Project Cornerstone
In Uganda, the government provides primary education to level 7 for all children with fees needed to be paid for any further studies. This, however, typically precludes orphans because they have little to no income or support in order to pay these fees. And, for orphans living in northern Uganda, education is almost impossible to access because of the extremely dangerous conditions as a result of the brutal civil war that has raged there for over twenty years. So, without further education or vocational skills training they have very little hope of survival.
The mission of Cornerstone Foundation is to provide ‘free of charge’ education in the form of a ‘Vocational Training Centre’ for orphaned and destitute teenagers in Kitgum, northern Uganda in order to improve their economic and social well-being.
The ‘Cornerstone Vocational Training Centre’ will provide orphaned teenagers with the basic necessities of life - daily food, medical care, and clothing - and, most importantly, free-of-charge training in a wide range of areas such as building, carpentry, welding, fabricating, tailoring, bicycle maintenance & repairs, traditional Acholi crafts as well as computer and administration skills. This means that they can gain the skills necessary to get decent paid work and provide for themselves and their families
Equipped with such skills and knowledge, Cornerstone Foundation hopes that these young people will now not only survive but become productive, self sufficient and contribute towards Uganda’s high-potential future.
The centre will be located about 5km south of Kitgum town on 6 acres of land which was purchased through fundraising efforts and generous donations in 2002. In 2003 a 7ft high fence was erected around the property boundary for protection and security until building works commences.
The plan for the ‘Cornerstone Vocational Training Centre’ is to build 4 workshops, a kitchen and meal preparation area, a medical clinic, toilet facilities and staff accommodation. The plan also includes building a number of small ‘cottages’, each with a paid ‘house-mother’ to care for 5 or 6 young people who have been mutilated by the LRA.
CFA founding directors, Wayne and Bev Stevens, live ‘on-site’ in Kitgum, working hand in hand with the Acholi people. The ultimate goal is for ‘Ugandans to teach Ugandans’ and to rescue as many orphaned teenagers as possible from the cycle of poverty and death, and to demonstrate the love of Christ in a very practical way, to young people who otherwise have no future at all.