Sister-In-Law of Father Gabriel Ssenkindo SJU '01

Father Ssenkindo, or Fr. Gabe as he is known around CSB/SJU, is an elder monk at the Christ the King Priory in Tororo Uganda, a Benedictine monastic community dedicated to serving both the local community of Tororo and the people of Uganda as a whole. After helping to build the Monastery in the 1980's Fr. Gabe journeyed to Saint John's to study Philosophy and Theology. He maintains a strong connection to the Johnnie family to this day and has been the leading connection between Saint John's Abbey and monasteries in Uganda and Kenya for over 20 years. He welcomes volunteers of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps to his home monastery in Tororo, where he can be found cheering on Johnnie Football over 7000 miles from Collegeville.

The funds collected will go toward the education fees for Fr. Gabe's nieces and nephews. The family has worked hard to be self-sufficient and through both parents working, an irregularity in Uganda, they have been able to shoulder the burden of school fees throughout their children's lives. However, Tragedy recently struck when Fr. Gabe's Brother, Charles Alipo Kasenene passed suddenly and without any prior health complications. As a recently widowed mother, Silvia, pictured in the middle of her children, Clare (furthest left in the orange shirt depicting their late father) and Emmanuel (furthest right in the orange shirt) can no longer afford school fees, despite working diligently to do so.

School Fees in Uganda are small compared to the cost of education in the US, however, the average salary of a Ugandan is less than $1 USD per day. In addition to the low yearly income of most Ugandans, education is not publicly funded as it is in the US. In order for a child to attend school in grades K-12 the family must take on an enormous financial burden, making it almost impossible for most village families to educate their children. In order for the two children still in high school to complete their education, it will cost a total of 17,626,493 Ugandan Shillings, or $4,738. Clare's final year of high school will cost 1,323,300 Ugandan Shillings per term with three terms in a year. Emanuel's final three years of high school will cost a total of 1,455,300 Ugandan Shillings per term.

As Bennies and Johnnies we always say how important the CSB/SJU family is to all of us. We, the 2022-23 Benedictine Volunteer Corps Tororo volunteers ask you to extend a hand to a Johnnie in need, a Johnnie who truly lives a Benedictine life of Community, Once a Johnnie Always a Johnnie.

God Bless,

Lamont Tidstrom and Carter Howell BVC Tororo '22-'23