Umoja means "unity" in Swahili. An excellent educational experience is a fundamental human right for ALL people, and we are unified in that belief. One of our values is that children deserve more than a bare bones experience. A child needs to know how valuable they are and how much they deserve from the very time they learn to open their eyes, and yet, this is a challenge in this immigrant community.
Because their parents lacked the educational opportunities afforded to folks raised in America, these children are not living in houses with adequate amounts of English proficiency or financial literacy, theoretical or practical. Some parents need our help just to deposit a check, and they deserve our support and partnership because they are wonderful folks who diligently work in jobs that most middle and upper class folks would never do themselves!
All of this, of course, starts with reading, writing, arithmetic, and homework. We can tackle all of these thanks to the great libraries in the Richmond area. We tackle these basics about 4 days per week.
Our parents and their children deserve to have the same sort of experience that the kids in the private schools get, but we can't currently afford that. So for now, we are doing our best to ensure these kids get to eat at the same places their middle class peers eat, shop at the same stores where their public school friends shop, and aspire to the attend ANY higher educational institution they feel is worth of their matriculation.
As I tell them all the time, once they attend an Ivy, then they can start to buy real Gucci like I once did. But for now, it is mostly chains. We eat inside where the kids learn and practice how to order food and pay for it. They also get to feel like they are just as valuable as the other kids who get to do this, and they will work harder to ensure they can do it more in their own lives after they earn a college degree.
Weekly Lessons
Who Leads the Church?
Sat Jan 13, 2024
This week we learned about the Popes, including St. Peter, St. John XXIII, St. John Paul II, and Pope Francis.
The Gospel of Mark
Umoja Youth Visit VMFA
Our students discuss our recent trip to the VMFA and offer their gratitude to the Church.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SB233- Yes In God's Backyard- Faith Housing Project
Learn more about our Parish's afforadable housing initiative led by Catholic Charities of Virginia.