Yes! Please send all correspondence to your sponsored child through Operation One’s office at:
Operation One
1500 NW 167th Place
Beaverton, OR 97006
The children do not have a post office to receive their mail, so we will forward the letters to the Operation One child welfare office in Uganda for delivery. The children are always eager to receive letters & pictures from their sponsors, so we encourage you to write often. Please be sure to include the child’s name and ACS or VOC number on all correspondence to ensure it gets to the correct recipient.
Sponsor generosity is a wonderful thing and we are so thankful for your heart for your child. However, it is incredibly difficult to track and transport individual gifts. The best way to support children is through community events that encourage all of the children and families in our programs equally. Therefore, we ask that you instead consider contributing financially to our annual initiatives, scholarship program, or consider a general donation to Operation One in your child’s honor.
Photos and letters are the best items to send to your sponsored child. If you still would really like to send something more, we ask that – at largest – it fits in a 6”x 9” manila envelope. Some appropriate items are seeds, school supplies, socks and underwear, stickers, and small books.
Absolutely! Just like you, the children love putting a name to a face, and would be excited to receive photos of you and your family. We ask that you do not send photos that include expressions of physical wealth (large homes, cars, boats, etc) or immodest dress (such as bathing suits). Pictures taken of you while visiting places is a great way to introduce the children to places they have never seen.
In an effort to protect privacy for both sponsors and children, all communication must go through Operation One. Please do not include your address, phone number, or email address in any correspondence with your sponsored child. Do not mention your child visiting you in America, or that you will help him/her get here. For example, if you asked a child if they would like to visit America, it would likely cause confusion because they would view the question as a promise for them to really visit. Your sponsored child’s status in the program may be at risk if these guidelines aren’t followed.
As an organization that sees its role as helping to facilitate positive relationships between sponsors and those they support, we discourage sponsors from using social media as an avenue for communication. We have experienced several situations created through social media connections that have put a sponsor and/or the child at risk for being taken advantage of or have created misunderstandings regarding financial donations. We recommend sponsors wait to become “friends” with a child until after they have left or graduated from our program. Operation One will gladly assist sponsors in connecting with those they support through letters.
In Uganda, the government boasts education for all children, but the reality is that Uganda’s public schools are incredibly overcrowded – with 100-300 students per teacher – and offer a very poor education. That is why most of our students attend a privately-run institution where school fees are paid each of the three terms in a school year. The school terms run roughly January-April, May-August and September-December.
Primary School begins with Nursery Classes, then proceeds with Primary 1 through Primary 7.
Secondary School proceeds with Senior 1 through Senior 6. Depending on performance, some students may opt to complete a 1-2 year vocational program after Senior 4, instead of completing Senior 5 and Senior 6.
In addition to their school uniforms, most schools require short hair as a sanitary precaution. You may have wondered why most children have shaved heads – even the girls! Shorter hair is also more conducive to warmer weather conditions. Your sponsorship helps provide a school uniform to each child.
We invite you to contribute in other ways that support your child- whether that be our Community Medical Centre, Avery’s Scholarship Fund for University students, or our Transition Fund which supports children in between sponsorship. Our development director would be happy to connect with you about meaningful giving opportunities ([email protected])
We invite you to contribute anytime to our Bridge of Hope general fund to support Operation One programs that serve your sponsored child (https://secure.givelively.org/donate/operation-one/bridge-of-hope). Operation One’s Avery Scholarship Program, Medical Centre Initiative, and Market Project are also ways to make an impact.
If you signed up here on our website, you don’t need to do anything to authorize the next month’s donation — it will automatically be charged to the credit card you used to donate the first time.
If you want to set up, or need to change your quarterly, biannual, or annual donations, please call our office at (503) 954-3711 or email [email protected].
Operation One is registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization (Tax ID# 20-4145965) and oversees the use of all funds to ensure they are used for charitable purposes. You will receive an annual year-end giving statement totaling all of your gifts in the year. Year-end giving statements are mailed out by the end of January each year.
There are circumstances that could occur in which your child could move into another area or leave AOET’s sponsorship program. For example, a relative may surface that could pay for their school fees, or the economic status of the family might change for the better, and they are no longer in need of a sponsor. There can also be unfortunate circumstances — such as pregnancy, marriage at a young age, or disinterest in getting an education — that could cause a student to leave our program.
In the event that any of these situations happen, we will notify you as soon as possible, and offer to assign you another child in need of sponsorship.
We also offer a dynamic University sponsorship program that allows sponsors to support their child’s post-secondary education.
In Uganda, there are many reasons why a child may not be able to start school at a young age, or there may be extended periods where school is missed due to illness, caring for ill relatives, or working to support the family. Often there are gaps in education, and it is normal for a student to be in their twenties and still in secondary school. In the communities we serve, employment opportunities are very few and it is often impossible for a student to attend school and work to pay for their school fees. Unlike in America, part-time work-study jobs are not available as a means for students to help pay for their education. Frequently, elder children are also responsible for helping provide for younger siblings.
AOET Uganda’s Child Welfare staff work hard with families and local community and church members to be sure that we are always caring for children with the most need. Many guardians in our program sacrificially care for numerous children – frequently 4-6 children live under one roof. The consistency of family life is one of the most significant factors in a child’s success. To support the family structure, we will often try to find sponsors for both birth and orphaned/fostered children. Due to AIDS/HIV, poverty and other harsh conditions, many families are in need of extra assistance, even if both parents are still living. For example, one parent might become severely ill, which could have major ramifications on the economic status of that family. When folks live this deep in poverty, they really just need someone to reach out and help them.
Operation One offers sponsorships to children living in Uganda.
Our partner organization, AOET~Uganda, runs three of their own schools: Rehaboth Integrated Primary School (RIPS), Rehaboth Integrated Primary School ~ Lira campus, and Rehaboth Integrated High School (RIHS). The first primary school is located in Bugembe, the second primary school is located in Lira, and the high school is located in Njeru. AOET chose to have their schools be “integrated,” meaning some of the students are sponsored, and some of the families are able to pay school fees on their own. Our Child Welfare staff in Uganda helps place students in schools based on their location, academic performance, and family needs. We currently have around 350 sponsored children attending either RIPS or RIHS, and roughly 625 sponsored children attending other schools in Uganda.
We welcome your support! Below are some ways you can continue to support Operation One:
- Pray for the work of Operation One.
- Support the general ministry of Operation One by making a secure, online donation today.
- Volunteer with Operation One in lovely Portland, Oregon.
- Advocate on behalf of Operation One in one of these areas:
- Child Sponsorship – Help us connect with folks in your area about sponsorship.
- Schools – Help us connect schools in your area with Operation One.
- Churches – Help us raise awareness in your church.
- Share our posts on your social media to advocate for vulnerable children
- Host a Micro Event in your community to share the work of Operation One with your circle
- Give to one of our many initiatives
- Plan to give to Operation One as part of your legacy planning
If you are interested in any of these areas, please contact our office at 503.954.3711 or [email protected].
Absolutely! After having a positive experience with us, there have been many sponsors who have expanded their support by adding additional children, donating to our transition fund (which helps cover children’s sponsorships if they are in between sponsors), or donating to our general fund to help support the vital administrative functions of Operation One.
Due to the subscription process of starting recurring payments, you must sign up to sponsor children one at a time on our site. Thank you for your patience.
Operation One commits to support a child through primary and secondary school (high school). In some circumstances, the child may have the opportunity to continue to move onto vocational training, and we will be in touch with the sponsors if/when that time comes.