Report from BHW Uganda Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

We met initially with Thomas Lubari at Source Café in Jinja on 17 September 2025 and had a very extensive discussion with him first and then were joined by Joyce at lunch time and continued discussions regarding their respective involvements. Later that afternoon we went out with Thomas in the vehicle that we had hired and visited some of the vocational training students (UGA04c). 

Later that evening Joyce joined us at the place where we were staying and we had dinner together and had the opportunity to have a very productive discussion around the various aspects of ministry that are going on and that they are undertaking. We were very encouraged by this meeting.

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Personal

Joyce continues to be employed by a Christian NGO in Jinja. She still loves her job but, in her own words, she is becoming quite tired and is not sure what the future holds in that role. Effectively, she is the only regular income earner in the family. 

Thomas continues to pastor the Life Gospel Church in Njeru, Jinja. The church is doing okay and has more than 100 members now, but it is important to remember that this is in a very poor area and there is not enough income from this church to support him and his family. He also has a significant focus among South Sudanese refugees (UGA08) and in the vocational training programme (UGA04c) which have been reported on separately. Thomas also has a real heart for the trauma that has been suffered by refugees in the camps. Not only have they lost their homes and livelihoods and are reduced to poverty, but most of them have stories of loss of family members, either violently in the various wars that are ongoing, or to sickness in the refugee camps. Some of these stories are truly tragic, and we can see that Thomas and Joyce have been deeply affected by their involvement with these people. We have met some of these people at Foundations for Farming training seminars that we have facilitated, particularly in Jinja over the years. 

Vocational Training Programme (UGA04c)

The vocational training programme continues to have 15 people in it, despite the fact that costs are increasing exponentially. We note that Thomas and Joyce support some of these students from their own resources. You will see from the report regarding the vocational training that several of the students are doing exceptionally well, and we very much enjoyed meeting with them and seeing the potential. That has been borne out over a number of years, and we are strongly supportive of this programme. 

Foundations for Farming Training (UGA08)

Thomas continues to do Foundations for Farming training and carried out 10 trainings in various places, mainly refugee camps, this year. He is in the process of providing a budget and proposal for the year ahead. We would like to see him continue to do this training as last year he trained 330 people, with the direct beneficiaries, largely family members, estimated at approximately 2,300. Because of the way that Thomas does his training, he also adds in a component on trauma healing as part of it.

Koboko Microloan Programme (UGA04e)

The Koboko Microloan Programme is continuing but on a slightly reduced scale. It is up to Thomas and Joyce to decide how much more of the allocated funding they are going to put into that this year. The extra payment of $1,000 that was scheduled for July 2025 actually got allocated to the vocational training programme due to a misunderstanding in the payment schedule from our end. We anticipate that there will be a further payment into the programme next year and understand it is under reliable management. The previous loan programme in Jinja (UGA04b) is no longer operational.

Trauma Counselling for Refugees (UGA04f)

The trauma counselling is continuing as well, and Thomas is wanting to do further trainings in other refugee camps this year. He says the benefits of this training are inestimable but are quite hard to quantify. We would understand that to be correct and have talked to Pastor Obadiah Batali, who has benefited from the training that Thomas has done. We also note that the people trained are also continuing to care for those in their own communities.

Financial Support

For many years now we have been financially supporting Thomas and Joyce directly as they carry out their various aspects of ministry. This has been a very modest amount of money and is still continuing. However, last year we had some discussions with them, and also the Bright Hope World Executive had a review of the various aspects of the partnership. Out of that came the decision to fund their personal support, the vocational training, the Foundations for Farming training, and the trauma healing training, along with the Koboko microloan programme as a bulk fund and we have given them a degree of latitude to determine how this support has been split.

Comments

We would like the financial support for Thomas and Joyce as a personal couple to continue as part of the component of global support. We love these guys and believe that they are doing wonderful things. Of all of our Ugandan partners, they are the most mobile in the country and appear to have the widest level of connection, particularly into the refugee camps. Thomas said that every time he goes to a refugee camp, he gets sick, either with malaria, typhoid, or similar. At times he also suffers from excruciating pain in his lower back. But he does not stop doing it, and we are grateful for that.

We do not have any problems or difficulties with what we have seen to date in this partnership and are greatly encouraged by the dedication and progress that has been made.