Uganda Hope Project

In Uganda, more than one in three girls and one in six boys are victims of sexual abuse. Vanessa was one of them, but with Jesus, she found the hope and courage needed to rescue other children experiencing abuse in Uganda.

Vanessa was nine years old when her uncle first started abusing her. When she told her father about the abuse, he began to abuse her, too.  

When she told the police about the abuse they arrested her uncle, but her grandmother bribed them for his release. She told Vanessa to find a new home, because she was no longer a member of the family. 

The police didn’t know what to do with Vanessa, so they held her in a jail cell for two weeks before handing her over to a social worker. It was at that social worker’s office that a missionary couple found her. Through God’s providence, that couple adopted her into their family and made sure she received the help she needed to recover physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Vanessa later joined the Big Brothers and Sisters program led by WGM global worker J. W. One day, she approached J and said, “Hey, my uncle and my dad abused me. I want to know how to forgive them, because I feel like God’s angry with me.” 

J walked Vanessa through the forgiveness process. While under J’s discipleship, Vanessa also gained the courage to share her testimony for the first time.

God redeemed the situation, but Vanessa—now a college student—knows that most children in Uganda don’t have access to the kind of care she received.

So, she created Rescue One More (R1M), an organization that joins forces with the Ugandan church, local authorities, and partner organizations to give survivors a pathway to safety, justice, and healing. 

R1M streamlines the response to sexual abuse by creating Community Action Teams in each community. These teams are child-centric, working with the survivor from the time he or she reports the abuse, all the way through resettlement in a safe and loving home.  

Vanessa wants to provide safety, justice, and healing to all survivors of child sexual abuse in Uganda. Her goal is to never have to turn a child away. With your financial partnership, this goal can be achieved.

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:20 NIV).