BY Kathryn Allen
Many people imagine how they can make a difference in the world around them. Some people take those dreams and turn them into reality. Suburban Living Apex is happy to introduce you to Emily Johns — a local woman who has taken her talents, skills and faith to improve the lives of the people in northern Uganda.
Emily, who moved to Apex in the sixth grade and graduated from Apex High School, first fell in love with Uganda after graduating from UNC-Greensboro with a degree in accounting. She accepted a five-month internship in international finance at a well-known non-profit, which worked in the country. Her experience and the connection she made with her Ugandan colleagues helped refine her long-held dream of serving orphaned and homeless children by opening an orphanage.
Today, she is the founder of Ignite Change, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works with residents of surrounding smaller communities to break the cycle of poverty by providing education and skills development along with economic development to create self-sufficiency. Emily has been living and working in Uganda since 2017 when she moved permanently to a town of about 40,000 people called Kamdini in the Lango Subregion.
One of her colleagues, Emily said, “challenged my preconceived notions about why children in Uganda ended up in orphanages, pushing me to consider how I could work to support families so they could care for their children in their own homes and communities.”
From this conversation and many others, Emily refined her ideas and decided to create a faith-based community organization that works with vulnerable families with children and youth to create economically viable businesses to support themselves and keep their families together.
Emily decided to identify a specific county in the region and work with local partners to identify families and to train those families to create self-sustaining family-run businesses. Families receive six months of training, then, Ignite Change continues to provide counseling and business mentorship for another six months. Some of the businesses families have started include ox-plow rentals, animal rearing, cash crops and fabric sales.
Emily explains, “In addition to the business training, families receive psycho-social support, healthcare and nutrition training, counseling and financial literacy training. The concept is to give families not only a way to support themselves in the short term, but also the opportunity to thrive and contribute to the wider community in the long term.”
Stephanie Sudano, who has known Emily since she was a child and now serves as a Ignite Change board member, recounts, “Our family supports Emily and Ignite Change because their mission is providing more than a handout. Their focus is on transformation of the individual that is lifelong, extends to family and community, and is multigenerational — both spiritually and physically. This is ‘forever’ impact.”
Starting with a group of 24 people their first year, Ignite Change has trained 153 families with another 160 families participating right now.
In February 2024, Emily realized another dream of providing vocational education to youth (ages 15 to 22) in the region. Ignite Change Vocational Training Institute opened with 15 students and includes one-year programs in tailoring (garment design and construction), building (block laying and concrete practice), motorcycle mechanics, and carpentry and joinery along with English, math, entrepreneurship and computer skills.
Emily shares, “For many of the students, Ignite Change Vocational Training Institute is their chance to complete their education as the majority of students in Uganda do not make it to sixth grade. To address that need, we offer two secondary education completion programs with the vocational components.”
In February 2025, 53 students enrolled in the training institute. Emily is particularly proud of the number of women who have joined the building and carpentry programs. Emily and Ignite Change plan to continue to expand the Vocational Training Institute to include more students and additional facilities for new career tracks including a restaurant and auto mechanics.
Redeemer Church in Cary is a longtime major supporter of Emily’s ministry. Pastor Justin Carmona says, “It has been a joy to support Emily and Ignite Change through the years. We believe we all have a part to play in sharing God’s love to the ends of the earth. Some can go, some can support financially and through prayer. All are important and all play a part. We are glad we can play a small part in what God is doing through Emily. It is really special to see how the Lord has used this woman from Apex to make a huge difference on the other side of the globe.”
To honor Emily for her continued commitment to her mission and her strength in overcoming personal challenges, Mayor Jacques Gilbert proclaimed Sunday, May 18, 2025 “Emily Johns Day of Courage, Perseverance and Hope” in the town of Apex. In the proclamation Mayor Gilbert presented to Emily that day, there is a quote from Harry S. Truman that seems to capture Emily’s philosophy about her work: “Guided by the light of knowledge, bolstered by our faith and inspired by [a] dream of a better tomorrow, I urge you to march on.” The proclamation closes with a wish for all of us: “May Emily’s example of courage ignite a fire within each of us to dream big and know there is nothing we can’t accomplish when we work together.”
Right now, Emily is running Ignite Change from here in Apex. Just as the vocational training institute was getting off the ground, Emily faced a cancer diagnosis in 2024, forcing her to return to the U.S. for treatment. She is happy to report that she recently completed 12 months of weekly chemotherapy, and the doctors say the biopsies and scans no longer show any sign of rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of soft tissue cancer. After one more surgery, Emily plans to return to Uganda by the end of the summer.
Meeting with Emily Johns over coffee recently, it was easy to see how passionate she is about her life and work in Uganda and how anxious she is to return. Her face lights up as she talks about her neighbors, community and her staff in Ignite Change, but especially when she refers to her three soon-to-be-adopted sons — Ronald (13), Nelly (10), and Jovan (8) — who she started fostering in 2022.
To find out more about Ignite Change and follow Emily’s journey, please visit https://www.ignitechange.com/. To make a donation to Ignite Change and support Emily’s work in Uganda, please go to http://www.ignitechange.com/donate.
