STEP BY STEP HE LEADS US

Dear friends and family

We are always grateful to God for you and for the continued support towards the foundation and its programs.

Term one of this academic year-2025 started very well on the 3rd of February and it has been a full busy month. Details to come towards the end of March.

As the 2024 academic year was ending in early December, we received 99% of our learners promoted to the next class levels. We remain proud of all our children, teachers, parents and guardians, and the rural community.  

In mid-December 2024, our plans of setting up phase one of BLCDF Dream Star Care Centre boarding facilities for both boys and girls started. Some of our staff remained on ground during the holidays to help with work.  It is a real testimony and witness to God for HIs provision and for steady progress.

We also had a successful annual gala in mid-November 2024 and a top class graduation celebration with much singing, dancing, visitors, preaching, speeches, and gifts. It lasted all day and it was a great way to honour and send off our nursery section graduates to their primary level.

The next step for these children has been securing a placement in primary one at Agape Star Christian Nursery and Primary school. 

We are grateful to have all of them in primary one this new academic year. Most of them have had scholastic supplies done by the foundation through the school. We are thankful for the stationery support and for all the generous donations of friends and partners. 

This school year, scholarship donors and well-wishers are providing scholarships for up to 20 pupils at Agape. We are very thankful for this help as some of the supported families live in very difficult circumstances.

Barnabas Legacy Children’s Dream Foundation is also able to at least support a child at its Agape star Christian school through contributing towards Teachers’ salaries, meals, bills and general infrastructural development among others. All this happens because of your generous giving.

Besides running and managing activities at the foundation’s school, we are planning some more sustainable generating projects like goat farming at school and for the Arise Women in Business based at Katunda PAOG church. We want to get more involved in activities that will sustain the projects so we can also be more of a blessing to the vision.

Thank you to all of you who have helped in whichever way over the years with finances, prayers, supplies and/or encouragement. We couldn’t reach this far without you! And always, if you have any questions, comments, or want to know more about our work or ways to help, email us at barnabaslegacy@gmail.com

May the good Lord bless and keep you, give you grace and peace, and smile upon you!

Wamala Steven
Founder, CEO BLCDF & ASCS
AWIB Katunda Chapter Coordinator 
Co-Principal ASCS 

BRAVO FOR 2024!

Hello and Merry Christmas! 

I’m thinking about the way God has been so good to us, all; and how you have been so kind towards supporting us throughout this year. Making sure we are faithful with what God has given us is VERY important in this vision.

We want to raise our children with an understanding of just how blessed it is to depend on God, and that we have abundantly more than we could ask or imagine; the moment we learn to fully rely on Him. I have learned first-hand that the more faithful/generous you are, the more God pours into your life. Not just in finances but in relationships, opportunities and general happiness. It shouldn’t be the motivation behind our faithfulness and commitment; however God is good and does sweet things like that.

I am so excited for a couple of achievements this year. Our target from one of the family donors in Fiji – that gathered in late November was met, our school land is fully titled among others.  That gives us a living hope that we have a big God who uses friends and families that greatly think and love all we do for the children.

We have lots of activities and targets to meet each year. We praise God for all that has been realised and accomplished in 2024. Our mission remains centred around  empowering children of Uganda to impact their nation for Christ.” We believe it is one thing to help, and another thing to equip people to change their own world. Compared to us, the foundation kids don’t have much but they have everything they need and they are abundantly grateful to the One who provides and loves them.  It’s humbling.

There are so many ways to help our school children through the foundation. We can’t all do it all but we can all do something. I know, especially as the long holidays have approached, we feel pulled in lots of different directions and our list of things to buy or spend money on gets bigger. It only takes a little to make a big difference. So here they are; ways to help:

• Sponsor a student. You can pay monthly or up front and sponsor a child’s education, for the year. If you feel led to do that, you can find more information on www.barnabaslegacy.org. You can write to them letters, they can write to you letters. Our children know our sponsors by name and pray for them. It’s the sweetest thing.
• Buy shoes or a uniform. A pair of shoes costs $15. They’re adjustable and are heavy duty enough to last 5 years.  A uniform for school costs $20. Both of those could be a one-time donation with a big, practical impact.
• Plan to be part of a field visit to Uganda in August 2025. This is a yearly outreach for our friends and partners in Australia/New Zealand and other overseas areas. A fun full ten (10) days of activities and chances to spread and hear Good News. There’s more info on www.barnabaslegacy.org
• General donation. If none of the above appeals to you, find a cause that does: through www.barnabaslegacy.org. There is so much need, and little gestures can make big impacts. Do it for yourself. Do it as an example to your kids. Help them to realize the world is so much bigger than them. I dare you to find something and do something and watch God bless the gift and the giver.

To the awesome women, staff, parents, and all foundation/school colleagues in Uganda, thank you for the amazing work you do taking care of all our sweet, beautiful faces of children. Thank you for meeting practical needs and so much more. Thank you for affecting generations through the work you’re doing right now.

To our beautiful friends overseas (Australia and New Zealand), thank you so much for your kind heart in putting this together! There is no better time to look past ourselves and find ways we can help each other. 

Blessings & Happy New Year, 2025!

Wamala Steven
Founder, CEO BLCDF & ASCS
AWIB Katunda Chapter Coordinator 
Co-Principal ASCS 

Blessings!!

Wamala Steven
Founder BLCDF 
CEO BLCDF & ASCS
DWIB Katunda Chapter Coordinator 
Co-Principal ASCS 

SEEDS OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

One can have a vision and dream, but it will not come to fruition unless a person, many people or a group of people embrace and take part in it. As BLCDF, we thank God who connected us with a kind person (MC-Naroba) who wants to see children studying and women living Christ-centred lives. The vision and dream to have a Christian school, is (and will continue) taking many children to a better academic journey and total commitment to live a Christ-centred life and work with excellence. It is a pleasure having avenues thought of, and created for communication and discipleship, with hopes that our children will continue to be equipped holistically.

Dear friends and family in Christ, thank you for partnering with us in this life changing opportunity. Your partnership through financial support and prayers means a lot to us, the teachers, and students at Agape Star Christian School –Barnabas Legacy Children’s Dream Foundation. Seeds of growth and development are being sown each day!

Through your generous gifts as donors, sponsors, and prayer warriors, Agape Star Christian School – ASCS (Barnabas Legacy Children’s Dream Foundation) monthly operational needs are being met.  Our foundation children are in school engaging in quality lessons taught by our Ugandan teachers and we can undertake all projects as in our usual reports.   It is a blessing to see what God is doing in this ministry.

At ASCS, we promote sharing the Gospel with many different people, including some of our teachers and students.  All our teachers are encouraged to spend most of the time with the students.  And, we are always very grateful to share testimonies with you about the great things God is doing in the lives of our children/women. 

God has also put it on our hearts to share our progress with other local, like-minded people.  Please receive our heartfelt thanks and appreciation – for making a lasting difference!

May God richly bless you! 

Blessings!!

Wamala Steven

Founder BLCDF 
CEO BLCDF & ASCS
DWIB Katunda Chapter Coordinator 
Co-Principal ASCS 

WE ARE SAYING THANK YOU!!

(To All Our Donors and Supporters)

Barnabas Legacy Children’s Dream Foundation & Agape Star Christian School has now received support of $8,100USD since the start of 2024, of which approximately $3,150USD went to support teachers’ salaries & $3500USD has helped in the ongoing operational costs and other project purchases, which included $700USD went for repairs on the school van. Additionally, $1,000USD was set aside for anticipated farming projects with the Mighty Deborah Projects. Special funds collected for the scholarship students were used to meet the academic needs of over 30 children under this program this year. Approximately 5% ($450) of your donations went for banking fees, tax accounting, printing & mailing costs. The dollars you send to the foundation support this ministry’s children, women and teachers. Thank you for all your continual support and prayers!

We received a word of thanks from the area division chairperson’s office and local council. One chairperson stated that our school, through the foundation, is one of the few school organisations that have continued to support teachers while schools are in the holiday session during the community and especially during the ongoing financial crisis. Those thanks belong to you, our faithful donors. Your continued support has always allowed us to send provisions so that teacher families could purchase food during this crucial time and that our children continue having an academic journey of great hope.

Agape Star Christian School, our BLCDF School, will have its term two session end on 23rd August 2024, and the last session (term three) in the academic year will resume on 16th September 2024. All Ugandan schools are officially slated to end the term and resume for term three on the very days, respectively. There will be three weeks for children to relax and have a break from school academics business. 

We ask you to consider still supporting our children, women or school projects through the foundation. You can also consider joining a team of friends for an annual field visit in July/August 2025. 

If you would like to participate, support as a sponsor or donor to offset event expenses or join a team for a field visit next year, please get in touch with us at barnabaslegacy@gmail.com. 

Blessings!!

Wamala Steven

Founder BLCDF 
CEO BLCDF & ASCS
DWIB Katunda Chapter Coordinator 
Co-Principal ASCS 

When the foundation opened up its school in 2023, there were only 4 teachers, 64 children, no water tank, inside wasn’t painted, no compound grass and all the surrounding areas of the school were bushy, and so many other things now present were not in place. Today, we have all classes painted inside, and the foundation tries to cater for all children, and we are getting to a Scholarship capacity of over 30 children being supported by different donor families. 

We have a school anthem, our own composed school songs, water at school, with added numbers of children and desks for the school. Each term last year, we had a new development at school and in the lives of Deborah Women. We hope and are very optimistic that each year (starting with 2024, being our second year); we shall have an added structure at the school premises. 

We are currently praying for Dorms (and these will also be used as a child care centre at the school). A new class of students will also be added each year, as the youngest class moves up a grade level. In the next year, we believe, we will have 2 well-furnished dorms and we’ll be at capacity. And with that kind of growth in the next year, the number of other buildings on the school campus will have to grow as well. Not only will there be dorms to house our students, there will also be more classrooms, a new library, bigger kitchens, and one of the classrooms will act as a main hall/chapel for our learners as they will have doubled in size and numbers. There will also be a secondary school at our campus in the next two years.

So why are we taking the time now to look back and see how much we have grown? Because our second year of school has begun in power and clear organisation and all our children are in good health. We never knew we could reach this far. Come December of this year, we will have our second academic year completed! This may seem simple now, but at the beginning, it seemed like a very long and difficult journey ahead.

God leads the Israelites to an incredible victory in 1 Samuel 7, and in response, Samuel erects an Ebenezer stone meaning “the stone of help.” Samuel recognizes the source of their victory and publicly declares it. By commemorating God’s goodness in a permanent way, it ensured that the Israelites would not forget God’s grace.

And in a similar way now, we want to take the time now to remember how God has helped us. We want to think about all the prayers God has answered since the 15th day of June 2022 when we first broke the ground with the first brick being laid on this campus until now. All the impossible things that God has made possible. All of the growth and goodness, because of God’s provision. May we glorify God in our remembering, and keep in the front of our minds how far He has brought us, and how He will continue to guide us in the years to come. May we never forget His grace!

We are so excited to cheer on our supporters, and we give thanks to God for bringing us this far. What a joy it is to look back and remember!

For His Love Compels Us.

Thank you!

Wamala Steven

Founder BLCDF 
CEO BLCDF & ASCS