The Gift of Education
Local nonprofit offers opportunities to children in Uganda
ChildrenUP founders Charlie and Betty Laliberte of Elmhurst. Charlie, a former York High School teacher, and Betty, a librarian, helped launch the nonprofit to expand educational opportunities for students in northern Uganda.
For nearly two decades, a group of Elmhurst educators has made an impact far beyond their classrooms—across the globe to East Africa.
In 2005, Charlie Laliberte and his daughter, Nicole, visited a friend teaching at an international school in Uganda. While there, they learned of the insurgency in the northern parts of the country that had burdened the region for almost 20 years. Many children lost one or both parents, and these tragedies threatened their access to education.
These stories left a lasting impression on Charlie, a former York High School teacher, and his wife Betty, a librarian, who felt called to help these children. In 2007, together with fellow teachers Joseph and Dorothy Valintis, the Lalibertes founded ChildrenUP, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to supporting education in northern Uganda.
“I love the idea that someone so remote from Uganda, with no family ties, just felt he could do something about it, and he acted on it,” ChildrenUP Executive Director Novella Ferreri said. “He had so many friends and supporters that along the way believed in that same mission.”
In Uganda, primary school continues through seventh grade, followed by six years of secondary school. ChildrenUP found that while many students could complete primary school, secondary school presented greater challenges. Rural areas often lack secondary schools, requiring students to commute to larger cities. The financial and travel commitments can be major barriers to continuing education, so ChildrenUP decided to focus specifically on providing post-primary scholarships to high-achieving students in need.
“In 2010, the first group of 10 secondary students were incorporated in the program,” Ferreri said. “Since then, we’ve added students starting in secondary school every year.”
ChildrenUP Executive Director Novella Ferreri with scholarship students in Gulu, Uganda, during the organization’s annual meeting in January 2026.
To be selected for a scholarship, students must live in rural areas of the Amuru, Omoro, Nwoya and Gulu Districts; demonstrate strong seventh-grade test scores; and show significant financial need. The selection process also considers teacher recommendations, as well as interviews with prospective recipients and their families.
“The students need to be very motivated to continue with their education,” Ferreri said. “We also look for families that are supportive of their student’s education, so that we can all work together and ensure that they have the best chance at succeeding in school first, and then in life.”
Each year, an equal number of boys and girls are selected for a six-year scholarship through a one-on-one sponsorship program. The program allows donors to see the direct impact of their contribution, while students benefit from the personal encouragement and support of their sponsor.
“They’re eager to do well…not only for themselves and for their family, but also because they understand that someone that doesn’t know them, someone that’s so far away, believes in their potential and provides them with an opportunity to study and do well in school,” Ferreri said. “[Sponsors] also give them an opportunity to access other opportunities that would not be coming to them without access to education, so they’re very appreciative.”
“The stories that we have coming back from Uganda … just show how much we can impact the lives of many students that would not have access otherwise to education.”
– Novella Ferreri, Executive Director, ChildrenUP
To further promote student success, ChildrenUP formed a team in Uganda dedicated to mentoring scholarship recipients. The team works closely with teachers at the students’ three schools to provide academic, social, and emotional support.
“They’re all students who come from rural areas, so they’re going to be away from their families for the first time, and they’re in boarding school for an entire term,” Ferreri said. “They go home in between terms, but there’s a long time that they’re away from their families, and so our idea is that [there] needs to be…teamwork.”
Each year, Charlie and Betty travel to Uganda for ChildrenUP’s annual meeting, which brings together students, parents, staff, school mentors, and school district officials. They discuss the year’s successes, student accomplishments, and plans for the future. Ferreri, who started with ChildrenUP in 2022, has participated in four of these trips and looks forward to it every year.
“I’ve had plenty of opportunities to talk to them and to interact not only with the students but also with the family, and really it’s a wonderful time,” Ferreri said. “I think it’s the highlight of my year because it’s the time where you can actually really see the impact that just a small act of kindness can do.”
Ferreri has a personal connection to the ChildrenUP mission: her family is originally from East Africa. Her mother, who grew up in rural Eritrea, did not have access to education and dreamed she’d be able to provide that opportunity to her children someday. Ferreri’s parents migrated to Italy in the 1970s and settled in Naples—the same city where Ferreri would eventually earn her bachelor’s degree.
Ferreri and Laliberte with students following a poetry recording session in Gulu, Uganda, in January 2026.
“You think about: how would my life be if my mom never left, and I never had the chance to have the education that I have?” Ferreri said.
Seeing other students, especially young girls, and their families make a personal commitment to education keeps this work “close to [her] heart.”
“The stories that we have coming back from Uganda that we’re experiencing ourselves, they just show how much we can impact the lives of many students that would not have access otherwise to education,” she said.
As more students look to continue their education beyond secondary school, ChildrenUP is expanding its support through a pilot program designed to help them pursue advanced studies.
“As of right now, we have a total of 58 students in our roster who are active,” Ferreri said. “Thirty-nine of them are in secondary school at different levels. The rest are either in a certificate program, diploma, or bachelor’s degree at the university and institution level.”
Because of ChildrenUP, dozens of young people have had an opportunity to pursue paths that may otherwise have been out of reach. Alumni have earned degrees in economics, medicine, pharmacy, fashion and design, and education. Today, they are working as engineers, doctors, nurses, teachers, and more—making an impact in their own communities and inspiring the next generation.
For more information on ChildrenUP and how you can get involved, visit childrenup.org.
