Ascension Episcopal School hosted visitors from their sister school, Epiphany School in Uganda.
Father Charles and Alice Busingye visited Ascension to meet with the students and church community, which has been supporting Epiphany for years. At the end of the visit, the Ascension School family presented the Busingyes with $20,000 they raised for Epiphany during this year’s Lenten fundraiser. Ascension also presented Epiphany with 30 iPads for the school.
“The services were very special ceremonies whereby we were able to renew the bonds and affection between our two schools," says All School Chaplin Father Brandt Montgomery. "It is my hope that in years to come this partnership will enrich our students’ perception about service to their fellow man.”
Father Busingye addressed the students as well, and said that power lines recently had been added to his community; no other schools in the area have technology like iPads, he said.
For more than 20 years, a release from AES states, Ascension Episcopal School and Ascension Church have been active contributors to the Reaching the Pygmies Ministry, dedicated to the service of the displaced Batwa Pygmies of Uganda helping with hosing, medical care,and children’s education. From this ministry, the Epiphany School was established to help educate the Batwa Pygmy people, the indigenous tribe that has been displaced by their own Ugandan government into the Bwindirain forest. In 1999, The Church of the Epiphanyin Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania established a resettlement program for the Pygmy people and built the Epiphany School, which currently accommodates approximately 225 students and 14 faculty and staff. Over the past several years, funds raised by Ascension during their Lenten fundraisers have been used to build a library, kitchen, classroom space and a freshwater system on their school campus. Each year, 80% of Epiphany’s school annual budget has been made possible due to donations raised by families of Ascension.
