EAMP was founded in December of 2008 by Rick Barkley and Isaac Julian.  We went to Uganda in November of that same year to volunteer at New Hope Orphanage in Busia Town.  It was amazing to see such a stark difference between two groups of children.  We first met the children living at New Hope.  I think the name New Hope perfectly describes where these children come from and where they are going.  Every child is born with an innocence and hope for the future.  I think of my daughter who believes that she can fly if she tries hard enough.  As a child I thought I could be or do anything I wanted.  These children on the street are the same way.  Only slowly, day by day, that hope is diminished as the harsh realities of their life are realized.   Then, just when it seemed there was no end to the injustice they faced, they were suddenly loved again, and a world of possibilities opened up to them once more.  

The children at New Hope are special because they do not take love for granted.  They fully know what it is like to go without, and are incredibly grateful for even the smallest act of kindness.  Things that we might not even notice are highly cherished and not forgotten.   They have incredible dreams, and passionately believe that they can achieve them. Then we visited the children that have not been lucky enough to be a part of New Hope.  In Uganda for every two people that died of AIDS, there were five new orphans. To date, there are over 2.3 million orphans in Uganda alone. Nearly 10% of the national population consists of orphans under the age of 18. Despite the country’s success in combating AIDS, the orphan crisis in Uganda is one of the most acute in the world.

The life of a Ugandan orphan is scarred by a degree of cruelty and neglect beyond the comprehension of most international observers. After watching both their parents waste away slowly from AIDS, the child is almost always left without an able or loving care giver. Siblings are invariably separated. Some are sent to grandparents, others to aunts, uncles and cousins. Orphans are treated as outsiders and given last priority in everything from distributing food at dinner to medical and school fees. If a foster family’s financial situation worsens, the orphans are the first forced onto the street. With nowhere to go, the girls are often forced into prostitution or an early marriage while the boys join the swelling ranks of the street kids-- homeless children who congregate in gangs, dig through garbage for food, sleep on store verandahs and subject themselves to all sorts of labor and sexual exploitation.

This is what motivated us to start EAMP.  We have seen the incredible potential of the children of Uganda, but there are still so many who have yet to get their chance to succeed.   Both of us have full time jobs in the corporate world and neither of us has a background in development.  We are just trying to do what we can to make a difference in a neglected region of the world