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GOAL and The Church of Uganda School Prevention Projects
August 24, 2020
In 2013 Dr. Terry Webb met Fred Ochieng, a Kenyan student at Trinity (TSM) where Fred was completing his degree. As an alum, Terry had an opportunity to introduce him to GOAL's mission projects. After Fred's graduation, Uganda Christian University (UCU) hired Fred as director of Youth Sports. Fred met Joseph Musaalo, head of the counseling department at UCU, who expressed a need for a college wide prevention program for the student body. Joseph wrote a proposal to GOAL asking for their help. When the GOAL board next met at TSM, they voted to accept the challenge to assist the UCU counseling department launch their prevention program. After a year of planning and fund raising, GOAL sent a team for a two-week training of 90 student and faculty leaders as well as providing our presence to launch the project. Amy Sechrist from Compass Mark and Terry Webb facilitated the training and students created skits for all school awareness.
In 2014 GOAL and UCU entered into a three-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOU), supporting Ezra Napolean Timuhiri to implement the prevention project, leading the creation of a University wide drug abuse prevention policy, while overseeing the project and seeking community support.
In 2015 and 2016 Dr. David Whiters from GOAL continued the training introducing recovery coaching, recovery houses, and recovery walks. Some of those, Albert, Isharaza and others who were trained went on to start treatment centers in Uganda.
By 2017 Tom and Ellen Zamaria had joined as GOAL missionaries, staying at UCU, joining the Recovery Walk, visiting local schools, meeting with local recovery groups, and speaking at a Diocesan Convention.
Since then, Recovery walks have taken place every year with their own support from treatment centers and government agencies.
The GOAL/COU teams also visited and conducted trainings at local treatment centers, such as the Serenity Center.
When GOAL's original MOU with the University entered its third year of the project the University had agreed it would share some of the costs, the primary cost being Ezra's salary. In order to prepare for the meeting a GOAL team met with Archbishop Ntagali who, with the help of another TSM alum, Alison Barfoot, wrote a letter to the Rev. Dr. Stanley Semyoni, then Dean of the University, to encourage the administration to honor the GOAL agreement. However, at a meeting between GOAL missionaries and the administration, Dr. Semyoni informed the GOAL team that the University did not have the finances to honor their commitment to share in the cost. Meanwhile, Ezra and Joseph and another member of the UCU counseling department were selected to participate in the addiction certification process provided by the Colombo project, a certification addiction professional training funded by the US state department.
Subsequently Ezra was approached by the Church of Uganda (COU) to initiate a prevention project with all their secondary schools, The COU agreed to offer space and travel assistance. Tom and Ellen Zamaria returned to Kampala, Uganda in 2018 to negotiate a new MOU between GOAL and the Church of Uganda. That project, now in its second year, is on its way to receiving more and more local support in addition to the Church of Uganda and the Drug Abuse Authority of the Uganda government as secondary school students make becoming drug free popular.
The School-based drug abuse prevention program's vision is Safe schools, Ed-ucation Success. That success is evident because of the tremendous results in just two years' time: 150 University medical students have been trained, 37 Dioce-san Education Coordinators have been educated as well as 37 Diocesan Health Co-ordinators. 500 Head Teachers and 50 secondary schools are ready to start drug-free clubs and draft a Drug-Free Policy.
Here are some of the schools who have signed a pledge and started their clubs:
Donations can be sent to www.goalproject.org/missions
Launched in February of 2020 the Uganda Anglican Safe School Project is well on its way.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EZ5vioXP6jqDwvAjNFwHIDeFhuudhSIJ/view
https://marytheresawebb.com/
Under the leadership of the Archbishop Stephen Kazimba Mugalu and Ezra Napolean Timuhiri the Church of Uganda and GOAL Project are determined that by 2026 their combined efforts will have reached at least 180 (36%) COU founded secondary schools; 900 teachers, 5400 parents, 500 community leaders, 600 medical students.
Will you partner with us to make our vision a reality?
Donations can be sent to www.goalproject.org/missions
