Last Chance to Double Your Impact!
All gifts through June 22 will be matched—fuel more stories like Martha’s. Learn More.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve shared how your generosity is building momentum around the world—first through Eyob, a young man from Ethiopia whose life was changed by a simple computer lab, and then through Lidia, a mother in Guatemala whose chicken coop became the foundation for a thriving family business.
Today, we close the Building Momentum series by zooming in on something entirely new—a bold step forward for HopeChest Uganda that’s not only transforming individual lives but expanding the reach and sustainability of an entire CarePoint.
Welcome to the Ebenezer Skills Center at Ochuloi CarePoint.
A New Era of Impact in Uganda
Located in eastern Uganda near Soroti, Ochuloi CarePoint has been faithfully serving children and families for years. But with the recent launch of the Ebenezer Vocational Skills Training Center, that impact is expanding beyond the CarePoint’s boundaries—equipping students from across the region with practical, life-changing skills.
And this isn’t just a classroom. It’s a long-term, revenue-generating initiative—designed to help sustain the CarePoint while lifting the entire community.
Currently, 138 students are enrolled in the program, learning hands-on trades in:
👩🍳 Catering & Baking (17)
💇 Hairdressing (26)
🪚 Carpentry (27)
🧱 Bricklaying (39)
🧵 Tailoring (29)
It’s the largest vocational initiative of its kind for Children’s HopeChest Uganda—and it’s already changing lives.
Ebenezer Skills Center
Martha's New Beginning
One of the first students to enroll at the Ebenezer Skills Center is a young mother named Martha, a teenager from the Ochuloi community.
Martha was raised by her single mother after her parents separated—a loss that left deep emotional and financial strain on their household. As she entered adolescence, the lack of a stable support system led to difficult choices. Influenced by peer pressure and without consistent guidance, Martha became pregnant in her final year of secondary school. She was unable to sit for her exams. The father of her child was later imprisoned for a serious crime, leaving Martha isolated, traumatized, and unsure of what could come next.
But her story didn’t end there.
Despite the pain and disappointment, Martha’s mother continued to stand beside her—and when the opportunity to enroll at the new Ebenezer Vocational Skills Training Center came, Martha said yes.
She joined the Catering and Baking program, and everything began to shift. In just a few months, she has learned to prepare a wide variety of baked goods and juices—bread, mandazis, cakes, biscuits, and more. More importantly, she’s gained confidence, new friendships, and a vision for what’s possible.
Martha now hopes to open her own food business in Ochuloi—one that not only supports her young family but also creates space to train and employ other young people who may feel stuck in the same patterns she once experienced.
Her life is taking a new shape. Not because someone gave her a handout, but because someone gave her a way forward.
A Shared Vision: Community to Community
The launch of the Ebenezer Vocational Skills Training Center wasn’t just a milestone for Ochuloi—it was a celebration of partnership!
For years, Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas has walked faithfully alongside the Ochuloi community through Children’s HopeChest. When the center opened, members of Gloria Dei were there—on the ground, on their knees, serving side by side with local leaders.
This is what two-way transformation looks like. Not charity, but relationship. Not a project, but partnership.
A win for the Ochuloi community is a win for Gloria Dei, too. Because when we walk together across cultures, across miles, across difference—we all grow. Dignity deepens. Hope multiplies. And the momentum keeps building.
Gloria Dei partners prepare for the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Ebenezer Skills Center.
A Vision That Reaches Beyond the CarePoint
The Ebenezer Skills Center isn’t just changing individual lives like Martha’s. It’s creating a ripple effect—one that is already being felt across the entire Ochuloi community.
With 138 students enrolled—many from outside the traditional CarePoint program—the center is becoming a regional hub for skill-building, entrepreneurship, and dignity. Families who may never have stepped inside a HopeChest program are now sending their teenagers and young adults to learn carpentry, tailoring, bricklaying, and more.
It’s the first time a CarePoint in Uganda has launched an initiative of this magnitude. And it represents something even more powerful than education: ownership.
The Ebenezer Skills Center is designed to become a revenue-generating enterprise—baking bread, producing goods, offering services, and eventually selling to the surrounding region. That revenue will support ongoing programming and services for vulnerable children, even as direct funding from HopeChest tapers down over time.
In other words: this isn’t charity. It’s capacity. It’s a pathway toward self-sustainability, where the community leads, the CarePoint thrives, and impact continues—long after the initial investment.
This is what graduation looks like: when a CarePoint becomes a strong, rooted, self-sustaining presence in its community—offering opportunity, fostering dignity, and generating lasting change.
It’s momentum building. And it’s happening right now in Ochuloi.
This Week: Your Last Chance to Double Your Impact!
The Building Momentum series has showcased what’s possible when generosity meets local vision. But this week, we have one final invitation for you:
Give by June 22, and your gift will be doubled.
That means you can help fuel more stories like Martha’s—and help launch initiatives like the Ebenezer Skills Center across Uganda and beyond.
Here’s what your matched gift can do:
- $16.31 → gives a child in Ethiopia access to a safe public latrine and shower
- $150 → provides two goats to a hardworking family in Uganda
- $750 → equips a family in Guatemala with sustainable farming skills and tools
- Or give any amount—and it will be doubled to create even more impact
Let's Keep Building Momentum—Together
This blog is the third and final in our Building Momentum series, highlighting how targeted, local-led support is creating lasting transformation in communities across Ethiopia, Guatemala, Uganda, and beyond.
