About

Our Vision

Our Mission

With God’s help, we create lasting solutions to poverty by providing Christ-centered business education and fostering personal encounters with the love of God.

Our Faith

We believe the Bible is the inspired and only infallible and authoritative written Word of God (II Timothy 3:15-17, I Thessalonians 2:13, II Peter 1:21).

We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4, Exodus 3:14, Isaiah 48:16, Matthew 28:19, Luke 3:22).

We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, in His future bodily return to this earth (Matthew 1:23, John 5:22-23).

We believe that the only means of personal salvation is faith in Christ, and in Him alone (Romans 10:9-10, Galatians 3: 1-9, I Corinthians 2:1-5, Ephesians 2:8-10).

Our Philosophy

Surprised by Hope subscribes to an asset-based development philosophy that recognizes God as our source and requires using what he has given us to steward as a means to develop. We believe people who are equipped with and apply business knowledge based on Scripture will ultimately lead more spiritually, socially, and economically God-honoring lives and, therefore, will be better equipped to influence others for the kingdom.

Our History

One wintery morning in late November 2008, a knock at the door would change the course of history. The police chaplain informed our founder that her husband of 20 years died unexpectedly while driving home after a morning of cross country skiing. In seeking God’s will for the tattered pieces of her life, she left her three adult children in America and came to Uganda on a short-term mission trip. That experience quickly revealed itself to be a divine appointment, as did the series of events that followed. Soon after, she founded Surprised by Hope and established her home in Uganda, where she began serving the people in East Africa with her depth of knowledge, skills, and experiences in business and adult education, as well as her knowledge of the Bible.

Surprised by Hope was formed in the United States in February 2011 and granted 501(c)3 tax exempt status as a nonprofit corporation. We received registration as a CBO in Uganda in June 2012, as a Foreign NGO in Uganda in May 2013, and as a Society in Kenya in March 2014.

Our Founder

Our founder holds a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) degree, a Master of Science in Management (MSM) degree, and a Bachelor of Science in Ministry Leadership (BSML) degree. She is an ordained reverend and an ordained chaplain, possesses a Project Management Professional (PMP) credential, has 20 years of operations management experience, and has served as adjunct faculty at a Christian university since 2008 teaching both traditional and adult students both on-ground and on-line.

The founder has lived in East Africa since 2010 and uses this experience along with her education and work experience to lead Surprised by Hope and its team of national facilitators in providing Christ-centered business education and fostering personal encounters with the love of God. She considers Surprised by Hope to be a precious legacy. Without her husband’s life, and his death, this ministry would never have been born.