Key People: Thomas Lubari and Joyce Gaba
We had a lengthy discussion with Joyce about the personal support provided for Thomas. Thomas had been invited to a meeting of South Sudanese pastors and church representatives in Iowa and has been in the USA, returning to Uganda on 8th September.
Thomas’ activities in ministry take him far and wide and Bright Hope World has financially supported him over the years to enable him to continue to do this. We see benefit in this as he is available to do training in Foundations for Farming, and he and Joyce have also done training in trauma and healing for pastors and others in the refugee camps in the north. He is about to embark on a further Foundations for Farming training, at Bright Hope World’s request, in the north of Uganda.
There are always challenges in this environment and we know that Thomas and Joyce support many people at times and often do this very sacrificially so that they do not have much left for themselves. We also heard this directly from some of the beneficiaries in the Vocational Training Programme (UGA04c) and were aware from our visit in 2017 that they had rented a property at their own expense and paid for the food for a larger group of South Sudanese students who were doing an 8 month training course two years ago. These things put tremendous pressure on their finances.
Joyce continues to be employed in the same role as the administrator/PA to the founder of a Christian school and theological institute in Jinja. She is continuing towards completing her Bachelor of Human Resources as she can, however spoke about the challenges of paying course fees. Her income provides the foundational support for the family and Thomas has no regular income. Because Life Gospel Church is in an extremely poor area of Jinja it has always been unable to support them financially.
Thomas and Joyce’s children are doing well. The four eldest have now all graduated from university and they have the 13 year old still living with them.
Thomas has a lot of positive influence in many different communities and, apart from the church involvement, is effectively our connection with South Sudanese people both in Juba and Yei, and also in the refugee camps. There is a continued need for that and we think that the support given is money well spent and should continue as previously.
We do not see any reason to increase the support but this part of the relationship with them has assisted them greatly and we would simply endorse its continuation as per the present arrangements.