Since 2010, the congregation of St. John the Evangelist, Eganville, has had a partnership with the Ugandan educational charity, Wide Smiles for All Through Education. Wide Smiles was founded in 2004 by Kenneth Kasule.

Kenneth Kasule grew up in Uganda in the 1980s, during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and civil war. He had a difficult homelife during his childhood and struggled to complete his schooling while working to cover his school fees.

While working on his Bachelor of Education degree, Kenneth was struck by the children playing around his residence building, day-in-day out. Upon speaking with them, he learned that they had been asked to leave classes because they did not have the basic supplies needed to stay in school. He began to share his own supplies with them but wanted to do more.

While studying at university, Kenneth met the Rev. Dr. Carolyn Langford, past incumbent of the former Parish of Combermere, who was at the time a visiting lecturer at his university. Their conversations sparked both the beginning of Wide Smiles for All Through Education and, following a visit from the Rev. Gale and Paul Edmondson to Uganda, a long relationship with St. John’s Eganville and Ascension Killaloe / St. John’s Tramore in what is now our Parish of the Valley.

The mandate of Wide Smiles for All Through Education is to extend education to children and young people in Uganda who might otherwise have missed out on a formal education.

The primary way this happens is through education sponsorships: providing the supplies and fees needed so that students can stay in school and complete further levels of education than they might have otherwise been able to accomplish. To date, Wide Smiles has sponsored children in primary and secondary schools as well as a variety of post-secondary training and educational settings.

In 2024, Wide Smiles for All Through Education celebrated 20 years of operation! In those 20 years, over 400 students have graduated and moved on to meaningful employment throughout Uganda, and over 100 students were currently enjoying the school sponsorship program.

The 20-year anniversary also saw the launch of a new, ambitious program to further education in Uganda. Wide Smiles is working on the building of a new educational facility, which would allow greater access to education to even more students from across the region.

St. John’s Eganville and Ascension Killaloe / St. John’s Tramore first welcomed Kenneth to Canada and 2017, and we are looking forward to hosting him again as the Parish of the Valley this year, between April 25-June 20.

The clergy team, together with a visit planning group, have put together a schedule of opportunities for us all to hear a little more from Kenneth about Wide Smiles, their work so far, and their future plans, at a series of post-worship Sunday coffee hours across our parish. We know that we cannot get a visit to every single congregation in the parish, but we hope that you will take the opportunity to join in one of the post-church coffee hours at one of the following locations, or to join in one of the week-day gatherings.

Our tentative Schedule in the Parish of the Valley is:

Sunday, April 27: St. John’s, Eganville

Sunday, May 4: Epiphany, Barry’s Bay

Sunday, May 11: Holy Trinity, Pembroke

Sunday, May 18: All Saints, Petawawa

Sunday, May 25: Visiting in Toronto

Sunday, June 8: St. Paul’s, Cobden

Sunday, June 15: St. John’s, Eganville

Wednesday, June 18: Farewell Potluck at St. John’s, Eganville

Some additional dates are still being confirmed: more opportunities to hear from Kenneth may arise as we get closer to his arrival.

In addition to joining in fellowship and hearing Kenneth speak across the parish, we are looking for households willing to host Kenneth as a guest in your home for at least 4 nights.

While he is with you, we hope that you will be able to offer him meals and fellowship, perhaps some sight-seeing in your area, bringing him to church if he is with you over a Sunday, making connection with the next host, and offering the opportunity to do laundry etc. as needed.

If you would like to know more about hosting Kenneth, or to sign up for a period of time as a host, please contact Carol Clark of St. John’s Eganville at 613-625-2755. Thank you for considering this ministry of hospitality as we welcome Kenneth to our parish community.