February 2025 Newsletter

IMPORTANT! Giving statements for your 2024 donations to Align International were sent in January. Those who have an email address on file with Align should have received this via email; those who do not should have received it via US Post.

If you have any questions or have not received your giving statement, please email Joe at [email protected].

Align International began almost two decades ago by establishing the Life With Hope Sponsorship Program (LWH). LWH focused first on taking care of widows and children who were either HIV+ or had been impacted by the AIDS crisis, as Uganda was gripped by the epidemic in the early 2000's. However, we quickly realized that the areas in which we served were desperately impoverished and in need of assistance just to survive so we opened the program to children who were orphaned, abandoned or seriously abused. We also helped our Ugandan partners create the Donela Schools to provide a godly education, with the mission to teach students that God has equipped them to transform not only themselves but their communities and nation. Since then Align has supported our Ugandan partners to care for hundreds of at-risk women and children.

In 2020 the Covid epidemic devastated impoverished countries like Uganda. And the schools in Uganda were shut down for two years straight - longer than any country in the world. Parents were forced to make the difficult choice of having their children join them at their menial jobs, just to put food on the table for the entire family. Sadly up to one third of those children have not returned to school since the end of the Covid epidemic. And the Ugandan government, like many African countries, is rife with corruption - much of the aid provided somehow doesn't make it to those for whom it is intended. This left already desperately impoverished communities even more devastated.

At the request of our partners, we added several children to our Life with Hope Sponsorship Program. Unfortunately as the Covid shutdown also impacted the economy of the United States, we lost many of our sponsors for children already in our program. Today we need 73 sponsorships to be filled out of a total of 337 - the highest number since any time in our history. Please read below to learn how you can help.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child, please click here. There are many older children who are close to graduating trade school or university so would only require monthly sponsorship for a few months to a couple years. For more information on these children, please email [email protected].

We want to tell you the story of the difference your sponsorship can mean to a child in need. Click here to watch a video on the child-headed household of Godfrey, Harriet, Patience and Scholastica, and to see them when we first met them. All four of the children were put in our Life Home Village where they were lovingly cared for, and attended Donela Schools. Godfrey has successfully exited LWH after receiving his mechanic's license. - he is also engaged to be married. Harriet is working on a degree in farming and lives with the Ojeras. Patience and Scholastica still live in the Life Home Village and attend Donela High School. We are blessed to watch them have a future filled with hope!

We are in the early planning stages of our annual visit to Uganda and would LOVE for you to join us! You will be able to meet our Ugandan partners and see them be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in their community. You will also visit the Donela schools and the Life Home Village, as well as meet some of the children who are benefitting from these programs. AND you will get the opportunity to meet and spend time with your sponsored child/ren. We are tentatively planning the trip for June or early July. For more information, please email Barbara at [email protected] or call her at 310-218-8689. We hope you will join us!

If you have medical skills or a heart for caring for those with health concerns, our friends at Peninsula Community Church invite you to join them this year on their annual Bombo Medical Mission. For more information, read the letter below and email [email protected]. Feel free to spread the word to friends and family who might be interested. WEEBALE!

We are once again highlighting Hadijah Nazziwa who was featured last month and is still looking for a sponsor. Coming from a Muslim background, Hadijah had no idea that she would be the girl who is now interested in reading and preaching the good news of Jesus to her friends! She is boarding at school and recently joined Donela High. She is a quiet girl who enjoys listening to music, watching movies, and reading in her spare time. Hadijah dreams of one day becoming a banker. She is undergoing treatment right now for malaria and typhoid. Thankfully her health is improving. Please consider sponsoring Hadijah to make sure she stays healthy and has a place to call home.

If you have never sponsored a child and/or feel God tugging at your heart, click HERE to sponsor Hadijah. You can also see all the children now available under our Life with Hope sponsorship program by clicking HERE.

Align International

27525 Puerta Real Ste 300 # 426

Mission Viejo, CA 92691-6379