Tooro High School

Monday, July 13th

Today was a long day, but a great day. We traveled about 5 hours to Fort Portal where we went to Tooro High School. Tooro High School houses about 230 boys and girls, many who stay there overnight for protection. All are orphans and/or vulnerable children in the Fort Portal area. The school vision: “To become a leading private school in the western region, which will contribute to national development by bringing up God fearing and academically excellent citizens.” There is testimony after testimony of student's lives being changed through Tooro High School. They really are doing a great job there and always just a great place to visit and support. We spoke to many different children while we were there. They spoke very good English and were such a pleasure to be around.

When we drove up to the school in the bus, we were greeted by singing and dancing students. They sang some songs of greeting to us and then performed some native cultural dances. It was very cool. Then they pulled us out and we danced with them. I was ready this year as they pulled us out to dance last year as well. Not sure if I got any pictures this year as everyone was dancing so nobody was taking pictures. Probably for the best :) Luke was one of the first to be pulled out there by a girl that had a hard time keeping her eyes off of him :) Once again, the girls there at Tooro High fell in love with Luke. They remembered him from last year. We remembered many of them from last year as well. I told them I had pictures of many of them from the last time we were there. They then told us that they had a picture of Luke from last year in their dorm room. As we were talking with them, they basically surrounded us and then all started touching and feeling Luke's hair. They are not used to Mzungu's (white person) let alone a long blond haired Mzungu boy. He was fine with it – was just laughing a little – I think a little embarrassed, but he is getting used to the children here touching his hair. All in all a great time.

Currently GFR sponsors 81 orphan children at the school. Each orphan student is provided scholastic material, plates, cups, mosquito nets, and school uniforms. They have a girls dorm that houses around 80 girls and another one for the boys that house 25 boys. These are all orphans that do not have a home or children that live too far away to commute or would be to unsafe to travel to and from the school. Education is just so important in Uganda. Tooro High School is truly a life changing place for these children to give them a better opportunity at life both from a Christian perspective as well as a foundation for future job opportunities.

Here are just a couple testimonies from some of the students at Tooro High. A little broken English, but you will get the point. "I am Tumweslgye Seth, 18 years old in S.2 (Senior 2). I come from Nyabani sub county. I lost my both parents when I was in P.6 (Primary 6). I think Parents Concern (the local non-for-profit group that GFR works with in this community) for supporting my education. I now have hope to achieve my dream of becoming a Doctor. Thus a bright future". "I am Kyogabirwe Babrah, 16 years in class 3 and I am from Nkoma. My Dad died when I was 3 years old. I thank for giving me an opportunity to be WHAT I AM now at Tooro High school. My life has been transformed. I now have great dreams to achieve."

Their family sponsorship project is committed to 3 life essentials:

1. The gift of eternal life through the sharing of the gospel and relationship with Jesus Christ
2. Immediate quality of life improvements through the provision of basic needs
3. Long-term quality of life improvements through education and mentoring

We then bought a lot of native hand made Uganda necklaces, bracelets and baskets from a group of widows there at Tooro High School. It was a great way to help out the widows and the economy by supporting their business.

We then went shopping. There is an elderly couple that is in real bad shape in the local community in Fort Portal that have not been sponsored as of yet. From what I understand, they barely have anything to live on. So we went shopping for them and will deliver our goods tomorrow. As a team, we bought them a new mattress, sheets, plates, bowls, cooking pans, cups, clothes line, a tarp, some water bowls, salt, sugar, rice, bread, soap, lotion, a mirror, etc. - I know I am forgetting a number of items, but essentially, we bought them a ton of stuff. It will be a tremendous experience tomorrow to give this to them. From what I understand, they need it all which says they basically are living on nothing right now – a pretty desperate situation for an older couple. Next blog should have an update on the experience of giving this all to them. One of the folks that works with Tooro High School that was helping us shop for the right items said this was the biggest individual shopping experience he has seen yet. Everyone is very excited for tomorrow.

Then we went to the clinic and bought a huge amount of medical supplies. All specific medicine for the conditions that are common in this part of Uganda (Malaria, Elephantiasis, Epilepsy, eye conditions, worms, etc.). The amount of medicine we were able to purchase was staggering. Look for some pictures of those. In a couple days, we will focus our efforts at a clinic helping those in medical need so we were getting supplies ready for that day.

It is crazy to see all the suffering and hard ache here, but it is great to be here. There is so much need, it is almost overwhelming at times. But then again, the impact you can make to individuals and families is nothing short of life saving. It is a humbling experience and a great experience for Luke and I and the entire team here.

Stay tuned for the next blogs as they will give updates on some of the items above with I am sure many more stories, pictures, etc.