Celebrating Easter: sharing hope and creating change
- Olivia Barker White
- Apr 17
- 3 min read
I love Easter.
I love the warmer days and longer nights, the blossom and spring flowers, the creme eggs and hot cross buns… somehow this time of year just feels more hopeful. The cold winter nights are behind us, summer is coming, and spring is here!
Recently, some of our UK team met up in Birmingham for a planning day and the cherry blossom was just so beautiful. I had to stop and wonder at God’s creation – and take a photo!
As a Christian, I also love Easter because it is a powerful reminder that darkness is not the end, that good has triumphed over evil, and that we have reason to hope. It says in the Bible “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John, Chapter 1).
Sharing hope in Uganda
Kids Club Kampala is an organisation founded on Christian beliefs and values. Throughout the past 16 years, hope has been a central theme for us. Our Ugandan counterpart, Kids Club Kampala Uganda’s mission is ‘to bring hope and love to vulnerable children’. We both share a message of hope that circumstances will improve, and work hard to bring about hope in people’s lives. We do this through showing them that someone cares, praying with them, providing basic needs and emergency support, creating better futures for those in need and through helping people find sustainable ways to get out of poverty for good. Despite the challenges, we remain hopeful for what we can continue to achieve.
I recently took some time to reflect on all that we have done over the past 16 years, and I am so proud of everything we have achieved. Since 2009, we have:
Provided over 45 million meals to hungry children and families
Supported 7,000 vulnerable young people with counselling
Rescued 223 children from abandonment & reunited 161 children with loving families
Given the gift of free education to over 1,890 children
Provided vital skills training to 1,150 adults
Reached over 1,560,000 people across all of our programme areas
As a grandmother living in one of Kampala’s slum communities recently said:
“We are no longer the same, we now have hope for the future thanks to Kids Club Kampala.”
Our vision: creating change across East Africa
2025 is a significant year for us at Kids Club Kampala. We are embarking on a new partnership with the Mango Tree Trust to increase our collective impact, share resources and together bring hope to more communities. We will achieve this through scaling up our work, deepening our impact and expanding our programmes to Kenya and Tanzania.
We have also recently shared our strategy for the next 10 years, and we have an ambitious vision for this. We envision a world where every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential. By remaining child-centred and prioritising the needs of the poorest, by 2035 we will have made a tangible impact on over 5 million lives.
To do this, we will build upon the strong foundations developed through our comprehensive and holistic programme of support in the slums of Kampala, empowering children through child protection, access to education and family strengthening. By expanding our reach and forming strategic partnerships with like-minded organisations across East Africa, we will multiply both the depth and reach of our impact. We are community led and always will be. We will continue to prioritise local leadership and solutions, learning from and listening to communities to fully address the issues they are experiencing. We will maintain our trusted, agile, holistic approach to the complex needs in the hardest to reach communities, ensuring no child is left behind. We will work together to create sustainable, long-lasting change.
This is a big vision, and one which requires a lot of hope to achieve. We are believing and dreaming for big things, and hope that you will continue on this journey with us. Thank you for all of your support so far in enabling so many people’s lives to be impacted. Your support is massively valued and helps us to hold on to hope.
If you are able to increase your giving or if you could encourage a friend, colleague or family member to support us, it would be so appreciated. Thank you and God bless you.
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