Chicagoland

Caring for children in Uganda,Kenya and Poland

By Michelle Martin | Assistant editor
Sunday, July 4, 2010

For Chris Hoar, it all comes down to love, the love that Jesus urged his followers to show one another.

That’s why the organization he and his wife, Barbara, founded is called Caritas for Children. Caritas, Latin for love, is what Hoar wants Catholics in the United States to give to children around the world who are in desperate need.

The Milwaukee-based not-for-profit is the only U.S.-based Catholic child-sponsorship organization. It gives people in the United States — and, through its website, around the world — the opportunity to provide a Catholic education to children in Uganda, Kenya and Poland. Hoar hopes to expand its reach as more sponsors sign on.

It works with established Catholic religious communities in their home countries, Hoar said, so that donors know the money is being used well.

Hoar visited Chicago at the end of May with Sister Immaculate Nabakulu, a Little Sister of St. Francis of Assisi and headmistress of a boarding school for 950 boys in Uganda, and two of her sisters, hoping to generate publicity for Caritas for Children and explore partnership possibilities with the archdiocese’s Office for Catholic Schools here.

The schools run by the Little Sisters of St. Francis are considered to be among the best in Uganda, Sister Immaculate said, and many of the students come from wealthier families who can pay for their education.

But the congregation wants to also educate children whose families cannot afford the cost, and that is where Caritas for Children comes in. The sisters in Uganda select children who would be eligible for sponsorship, and Caritas for Children helps find sponsors for them. Children and sponsors communicate through letters and pictures.

Education and more

Cost is about $1 a day for primary school students in day school — who receive meals, uniforms and medical care in addition to their education — and $3 a day for a student in boarding school. Secondary school sponsorships cost a bit more.

“These kids are happy to be in school,” Hoar said, noting that fewer than half of children in Uganda are in school, and those who are not in school must work.

While the schools are Catholic, they are open to all students. They do not proselytize, although all students do take Catholic religion classes.

Need partners

Among the organization’s partners are religious congregations in the United States, including the Servants of Mary in Ladysmith, Wis. Hoar said the group is looking for more sponsors, for teens and young adults to be “Caritas liaisons” who will help spread the word among their peers. He also would like to find priests who are willing to be “spiritual liaisons” and encourages all Catholics to pray for the effort.

“This is not just for the kids in Africa,” Hoar said. “This is also an opportunity to evangelize here, maybe in a little bit more subtle way.”

It turned out to be life-changing for one young woman, Mariah Mateo, from Milwaukee. After interviewing Hoar about service opportunities for a school project, she became interested in Caritas for Children. She not only sponsored a child, but traveled to Uganda to meet her student. She was accompanied by her parents and other family members. Now the family sponsors several students, Hoar said.

The Hoars started Caritas for Children as a resource for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago in an effort to set up international adoptions from Poland. The couple had adopted two children — a brother and sister — from Czestochowa independently in 1998, and thought that providing resources to others who were trying to adopt would benefit the children in Polish orphanages.

They still offer that help. Chris Hoar said, but soon decided it wasn’t enough, so they expanded to the child sponsorship program.

The sponsorships, Hoar explained, help create a personal bond, so that sponsors know that they are helping a real child.

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