Raise the Roof Party

Let's Raise the Roof!  Buy tickets and bring your friends to this Africa-themed fundraiser & celebration, where 100% of profits will go towards building a roof for the Emily Collins School in Kisoro, Uganda.

What is the event?

Our Raise the Roof party at Oaken Grove Vineyard, located just outside Henley, with award winning wines (and other beverages) promises to be a fun and lively night to remember. We will entertain and engage you with a 2 course authentic African meal (incl. vege and vegan), live bands playing African music, an awareness-raising inspirational presentation, an auction of promises, a raffle and other fund raising activities which will offer opportunities for you to make a difference and help us to literally, Raise the Roof!

Why the Emily Collins School? 

The Emily Collins School in Kisoro Uganda provides food, education and safety for vulnerable and orphaned children, providing them with the skills needed to escape the poverty trap.

Despite only being half built, eighty children already attend the school. Donations are desparately needed to complete the second floor and provide a permanent roof and facilities such as a library, IT room, desks and photocopier. 

The school is being built and managed by our friend Martin Duhimbaze. We were fortunate enough to visit Uganda earlier this year and experience for ourselves the humbling inspiration and dedication behind this project, and quite simply, we want to help.

The Backstory: Who is Emily Collins?

Emily Collins was a young English woman with a passion for helping others. Defying doctors advice not to travel following her cancer diagnosis and treatment she volunteered in Uganda and became good friends with Martin Duhimbaze. As a result of his experience as social worker, Martin founded and continues to lead Our Father’s House Ministries, a registered charity in Uganda. He and his team rescue vulnerable and orphaned children and get them into school by matching them with sponsors globally.

Martin and Emily had a shared vision of building a school that was also a community hub, health centre and sanctuary for children. Since 2020 Martin has been turning this into a reality and when Emily sadly died aged just 26, he asked her parents, Stephen and Sarah Collins if he could name the school after their daughter.

The Emily Collins school is currently half built, it has a ground floor, some classrooms, an outside kitchen and toilets (holes in the ground). Of the eighty children who attend, only forty have sponsors, a few have guardians who can pay and the rest contribute in other ways, eg some bring beans to contribute to the daily meal, a key benefit of why children attend.

It’s not often we can see a tangible result from our charitable donations, especially on the other side of the world. This is a wonderful opportunity to join Martin and his supporters, on a journey to fulfill his and Emily's vision and provide hope and a future for children currently without one.