African children
Representative image. Pixabay

Ogul Village, a once-forgotten community near the South Sudan border, has become a beacon of sustainable transformation. Thanks to the efforts of Amigos Internacionales, this small village in Uganda has evolved into a thriving model of success, demonstrating how infrastructure, education, and healthcare can uplift entire communities. Now, with the launch of its latest medical camp, the nonprofit is taking its mission to the next level—providing critical healthcare to thousands of villagers without charge.

The initiative provided life-saving care, including surgeries, prenatal and pediatric services, dental and vision treatment, cancer screenings, and HIV testing. Due to the success of this pilot program, Amigos Internacionales is now seeking $3.5 million in funding to expand it to more communities across Uganda every quarter.

For 58 years now, Amigos Internacionales has been at the forefront of global humanitarian aid, addressing generational poverty through sustainable development. The organization's MissionPoint strategy is simple yet impactful: drill water wells, establish churches, build schools, create preschools, and provide life skills training.

Michael Ryer, CEO and President of Amigos Internacionales, has been leading this charge with unwavering dedication. Having joined the nonprofit as a youngster, barely age 8, under the guidance of its original founder, Michael has spent decades building sustainable solutions to sow the seeds of prosperity. "We're not just giving handouts," he explains. "We're building communities that can sustain themselves."

To truly make these individuals self-made, the organization has been working on initiatives such as introducing high-yield South African Boer goats to improve meat production, with locals receiving training in sustainable agriculture. Women who once had no way to earn a living now learn to sew, make soap, and start micro businesses.

The nonprofit has many impacting success stories. One of them comes from its sewing program. Four young mothers—rape survivors who fled from South Sudan—have now become self-sufficient seamstresses, using pedal-powered sewing machines provided through microloans. "I now feel like a billionaire because I can make a living for my child," one woman said, tears in her eyes.

However, the story of Ogul Village began with a simple experiment—sponsoring 13 children to attend school. When that proved successful, the organization expanded its efforts, eventually buying an abandoned school and transforming it into a thriving education center. A fully operational school will now educate more than 250 children so that they are not trapped in generational poverty.

Amigos Internacionales then expanded its initiatives to provide clean water access. Thanks to solar-powered water wells, villagers no longer walk miles for disease-ridden water.

The organization has even built churches to provide spiritual and emotional support and life skills programs to empower women and men to become self-sufficient. This gave birth to the MissionPoint Initiative, a blueprint model that brings clean water, education, and economic opportunities.

However, the missing piece has always been healthcare. "These families have never had access to even basic healthcare," Michael shares. "A $1 malaria pill that needs to be taken for three weeks could have saved a mother's six-year-old daughter."

Michael recalls a case that involved a five-year-old girl who had been in excruciating pain for years due to a parasitic infection in her ear. A $54 medical treatment—an unthinkable luxury for her family—restored her hearing. "This is what we're fighting for," Michael emphasizes. "We're talking about basic healthcare that can mean the difference between life and death."

For three days, volunteer physicians from South Uganda, along with additional hospital staff, transformed Ogul Village into a temporary medical hub. Under the shade of tents, specialists provided cancer screenings, dental extractions, prenatal care, eye exams, HIV testing, and general medical treatment. Truly, Ogul Village has now become a proof of concept for Amigos Internacionales.

Yet, one heartbreaking reality remains: many villagers will not see a doctor again for months, if not years, unless these camps become an ongoing initiative at multiple locations on at least a quarterly basis. Under Michael's leadership, Amigos Internacionales has identified 25 additional MissionPoints, with seven already in development. Each will follow the Ogul Village model, with sustainable infrastructure designed to support communities long after the nonprofit moves on. Michael confirms, "It's about giving people the tools to build their own futures."

Looking ahead, Amigos Internacionales hopes to collaborate with like-minded individuals and corporations to replicate the Ogul Village model across Africa, ensuring that remote communities are no longer left behind. "If we can change one village, we can change a nation," Michael says with confidence. "And with the right support, that's exactly what we're going to do."

Uganda