VOH Success Stories
Village of Hope in Uganda has been bringing hope and healing to orphans for years. Post war Uganda is still struggling to rebuild. But the orphans from the war are rising up and taking their places in society, working to overcome the challenges left by years of war and heartbreak. Village of Hope is shaping tomorrow's leaders! Enjoy these four success stories shared by Village of Hope on their Facebook page.
A 2017 graduate of our carpentry program, Jimmy says his life has been transformed! We visited him on a roofing job where he told us, "My life was destroyed by the war - it was a total mess. I was on the street and I wouldn't even go around any of my family. At Village of Hope I learned people loved me and and now I have a relationship with my guardian and 5 siblings (he pays their school fees). I also have a relationship with the Lord and He has changed my life in so many ways." Jimmy is a role model for his old friends who see the change in him. His dream is to save enough money to start buying & selling timber. He also wants to share what he's learned with others.
Gloria, pictured on the left with one of our community counselors, is a 2015 graduate of the hairdressing course at VOH Vocational School. Before coming to VOH, she had dropped out of secondary school in 2012 because her guardian could no longer pay her school fees. Gloria said, "I started earning money right away after graduation." She worked in various salons, getting experience and building up a clientele, then opened her own shop in 2019. Today she supports her younger sister & brother (both in secondary school), her elderly grandmother and her son, Genesis, who is in kindergarten. She is fighting to be sure Genesis gets an education and has a better life than she did. Her dream is to save enough money to buy a piece of land and build a home for her family. Gloria told us, "If I hadn't come to VOH, I would have been lost. My siblings wouldn't be in school and I would have no way to support my child. I can never repay the VOH donors who made this all possible."
We didn't have to travel far to visit Agnes in her workplace. A 2017 graduate of our program, Agnes is a teacher at VOH primary school! Among the first orphans who moved to VOH in 2010, she completed her education and joined our staff full-time in 2018. Agnes shared, "When I joined VOH, I was hopeless -- things were not easy." Her father died when she was in 6th grade, leaving her mother to raise 9 children alone. Agnes continued, "I had no hope to finish my education. When I joined VOH I was mentored and counseled. The counselors saw I had a talent for working with young children and suggested I become a primary school teacher. Teaching is a blessing! The more you teach, the more young lives you touch. If you want to become the richest person, become a teacher because you leave a legacy within every student you teach." The first of her family to finish school, Agnes supports herself, her mother, and her younger siblings. She has brought the 3 youngest with her to Bobi Village because as a teacher she gets a reduction in their school fees. Agnes plans to continue her education during school holidays so she can one day become a head teacher or school administrator.
We visited David, a 2017 graduate of VOH's carpentry program, in a workshop on a very busy street in Gulu town. He was sanding some furniture he made while we talked to him. David told us before he came to Village of Hope he had no skills to do anything, but now he can build ANYTHING and earn money to support his family. He comes from a child-headed household and supports his 5 sisters with the money he's making. He really enjoys his work and never wants to miss a day. He'd like to open his own workshop some day. David also told us he learned how to pray at VOH. His advice to other VOH students - "Take advantage of this opportunity you've been given so when you leave you can make a life of your own."