Dear Friends,
We could not be more proud of Legacy Christian Academy, Uganda. In the last 10 years we have grown from 60 students to nearly 700! We have seen lives grow from babies to now mature young adults. We have experienced the thrill of watching many children come to true faith in Jesus Christ. And we are seeing how God can use a church and a school to impact a community. We are so grateful to God for all that He has done through many of you.
WHAT'S NEW AT LEGACY
Shannon Hurley
What changes have happened this year?
There are six major changes that have happened this year!
ONE- Legacy has added another level to its kindergarten. Since Uganda was colonized by the British, its official language is English and all education including its tests are conducted in English. However, due to our village being rural and lacking education, our community almost exclusively speaks the language of Luganda. Therefore, since almost all the children entering into kindergarten did not know English and language retention is easier the younger someone is, we felt that adding another level of education would greatly enhance their educational capacity at an early age.
TWO- We have added two teacher housing blocks (housing for 12 teachers), a new classroom for the secondary school, and a whole new kindergarten classroom area, thus separating the kindergarten students from the primary school students.
THREE- We have added 50 Shepherds Training College (STC) children. Due to the kick off of our degree program at STC, which includes 15 STC families moving onto the SOS campus, Legacy has amalgamated 50 children of STC students into its schools. The high standards of Legacy have given the pastors’ children a major lift in both their educational and social development.
FOUR- Legacy has enhanced its chapel services and Bible classes. We have created a whole stream of Bible teachers to focus on excellence in teaching Bible and in shepherding our children. Furthermore, chapels have been enhanced. Chapel has always been held at Legacy, but since SOS has grown in its capacity, our local church leadership and the Legacy administration have decided to put a greater focus on making chapel remarkable. The local church has been able to invest in our children’s spiritual focus.
FIVE- Legacy is providing our students with greater after-school enrichment programs. We are now offering music, God-exalting dance, baseball, basketball, netball, and volleyball. These have only added to the kids’ overall Legacy experience. They have built better friendships, skills, and camaraderie.
SIX- Legacy primary is now an officially fully government-authorized institution. At the same time Legacy High School has been government recognized and issued a certificate of registration. These both are major steps for Legacy Christian Academy!
Legacy Christian Academy is blessed by God. And this is possible because many members of God’s universal Church from many countries are joining hands to play their part in loving people in the name of Jesus Christ. Our board is fully committed, our staff is 100% dedicated, and all the different funding arms of this ministry are generously sacrificing to ensure lives are impacted. As a result, Legacy Christian Academy is transforming hearts, molding lives, and eternally changing the destiny of souls. We could not be more proud and thankful for all of you!
HOW IS LEGACY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY RUN?
Unfortunately many of you who support this exciting ministry will never get the opportunity to visit the school to see it in operation. So let me fill you in with some details:
Education System: Legacy consists of three schools: Kindergarten, a full primary (elementary) school and half of a secondary (junior high and high school). The reason we only have half of a secondary school is because we are still growing our school. Since the school's conception in 2013, we have added one level each year. In the last 11 years we have grown to the level of S.3, which leaves us with three more years to complete our secondary school. However, these next three years are the most important in a student’s education, because they set the course for their future employment. The Ugandan system is set up according to the prior British system and consists of three major tests: PLE (Primary Leaving Exam), "O Level" exam (Mid-Secondary Exam), and “A Level” exam (Secondary Leaving Exam). These final two tests happen in the last three years of a student’s education and they both set the student’s career path.
Population: Today, Legacy Christian Academy has 150 students in kindergarten, 410 students in primary, and 115 students in secondary. Within the next three years we anticipate adding another 150 to 200 students, taking the school to close to 900 students.
Administration: The primary and secondary schools consist of 1 headmaster, 5 supervisors, 45 teachers, and 675 students. Our 50 staff members, outside of the headmaster, all reside in Kubamitwe on the campus of SOS. This is because high quality housing that will attract high quality teachers in a rural setting is not existent, so the infrastructure had to and continues to be developed. The school is organized into groups that are led by a supervisor. These groups consist of K1-3, P1-3, P4-6, P7, and S1-3. Therefore, Legacy Christian Academy currently has 5 supervisors. The supervisor's job is to ensure that each of his or her teachers is cared for, is meeting the curriculum demands, and is effectively shepherding the students and parents under his care. These supervisors all report to our headmaster.
School Fees: For the purposes of parental ownership, every child of Legacy Christian Academy pays $15 per term. There are three terms. This pays for a single school uniform. The rest of the educational needs are met by sponsors from the US and Canada. They pay $45 a month per child. 100% of the $45 dollars given each month goes to Legacy Christian Academy, Uganda. The money goes into a LCA Ministry fund to pay for the running of the school. The sponsorship provides for:
- Salaries of all of our teachers and administrators
- Scholastic material for each student
- Teachers’ educational supplies
- Medical care for each student
- Extra Curricular activities
- Field trips
- Two meals a day: Breakfast and Lunch
- Special events and field trips
- Chapel services
- Uniforms: Sportswear
- Administrative services: Hospitality services, financial services, facility services, and grounds services
- All the extra stuff that makes Legacy's environment so loving, fun, and happy!
Typical daily Schedule:
7:00- 7:30 am Teachers and students report to school for breakfast.
7:30- 8:00 am Daily Assembly for prayer, routine anthems and reminders
8:00- 9:00 am Tuesday and Friday chapel for higher grades
9:00- 10:00 am Tuesday and Friday chapel for lower grades
10:00- 10:15 am Water break and Bathroom time
10:00- 12:00 pm Classroom work
11:30 - Friday Kindergarten Chapel
12:00- 1:30 pm Lunch rotations
1:00 pm - End of school for Kindergarten
1:30- 4:30 pm Afternoon Classes
2:30 pm- End of school day for 1st- 3rd
4:00 pm- End of school day for 4th- 6th
4:30 pm- End of school day for 7th and high school
MEET LEGACY'S LONGEST SERVING TEACHER
MEET FELISTAS NABASAGGI
Teacher Felistas Nabasaggi came to teach at Legacy in 2013 with 17 years of prior teaching experience. Felistas recalls, “the community welcomed me, loved me, and treated me well.” She came as a Catholic who thought she was saved. But after attending CBCK church services and women’s Bible studies, Felistas saw her need for a Savior and entered into a growing relationship with Christ. She recalls how the biblical worldview of the curriculum she taught even contributed to her personal spiritual growth.
The first years of Legacy Christian Academy were challenging. Not only was Legacy struggling to establish a school, but Legacy was also striving to instill the value of education in the hearts of the parents. Education had not been viewed as important. Since the parents hadn’t graduated from high school, they didn’t see the need for their children to neglect their crucial chores just to go to school. The community simply operated out of a survival mentality.
Felistas’s heart broke as she received her students who hadn’t been helped with hygiene at home. She would help them remove chiggers that had burrowed underneath their skin. And she quickly recalibrated her expectations for completed homework! She soon realized that her ministry would not only be to her students, but to their families.
Felistas is overwhelmed by the changes over the past decade. Not only have the school and staff grown exponentially, but the families have been deeply impacted. They now value education and work hard to provide their portion of school fees. Felistas now enjoys positive teacher/parent relationships. The parents even oversee their children’s homework!
Legacy has also advanced Felistas professionally. She is deeply grateful for the supplemental training from the short-term visiting teams of teachers who have invested weeks each year into improving her and the other faculty’s skills.
In addition to her positive work environment at Legacy, Felistas enjoys meaningful relationships within all of SOS’s departments. With her bubbly smile, she expounds, “moving to each corner of the campus, all employees are smiling and are working happily. You can’t go back home when you are the same.” She also enjoys the many opportunities to be involved in Bible studies, church services, conferences, and to be able to care for neighbors and the needy in our village.
Felistas’s family life is not the same as when she first came. She came as an unsaved single mother of 3. But God used her to impact her children! Currently her three children attend university and love the Lord!
Felistas looks forward to the future of Legacy. She concludes, “I am grateful for the impact that this experience has had on my life and am excited to continue making a difference in the lives of those children!”
DANIEL NTAMBI'S STORY
*Sensitive Material. Parents Read with Discretion to Children.
Meet Daniel Ntambi. He is in Senior 3 at Legacy Christian Academy. He has been attending Legacy Christian Academy since its first year, 2013. Daniel’s life began hard. He has never met his parents. He was told they passed away when he was very young. His Muslim paternal aunt lovingly took him in, but her husband made it clear he didn’t want him. He took out his anger on Daniel through physical and verbal abuse. His treatment was so terrifying that little Daniel would often avoid going “home”. He would attempt to sleep in the forest alone until his uncle’s hunt was successful and he would bring him back—to the dreaded beatings.
His aunt heard about Legacy and enrolled him as a 9 year-old. His aunt’s daughter lived closer to Legacy, so it was decided that all parties would be happier if Daniel moved in with this cousin. Unfortunately, she wasn’t much kinder than her father. She used him as slave labor and would often be seen beating him in public, frequently over the top of his head.
The one bright spot in Daniel’s life was going to Legacy Christian Academy each day, where he received loving care from his teachers. When he began as a Muslim student, he assumed Christianity wasn’t even an option since he was born and bred Muslim. His family heritage was all he knew and all he felt he needed to know.
Homelife with his cousin continued to worsen when she decided to leave her boyfriend and to bring Daniel back to her parents’ home. Daniel couldn’t imagine facing the abuse of his uncle. He didn’t think he could go on with his current existence. As his cousin was packing up, Daniel ran into the forest, climbed a tree, and spent the night there. In the morning, he made his way to Legacy for school.
His cousin came to school the next day and forced him to get in the back of the pickup truck to go to her parents’. When the truck slowed down, he jumped off and ran into the bush to hide. When it was dark, he made his way to a friend’s house to spend the night. He returned to Legacy the next morning for school. This continued for a week.
The last day of the week was Good Friday, so he and his Muslim classmates came to CBCK that night for a Good Friday movie. Following the movie, his friends decided to visit a local “disco” (nightclub) in the neighboring village. Conflicted in his conscience, never having been inside a disco, Daniel waited outside while his friends went in. But this was his mistake. A friend of his cousin saw him and shared his location.
Before he knew what was happening to him, he felt his hands caught from behind, ropes tightening around his wrists. An off-duty SOS security guard intervened and persuaded the man to take him untied. He was eventually shoved into the front seat of a car and slapped on the face and head the entire ride to his uncle’s home. Arriving after midnight, his uncle was prepared for him. He had cables ready for the beating. Daniel was forced to remove his clothes to endure a merciless beating that only ended when his aunt begged his uncle to stop.
Covered in welts from head to toe, Daniel was locked in the house with the family. Waking up before the others, Daniel found the key, let himself out of the house, and began running the 7 miles to SOS. His relatives caught up with him by car and spotted him, so he veered into the bush. He now knew he must avoid roads and public paths. He eventually made it all the way to SOS and found a staff member who took him to the police for a report. After the police confirmed he was old enough to choose where to live, he was brought to an SOS missionary’s home, where he has continued to live for the past 8 years.
The Lord started drawing his heart to Himself in the years that followed. He attended youth group and Sunday School at CBCK, but with English as his second language, he struggled to read the Bible for himself. But God planted His Word in his heart through Bible memory at Legacy. He would find himself turning towards the Lord at spiritual camps at Legacy, but the fears of disownment from older Muslim siblings would extinguish those spiritual sparks. He vacillated between Islam and Christianity, always comparing the two religions and doubting the truth. But eventually, God used the influence of Legacy chapels and his Christian environment to soften his heart to be convinced of the truth of Christianity.
Daniel has decided to follow Jesus and to lead his classmates to follow Christ. He is thankful for the impact of Legacy on his life both physically and spiritually. He knows that God used Legacy to literally save his life.
PRAY WITH US:
- Great academic performance of the 7th grade class in state exams
- Spiritual growth among students and teachers
- God’s provision to Legacy sponsors
