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Viola’s Story

Viola lives in the slums of Kampala, Uganda with her parents and five siblings. Living conditions in this area are cramped and unsanitary. Viola’s family lives in a small, brick, two-bedroom house. The whole family shares one room and the other one is used to house chickens and a goat that are being raised to sell. 

When the lockdown measures hit the world this spring, each of our programs had to pivot from their normal services at schools, churches and community centers, and venture out with more home visits to care for our children. This cost a bit more, but we knew it was what we needed to do. 

Viola is one of the children our team in Uganda visited. During one of the home visits, we realized that Viola and her siblings were sleeping almost on bare ground. They were sleeping on thin, dirty, browned pieces of pad that had to be put together for one to sleep on, along with torn-up blankets that can hardly bring warmth in the cold.

Our staff realized Viola was one of the children who, whenever they got the chance to meet up with her, either had a cough or flu,  and if not, she was complaining of back and body pains. This could have been a result of the poor sleeping conditions. 

Our Uganda team got together and decided to get two mattresses and three blankets for the family. 

Our Uganda team reports, “The joy, gratitude, and tears in their eyes when receiving the beds and blankets was worth a memory in our hearts and they now sleep comfortably like they should.” 

God used this pandemic to lead our staff to Viola’s home where they discovered this serious need for a real bed. God reached out to Viola with His tangible love not just in spite of this horrible season,  but through it. 
child discipleship

Faith, Family, and the Drumbeat of Ramadan

What does it look like to follow Jesus in a culture where most of your community—and even your own family—follows a different faith? In Kosova, where Ramadan is a time of fasting and nightly celebration, young believers often feel the tension deeply.

This blog, written by our Kosova program directors Nora and Metush, shares the powerful story of Ymer—a boy learning to hold onto Jesus in the middle of cultural and spiritual pressure.

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nicaragua

Discovering His Worth: Medardo’s Story

“If I look back and see what I was, I can see a nefarious, and even a little perverted, young man. I was someone aimless, without knowledge and without any foundation.” Medardo grew up in an open-air garbage dump called La Chureca in Managua, Nicaragua, and then later, in Villa

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child sponsor

A Future Rewritten Through Education: Berenice Graduates!

Berenice was used to seeing the same narrative play out around her growing up: a life marked by poverty, wealth inequality, and barriers to education. Most families in her area in Oaxaca, Mexico have traditionally come from smaller villages in search of a better life and are facing severe unemployment

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transforming lives

Escaping the Slum to Pursue God’s Purpose: Job’s Story

The past two years have been particularly hard for children in Uganda. Schools remained shut through most of the pandemic. Light a Candle, our program there, worked tirelessly to help these children succeed in their education despite the seemingly impossible situation. Despite school closures, children have remained committed to pursuing

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Transform a Child's Life Through Sponsorship

Gyebaleki (hello), my name is Margret Nalwoga

  • location

    Uganda

  • 13 yrs. old

    03-27-2013

Entered the program: March 2025

Margret lives with her mother and four siblings in a two-room rented bungalow-style house made with burnt bricks, a sheet metal roof and dirt floor. They have no electricity and lighting is provided by a 2-bulb solar unit. They cook with firewood outdoors and share a communal toilet facility with other tenants. Water is collected from a nearby community borehole which they boil to drink.

Sponsorship Level What's this?

Three $38 sponsorships are needed to cover the complete holistic care of one child. Cover one, two, or three sponsorships.