Exciting News in 2022!
Dear Friends,
There is always something energizing about a new year. The hope and promise of all that can be accomplished in 365 days is palpable. This year is truly a new year for Raise the Roof Academy!
January 10, 2022 will forever be a day of remembrance in our history as we kicked off the new school year and welcomed students—all students—back on campus. We are beginning the year by taking inventory and celebrating all that we are learning. After two years as a school dispersed in Village Student Study Groups, pivoting and adapting to all the disruptions that came with the pandemic, we’ve thrived in ways we couldn’t have anticipated and feel more prepared than ever to tackle the new year ahead. As students shuffle into their classrooms, the sounds of their laughter fills the campus and their voices rise in praise to God.
We celebrate all the ways we have thrived, innovated, and engaged in spite of the pandemic-related disruptions. Here are some of the many wonderful things that continue to happen through RTRA:
Our campus now has an expansive garden and two dairy cows to provide daily fresh vegetables and milk to students after the success of the Farm to Feed campaign last year, and more farmland is being cultivated.
In the residential program, we have welcomed back 329 students to live on campus—a combination of Forever Family students (children without caregivers), high school students, and all the Primary 7 students.
We have tripled our student leadership body as we’ve empowered more of our older students to lead one another.
When our staff was stretched thin because school was dispersed in the community, we created a new program of Community Education Officers (or CEOs) from among our caregivers who exhibited leadership qualities.
We opened our music program to more children and their caregivers, and hosted a music camp which resulted in the Love Opens Doors Musical Documentary.
With the expansion of our programming, we have recruited more staff and offered training that will enable our team to care for children who are emerging from a season that has been emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and socially disorienting.
In November, we launched the Love Opens Doors Scholarship to fund the education of 300 qualifying students that have either lost their sponsors or do not have the full sponsorship support for high school or Forever Family, and in December we premiered the Love Opens Doors Musical Documentary.
I am happy to report that as of January 10, 132 students (out of the 300) had support raised for their 2022 school year! We are working to find funding for the remaining 168 students who have a gap in their sponsorship.
We have started 2022 with a strong faith that love can open doors—this new school year has proven it! And we are challenging students to make 2022 a year to: Be Brave, Be Strong, Be Compassionate, Be Hopeful, Be Kind, Be Courageous, Be Prayerful because we believe they all BE-long and deserve the doors of opportunity to remain open.
You are vitally important to everything happening at Raise the Roof Academy. It is my prayer that God will bless you and your family in this new year. We are here for you and thank you for being present for the children. We are ever-tethered to hope, we hold fast to what is good, and with great expectation, we recommit to do everything possible to keep the doors of RTRA open for every child.
Happy new year, friends!
With Gratitude,
Marlene Ssebulime