Over the past decade living in Uganda I’ve had the privilege and honour to see the absolute impact Child Sponsorship makes in the lives of a vulnerable children and also the influence and lasting change in it has on entire communities.
In this picture I’m standing with a bunch of young people who have gone through our sponsorship program, Stephen (the tall one on the left), was destitute and desperate living on the streets of Kampala 11 years ago, totally orphaned and alone and without a glimpse of hope for his future.
Today thanks to his incredible sponsors in Australia he has completed secondary school with honours, gained a government bursary to study to be a surgeon and has big plans to give back to the people of Uganda. Stephen is just one of the 586 orphaned and vulnerable children in our program today that together we can change the direction of their life. Child Sponsorship is far more than giving an impoverished child a chance to an education, in most cases children in our program have an encounter with God and their lives are changed for eternity, not to mention all the other practical assistance Child Sponsorship brings.
Child sponsorship is much more than an act of “benevolence”… I believe unreservedly that Child Sponsorship is our responsibility as Australians living with the privileges and opportunities we do in this truly blessed nation that we have the responsibility to level the playing field a little, to bring justice and to change the direction of someone else’s life for the better. Most of us want the same things in life, we want to do something that is fulfilling and purposeful with our life can I encourage you to make room for someone else in your life, your budget, your heart today and sponsor a child.
Written by Russ Barton, Director and Founder of Operation Uganda
