Recently I have started teaching at one of the local nursery schools, St. Anthony. Two of the nuns, Sister Lucy and Sister Immaculate asked me help teach phonetics for both their students and teachers. So far it has been a wonderful experience. I have been teaching in the Top Class, which just means they are the kids who will be entering Primary School next year rather than having another year of nursery school. There are 14 students in my class and they are all so sweet. Even though I know little Luganda and they know little English, we have taken a liking for each other. At recess five or six students, all of them waiting their turn to tell me a story in Luganda, surround me. I just shake my head and say, “kale,” which means “ok.” Who says you need to speak the language to listen to a child?

On Wednesday, CARITAS For Children organized a gathering at St. Anthony’s Nursery School in Nkokonjeru. Those who attended this meeting were the local guardians of children who are eligible for nursery school, but do not have the funds to support an education for their children. These guardians came with their children for interviews with CARITAS For Children. Sr. Immaculate and Sr. Lucia, who work at the local nursery school, chose these children because they saw them sitting at home or working in the fields when they should be in school. We conducted these interviews with the guardians focusing on the main question: “Why do you need assistance?”

CARITAS For Children is about relationships. The relationship that sponsors form with their Ugandan children is centered around the consistent communication that CARITAS For Children provides through their ministry work. The ways that the children are able to communicate include Skype, sending their report cards through mail, sponsor visits, and the simple writing of letters. The letters are the main source of communication.

The girls at Stella Maris Boarding School recently had their midterm exams in preparation for Guardian Visitation on March 16th. While I do not know all the results, so far I have heard that they did very well. When their parents, caretakers, and guardians come, they will have the chance to meet with the teachers, look over their progress reports, and then spend the day with the girls. My students are very excited for me to meet their parents and continuously check that I will in fact show up for the visitation.

A unique aspect of CARITAS For Children's child sponsorship programs is that our ministry partners on the ground are always Catholic religious congregations or groups of priests. This means that the schools that we send our sponsored children to are always run, managed by, built by, or supported by these Catholic religious organizations. This makes it easy to keep our child sponsorship programs centered on God, ensuring that our CARITAS children grow up knowing who Jesus is and understanding that they are truly and deeply loved by God. And – frankly – religious orders are very efficient in managing these indigenous education systems.

I have been teaching Primary Three and Four at Stella Maris School for three weeks and am amazed by my students everyday. Their determination to succeed shines through with every lesson. Many girls strive for perfection. It is also evident that they genuinely want to learn. Never have I heard anyone complain about course work, as I believe is typical for nine year olds, but rather they ask for more problems to do on their own. One of my favorite conversations with my girls occurred after we finished a math lesson early. I asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up. Among the most popular responses included the following: doctor, lawyer, businesswoman, bank manager, nurse, and pilot. A sad reality of being born into an impoverished family is that it can be nearly impossible to attain these dreams; however, for the girls at Stella Maris, and more noticeably, for the CARITAS girls who otherwise would not be able to someday live these dreams, a new reality is formed. All of my girls know that they will have successful, prosperous lives, and for those receiving CARITAS sponsorships, they know they will be able to end a circle of poverty.

CARITAS For Children provides two ways to sponsor a child’s education in Uganda. The first sponsorship option, one dollar per day, or thirty dollars per month, is called the Day School Program. The second sponsorship option, the Boarding School Program, is about three dollars per day, or $90 dollars per month.

My name is Samantha Slimmer and I am currently interning for CARITAS for Children here in Nkokonjeru, Uganda. I will spend most of my time teaching Primary 3 and 4 at Stella Maris Boarding School but will also have the opportunity to meet and visit with children who qualify for sponsorship.

One of the most revealing parts of working for CARITAS For Children is witnessing how children are selected for sponsorship through our Catholic charity. It is encouraging because children who are in deep need have hope of receiving assistance from a sponsor after completing this process. There is a part of me, however, that feels a bit helpless seeing the tremendous, even overwhelming, need in this region of Africa. I can’t help wondering why I was born into such different circumstances…

It is ironic that "Butono" is the Lusoga word for small. This beautiful little girl, Veronica, has the second name "Butono," but has the strength and maturity of anything but the small, six-year-old girl that she is. When people say that "this little girl is so lucky to have you in her life" – I know deep in my heart that exactly the opposite is true. I am so humbled, so grateful to have this six-year-old Ugandan girl in my life – who knew that someone so young could teach you what it truly meant to be strong.