I've been in Uganda for several weeks doing research for the startup of a ministry called Xchange International - a faith-based mission to provide high quality education to young people around the world from the most dire sitiuations. We don't plan on running a typical child sponsorship program, and our website will explain more about that when it's finished. Right now we're building the foundation for a similar program for older kids, age 17 and above. It doesn't have a name yet, and we're not even sure it ever will. The cool thing is that when you meet teenagers like Joel, suddenly the name of the program which he is pioneering becomes irrelevant.
I met Joel a few weeks ago through a Ugandan organization called CRO. Child Restoration Outreach takes in street kids and helps them through the long journey back into a proper place in society. Dorothy is a teacher there and unbelievably committed to her work. She loves the kids and when I walk around the village with her, she knows the name and situation of every child they have rehabilitated back into society. Enter Joel.
Joel was born in a local village afterwhich his family moved to Kampala in search of a better life. At age five, his father sent Joel, his siblings, and his mother back to the village where he was born. Life in the capital was likely too expensive, so the father found work and began sending money home to support the family. After finishing primary school, school fees increased and Joel's father disappeared, leaving Joel no schooling options. In an effort to support his sister and mother, Joel took to the streets and began begging, where CRO found him. Because he was so responsible and bright, he was given a scholarship to continue his schooling. During this time, his mother had taken a job as a housekeeper and cook at a local church. As Joel was finishing S3 (10th grade), his mother fell sick. Once again, Joel dropped out of school to care for his mother. The sickness was fatal and the last of Joel's caretakers was gone.
Instead of taking back his scholarship opportunity, Joel requested it be transferred to his sister. This was about six months ago, and Joel has been out of school since then. When I met him a few weeks ago, I learned of his dream to become a cook like his mother was. After countless interviews with me and some of our trusted Ugandan contacts, we believe Joel is the real deal. His previous grades in school are amazing and he truly asipires to be a chef. After doing our homework, our team on the ground here in Uganda made Joel a commitment - that we would get him back in school and see that he becomes the best chef he can possibly be.
Joel is a pioneer, not only in caring for his sister, but in our investment program. We believe God brought him to us as our first candidate. Because of this, he needs an investor. And here's our plan.
Over the next 1.5 years of high school, we're going to send Joel to the best day school in town. We're also going to link him up with a few chef friends of ours here in town to be mentored one or two nights a week. Next will be vocational school for two years, so that by age 21, Joel will be working full time in his dream profession and can provide for his sister.
The cool thing about Jesus is that someone, somewhere, is reading this and imagining how much of a joy it would be to invest in Joel. We know because, well, we are there too. We made the committment to invest in him because we know someone is going to step up and help us financially to meet his needs. To get Joel from where he is now to becoming a full-time chef in 4 years is $1,920, or $40/month over four years. This includes school fees, housing, food, and cullinary training. We're even going to buy him the best set of cooking tools we can find as his graduation present. It's going to be a blast, and Jesus is going to get so much glory that we'll all just be laughing at how good God is.
Xchange's infrastructure isn't really setup yet, so here's what you can do. If you want to invest in Joel, send me a quick email at josh@xchangeinternational.org. Just let me know what part you want to play and I'll send you a quick email back with how to do it. My goal is to be able to tell Joel that his entire schooling will be covered before I leave Uganda in two weeks. Big goal, bigger God.
Thanks for reading!
PS - we're setting up a photoshoot with Joel soon, but I was too excited not to post this beforehand. If you're brave enough to invest in him before seeing a picture, I'll be so proud.
