Mary’s Refuge

Mary’s Refuge provides teenage mothers in Uganda with the tools they need to thrive. Young women are given the chance to rediscover their worth in Christ, heal from past traumas, and create a future for themselves and their children. This ministry was formed out of love for Christ in the poor and outcast. 

The needs of teenage mothers and their children, who are cast to the edges of society, became apparent to our team. We have taken up the mission to serve Christ living in them.

Mary’s Refuge takes St. Joseph as our patron intercessor. As the protector and most beloved spouse of our Blessed Mother, we believe he has tenderness and devotion for all teenage mothers in need. As once Mary found refuge under the cloak of St. Joseph, so too will all young mothers in need.

Cloaked in Love

 

The Mission of Mary’s Refuge is to foster sisterhood and support among teenage mothers within communities by providing the following services:

  • Spiritual and Faith Formation

  • Mental and Physical Healing

  • Financial Support for Education

  • Trade Training and Business Workshops

Spiritual and Faith Formation

Mary’s Refuge is a Catholic program offered to young girls in Uganda, Africa. The program has a two-year syllabus designed to restore wholeness in the teenage mothers. It includes themes such as “Living My Life for a Purpose”. Though the program is not exclusive to Catholics, the teaching and formation is Catholic. Mary’s Refuge reminds these young women that they are daughters of God the Father, that they have not been abandoned by Him, that they are infinitely Loved by Him.

Mental Health
and Physical Healing

The teenage mothers in Uganda are vulnerable to abuse, rejection, and abandonment. They lose hope. They forget their dreams. The young mothers are given hope to dream again, to work hard and provide a strong foundation for their own children. As medical attention is scarce in the rural villages, Mary’s Refuge also seeks to provide resources for the physical needs of the mothers and their babies.

Financial Support for Education

Many of the teenage mothers in Uganda have left school to remain home with their babies. Some of them have ended their schooling at the level of P3, equivalent to third grade in the United States. Through individual sponsorship, Mary’s Refuge provides funds for those who want to return to further their education and follow their dreams.

Trade Training and Business Workshops

Returning to school is not the best option for every young mother. Many are seeking to earn an income in order to support themselves and their children. Through individual sponsorship, Mary’s refuge provides funds and requirements to send young mothers to trade school, where they have the option to be trained in the skill of tailoring or hairdressing. Mary’s Refuge also brings in skilled workers to train the mothers in skills such as basket weaving. These skills enable the mothers to make a living, able to provide for themselves and their children.

Mary’s Refuge is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations are tax-deductible.

 
 

"We should always consider whether we ourselves are protecting Jesus and Mary, for they are also mysteriously entrusted to our own responsibility, care and safekeeping. The Son of the Almighty came into our world in a state of great vulnerability. He needed to be defended, protected, cared for and raised by Joseph. God trusted Joseph, as did Mary, who found in him someone who would not only save her life, but would always provide for her and her child. In this sense, Saint Joseph could not be other than the Guardian of the Church, for the Church is the continuation of the Body of Christ in history, even as Mary's motherhood is reflected in the motherhood of the Church. In his continued protection of the Church, Joseph continues to protect the child and his mother, and we too, by our love for the church, continue to love the child and his mother."

Pope Francis, Patris Corde