Living Hope
Photo Album 2013
History Living Hope was established in January 2008 to restore dignity to vulnerable women, most of whom are HIV+, single mothers and returnees from abduction into the LRA rebel army who ravaged northern Uganda. Some of these women had been brutally mutilated and bear the scars of war; others were used as sex slaves, all of them disenfranchised and victims of circumstances they did not create. Through Living Hope, vulnerable women are given a hand up so they’re empowered to take care of themselves and their children. They receive assistance with basic necessities, are empowered with vocational skills and are either employed with the program or provided with microfinance loans to start income-generating projects of their own.
Living Hope
KAMPALA
Opened in 2008, the Living Hope Centre in Kampala, Uganda is located at Watoto Church’s head office downtown. The unit in Kampala facilitates tailoring, liquid soap and candle making. The facility hosts more than 30 ladies who are employed as seamstresses for income generating activities. Discipleship, business training and adult literacy classes are also facilitated at this location.
Living Hope
GULU
The Gulu facility is located in the former Night Commuter Centre on Coronation Road, in Pece Valley. The centre was built to protect children from abduction during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel war. In the aftermath, Gulu district chose to allocate it to Living Hope (rent free) in support of empowering women affected by war. In the Gulu facility the women specialise in peanut butter making, bee keeping and Shea butter development. Discipleship, business training and adult literacy classes are also facilitated at this location.
Living Hope
GUSCO CENTRE
Gusco is a beautiful centre in the heart of Gulu, which was refurbished in 2011 to provide a tranquil environment for women who had been brutally mutilated during the LRA rebel war. As a result of these mutilations, ladies were ostracised by the community and were unable to freely live in society. The program at Gusco aims to help the ladies deal with the trauma of their past. Here they learn to forgive and find acceptance by experiencing the love of God and living a productive life. The ladies also receive discipleship, small business management skills, tools to run a small scale farm and start-up capital.
April
KEEP A GIRL IN SCHOOL In 2011, Watoto discovered that more than 40% of girls in the Northern Ugandan region drop out of school at the onset of menstruation. Through the Keep a Girl In School Project, Living Hope aims to address primary school drop-out and increase primary school exam completion among adolescent girls through the provision of sanitary towels and hygiene supplies, and character and life skills development. Earlier this year, we reported a 0% drop out rate in the schools that we started working with last year. We are thrilled at the results and are looking forward to expanding the program. All glory to God.
May
NEW INTAKE Living Hope has enrolled 540 new ladies into the program. They will undergo one year of intensive business training. In addition to this, the ladies are discipled, counselled, taught skills such as sewing and bead making and given literacy training. The purpose of the training is to empower them to develop business ideas and plans. Approved project plans will be funded through a microfinance loan from the program. Repayment for Living Hope microfinance loans begins when they start generating a profit. They will be monitored and supervised during the initial stages of their projects and encouraged to invest and steward their resources wisely.
June
RETURN TO DIGNITY BOOK Jennifer was abducted for the second time when she was 14 years old. They seized her from her grandmother’s grasp and, tying her to a group of 20 other children, they marched their victims into captivity. After four years in captivity, Jennifer was set free but faced rejection and abandonment from her mother and community. Through Living Hope, her life was restored and she was empowered to look after her children. We know that not everyone can visit Africa, so founder Marilyn Skinner has written a book, Return To Dignity, that chronicles the incredible journeys of some of these precious ladies who have triumphed in the face of unimaginable adversity.
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