Student Scholarship Program
Word InDeed Ministries, Inc. (“WID”) has been answering God’s call to ministry in Uganda for over 40 years. Through the generosity of many individuals and organizations, the expansion of the gospel has been accomplished through church planting (building churches and sponsoring Pastors), serving remote villages medical needs (establishing clinics), and educating children (building schools and sponsoring teachers).
We attribute our success to God’s glory and honoring us with the words and deeds we are sharing. These achievements are reached in part also because we partner with local pastors and leaders in the communities we are ministering, as they are the eyes and ears and know the pulse of the people we are serving.
This scholarship program was established to serve a community of children who are mostly orphaned by either abandonment or death of their parents. Many do not attend school because they do not have the resources to pay for school fees, uniforms and books. Also many children are helping raise their younger siblings or their guardians charge them with farming or tasks that keep them from participating in school.
ABOUT THE CHILDREN
Our goal is to identify children who are in extreme need and who have a desire to thrive in a school environment. With the help of the local school leaders, teachers, pastors and Ugandan friends of WID, we have a great team of people wanting to see these children raised up in a loving, Christian environment. Many of them do not know their date of birth but rather their approximate age. Almost all of these children have lost their parent(s) to the HIV/Aids epidemic in Uganda. If you would like to “meet” these children, please go to our Facebook page – photo album and see these beautiful gifts from God who desire to change their circumstances and be given the opportunity to attend school.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.549609375149923.1073741828.178194625624735&type=3
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
We have established a “Contract” for the students & their guardians to sign. Once they are officially sponsored (your payment received), they have certain responsibilities also. This helps create some accountability on their part, so it’s not just a handout, which we know reduces the success of any program like this. If they don’t meet their obligations, their scholarship can potentially be revoked. In order for the student to receive credit toward their school fees, there are terms and conditions of understanding that need to be agreed upon for the student to receive the financial scholarship. This contract is to be signed by the student and their parent(s) or guardian(s) who have filled out an application and been selected for sponsorship.
This contract is for one (1) year only. At the end of each year, it will be determined if the sponsor will continue to support the student. We try to communicate to the adults and children that it is in their best interest to try and set aside a small portion of money for the future, in case the support for school fees is not continued after the first year.
The student is required to maintain passing grades in school. This means they must do all work required by their teachers, any homework and additional studies needed to make passing grades. This in itself can be extremely challenging for the children. Many have missed attending school for months at a time; some who are older and when tested, it’s determined that their grade level is way below their age. Basic skills like reading and writing are difficult in these remote villages because the education of those teaching is not up to national standards. It becomes a real hardship for both those wishing to teach and the children wanting to learn. In the case of disciplinary problems, the student will loose their scholarship if it is deemed necessary by responsible authority at the school.
The student is required to write a personal letter in their own handwriting (or for younger children draw a picture) to their sponsor two (2) times each year, at Easter and Christmas. This letter and their photograph will be sent to their sponsor electronically through Word In Deed Ministries. If a sponsor wishes to communicate with their student, this can also be done electronically. In an effort to streamline our contacts with our sponsors, in 2022 we will be implementing a system of giving each sponsor access to an online ‘folder’ in our Google Drive. In this folder we will maintain correspondence from the children, photos, school reports, etc. This way the sponsors can also download a photo and letter to their student to send words of encouragement.
The parent (guardian) or student will be asked to volunteer at the school their student attends, at least two days per month. In what capacity (gardening, cleaning, cooking, security) will be at the discretion of the school headmistress. This volunteering is partially in exchange for the financial support the student is receiving for their school fees. Volunteering is not a concept fully embraced or understood by villagers in Uganda. We hope and pray that by making this a condition of their scholarship, we can introduce volunteerism as an important Christian value that rewards us because God calls us to serve others.
An alternative to the Scholarship Program is also to help provide financial support for a specific area of need at the school. Things that are often impossible for the families to purchase are shoes, uniforms, school books and backpacks for the children. Also there could be a financial blessing toward teachers salaries, paying for orphaned children to eat lunch at school, providing special resources to be added to the class library to name a few. If this is an area you are interested in supporting, please email us about your desire to join in supporting the school and the students in general.
ABOUT THE COST
We would like to encourage scholarships for the Mpunge Boarding School for the orphans we are seeking scholarships. Basically, when this school has 50 boarders living on campus, it can sustain itself with this funding, helping to pay teachers salaries. These children will have a safe place to sleep, food to eat, and adult supervision, which they often do not receive when living with a guardian. We will treat each child on a case-by-case situation and take all factors into consideration, i.e., at home living conditions, lack of parental guidance, lack of nutrition, etc. Our hope is that each child receiving a scholarship will be sponsored for the length of their time in school. This is a long term commitment and not everyone is ready to make that obligation a part of their annual budget, but the impact this can have on the life of each child is something you can hardly imagine.
As a side note, we know for a fact that young girls specifically prefer to stay in boarding schools because it provides them with a certain amount of protection that they would otherwise not get living in their villages. Without having to go into to many details, I’m sure you can understand why they need this protection.
ABOUT THE FEES
We are currently seeking scholarships for children in the surrounding communities for the Mpunge and Ntenjeru Covenant Schools.
- Boarding School – 1 year = $375
Payment for the scholarship is preferred by check payable to:
Word In Deed, PO Box 476, Dresher PA 19025
Another option, paying online through the Word In Deed website with a credit card. We use PayPal but they charge a 3% fee. If you prefer using credit card, it would be humbly appreciated if you added the extra 3% to cover these fees so the ministry does not loose that money toward the program.
Thank you for your interest in being part of this scholarship program. Please call Lisa Sorensen (561-352-6095) or email (WIDministries@gmail.com) with any questions or comments you might have.
