Rationale 3rd Anniversary Update

End-of-2014 Dinner

Board members (L to R): Jaclyn, Malik, and Matthew

Thanks to everyone who attended our end-of-the-year dinner at Ethiopian Diamond in December! Because of your generous giving, we collected a record amount of donations and are in a strong position to both continue supporting our current students and projects as well as begin to build the necessary foundation to expand our reach (more updates on this in the coming months!). None of this would have been possible without your kind support. On behalf of our board and the communities we work with: THANK YOU!

501(c)(3) Status

For those of you who have not yet heard, Rationale is now a certified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization in the United States. We're very excited about the many opportunities this new designation makes possible including access to grants that were previously unavailable to us. Feel free to reach out with any questions about what this might mean for your giving.

Student Update 2015: Piloya Emily

We're happy to announce that Emily has recently begun a paid contract position working as a midwifery in Ikotos, South Sudan for AVSI (an international NGO). In this new position Emily is able to use the skills she learned while completing her certificate in midwifery from Lacor to serve rural communities who otherwise do not have access to this care. We're so excited for all of the new experiences she is gaining before returning to Uganda to continue her studies next year!

Year Three

Rationale was founded as non-profit organization on March 22, 2012 as a response to the substantial amount of youth in northern Uganda who have been affected by the 20-year-long civil conflict and are currently unable to continue their studies without substantial support. From day one we committed to having a significant, lasting impact on a small number of youth rather than supporting many youth without substantial social support and we're now seeing the effects of this commitment. Over the last three years we have grown to include a full-time mentor and are now seeing our students complete their first level of studies with great success. For a wonderful example, please see the update about Emily above. We could not be happier to see the real, lasting success our first group of students are experiencing. It is because of their resolve to not only be the first in their families to acquire their current level of education but also to consistently perform at the highest level that they stand in such a position today.

As we look forward to the next year, we have many new announcements and exciting new developments to share in the coming months. Matthew will return to Uganda for two months beginning in May to undertake focused study of Acholi, the language spoken in northern Uganda. Jaclyn will join later in the summer to assist in evaluating our programs and our students' progress as we begin to make important decisions about our student cohort. Thanks for joining us on this journey - we can't wait to share more!