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Meet Your Neighbor: Fr. Mugagga Lule
By Callie Thomas
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” – John 15:13
As Fr. Mugagga Lule sees it, “If we are able to make the little sacrifices every day for the sake of love, all of us together can transform the world into a far better place.” The Henderson resident and Catholic priest has done much to encourage others to open their hearts throughout his 15 year career providing spiritual guidance and caring for others. He has taught in seminary, high school, done parish work and, in particular, spent a great deal of time assisting disadvantaged children. “My work as a priest gives me numerous opportunities to work directly with people from every walk of life,” Fr. Mugagga said. “It gave me the wonderful opportunity to become involved with disadvantaged girls in Uganda.”
Father is associated with the St. Elizabeth Girl’s Academy and Home, an organization founded in 1997 to assist orphaned girls in Uganda, East Africa. “Due to the many unfortunate circumstances we find ourselves in (war, disease, poverty), Uganda has had two million orphans in the past 20 years, mostly due to AIDS and war,” he said. The home is a small effort to help give orphaned girls a chance at a better life by rescuing street children ranging from birth to 21 years old. The goal is to promote the survival, protection, and development of these unfortunate children. St. Elizabeth’s Girls Academy empowers them with survival skills for self reliance. Vocational training skills are offered including catering, tailoring, home economics, computer skills, agriculture, and the breeding of livestock. Students receive needed physical and emotional support, and each girl may attend two counseling and guidance sessions which are provided each week. “The girls also attend mass four times per week and clean and care for the facility on an on-going basis,” says Fr. Mugagga. “In addition, we provide social and spiritual development and support, recreational activities and girl”s sports programs.”
Fr. Mugagga has first-hand knowledge of the challenges in Uganda, having been born there as the youngest of nine children. Since founding the home, many of the girls have acquired the skills they need to succeed in a tough environment like Uganda. “There is an orphan who was helped by our academy and now she owns a restaurant. Some have graduated from college and are living relatively decent lives,” says the Father. “We have others in different schools learning a variety of skills and trades.”
Fr. Mugagga is also closely associated with a Las Vegas based nonprofit organization called Hope for Hearts, which provides important funding for the academy. The school relies on private donations and the sale of Hope for Hearts products, which include one-of-a-kind handmade jewelry created with beads from recycled paper. The necklaces, bracelets and earrings are eco-friendly, and proceeds from the sales benefit the students.
Since the academy’s inception, an average of 200 girls live in tents and dilapidated buildings on a one acre piece of land. If larger facilities were available, the number could grow to well over 1,000. Fr. Mugagga and the academy hope to someday build a campus called SEGA on a 50 acre piece of land.
Fr. Mugagga Lule is proud of the achievements reached by the many orphaned girls that have been assisted through the academy and who have gone on to live healthier, happier, productive lives. Father believes that this success is built on the efforts of a community of loving, caring people rather than his own. “My success depends on others doing their part. Success does not depend on any one person, but by every person fulfilling their responsibility to give back to the whole. As humans we are independent, but we are not meant to live in solitude, but in a living and loving communion with others.” For more information on Hope for Hearts, visit www.hope4hearts.org or call 412-6571.
Good work Fr. Mugagga my former teacher and great friend. Thank you for coming to the plight of the suffering girls in Uganda!
May the almighty bless him abundantly