Does sponsoring a child REALLY make a difference?

“Wealth should flow through you like a river and not become stagnant by having a “dam” mentality”.

This is a belief that our long time friend and supporter, Michael Coorey, maintains and lives out both in his personal and professional life.

Michael (or Mike!) together with his family, have been involved with School for Life since 2015 after being introduced to our CEO, Annabelle Chauncy and connecting with our work in Uganda.

Not only are Mike’s family sponsoring two of our beautiful students from Mbazzi Primary, Gerald and Francis, but through his business, Strategic Planning Solutions, he is also a corporate supporter. As a corporate supporter, he has helped fund several key SFL projects over the years including raising funds for a 100,000 litre water tank, contributing to our bio-gas toilets and, just this year in May with a Donor Circle “Dinner for Purpose” event, raised funds for Internet infrastructure to provide permanent reception service to our schools.

Below are some projects he has helped us accomplish!

As a former high school teacher for many years, Mike understands greatly the value of education and, in particular, what education means to a child living in Uganda.

Below, he shares an incredibly uplifting and amazing story of how sponsorship does indeed change the course of a child’s life, having personally witnessed the transformation of a child he used to sponsor in his teaching days become an adult who rose out of the destitute future that lay before him.

This child, Raphael, re-wrote his narrative and has broken the cycle of poverty through an education afforded to him by sponsorship and he is now a successful, highly educated individual with a healthy family and in a comfortable financial position. A complete 180 turn around from the life he was living as a child!

We talked to Mike recently about why he has chosen to partner with School for Life, how child sponsorship truly makes a difference and why putting events on like “Dinner for Purpose” to engage his corporate network are important to him.

  1. Tell us a little bit about yourself?

    I live in Sydney, married to Deanna and we have two kids. Our daughter Claire, who recently got married to Tom, is also a supporter of SFL and has accompanied me on two trips to Uganda and also into the slums of India. Deanna and I work together in our financial planning practice, Strategic Planning Solutions, which is in Sydney, next to Barangaroo.

  2. How did you first come to hear about School for Life and our work?

    I was introduced to Annabelle by a friend of mine who was responsible for the charitable giving operations of corporations. He said, “You have to meet this lady because you’ve got a lot in common with her and the work she does.”

    Not long after this Annabelle and I met at my office, we discussed our respective charitable activities and commenced an enduring relationship, both at a personal and corporate level.

  3. What drew you to support School for Life - what do you like about our cause and why do you want to help "educate poverty out of existence"?

    Having been a high school teacher for 12 years in a past life, I maintain a great interest in education and understand, first-hand, the value of education in the lives of children, particularly in Uganda.

    In 1995 I organised a sponsorship of a child in Uganda, through what was known as Child Fund at the time, for a group of students in the pastoral care group I was head of. I left teaching in 1999, to start my financial planning practice, and handed over the responsibility of the sponsorship to a colleague who was taking over my role. From that point I’d actually forgotten all about the sponsorship of that child.

    Sometime in 2014, I received a Facebook friend request from somebody who I didn’t recall. Rather than deleting it, as I would normally do, I decided to leave it and many weeks down the track I was looking at the message and for some reason I decided to swap the first name and last name around and it suddenly struck me that this could’ve been the child that I had arranged the sponsorship for all those years ago. When I did this I thought, “Maybe this is the child we sponsored when I was teaching?” so I sent this message via Facebook Messenger:

    “Were you once a sponsor child of the Christian Children's Fund or Child Fund?”

    I then received this reply:

    “Absolutely yes Michael, I was under Laroo Child and Family Programme (LCFP). You were my sponsor for many years and I tried all possible means to reach you out and say thank you for such a kind heart.”

    I was blown away by the response!

    To cut a long story short, we ended up bringing Raphael to Australia help organise building a well for his village. My family and my friend Daniel, whose idea it was to build the well, flew to Uganda to be a part of the opening ceremony for the well!

    So, taking into account my previous time as a high school teacher and my connection with previous child sponsorships in Africa, in particular Uganda, I was instantly drawn to getting involved with SFL once I met with Annabelle and heard what SFL was about.

    Annabelle’s passion and energy and commitment to SFL made me want to be a part of the foundation and it’s amazing work, by impacting the lives of children (and their local community) through education and nourishment.

    I believe education is key to overcoming poverty. This is clearly demonstrated in Raphael’s life as he, due to the sponsorship he received, has numerous tertiary qualifications, his family is healthy, well educated and in an amazing financial position. His children now dream of being doctors, engineers and architects rather than working at a subsistence level on the land. Sponsorship changes people’s dreams and aspirations and also changes the course of the generations which follow. There is definitely a “ripple effect” when we give in the right places.

    We have been helping our clients achieve their financial and lifestyle goals by making smart decisions with their money for 22 years now. The financial success of our practice has enabled us to seek out and fund opportunities to support no-for-profits like SFL (even though SFL get nearly 100% of our focus!). I have always been of the belief that wealth should flow through you like a river and not become stagnant by having a “dam” mentality.

    I have made the point to our clients that even though they may not have been a direct contributor to our charitable activities, they have been an indirect contributor by being a client of our business!

    A client of mine once thanked me for providing them with an opportunity to donate and be a part of something, as people often don’t know where to give and can have a level of scepticism about the money reaching the people who need it. The fact that many of my clients know that I’ve actually been to the schools provides significant credibility to the projects and that we promote School for Life.

  4. How did you come up with the idea for "Dinner with a Purpose"? 

    I came up with “Dinner with a Purpose” because I like bringing people together to be a part of a “project” so that they can clearly know that they have been a part of something tangible and specific.

    In the past we have raised funds for a 100,000 litre water tank and contributed to the bio-gas toilets, for example. So, I asked Sani (Director of Philanthropy & Partnerships at School for Life) if there was something we could support this time and we went with helping fund the permanent Internet service for the schools.

    Once we decided on the event and its purpose, I started sending out invitation emails to specific clients, family and friends to gather support for the dinner. Meanwhile, Claire started inviting her friends to help make the event a financial success. The night was a success, from a financial and social point of view, and the feedback from the event was great!

  5. How long have you been running fundraising events in support of School for Life and have these been met with a lot of support from your clients?

    “Dinner with a Purpose” was our first event as such, however we have been supporting SFL via child sponsorship and funding projects since around 2015. The clients who attended loved being a part of what we are doing with SFL.

    So in light of the response, we look forward to organising another event in the future and involving our clients, friends and family again.

Below are some images on Mike and daughter Claire’s, trip to Uganda in 2018.

And from their “Dinner with a Purpose” event in May this year.

We are so grateful to Mike, his family and supporters like him who get involved in many different ways to give the gift of education to children who need it the most.

If you too would like to impact a child’s life the way Mike has witnessed, you can learn more about our Child Sponsorship program here.

Or if you would like to get your business involved in corporate philanthropy or host a Donor Circle event with your network, please get in touch with our Director of Philanthropy & Partnerships, Sani.

Success Stories
Goretti

Sweet and shy Goretti lives with her aunt, uncle and cousins in a small house in the local village. When Goretti was younger, she moved in with her aunt and uncle because her parents could no longer look after her. She was one of our first students at Katuuso Primary, starting in 2011 when she was just 4 years old. Now, Goretti is in Senior One at Mbazzi High School, and is relishing the honour of being a high school student in her community - something that is taken for granted in Australia, but in Uganda, represents freedom and opportunity. Goretti also loves attending School for Life because she hopes to one day become a pilot in Uganda - a dream which she knows can only be reached with the help of a good education.

Violah

Violah has been at School for Life since since she was six years old. Sadly, Violah has experienced hardship no child should ever deal with. Her Dad passed away three years ago, leaving her Mum without the financial means to support her family - so she left Violah and her siblings with their elderly grandmother. Every day, Violah has to wake up at 5am to fetch water, cook meals and make sure that her younger sisters are properly looked after. Then she walks half an hour to get to school. Despite this adversity, Violah has flourished at school and has made many friends. She loves that School for Life is "helping me to build a future". After finishing school, Violah hopes to become a teacher to help other children.

Umar

Umar is one of our best performing students at Mbazzi Riverside High School - but life has not always been easy for Umar. His father abandoned the family in 2015, leaving his mother to struggle to support her five children on her own. School for Life has provided Umar with opportunities that may never else have eventuated for him. Umar begun his journey with School for Life at Katuuso Primary School, where his academic ability was quickly revealed. Now, he is a thriving member of our Senior 1 class and a formidable wing on the football team. With a love for mathematics, Umar is set on studying electronic engineering after finishing his senior studies - a goal which he is the first to admit is now within reach thanks to the skills and resources provided to him by School for Life.

Rose Nambooze

Rose is a 32‐year‐old single mother of one. She started working with SFL in 2013, after taking part in our tailoring training program. Prior to working with us, she was unemployed and living in her father's home helping to care for her father, who had cataracts, and his farm.
Thanks to her full time employment, Rose was able to save enough money to pay for an eye operation and restore her father's sight, allowing him to return to work as a mechanic. Now, Rose has moved into her own home and no longer relies on her father financially. 

Joseph

Joseph is one of our Special Needs teachers at Katuuso. After surviving a severe case of malaria at age four, he was left permanently deaf. He was raised by his single mother and attended a nursery school for the handicapped and later transferred to a school for the Deaf in Kampala. He eventually mastered sign language and pursued a university degree in education. Joseph decided to become a teacher so that he could give the gift of education to others who are hearing impaired.

Teddy Namatovu

Teddy is a participant in the Kumi Tailoring Program and four of her five children attend Katuuso Primary School. She and her husband farm two acres of land, which supplies fluctuating revenue. Participation in the Kumi Tailoring Project has secured income to reliably pay for school fees, nutritious meals and renovations to the family home. Teddy has gained a great deal of self-esteem from her ability to support her family and she takes pride in independently financing the education of all five children. Teddy has also been working on her numeracy and administration skills. She was appointed Treasurer of the tailoring group and will be responsible for keeping records of their savings.

Flaviah Nassaazi

Flaviah Nassaazi started working at Katuuso Primary and Vocational School in 2011. Prior to cooking at the school, she and her husband were subsistence farmers. They worked tirelessly for small yields and minimal income to support their family. Flaviah's cooking job not only enables her to pay school fees for her children, but she has also invested in a local barbershop business. She is now passing her cooking skills onto her eldest son Frank, who has also joined the school's cooking staff. Flaviah and her husband attend the adult literacy classes offered weekly at the school. Her English and reading have improved immensely, as well as her confidence.

Rachel

In 2010, Rachel began as a cleaner at Katuuso Primary and Vocational School. She was working to save money to study to be a teacher at University. Thanks to Barrie and Simone Goldsmith, her dream of studying came true and she is now fully qualified.