Karamoja

A dear young man in Uganda, a young man named Gabriel,  became a friend of my husband Mark during our trips to Uganda.  Gabriel was a boy in Karamoja, a remote area about 6 hours North East of where we usually stay in Uganda.  As a boy he became orphaned and was, by God's grace, taken to the Bethel House Orphanage that we speak of often.  We actually have children in our child sponsorship program who live in Bethel House. As an adult, Gabriel's heart longs to see his people helped.  As you can see from his report below, they need many things, things even for basic survival, things for hope and a future.  It is our prayer that, during this trip to Uganda next week, we will be able to spend a couple of days in Karamoja to meet the people, to learn from them, and to see how God might use us to minister to them both physically and spiritually.  Please pray for the people of Karamoja, and for us as we make this trip, that God would help us to see with His eyes, hear with His ears, and to show us what He wants us to do. 
(The picture shown here is from a photo album by swiss.dog on his blog.  He has many other pictures of Karamoja and Africa in general as well.  I don't know him, but love his pictures)


HELP ACHILD IN KARAMOJA –MINISTRY(H.A.I.K)

 BRIEF REPORT CONCERNING KARAMOJA

Security

Karamoja is one of the many places in Uganda with a lot of peace since it does not involve in wars and this is all due to the strong and strict security in the place/ area. Karamoja on the other hand it is a kind of region that values foreigners and protects them strongly since they believe that foreigners always bring development to places like that and yet they are also longing for the development in their region.

In simple terms Karamoja is a simple and peaceful region where by if a person is interested in starting up any project in Karamoja he is well assured of proper security in advance and without doubt and good well facilitated hotels in place also.

Education

The education system in Karamoja is completely down since there are no schools in the area and a few of the schools are often being joined by such children whose parents have got some money yet this leads to discrimination of the poor people who do not have money and again there are no modernized facilities such as good buildings and this forces students to study from outside in the shades (under trees) and they do not have any where to write or to sit on. When you compare all these things you get to realize that for sure the education system in Karamoja is very poor.

We pray and it will always be our prayer as Karamajongs that God can provide a kind person so that atleast a good school can be constructed in our region because our children are very illiterate because very many Karamajongs grow up without even knowing any word in English and yet if they are educated they can be brave and strong and they can also tech others and Karamoja can be turned into a place of miracles.

Hospitals

A lot of tears always flow in my eyes whenever I see my brothers and sisters dying every day due to lack of hospitals in our region, a lot of Karamajongs when they get sick they tend to loose hope and think that they are going to die just because there is no hospitals and yet if good hospitals and dispensaries were in place it would have saved on the number of Karamajongs who die every day. It really hurts me to loose our beloved one yet if there were any possibility of the hospital he or she could be alive and this makes us think that may be God does not know he and us does not love us. If God could answer our prayers and run for our rescue and provide hospitals for us atleast even if its one but well equipped with all the necessities and also the good doctors yet experienced /experts in that field and that’s our cry as we Karamajongs.

Orphans

Many parents in Karamoja die of AIDS and others die of other diseases such as malaria to mention but a few and they leave very young children behind without any body to take care about them so they grow up without experiencing parental love, care, and guidance. To be realistic there are lots of orphans in Karamoja who grow up in a terrible and miserable life because some go to sleep with empty stomach and others have no where to sleep so what happens these children start eating from dust bins for survival yet these bins are unhygienic. And if orphanage homes were built in Karamoja it would save the cries of the orphans and its my prayer that one day one time an orphanage home will be built in Karamoja region to save the future generation of Uganda and as a world because these kids the moment they lack what to eat, drink and where to sleep they tend to move out on streets and become beggars hence the increase number of street kids yet they are also human beings and would like to live in a happy homes like anybody’s children.

Church

There are no churches in Karamoja apart from a few of the catholic religion and if there would be any vision of establishing churches and also evangelizing out reaches and crusades could be held so as to preach the good news to the people of Karamoja this would be such a great blessing to the people of Karamoja and we could also impart or let the youth develop a passion and introduce social and life skills programmes so that they can develop their potential in order to design a family which is God fearing and its our prayer that people or some trustees can help us in the building of the temple of the Lord.

Tourism

Karamoja is a land full of amazing features and the moment you reach there they tend to put once a smile on your face and leaves a lot of desires on your heart of knowing or longing to know more. There are lots of mountains which are very tall and huge still there are also Karamojong warriors and a lot of beautiful animals and birds which sing sweet songs but the truth is that there are a lot of things to see in case you visit this place and I wish one day you could realize the beauty of Karamoja.

Special Thanks  

Our special thanks goes to Brother Mark and his wife Madam Laura for their being pioneer in helping us in different areas of this project and still being part of our survival. We pray that God will continue to use you to do His work and surely we are blessed to have such people like you by our side. We do treasure you so much. May God bless you abundantly more than He blessed King David and Solomon.

Lobu Gabriel Silver

Chairperson