More than 25 years ago, John Kulu attended school with no shoes and had to study under trees because his Ugandan community did not have permanent classrooms.

Today, however, thanks to ChildFund International’s involvement in his life at an early age, John is a successful lawyer for the Ugandan government prosecuting criminals. He also is giving back to the organization that gave him so much – he is a member of the ChildFund National Advisory Council and president of the ChildFund Alumni Association that is composed of former sponsored children and a legal advisor to ChildFund Uganda’s national director.

In 1982, John became a sponsored child in ChildFund’s programs. He says ChildFund staff visited his school to take their pictures and soon after things began to change. He says permanent classrooms were built and he was able to obtain shoes that fit.

“I even started feeding well,” he says. “The sponsorship environment enabled me to work hard in class.”

John attended Makerere University – what he says is “the best university in Uganda – to study law. Today John is thankful for ChildFund’s sponsorship program, which he says helped his dreams become a reality.

“I have sweet memories from my sponsor,” John says. “My sponsor used to write to me, give me words of encouragement to read hard; he wanted to know what job I would do when I grow up. If I had not gotten a sponsor, I would have dropped out of school.”

As a lawyer, John says he can now support himself. “I am independent and self-sustaining.”

In the future, John, plans to continue giving back to ChildFund. “I derive satisfaction from helping children,” he says. “I intend to devote all my time working with ChildFund.”