09/12/2026
“Life would be hard if I did not get this opportunity, it is because of them where I am now.”
Micheal Kyarikora's story is one of the hundreds of success stories to come out of Uganda NGO Victory Africa Ministries' work, one of Lekishon Outreach’s original partnerships.
The 26-year-old educator and business owner’s story started when he was seven-years-old. As he tells it, his family were poor farmers living deep in a rural village outside Kabale, Uganda, where VAM operates, when the founders Edward Kanyesigye and Peace Komugisha came for him.
Since that day, Micheal grew up with VAM as his family and Edward and Peace, as father, mother figures. His education, from primary school through college, was all paid for through the sponsorship program Lekishon Outreach helps fund. This year alone, Lekishon Outreach is sponsoring 19 young students like Micheal.
Peace, who is a social worker by profession, says that’s why they sponsor children like Micheal: “I learned how to give love to those children, and they come close to me. When they come, I don’t separate them from my family.”
Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world. This has created an unemployment crisis because there aren’t enough jobs to support young people, and the situation is considerably worse for those without any kind of formal education. Lekishon Outreach’s partnership with VAM through the educational sponsorship program is addressing this issue by uplifting marginalized youth.
Edward says he believes something that is community driven will always be sustainable: “This [VAM] is the initiative identified by the needs of the community so I think it will last even when we are gone.”
The sponsorship program is just one part of the work this NGO is doing to better the lives of people in southern Uganda.
Another VAM program that Lekishon Outreach has been supporting for many years is addressing another gap in the workforce: Women.
VAM provides agri-business start-up funds and training for women who are heads of household, empowering them with the means to provide their families with sustainable income.
One of the recipients is Jenifer Kembabazi. Through the program, she was able to purchase eight pigs which she raises, breeds and sells. VAM also provides funding for manure for her garden, school fees for her children and covers medical expenses for the family.
Jenifer says the support from the Victory Micro-Business program will help her family for generations to come: “I have hope that when I’m old, the children are working, they have jobs, they will look after me and they will get good families and look after their families ... and put them in school for [a] great future.”
This year, Lekishon Outreach funded six start ups and is aiming for six or more in 2027.
Edward says VAM started this because he knew they couldn’t sponsor every child: “But, if we empower the family, we believe the family would be able to do business and help [their] kids [get educated].”
To sponsor a micro agri-business start-up costs $350.
Sponsoring a student is $500 per academic year.
The need is immense, so we are always looking for new sponsors. Help us increase our outreach to marginalized children and women!
Click the link in our bio to donate or get more information on these and many other programs we fund.
Freelance Journalist Jamil Donith went to Uganda in 2025 to shoot a story on VAM and their efforts to deal with the unemployment crisis in the country. She shot and edited this video with the content she captured during her project.
