## 2023 has been a busy year for us as a charity and for Hope Village. This year there was a lot of movement within Hope Village as we had 5 families resettle outside of the village. These 5 families were the families of Josephine, Sophia, Sarah, Frank and Beatrice. Through a lot of hard work to save to buy land and build themselves their own houses, Sarah and Josephine resettled into their new homes. Beatrice’s husband got a new job far away that came with accommodation and so they moved there. Frank’s wife struggled with mental problems since the birth of their last baby, and he left to get her the help she needed, leaving his children in the care of Annet, our co-ordinator in Uganda to keep them safe from their mother until her health improves. Sophia got married and resettled in a new home with her new husband. In July we received the terrible news that just a few months after moving into her new home that she spent so long to build, Sarah was in a tragic accident on a motorcycle while travelling to visit her children at boarding school for parents’ day and passed away. This was a very sad time for all as we mourned the loss of such a hard working and dedicated mother. Over the course of 2023 we were therefore able to welcome 5 new families to Hope Village. Justine, a widow who was evicted from her home by her husband’s family after his death and left homeless with 8 children, 5 biological and 3 belonging to her sister who disappeared, moved into house 7 in April. Her children came with wounds and were so malnourished. Apophia, a 24 year old widow, who lost her husband in February, moved in to House 10 in April. Her husband Enock was murdered at a dam in Northern Uganda where he worked, and their house was burned down leaving them homeless with nothing. Apophia was left with 4 children and was also 5 months pregnant. She gave birth to Baby Karen safely in July. In May, Julian and her 4 children moved into house 11. She was married to a man who had 3 wives and was very cruel to her. The violence of the man led her to lose 2 children in one month, so she fled with her 4 remaining children before they came to any harm. Olivia and her 4 children moved into House 13 in June. She came to faith and became an active Christian, which her husband did not agree with and so her husband left her and made her homeless. Eight months pregnant Jannet, and husband Moses moved into House 20 in July. They worked hard to save and buy their own land, however they unknowingly purchased land from someone who had mortgaged it from the bank and ran away with the money, and the bank evicted them from the land that took them many years to acquire. They were left homeless and landless, with 4 children and Jannet heavily pregnant. They moved into Hope Village where she gave birth to baby Jacinth safely a short time later. Every new family being welcomed to the village comes at a cost to purchase all of the requirements they need, as most arrive with only the clothes on their back. £2050 was sent in total over the course of 2023 to cover the requirements of these 5 families. With these 5 new families comes lots of children needing to attend school and school fees needing to be funded. We were so thankful to have 9 new sponsors come forward in 2023. Again this year we were able to bring Child Evangelism Fellowship trainers to Inspired Hope Church for a week of intensive CEF training. This training has been such a blessing in previous years and we are very grateful of a kind donation that enables us to keep providing this training yearly. We were also able to send £1250 to build a house for a needy family in the community, and were kindly donated enough money to fund 2 other community housing projects. The weather continues to be a major struggle for our people. Many crops were destroyed this year due to the weather, the rain did not come and crops were lost. When the rain finally came, there was major flooding. This flooding led to 4 of the latrines for Hope Village collapsing which cost £1220 to fix. Because of the very poor crop, our families were not able to grow enough food to survive. Many times this year we sent extra funding to provide food for the families, especially during school holidays, totalling £2960. £550 was also sent to help with ploughing and planting of new crop. With all costs in Uganda rising, there is no longer enough budget in the sponsorship money being sent to provide the children’s requirements for each term, to cover the costs of children who are moving schools, or for examination fees. Funds were sent to cover these costs to ensure all our children continue to receive the best education we can provide. £3750 was sent in total to help with these costs. Our balance at the start of 2022 was £28,368.48 and we end the year with a balance of £18,481.39. During the course of this year we received £2,780.60 in general donations £11,505.00 in specific donations, £8,841.26 in gift aid and £39,446.00 in child sponsorship. Our total expenditure was £72,459.95 We are very thankful for so much support here in Northern Ireland to enable us to keep helping those in need in Uganda.