 |
 |
 |
|
Resettlement & Agricultural Assistance Biodiesel & Sustainable Rural Technologies Program |
How We Began ( "About Pilgrim")Pilgrim's vision of aid, comfort and relief arose from a simple Christian response to tragedy. Calvin Echodu, Pilgrim's founder, felt deeply called to respond to the plight of the suffering populations forgotten and abandoned in the internally displaced persons refugee (IDP) camps in northeastern Uganda. Generations are growing up in intolerable conditions that blight lives and hopes and cripple the economic fortitude and future of the country. More than a million people in the northeast still live in these refugee camps: families broken by war, children orphaned by AIDS, farmers who cannot farm, and children who cannot go to school. Life in these camps is characterized by crippling poverty, disease, hunger, lack of clothing and shelter, increasing environmental degradation, and the loss of heritage and traditional ways of life. When Calvin witnessed these conditions, it felt like a betrayal of God and the essence of humanity that some would be left to suffer and die without hope while the rest went on with their lives. Founding Board members Anthony Esenu and Wilson Opio shared Calvin's passion for the hurting, as well as his faith in the possibilities of restoration and repair for these communities. Together they dreamed of raising a witness of Christ's revolutionary love in the midst of these difficult conditions, and of lighting a pathway towards both temporal and eternal hope. In 2001, Pilgrim was born. Board of Trustees
Mr. Calvin Echodu, Chair
|
|
