New Year Update from the ALI Board…

dear friend of ali -

Happy New Year! On behalf of the Board of Directors of Advancing Leaders International (ALI) and our Executive Director, Karin Knutson, we wish you joy and peace as we begin a new year. I am writing to thank you for your past support, and to update you on some exciting ways you can be part of what ALI will be doing in 2023.

2022 In Review. 2022 was a year of blessing and faith-building for the ALI family. Through your generous giving, we experienced God’s blessings in many ways. In spite of continued issues with the pandemic, political unrest and other interruptions, our Uganda-based ALI staff were able to continue our efforts to equip teachers and students in hard places.

• We continued our work of bringing educational resources and mentoring support to teachers and students in refugee areas of Northern Uganda (known as Camp Rhino). Our in-country staff continued to provide hands-on coaching and mentoring to teachers and school leaders. This was done through two conferences hosted by ALI as well as ongoing monthly visits to encourage and support teachers struggling to work in very crowded classrooms with very limited resources. Through your generosity, we also were able to meet some very basic physical needs. ALI furnished two classrooms at Royal International Primary with desks enabling 100 students to sit comfortably at a table and not have to learn while reading and writing on their laps. ALI has completed its work with some schools, and added new schools where mentoring has now begun.

• God sustained our Executive Director, Karin Knutson through a difficult year. We are grateful for Karin’s leadership of ALI in spite of battling health challenges here at home. Karin suffered a debilitating leg injury in July 2022 and her recovery has been slow. We are praying that God will continue to heal and restore. Meanwhile, Karin cared for her husband, Randy who continued his treatment for pancreatic cancer throughout 2022. As you may know, Randy went to his Heavenly Home on December 22, 2022. Our Board extends its deepest sympathy to Karin and the Knutson family during this time of loss and transition.

Our Vision for 2023. ALI will continue to keep a narrow focus on equipping schools in Northern Uganda where we have built strong relationships over the years. This is where our staff trains and equips teachers (many of whom are volunteers with no formal training) who are committed to teaching refugee students. Our 2023 plans include:

• Hosting 2 teacher conferences that will equip nearly 100 teachers from three area schools.

• Offering on-site mentoring of teachers and school administrators to better equip them in their work. This impacts over 1900 students at 3 different schools.

• Engaging in 1:1 focused mentoring with 12 teachers and 10 school leaders to more intentionally impact the success of the refugee schools

• Introducing the use of learning centers in the kindergarten sections of the schools to help increase student engagement and manage the overwhelming class number, setting up a community library within one of our partner schools, and furnishing another 2 classrooms with desks.

• Expanding our Uganda-based staff as the Lord provides.

As we begin 2023, we’re excited to announce a Matched Giving Challenge.

Here’s the opportunity: All gifts received on or before March 31, 2023 will be matched by an ALI donor on a dollar-for-dollar basis—up to $25,000!

You can donate by clicking the “DONATE” tab for more information on how to give quickly and securely!

On behalf of our entire Board of Directors, thank you for considering a one-time or recurring gift to ALI. We look forward to what God will do through all of us in the coming year.

Gratefully, 

Tom Pareigat
Board Chair, Advancing Leaders International

P.S. For more information on what God has done through ALI in 2022, please see our Instagram page “let_us_advance_leaders” or check out our website at www.advancingleaders.org.