Our Story
Supporting Opportunities for Ugandans to Learn (S.O.U.L.) Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Brooke Stern and her father, Kenneth Stern in the Bujugali Falls region of Uganda. S.O.U.L.'s mission is to foster sustainable and vibrant Ugandan communities through unique partnerships focused on education, women’s empowerment, food security, and maternal health.
Shortly after finishing nursing school in 2009, Brooke and her father, Kenneth Stern, set out on a backpacking trip through Eastern Africa. After spending just five days in poverty-stricken Bujagali Falls, Brooke's idea of creating a not-for-profit foundation devoted to helping the impoverished Ugandan community began to take shape. In reflecting on her first visit to Uganda, Brooke states, "In the village, we saw hunger but we also saw thirst: thirst for knowledge, thirst for a better tomorrow, thirst for the opportunity to lift themselves out of gripping poverty."
Brooke returned to Uganda one month after her initial life-changing visit. She immersed herself in the culture and community for 13 months. Like her village neighbors, she lived without electricity, hot water or the comforts of modern society. She devoted this first year to listening to and learning from the villagers before she realized that the most effective S.O.U.L.ution for the community would involve a focus on accessibility to education. It was shortly after that S.O.U.L. Foundation was born.
