Oscar’s answer would begin a journey that is still unfolding today.
Oscar, now 27, is the founder of the Ipee Hope School for Orphans. He had returned home at 18 after spending 10 years away and discovered that there was no school in his village.
Children, many of them orphans, had to walk around 10 km each day to attend a government school. Most simply did not go.

Oscar understood hardship personally.
His father died when he was eight years old, after which he travelled around 700 km to live with an uncle. Life there became extremely difficult and he eventually found himself living on the streets.
Determined to stay in school, Oscar sold groundnuts, eggs and cigarettes to pay his school fees.
After passing Grade 9, he could no longer afford to continue his education.
Instead of giving up, he approached a boarding school and asked whether he could work in exchange for being allowed to study.
He worked in the gardens, the piggery and with chickens until he completed school at the age of 18.
When he returned to his village and saw how many children were growing up without access to education, he decided to do something about it. But it was when he met Julita that things began to turn. She encouraged him, helped him see a future and told him: “With God on your side, nothing is impossible.”
In 2023, Oscar started a small school with around 50 children and one teacher.
They taught in shifts inside a grass hut. There was no clean water. There were no proper toilets. There was no permanent classroom.

But there was a dream.
When Oscar told Julita his story that night in Livingstone, she decided to walk with him.
That is how MamaLita became involved.
Rather than taking over Oscar’s vision, MamaLita began helping him move towards it step by step.
Since then, clean water has been secured through a borehole.
The school has now taught around 150 children to read and write and has two teachers. The children receive one meal a day, because no child can learn well on an empty stomach.
The next major priorities are now clear: A permanent brick school building and proper toilets.
Julita is also helping Oscar work towards establishing his own NGO so that the school can eventually stand independently and continue growing within the local community.

This is exactly what MamaLita means by One Village at a Time.
Find the person. Listen to the dream. Help unlock what is missing. Walk with them long enough to build something sustainable. And then, when they can stand on their own feet, take the same model to the next village.

Every child deserves an education.
Oscar had the dream. MamaLita simply chose to walk with him.