During Lenten season 2015, our pastor’s homily focused on the traditional three Lenten practices: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

As I reflected that season, I concluded that I had an active prayer life, and I engaged in periodic fasting, but I really had no concerted plan for almsgiving. Though I had been materially blessed, I gave no more thought to almsgiving than to write out a check for the occasional worthy charity appeal that came my way.

If I gave ten percent of my income, I thought, it could be a game-changer for people getting by with much less.

I reached out to a colleague from Uganda and asked if he knew an organization at home — maybe a school — that needed support. He said, “It’s amazing that you would ask, because my friends and I are supporting a school, and we’ve been praying for a way to do more for them.”

That conversation led to the creation of Bujuuko Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting high school students in Uganda through entrepreneurship. Though our operations have been on hiatus since COVID shut down international travel, we’re currently exploring new opportunities to pivot and revitalize our enterprise.

After all, “Bujuuko” is not only the name of the village and school where we started, it’s a Luganda word that means “a place where obstacles are overcome.”

This Lenten season, I pray for new energy and direction in our work to inspire Ugandan kids through entrepreneurship education. If you’re the praying type, perhaps you might pray for our enterprise too.