We believe in the power of education

Education changes everything about a child’s future – higher income, better health, gender equality, and brighter tomorrows. It touches every area of a child’s life.

Education is an unstoppable force for good.

It is the secret weapon that can change the world.

31 million African children don’t have a school to attend

My family is extraordinarily fortunate to have great schools right in our community. It’s hard for us to even imagine that 31 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa wake up each day without a school to attend. But today, far too many children lack access to quality education.

In Uganda specifically, the national government has made a commitment to provide universal access to primary education. Yet, over 600,000 primary school age children remain out-of-school. Many Ugandan public schools lack even basic infrastructure because they are underfunded.

My family is committed to changing this, and would love for you to help us on this mission.

The success of Project Secret Weapon helped enable Building Tomorrow to build and launch the Omwiguru Primary School, a hard-to-reach rural area outside of Masindi, Uganda. Together with local community members, we’ve helped construct a 10 room primary schoolhouse that is easily accessible to children in surrounding villages.

In summer 2018, we had the privilege of visiting Uganda for the official commissioning of the new school. As the head teacher of Omwiguru put it, the community has gone from classrooms of “grass to grace”.

Clean water unlocks radical community transformation

When we traveled to Uganda for the commissioning of the BT Primary School of Omwiguru, it was a delight to see how the school was transforming the entire community. Yet while there, we also saw clearly with our own eyes how securing clean water remains a huge challenge for schools across Uganda.

For Phase II of Project Secret Weapon, we teamed up with the Ugandan Water Project – a longtime partner of Building Tomorrow – to equip another Building Tomorrow School in Uganda with two rainwater collection systems so community members don’t have to make the long, daily walk for unclean water.

The water system at Building Tomorrow Kibimba was installed in 2020, and is now providing clean water to 633 students and teachers!

Less time spent walking for water means more time spent in classrooms for boys and girls, redeems productive time for adults, improves health for everyone, and fuels macroeconomic growth.

Along the journey of Project Secret Weapon, Lorrie’s love of making crafts became a powerful way to raise awareness and bring others into the process. To continue the quest of making positive change in the world, the Vreeman’s launched Crafting for a Purpose as a special division of their small business Blue Sky Premise, LLC.

We believe that through beautiful handmade crafts, we can truly have a global impact for good. Proceeds from these products help fund projects that transform the lives and communities through improvements education, health, and economic opportunity.

The adventure is only beginning. We hope you’ll join us.