11-year-old Stewart
Stewart Ssegawa is an 11-year-old Ugandan boy who needs some love.
Stewart’s father is dead, and his mother, who must support him and his 3 siblings, can barely afford to feed them. She tries her best, earning a pauper’s income selling tomatoes and onions. But having enough money to send her children to school—to give them a chance at escaping a cycle of generational poverty—has been far beyond her dreams.
It is children like Stewart that prompted one African pastor to tell CJ McDaniel, director of Heaven’s Family‘s Education Fund, “It would be better if both of his parents were dead, because at least then he might end up in an orphanage supported by a Christian organization, and he could attend school.” It’s a problem, CJ has since learned, that is common in many African nations.
As a Christian organization that operates a child sponsorship program for orphans (called Orphan’s Tear), that observation bothered us. So much so that we decided to direct some of our resources to helping children like Stewart. For that reason, we’ve launched an education sponsorship program.
Not far from where Stewart lives, Heaven’s Family has partnered with a Christian school named Spring of Hope that exists to help orphaned, poor and disabled Ugandan children receive an education. Stewart received an invitation to attend Spring of Hope, and all he needed was a sponsor to pay his tuition.
And that’s the gap that the Education Fund student sponsorship program fills. Thanks to a generous sponsor, Stewart is now very happy to be able to attend Spring of Hope School. One loving person has changed Stewart’s destiny.
Heaven’s Family has partnered with several other Christian schools in Kenya and Uganda, and 455 unschooled children have so far been added to our list as eligible for sponsorships that will enable them to attend one of those schools. We’re happy to report that, as of this writing, 168 children have been sponsored. Only 287 to go.
Sponsorship for Stewart, and the other boys and girls like him, requires an investment of only $20 each month—less than 70 cents a day. And while Orphan’s Tear sponsorships have experienced a welcome decline due to the success of our Kinship Care Program (that reunites children living in orphanages—but who are not true orphans—back with their families, thus reducing orphanage populations), education sponsorships are potentially limitless.
If you want to change the destiny of an impoverished child by sponsoring his or her education, click here. Below are a few of the beautiful children who are currently waiting to be sponsored so they can begin attending a Christian school near their homes.
