Who We Are

GSM Uganda is a group of people from all areas of life whose hearts have been broken for the children of Uganda.  Believing that the cycle of poverty is broken through education and empowerment, GSM Uganda works through locally developed and managed centers and schools to provide education, counseling, and other basic services to over 14 communities in Uganda.  Our team outside Uganda (Friends of GSM Uganda) desires to support the work being done on the ground through prayer, encouragement, and financial support, as well as through sending teams of people to serve alongside our brothers and sisters.

WHAT WE DO

GSM Uganda empowers people through education.  We have educated over 6,000 students since our beginnings in 1990, with over 1,500 children currently in Nursery, Primary or Secondary School programs.  We continue relationships with our alumni students, many who have come back to teach at the GSM Schools.  We provide counseling and Bible training.

GSM Uganda has over 300 students in orphan homes.  These homes are able to provide family to many of these students.  We provide housing, porridge and food for the students living on campus, medical, life skills training, and gospel centered community.

GSM has many community impact programs:  HIV/AIDS education; senior citizens programs; Bible study; GOGO Piggery project (Get One, Give One); Community farming projects; Community Fishing projects; and Hospital Ministry.

How Can I Get involved?

Sponsor a teacher or a student to school.  Provide funds for food.  We all know that it costs money to run a school - donate to keep this program running well.  These schools we operate are run entirely on donations and fundraising. We promise to use your donation in the most effective way possible to further the mission of Good Samaritan Ministries Uganda.

Come volunteer in our thrift store.  Once a month or once a week, you choose.  Be a part of blessing the customers in the Beaverton community at our store while changing lives and giving hope to the children of GSM Uganda.   

Education

The heartbeat of GSM Uganda is educating children.  We believe that God’s Kingdom has come in the person of Jesus Christ, and so we fight to empower the children of Uganda to overcome the barriers of poverty, HIV/AIDS, and a crippled economic infrastructure, believing that Jesus died and rose again so that all may have abundant life, even now.  According to the CIA World Fact Book, of the approximately 34 million people in Uganda, 49% of them are under age of 14, and 70% are under the age of 24.  Almost 75% of these children have lost at least one parent.  With the median age of the population at 15, it’s safe to say that Uganda is nation of children: children in need of care, education, and a chance to really live their lives. Our call is to educate these children, and in doing so, proclaim that God’s Kingdom has come and is working to make that Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

HISTORY

Good Samaritan Ministries (www.gsmusa.org) was founded in 1979 as a counseling and teaching organization by Bettie Mitchell when she was given the word to go out and teach nothing but the Kingdom of God.  In 1990, Bettie was traveling in Uganda when she met Pastor Osborn Muyanja.  As a single young man, he was caring for 17 orphans in a building temporarily loaned to him by someone in the Masaka region.  Masaka is considered the birthplace of AIDS in Uganda, and in addition to caring for orphans, Pastor Osborn found himself burying about about 8 people a week, people who were dying from AIDS and leaving behind children with no hope and no future.  When Bettie asked Pastor Osborn what she could do to help, he replied, “Educate these children.”  The bond between GSM USA and Uganda began.

Contact us:

Friends of GSM Uganda is the group of people outside Uganda, working as partners with our Ugandan teammates.  Our goal is to act as advocates for, encouragers to, and supporters of GSM Uganda.  Through our work, we hope to engage Western Christians with their brothers and sisters in Uganda; to provide encouragement for those working in Uganda to further God’s Kingdom; and to use the resources God has given has given us to help change the lives of Ugandan children for the glory of God.

If you would like more information you may email us, or leave a message at Good Samaritan Ministries, (503) 644-2339
 

As Friends of Uganda, we work closely with the GSM Uganda team based in Kampala, Uganda.  Our work primarily consists of three things: advocacy, encouragement, support.

Advocacy

For most of us living in suburban America, the reality of life in Uganda seems far away. The concepts of free education, affordable school supplies, and manageable classroom sizes are no-brainers. The reality is a little bit different in Uganda, and as an organization we are committed to helping people halfway across the globe understand what life looks like for our friends in Uganda, since most of us haven’t had the opportunity to see it for ourselves. Check out these pages for a glimpse of life in one of the Ugandan communities GSM is partnering with, and check back for updates from our students and staff. We believe that relationships develop over stories and not just facts, and that people are people, not causes. We also believe that advocates are friends, not just resources, so if you’d like to hear more about this in person, shoot us an e-mail at info@gsmuganda.org. We’d love to grab coffee, share our experiences with you, and introduce you to some of our friends, or hear about your experiences in Uganda or East Africa. We also love to tell the story of GSM Uganda, so if you’ve got a book club, Sunday School class, or group of friends that you think would be interested in how God’s kingdom is being built in Uganda, let us know.

Encouragement

If you’ve been to East Africa, or have read our links on the advocacy page, you know that life in Uganda can be challenging in particularly unique ways.  One of our goals as an organization is to find ways to encourage the GSM Uganda staff and volunteers, through both visits and more consistent communication between supporting groups here in the States and the staff on the ground in Uganda.  Groups from the States travel to Uganda at least once a year to visit with, work alongside, and offer encouragement to GSM Uganda staff, volunteers, alumni, and students.  We also send a monthly note of thanks and encouragement to the GSM staff.  If you’d like to add a note to our monthly greeting, feel free to email us at info@gsmuganda.org

Support

For us, support looks like a couple of different things.  There are obviously tangible needs for the work in Uganda that can be met with financial and other donations (please see our How We Do It page for more details).  The other aspect of support is prayer.  If you’re on our e-mail list, you’re already receiving a monthly prayer guide.  If you’d like to be on our e-mail list, send us a note at info@gsmuganda.org and we’ll add you to the list.  We’ll also be posting the prayer guide here.  We believe that God hears us when we ask for things, and we also believe that prayer is one of the ways that we learn to listen and align ourselves with God’s reality.  Please join us as we seek God’s will for this ministry, and don’t hesitate to let us know how we can be praying for you!