Education is entwined with every aspect of our post war recovery goals.  We teach basic sanitation in rural villages, various agriculture topics, and business practices, to name a few.

Providing school supplies to students has always been one of the primary goals of our mission trips.  We take notebooks, pencils, erasers, etc., along with backpacks and uniforms when we can. 

In recent years we’ve also begun ramping up our assistance to teachers.  In 2016 we focused on the Emmanuel Clinic preschool. We arrived in that classroom loaded with fun activities to do with the students.

 At one point during our visit, we asked one of the teachers for a pen.  She took out a Pringles can and shook out her entire classroom supplies. 

Did you catch that?  The entirety of the school’s supplies were in a potato chip can.  They included a pencil stub, a couple small pieces of white chalk, and one pen. We felt so humbled realizing that most American children start their first days of school with bags of supplies—many, many times over what these teachers had in their school.  

A few months later, Hope 2 One Life purchased a preschool curriculum and paid all expenses for the three teachers to attend a training school in Tanzania (Joshua Foundation).

We knew we wanted to expand our efforts to include the young children in other villages. There were few if any teachers in these locations and no one to carry the torch, until Nadine met Betty.  

Devoted to teaching the children with whatever resources she had, Betty was our rising star and the next link forward in our Education goals.  Betty was determined to finish her personal education and become a certified Ugandan teacher.  Her heart for the children truly impressed us, and we decided to sponsor her so that she could accomplish her degree more quickly.  Betty is now one of our teacher-leaders as we begin our next phase.

We searched for curriculums and teacher training programs within Uganda, so that teachers could attend training closer to home.  We found the “Roots to Fruits” christian curriculum and the amazing group of American educators who has painstakingly written this enriched program to complement the Ugandan regulations.  

Our friends, Kathy and Phyllis, raised the funds to purchase many of the literature books and other materials.  They delivered them to Uganda in early March 2020.   We were ready to begin launching this big new project, when COVID-19 halted most everything.  Please read Kathy’s article about their adventure in Uganda at the beginning of the pandemic.

In the ensuing months, while the world waited for the pandemic to pass,  Hope 2 One Life and Agape Community Foundation for Development (ACFD) continued to build our new Training Center.  Great amounts of progress has been completed.  We are not finished.  Funds for the multi-purpose building still need to be raised.  In the meantime, large tents have been procured so that we can continue all the trainings throughout the PRESM model.  

We also were able to send ten teachers from five villages to a recent “Roots to Fruits” training course in March of this year.  

As the world begins to open back up, Hope 2 One Life is excited to be starting the next phase of our education development for Ugandan children and their teachers.  

                    - Ranae Parker, Teacher, volunteer and H20 Board member

Our connection with the trainer and developer of this program, Therese MacFarlane, runs deep for many years and it was a blessing she is back in Uganda furthering her call to mission and training teachers through the grace of God.