Taking you back to the beginning...
Okoa Refuge began as a vision to care for children. The vision has grown with the children and expanded far beyond the walls of Okoa's compound in Kayirikiti Village.
Since 2008, Okoa has been home to hundreds of children. Some for one day and others for several years. Many kids have been resettled back into loving families, fostered, or adopted. A few of our special young ones are now being held in the loving arms of their Father in Heaven. We are so thankful for the time that God gave us to spend with them, but we miss them every single day.
The Okoa Compound is a place of hope and joy...a refuge for children needing a place to sleep, eat and be loved for a while...a home for children to grow and mature.
Since its inception, Okoa has become so much more than a children's home. Many of the people who have come through the gates are those who have lost hope. This includes mothers, fathers, grandparents, youth...people from every walk of life. Okoa does not create or identify needs. Rather, Okoa works in partnership with the village in order to meet the needs that the people identify. Okoa's goal is to empower and enable rather than to create dependancy.
“Okoa intentionally and beautifully carries the heart of God into every project they take on and serves people so humbly that everyone involved is changed.”
Now see how far we have come
Since 2010 okoa refuge has...
...resettled more than 200 children
...hosted eighteen pastor's conferences
...purchased 70,000 rolls of toilet paper
...hosted 80 rural medical clinics and treated more than 46,000 people
...trained and assisted a co-op of women to open their own store
...hosted 66 mission teams
…successfully transitioned thirteen women out of prostitution
…started over 500 discovery bible study groups
...paid school fees for 36 terms
...participated in three marathons
...planted 4,200 coffee plants
...created jobs for 120 families of people with disabilities
…hosted six banquets for sex workers
...served 2,050,000 meals
...purchased 5,608 tubes of toothpaste
…graduated over 1,200 students from bible schools
...employed more than 120 Ugandans
...planted 135 churches
...empowered more than 1,400 families to break the cycle of poverty
...treated 10,000 people at the house of joy clinic
...opened 55 bible schools in four countries
...thrown 120 birthday parties
…supported 32 disabled children and their families
…handled 160 human rights cases
...created one big, unique, amazing, loving family!!