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The Episcopal School in North Philadelphia

The Reverend David “Romans” Serunjogi and his wife Sarah — founders of the Trinity Children’s Centre outside Kampala, Uganda — visited the 5th grade students, along with Mel Bonder of The ECHOES Foundation, to share stories and gifts.

Visiting from Africa for a few weeks, the Serunjogi’s are guests of The ECHOES Foundation and are being honored for their work in establishing the school in Uganda, alongside Father Sean Mullen and Dr. Audrey Evans as co-founders of St. James School. The special annual ECHOES event, titled “Reach, Teach, Believe!”, is scheduled for Friday, April 13, in Wayne, PA.

Coming from very humble beginnings, Trinity Children’s Centre was founded in the garage of the Serunjogi’s home, where Sarah was the sole teacher and their daughter one of the first of six students. After many hardships procuring land and buildings (along with the AIDS epedemic taking the lives of too many of their school’s parents) Trinity is today one of the top schools in Uganda. Romans and Sarah also helped to establish Centenary High School in 1998 and Double Cure Medical Centre in 2007 on the outskirts of town.

The couple have long been recipients of funding through The ECHOES Foundation, and 2012 marks the first year that ECHOES has given a portion of its proceeds to an American institution…St. James School. Read more about the partnership with ECHOES >

Though nursing a fractured leg, Romans was too excited to remain seated while visiting the students. He made his way to the head of the class to share some magic tricks that demonstrated how we are all equal in this world. He presented the students with gifts from Uganda, including a beautifully crafted wooden sculpture with St. James School and Trinity Children’s Centre in debossed lettering around the base, as well as a handmade wooden xylophone. The students in turn shared public speaking presentations and gave both Romans and Sarah a St. James School t-shirt. Romans loved the shirt so much, he didn’t hesitate to put it on immediately.

Romans and Sarah received a personal school and church tour from Executive Director David Kasievich. The couple were exceptionally impressed with the age of the architecture, and enjoyed pointing out the grave stones dating from the 1800s. They were in awe of the beautiful Church of St. James the Less and even took the opportunity to ring the church bells.

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