GIFTS

 Sewing machines......we hope to purchase 4 this summer

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(A young lady showing off her newly learned knitting skills...tools and yarn were provided, along with teaching)

I have often heard the saying, "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime".  How true that is.  Mercy Uganda has been involved in so many aspects of life in Uganda that sometimes we have to take a deep breath and evaluate it all.  Everything we have and do, all that we are, comes from God.  He allows us to be stewards of all He provides.  This includes our involvement in the lives of others, in using those resources to expand the kingdom work.  It is so easy to just give someone something, knowing that they need it, knowing it will help them.  Some things are meant as a gift, straight up.  The emergency medical care for Julius and Alex are examples of that.  The ongoing therapy and help for Lawrence is important in that it provides a way for him to learn and become independent.  The child sponsorships are that way as well.  An education is one of the most important things one person could offer another.  It provides hope and a future, a way to learn and to "eat for a lifetime".  The well project is such a gift.  This simple act will provide generations with  better health, and therefore, hope and a future.  There are some things, though, that we can do to help in the teaching, by providing one thing, and then teaching the use of the one thing.  Sewing machines.  Did you know that in Uganda the sewing machines are non-electric and controlled by pedaling?  This makes sense because electricity is a luxury most cannot afford.  We can purchase a sewing machine for $100.00 and teach a lady in a poor village how to sew. She can then use that skill to provide for her family.  We hope to purchase 4 sewing machines this summer for ladies in particular villages to help them, and to help begin a vocational program for others.  We also hope to raise the support needed to send a young lady to nursing school.  She wants to start a clinic in a poor area.  She is a Christian,a and an orphan girl who grew up in one of the poorest parts of Africa... Karamoja.We are also working on support for a dear Christian young woman to go to law school in Kampala.  Uganda needs Christian women, advocates for the lives of women and children in that country.

(Lydia, seen in this picture with our liaison Gabriel, left,  and friend of Mercy Uganda, Ronnie, prepared for nursing school)

(This is Irene, and her husband Alex, with Nathasha, newly adopted to save her life....Irene hopes to begin law school in August)

So you see, sewing machines, education, these teach a "woman to 'fish' so she can feed her family for a lifetime". Investing in God's children, that is a wonderful means of stewardship, and service to God.
Please pray for Mercy Uganda, for the women and children God has placed before us, and for the whole villages that are positively impacted through what God is doing in and through our efforts, and the love and support of those who walk alongside us in the ministry work.