The story of Beautiful Response began when Sonja and I stepped through the door of the Raising Up Hope for Uganda (RUHU) gate in 2010 and saw the faces of 40 beautiful children. Unbeknownst to us, we would be seeing those faces for the next 15 years.
In 2025, we returned together. On a Saturday evening, Sonja and I stepped into an event room in the Standard Hotel and saw those 40 faces, grown and matured, waiting to celebrate a reunion with us. Music began playing, and we all danced together. Kids that we held as 7-year-olds now danced with us as 22-year-old adults. The kids who were 10 or 11 when we first met them ran over to greet our own kids.
A projector showed pictures of the past 15 years, pulled from old Facebook posts. We ate and danced and many of the kids gave speeches about surviving bad times and persevering to achieve things they never thought possible. Someone leaned over to me and asked what we were celebrating. I said, “I’m not exactly sure. Just being together, I think.” There was no special occasion, except that 15 years later, we were all still there. And that seemed like enough for all of us to throw a party.
There were some newer faces, and many faces that had changed too much for my memory to keep their name tied to them. There were a few babies in the room, a second generation of RUHU. Each person shared what field of work or study they were in: Carpentry, Plumbing, Design, Hair Styling, Agriculture, Masonry, Nursing. Life is still hard for each person in that room. There are no shortcuts or easy paths.
15 years ago, I didn’t think we’d still be making regular trips to Uganda. I didn’t think we’d still be trying to raise money each year to fund the work of RUHU. Naively, I thought that if we helped those kids go to school, they’d be set for life. The cold reality is that education wasn’t a silver bullet for all their hardships. Jobs are scarce. Income is thin and occasional. And there are more unknowns about the future than any of us wish there would be.
But what all of those kids in that room know now is that we will be there. We don’t have all the answers, and we don’t have bottomless pockets. But in 5, 10, and 15 years from now, we’ll be there.
Some of you have been supporting these kids from the very beginning. You wrote us checks that sent them to school for the first time. Others might have started giving more recently. To each of you, thank you for helping us come alongside these beautiful young people.
Love, Caleb and Sonja
