amanda mae images: Revisiting

Tucked away in a village called Musita, a man and a woman had a dream to provide quality, Christian education for the orphans, the poor and the abandoned children of their community. When I first visited Edith's school in 2009, there were about 17 children in a half finished 2-room school house. Some children had uniforms, some could not afford them. Almost 2 years later, when I came back to Uganda, I revisited Edith's school and was amazed to find 2 school buildings at the original location, a second school in a different village, and over 200 children in attendance! Edith's burden for the forgotten and ignored children has grown from a small project to a huge endeavor that is touching hundreds of lives. She reported that the children receive a quality education and are taught about Christ, they then go on to tell their parents and families about Him and people's lives are changing.

Parents contribute what they can to keep the school running - sometimes this comes in the form of money, other times it takes the shape of a bag of beans. It is a struggle to keep the school running but the results and lives being changed are priceless. Edith makes and sells necklaces and bracelets to fund the children's education (if you're interested in supporting the kids by purchasing some jewelry let me know.)

If you've followed my last trip to Uganda, you may remember the story of Motess and Ali - two children at Edith's school who were abandoned by their parents and were being taken care of by their elderly grandmother. I had the opportunity to visited them again when I went to see the school - it was incredible to see how much they've grown and hear how they were doing in school. Honestly, I was relieved to find them all alive and healthy. It was hard though to see how little had changed...their clothes were still torn and dirty, the grandmother was still so thin, their little house still seemed so inadequate...But they endure; their smiles, their curiosity and their success in school gives me hope for them and the thousands of children like them.

Here are some photos from both 2009 and 2011.