A Single Educated Child Can Transform Communities!
While in remote tribal Karamoja in February 2024, we found ourselves in the midst of hundreds of Food Always In The Home gardens where men, women and children stood proudly by their gardens eagerly waiting to share their new vegetable gardening skills. One shy little girl, Lomonyang Nachap who had survived the famine, greeted us as we were admiring her FAITH garden in isolated Kamera village.
In a very soft voice, she said, “I want to go to school” and a little later she said “I want to be a teacher!” We were very impressed, as if we were hearing wisdom from heaven telling us not to neglect the task of educating the upcoming generation in these five villages!
What difference would education make in this young life? What difference would it make in the lives of others? What plans does the Lord have for this life?
A SINGLE EDUCATED CHILD HAS GREAT CAPACITY TO TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES!! Among so many others we want to highlight the impact of TWO educated children! Gilbert Beingana (TCI Operation manager for the West) and Isaac Tuesday (TCI Operation manager in Karamoja) are basically responsible for TCI's food relief and medical work in Karamoja. They have used their education and considerable skills to keep approximately 5,000 marginalized starving Karamajong people alive (data as at February 2024) and to give them restored hope and self worth.
We met Gilbert in Kiburara as a 14 year old in 2009. He was such an eager student but did not have the means to attend a good school and we began to sponsor his education all the way through medical training. We had no idea that years later God would bring him to work for TCI, a non-profit that we would be leading!
Isaac, on the other hand, did not get sponsored as a child but struggled with fierce determination to get an education at times living on his own, sleeping on dry banana leaves, hungry and cold. After becoming a teacher, Isaac met a family on a short term mission trip and they sponsored his nursing degree.
Isaac (front) and Gilbert (back) carrying food
Isaac relocated to Karamoja and both of these young men, with the essential help of Gabriel Siokan a local Karamojong, are helping hundreds of severely malnourished villagers to improve in health, develop gardens, know that they are loved by God and are valued human beings.
While studying medicine, Gilbert became friendly with a talented Karamojong medical student called Moses Imalany. After graduating, Moses returned to Karamoja to invest back into his people as a Clinical Officer while Gilbert joined TCI as our Medical Officer. It was Moses who led TCI to two of the villages that we are now engaged in. We met him there in January 2024 and he shared his inspiring story with us. CLICK HERE to hear how he rose up out of the manyatta (village) to get a university education. It is his estimation that without TCI's intervention at least 1000 would have starved to death in his district! Instead, there have been NO lives lost to starvation (as at February 2024) since we started food relief.
By God’s grace, TCI wants to keep these phenomenal villagers alive so that many young children like Lomonyang Nachap can live to fulfill their dreams and God's purposes.