History of the Dream School

In early 2008, Kathy Ozzard Chism, at the time the Founder and Director of a small global nonprofit, received an email from Mpagi Edward Edmary in East Africa. Edward talked of how he had been held in horrific conditions on Death Row in Uganda for nearly 20 years as an innocent man.

Edward was a successful farmer when he was accused of killing a man who was found alive seven years into Edward's sentence. When the man he supposedly killed went to the prison and begged the guards to release Edward, they refused, saying the release would make them look bad. Edward spent nearly 13 more years on Death Row until Amnesty International was able to release him.

A man of deep Christian faith, Edward's dream the entire time in prison was to build a school and orphanage for the children of prisoners and AIDS orphans in his area of Kasenge, Uganda. Upon his release, Edward immediately forgave everyone and began a long search to find someone to help him build his dream. After four years, he found Kathy.  

With children eager to start school, classes began in 2014 before floors were even finished.  Today, our campus includes the Wisdom Library, seven classroom buildings, a kitchen building, a teacher's building and storage house, separate lavatories for the boys and girls, a water well that services the entire community as well as the school, a medical clinic, organic gardens, a laundry facility, electricity to all buildings, and a massive security wall around the entire complex. 

The campus also includes an orphanage building that houses street children and children rescued from abusive situations.