English spoken to me in answer to every question I posed.

It would not be long before the headmaster came rushing up the me with an enormous grin on his face. His hands outstretched to shake my hands accompanied by a flood of apologies, mixed with greetings, flowing from his lips. The children scattered everywhere as an unknown speech poured from his lips addressing them. They assembled as you see in this photo. What a delightful, scruffy bunch of miniature Ugandans!

The Best Gift is Love

Traveling throughout Uganda you'll find many friends at little Adventist schools tucked away in the hills. Most schools are struggling to survive, but look, here is a school that is prospering! A new brick building has been built by the villagers at Karugaya using FACE funds from the childrens' school fees. What a pleasure to see hundreds of local village children attending the Adventist school too! The old building is replaced by a new foundation of solid "Rock", the cornerstone is Christ. Praise God that children are being blessed with the word of truth.



Children are receiving an education in a country where there is no free education. There are no public schools that offer education to the masses. Only those who can afford to pay will attend. Only a small fraction of the population has the gift of literacy. Thank you for bringing the orphaned children of Uganda reading, writing and simple math with the word of God.