Brett and Kara Shumaker’s passion for Uganda began in 2014. What began with a church mission trip has now become a husband and wife team, Christ-centered ministry seeking to reach out and serve the hungry, the weak, the fatherless…the vulnerable women and children of Mityana, Uganda. Over the years, the Shumakers continued developing relationships and friendships throughout Uganda. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that they became painfully aware of the hardships, so many women and children in Uganda were facing. What was a minor headache or inconvenience for most of the world was, instead, causing devastation and death to the poor and vulnerable because of extreme lockdowns and the world’s longest school closure. It was during the summer of 2021 that the Shumakers began doing food drops to a number of struggling families there. When schools began to reopen in January 2022, God called them to send 28 children to school– some of whom had never gone to school. During the summer of 2022, answering God’s calling in their lives, Brett and Kara Shumaker took a leap of faith and said, “Here I am. Send me.” Not knowing what God had in store for them, they said goodbye to their five children, and together, they boarded a plane headed for Africa. During this period of time, God developed the vision for Lwakisa Ministries…humbly serving vulnerable women and children.