From poverty to promise: Witnessing Compassion’s life-changing work in Uganda

Having travelled to Uganda to report on their work first-hand, AJ Gomez says the Christian charity Compassion are breaking generational cycles of poverty and giving families a hope and a future

Our military-green Toyota Land Cruiser struggled up the sodden hillside of a remote village in Mbale, Uganda. As a thunderstorm began to undo the earth beneath us, we fought to reach the summit. There, Godwin’s house waited – a small concrete hut, home to the Compassion-supported child we were due to visit.

His father welcomed us with a speech steeped in gratitude before his family broke into a homely rendition of the African gospel staple: ‘Who has the final say’. My Premier colleagues, initially unfamiliar with the tune, quickly learned the sung response: “Jehovah has the final say!”