Far Away Friends Inspire Students with Story of Service

Far Away Friends is a global non-profit organization dedicated to collaboration with leaders in Uganda to end generational poverty through education, healthcare, and opportunity. The group of young visionaries visited ODA’s Middle and Upper School students to speak about the work they are presently involved with in a small village in Uganda. Founder Jayme Ward, Chief Strategist Chris Skirka, and Programs Director Kaitlyn Phillips were on campus all day to answer questions, visit classrooms, and present to both Middle and Upper level assemblies.

Leaders within Far Away Friends were initially inspired after attending assemblies in their own high schools in which young activists from Uganda came to tell their stories. The activists spoke about their lives as teenagers living in a region caught in a brutal civil war that left their country ravaged and in need of recovery. These speakers motivated the future leaders of Far Away Friends to act, and today the organization they envisioned helps women and children to build better lives for themselves.

Far Away Friends, along with their Ugandan counterparts, have built a primary school and continue to find ways to support the village including digging a new well to give access to clean water, supplying mattresses for medical clinics, and providing education for young women and girls about menstruation and reproductive health. After their visit to campus on Friday, several students extended their conversations about the group's work at an evening gathering at Sarasota Architectural Salvage in downtown Sarasota.