Our premier projects are secondary schools for girls in Africa.

Fighting For Joy believes that we can all take action to improve one another’s lives. Spotlight Projects are specific humanitarian opportunities that align with Fighting For Joy’s mission to heal, empower and transform women worldwide. Building a secondary school for girls in Africa is something that the Lord put on our founder’s heart over a decade ago during a trip to East Africa. It’s only recently that the people, resources, and opportunities, have come together to create this reality, but this has been a long-held dream. Because of this, the inaugural projects revolve around secondary education for girls in Africa.

There are several countries in Africa, such as Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), that face daunting educational challenges- especially in providing quality and accessible education to adolescents. While the majority of children have access to primary school enrollment, only 1 in 4 in Uganda attend secondary school.* The statistics are even worse in the DRC, where 97% of the population is in learning poverty- meaning that they cannot read or understand simple statements. 

Geographically, the highest population of secondary school education in Uganda is seen in Kampala, with a little over half of the children there able to attend some kind of secondary school. The lowest density of secondary school education is in the Gulu, a remote area of Northern Uganda with only 7% of children able to attend secondary school. Regardless of whether a child is in a city or remote village, costs can as much as triple from primary to secondary school in Uganda.  The country’s school system was one of the last in Africa to reopen after the pandemic- opening in January 2022. UNICEF is warning of the potential of a “lost generation” due to the lengthy school closures. Even when schools reopened, about 1 in 10 children failed to return. 

The conflict-ridden Democratic Republic of Congo currently has over 2 million displaced men, women and children. Throughout the country, only 16% of girls have any access to secondary school education. Because of this, many are illiterate- unable to read or write basic sentences. Over half of all Congolese women have experienced physical abuse, with just under one-third experiencing sexual violence. Secondary school education is actually a protection for these girls. Early marriage and pregnancy is indirectly proportionate to educational opportunities for girls in the DRC. The higher their educational opportunity, the lower these rates occur. Educating girls in the DRC is one of the primary weapons used to break the cycles of poverty and lack of development in that country.

Unlike in the United States, public schools in many developing nations charge school fees just like private schools do. Many adolescents, especially girls, are kept out of secondary schools due to teen pregnancy, educational fees, and child marriage- all of which increased during school closures. School fees have risen alongside poverty rates, with up to 30% of families in Uganda alone pulling children, especially their daughters, out of school due to a lack of financial resources.