Here we are, already three months into 2024! It has been a thrilling start to the year with many major accomplishments that you will read about below. I have an ongoing deep appreciation for our leadership in Uganda, specifically in their ability to manage the integrity and quality of AsOne’s operations, the continued growth of the organization, and their commitment to our beneficiaries.

Across the organization, everything is up:more students, more patients, and more people getting involved in the transformation of their communities and the work of AsOne. I’m often amazed by the resilience of the team and leadership in Uganda.

Lastly, I'm inspired by the generosity of people and their investment into making good and hard work possible in underserved communities in Uganda. This work certainly is not easy, but it is thrilling to watch beautiful stories emerge as we continue to empower local leaders to cultivate holistic transformation in rural communities across Uganda.

Two New Schools

At the end of January we opened our fifth and six school campuses in Uganda: The AsOne High School in Kaberamaido and the AsOne Nursery & Primary School in Mayuge. Our model for each community is to operate a school, health center, farm, and business to empower local Ugandans to create lasting and permanent change in their communities.

This was another tremendous accomplishment. Right away in January we onboarded and trained 40+ new Ugandan teaching staff, prepared for the opening of the academic year, enrolled 400 kids between the two schools, and held celebrations in each location.

One of my favorite memories was bringing the students from AsOne High Schools in Namayemba to Kaberamaido to watch the launch of their sister schools and meet the newest AsOne students. To watch them pray, dance, worship, laugh, eat, and interact with each other brought me joy and held my heart as we watched God’s people come together as one.

We started making all of our uniforms

In the community of Idudi we officially started operating the AsOne Tailoring Center and began making all of the new uniforms for AsOne students (including all the new students at our current schools). The team is hard at work fulfilling the orders that total over 6,000 units of skirts, shirts, shorts, sportswear, & socks! It was more than we anticipated - we certainly asked a lot of this new group of vocational students. But the team is rising to the challenge and doing an incredible job preparing all the uniforms for our 2,300+ students!

We’ve Expanded

AsOne has officially started construction in Serere District & Luuka District. We are on track to open 2025 with a new Nursery & Primary School and Health Center in each community. This will not only continue to provide new opportunities for Ugandans to cultivate change but will also provide tremendous services to these new communities.

We’ve promoted new leaders from within the organization to serve as the new Community Directors for each location, and they will take their posts in the coming weeks. Jackson Oketch, Director of Expansion has helped lead the way for AsOne to acquire properties for these new developments!

Visiting Kenya with Seeds of Change & Farm Input Promotions Africa (FIPS — Africa)

In February, I was able to visit Nairobi, Kenya with our partner Seeds of Change to further our relationship with FIPS — Africa. AsOne has adopted the FIPS — Africa approach and training methodology to train Village Based Advisors (VBAs). VBAs are hard-working and selfless farmers that are trusted and selected by their community to serve as extension services experts that provide training to other smallholder farmers. We help train the VBA’s on effective planting techniques, improved seed, soil management, climate-smart technologies, and how to make an income supplying inputs and services.

While in Kenya we were able to collaborate with government agencies and organizations across Africa on how to continue to scale this methodology effectively across our communities to improve the livelihood and wellbeing of smallholder farmers.

Praxis

Over the last 6 months I’ve been participating in an accelerator program with Praxis Labs out of New York City. AsOne was one of twelve organizations selected for their Nonprofit Accelerator Program. I’ve now participated in two in-person sessions in New York and San Francisco. The program has been focused on introducing us to expert mentors in the field, transformative content, spiritual formation practices for leaders, and a peer community of other founders.

We’ve been able to learn from people like Andy Crouch, receive direct mentorship from great leaders like Peter Greer at Hope International, and better share the story of our work as we clarify our strategic trajectory for the organization. The content is primarily built around their Redemptive Nonprofit Playbook which I would recommend for any nonprofit leader or board member.

Next month I have the honor of showcasing the amazing people and work of AsOne at their 2024 Summit!

Immersion Trips

Finally, we recently began our 2024 Immersion Trips, bringing friends of AsOne from the US to experience the work first-hand. One of these trips came from Hope Haven International Ministries out of Rock Valley, Iowa to serve alongside our AsOne Health Centers in Mayuge, Idudi, and Namayemba. The communities were able to collaborate with the local government to find families and patients who were in need of wheelchairs. The Hope Haven team helped to fit wheelchairs for over 130 new recipients. This was a tremendous opportunity for our local health facilities to collaborate with the health officials and leadership from their districts.

We also have a team from Western Christian High School in Uganda this week for the third consecutive year hosting a camp for students in the community of Namayemba. Over the next several months, our Ugandan team will host ten Immersion Trips!

As I look back on the first few months of this year, I am filled with gratitude for the Lord’s faithfulness to me, to our team, and to the people of Uganda. God’s Kingdom is breaking into the communities we serve, and it’s a joy to participate in that work. In the midst of it, I feel the Kingdom breaking into my own heart as a result. I pray you would see and experience something similar through your own engagement with AsOne.

Organizational Update: Q1, 2024 Recap