It began with a girl who thought doctors never die.
SOZO Dream Foundation exists because of one person’s story, and the dream God planted in it.
Rebecca Hunter grew up as a very small girl in a village in Masaka District, in southern Uganda. AIDS took both her mother and her father.
There was no clinic nearby. When she was sick, her aunt carried her on her back for kilometres to reach one, and Rebecca remembers the stories from her village of children and adults who died on the way.
As a little girl she decided that doctors don’t die, because they are the ones who save lives. And she made a vow: one day she would be the one who takes care to the people, instead of the people having to come to her.
At 19, Rebecca was a runaway in Kampala. Through what she can only call miraculous circumstances, she met Jesus. She also met Paul D. Hunter, founder of Next Generation Ministries, who became her father. God then opened the way for four years of college and university study in America.
Rebecca came home to Uganda and enrolled in medical school at Kampala International University. She is now a doctor, and the dream is the same one she had as a child.
A medical student with a plan
In July 2022, as a third-year medical student, Rebecca organised her first free medical mission with help from Next Generation Ministries: three village camps in Bushenyi and Rubirizi, then an outreach to her fellow students. That August, SOZO hosted its first medical conference, Healing on Purpose. Rebecca began mentoring classmates, and many volunteered to give their weekends to the same work.
Ever since, SOZO teams have been made up mostly of Ugandan medical and nursing students, interns, and young doctors, some of whom first met Jesus through SOZO. Volunteers have often paid their own way for transport and food. They work alongside district health teams, local churches, and partner ministries, wherever the need is greatest.
Investing in the next doctors
Many Ugandan medical students reach their final year and can’t pay the last fees. In 2022, SOZO supporters stepped in for three of them. Dr. Jemba Micheal Senkolle, Dr. Moses Covenant and Dr. Barekye Sailus graduated, and two of them have since founded ministries of their own.
Rebecca calls these “lifetime investments.” Since then, SOZO has helped more final-year medical, nursing, and laboratory students over the finish line.
Paul Hunter wrote about the early days of SOZO in 2023, from building a school out of nothing to a weekend with 23 medical students.
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