Grace International Childrens Foundation USA, Inc.

A key strategy to help the children under our care reach their full potential is providing a good education. Grace International Children's Foundation is committed to educating or training each child to the highest level he or she is capable of achieving. GICF also provides quality living arrangements to physically, spiritually and emotionally nurture the children under our care.

Grace International Children's Foundation USA, a nonprofit registered in Texas, raises the funding necessary for GICF projects and operations in Uganda. The Board of Directors of GICF USA provides long-term strategic direction to the organization, and identifies, prepares and sends missionary staff to assist with operations in Uganda.<br/><br/>Grace International Foundation, a Ugandan registered NGO, was created to operate the orphan care facilities day to day. We currently employ about 45 national staff who run the Children's Home itself as well as Lulwanda Primary School. The teenage children are placed in secondary boarding schools in keeping with Ugandan practice. Three missionary families introduce and train the national staff in Western practices such as financial accountability, and provide specific skills such as medical care.

The Management Team in Uganda is responsible for evaluating each child as to his or her educational progress and physical development. Individual review processes and standardized government-sponsored educational testing allow GICF to determine whether each child is healthy, physically and socially maturing, and succeeding in their education. Progress is also measured in terms of periodically taking in additional young orphaned children, and by our ability to adequately prepare the older children to successfully enter the Ugandan workforce.

Grace International Children's Foundation (GICF) has continued to grow the number of orphans under our care since the start of operations in 2004. The children continue to thrive and see Lulwanda Children's Home as their home and family. Lulwanda Primary School continues to be ranked in the top 10% of schools in Uganda. The recent opening of Lulwanda Tendo in nearby Mbale offers next step housing for the older children, and opened space at the original facility to accept 12 more young orphans. In 2018, GICF undertook a building program to transition from dormatory-style housing to a village of homes model. Each of the 8 new homes will house 10 children and a house mother, or mother and father when possible. By the end of the first year, 4 of the 8 homes were completed, and contributions have been strong enough build several more in the second year. Originally estimated to be a 3 year building program, all of our children will be in these small homes within the next year or two.