For more than 20 years, war and violence raged in Northern Uganda. Members of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) attacked villages and homes in the dead of night, making young children watch the brutal murders of their parents and siblings. The surviving boys were then forced to kill others and join the army as child soldiers, and the little girls were raped and given as child wives to LRA officers. If they were fortunate enough to escape, these children were without a family, a home, an education or any sort of skill that could earn a wage.

The Good Samaritan Vocational Center was established in 2007 to provide child mothers and former child soldiers with training in one of three programs: welding, tailoring, or hair care. While other vocational schools in Uganda require that their students have at least a 7th grade education, Good Samaritan recognizes that many Ugandans never reached that level in school because they were abducted as children by the LRA. The student body is made up almost exclusively of those Forgotten Children.

Simply learning a skill is not enough. Upon graduation, each student is presented with tools of the trade, enabling them to immediately start their own business in their towns and villages. Tears flow and smiles shine as students realize they have been handed a future.

To continue this important work, we need your help.

• $52,500 provides 300 students with tools necessary to start their own businesses. 
• $26,250 provides a single graduating class of 150 students with tools upon graduation. 
• $175 provides one student with tools he or she needs to set up shop.