According to the World Bank, about 8% of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty. That there are so many poor people is a terrible reality, but what makes it worse is the paralyzing effect that fact can have on those who could help. Poverty, some think, is too big a problem to solve, so why bother trying?
In his address for this year’s World Day of the Poor on Nov. 19, Pope Francis warns of the danger of thinking about poverty in such abstract terms.
“When speaking of the poor, it is easy to fall into rhetorical excess,” he said. “It is also an insidious temptation to remain at the level of statistics and numbers. The poor are persons; they have faces, stories, hearts and souls. They are our brothers and sisters … and it is important to enter into a personal relationship with each of them.”
Though in his reference to building personal relationships the pope wasn’t speaking specifically about Unbound, he could have been. For 42 years, Unbound has shared the faces, stories, hearts and souls of people in need. The Catholic community and others of goodwill have responded generously and enthusiastically. Through sponsorship, more than 1 million people have now been able to lift themselves from abject poverty.
November 14, 2023 | Faith
Giving as they received
Exemplifying Pope Francis’ call for World Day of the Poor, a young priest and nun rose from poverty to serve others
By Larry Livingston
Opportunity blossoming into ministry
Two of the faces and stories of which Pope Francis spoke belong to Father Aiden Ndawula and Sister Betty Namwazi, former Unbound sponsored members who’ve each embraced a religious vocation. Father Aiden is a priest of the Diocese of Masaka in southern Uganda, and Sister Betty, also from Uganda, belongs to the Daughters of Mary, the first religious congregation of Indigenous women south of the Sahara.
Father Aiden currently serves at Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces Church in Bukulula. He’s in charge of the parish school and works with youth.
“The youths I deal with, mostly I've loved to help them grow into people of integrity. ... I want them to be hardworking. … I'm always reminding them there are certain values of life which you have to embrace.”
Sister Betty also works with young people in her role as headmistress of the girls school run by her congregation in Bwanda, also located in the Diocese of Masaka. Many of the students who attend the school are from poor families.
“Right now, we are fighting for [the] girl child. … The school [has an enrollment of] 700 girls, but of course with different backgrounds. How I pray I can get more because I have the capacity of accommodating a thousand plus.”

Sister Betty Namwazi is the headmistress of a girls school in Uganda. Many of her students come from families living in poverty. With plenty of room still available in the school, she’d love to be able to invite more underserved families to enroll their children.

Father Aiden Ndawula is the associate pastor at Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces Church in Bukulula, Uganda. Sponsored as a child through Unbound, he now enjoys working with the young people of his parish.
'I was the happiest'
Sister Betty’s desire to serve girls in poverty comes from her own experience as a child. She credits her Unbound sponsorship with providing opportunities she wouldn’t have otherwise had as the oldest of five children in a family of subsistence farmers.
“My dad had nothing,” she said. “I was not able to pay for my school fees. So, [when Unbound] came in, I was the happiest. They could … pay my school fees. They could [also] give us some other things: scholastic materials, books, pens, and I didn’t struggle so much.”
Sister Betty especially enjoyed the social gatherings with other sponsored young people, who she still calls her “brothers and sisters of Unbound.” They became good friends and celebrated with her when, while still a teenager, she decided to join the Daughters of Mary.
Years after the sponsorship ended, she remains grateful to her sponsors for their support.
“I pray for them every day,” Sister Betty said. “I just love them, and I say a … very big ‘thank you’ to them. … Let them be blessed.”

The undated photo above from the Unbound archives was taken when Betty Namwazi was a sponsored child in Uganda.

Today, Sister Betty (pictured above) is a member of the Daughters of Mary.
He loved the community
Father Aiden was one of 11 children raised by a grandmother who died at the age of 109. She had a powerful influence on him and the path he chose.
“She was hardworking, prayerful, loving,” he said. “She used to teach us how to pray. … I cherish and value what my grandmother imparted in me.”
He remembers being sponsored at around 8 years old, and how much he loved belonging to the Unbound community. He also remembers meeting Unbound co-founder Bob Hentzen when he visited Uganda.
“I used to call him the guitar man,” Father Aiden said, referring to Hentzen’s custom of using music to tell stories and convey messages. “He used to talk to us, very friendly, very loving, and wherever he was talking, you could see a sympathetic heart talking.”
Father Aiden believed then, and still does, that Unbound is doing the will of God.
“I pray that the mission of Christ continues to be realized through Unbound because Christ came that we might have life and have it in abundance. … And one way of having life in abundance is helping [those in need].

In an undated photo above from the Unbound archives, sponsored child Aiden Ndawula wears a shirt with an early logo of the organization now known as Unbound.

Today, Father Aiden (pictured above), a priest of the Diocese of Masaka, Uganda, wears clerical garb.
Sharing hope and opportunity
The stories of Sister Betty and Father Aiden illustrate a truth proven time and again in local Unbound programs around the world: When people in poverty are given hope and an opportunity to lift themselves up, they often desire to express their gratitude by sharing that hope and opportunity with others.
In his World Day of the Poor address, Pope Francis acknowledged as much.
“… If I myself am poor, I can recognize my brothers or sisters in need of my help,” he said.
For Christians, caring for the poor is not an option. It is an essential element of life in Christ. Recognizing Christ in the poor has been the central theme of Francis’ papacy and one he comes back to in the address.
“In a word, whenever we encounter a poor person, we cannot look away, for that would prevent us from encountering the face of the Lord Jesus.”
I pray that the mission of Christ continues to be realized through Unbound because Christ came that we might have life and have it in abundance. … And one way of having life in abundance is helping [those in need].
— Father Aiden Ndawula, Catholic priest in Uganda who was sponsored as a child