Safety Nets

In the U.S. we don't have to worry about things like Malaria, but it takes the lives of thousands of children in Uganda every year.  They don't have immunizations against it there.  They don't have access to the resources we have in the U.S. to kill off the mosquitoes that carry the disease.  The mosquito net is the life saving tool used there.  How blessed we are here in the U.S. to be able to sleep at night in relative peace and safety.  How thankful I am for that gift that God has given us.  Mosquito nets cost only a little, but many children do not have them because their families cannot afford this simple means of protection.  Every trip I have taken to Uganda has brought me face to face with someone either recovering from Malaria, or someone who has it.  Lawrence, (The Little Boy At The Gate) had it when he was a year old, that is why he has the medical problems he does, and why we are trying to get help for him.  As you remember, he is now 5 years old and we are working with him to learn to eat and talk. We bought a large net for him and his little sister during our September 09 trip.  When it was handed to his grandmother you would have thought she had been given a million dollars!   In January of 2009 we met a beautiful little girl (picture below) who had malaria while we were there.  Our team was able to purchase a mosquito net for her, and obtain medication to help reduce her fever.   The pregnant girls at Return to Bethel (a maternity home that provides safe shelter to pregnant young women)  also had malaria when we were there.  I'm not sure if that contributed to one of the girls having a miscarriage at 9 months or not (while we were there),  but I think it could have.  She had just gotten over a case of malaria (during her late term of pregnancy), and suddenly quit feeling the baby move. She was taken to the local hospital (ill equipped and not a clean facility), where 2 days later, after being induced, she gave birth to a dead baby girl.  This mother was 15 years old.  Think about it......THOUSANDS of children die EVERY YEAR in Uganda from Malaria!  Perhaps we can work together and provide the financial  resources to purchase mosquito nets there in Uganda.  Each net is only about $10.00 dollars U.S.  We can not put a price on the life of a child.  I pray that the Lord will protect these little ones.  I pray that He will raise up those here in the U.S. who will be vessels for Him in helping the helpless.  I want to be that vessel.....I pray that you do too.

This is the beautiful little girl who had malaria while we were there.          The girl in pink is the one who lost her baby at full term, shortly after recovering
                                                                                                      from malaria.

Jesus Came For Such As These

Christmas is just 3 days away, and this year, due to tough economic times we cut way back on our Christmas gift giving.  It was tough, because we so easily commercialize the season.  I have been guilty of that. As I think about the gifts of Christmases past, and I think of how creative I had to be this year, I realize that this struggle, this challenge has brought me back to just what Christmas is, and Who it is about.  It has also made me really reflect on the beautiful friends I have in Uganda who most likely will not be able to exchange gifts, and will certainly not indulge in the feasts we are accustomed to here. Yet I have received numerous e-mails from those dear friends sending gifts of the heart, words of joy and encouragement as they focus on Christ.  I think of their lack of resources, their small, mostly inadequate homes (by American standards), the fact that alot of children there walk around with no shoes and ragged ill-sized clothes.  I think of the days and days of bananas and rice, of meal and dirty water.  I then reflect on the birth of Christ.  He was born into a poor family. He was born in a stable.  He is God and could easily have arranged His birth in a palace but He didn't.  He came in the humblest of circumstances, born into a lowly family, grew up the son of a carpenter.  He didn't own a home of His own.  When He died, He was buried in a borrowed grave.  How easily we make life about money, about things, about position and prestige.  How easily we look down on the less fortunate, the broken.....the least of these. I want to close this blog post with a quote which is part of an e-mail I received from one of my dear Ugandan friends this week.  It brings my heart back to Who we celebrate, and why...."Praise be to God from whom all blessings flow.  I am so happy to e-mail you as we are approaching the day when we remember the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ.  It is my prayer that as we celebrate His birth, we may continue in His grace and also continue to tell other people about Him so that He may be born in their lives too.  It's better to celebrate when you are sure of your life with Jesus Christ, the Savior....may you have peace in the Lord, May you be blessed, may you live for Him alone as we celebrate His birth. Amen".  (quote from Seereuyunge, Fred)....BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

The gift of dance

Uganda is a beautiful country.  It is also a country that has suffered much through war after war, dictators, and the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army).  The people struggle to survive.  Most are extremely impoverished and barely have food to eat.  Clean water is hard to come by and most collect rain water or go to an area cistern to fill jerry cans with unclean water to take home in order to cook, bathe, wash their clothes.  Education is important but most struggle to pay even the basic fee of $150.00 a year.  In spite of all of this, one thing I have seen in the people of Uganda is their creativity.  They are able to make things with their hands, baskets, bowls, jewelry, drums, carved wooden items such as chairs and frames.  The Ugandans love music too, and after so many years of suffering at the hands of dictators and the struggles of war, they long for a creative outlet that inspires and brings beauty back to their everyday lives.  We had a team member almost 2 years ago who went.  She is a ballet teacher and spent time teaching a small group of students basic ballet.  This so inspired this young group that they have tried to continue teaching themselves through simple videos and random classes taught by others who came to follow up.  They want so much to dance, to for even a while, take themselves beyond the struggle of life into the beauty that dance expresses.  This creative outlet is a small venue to hope.  Through Mercy Uganda, we will provide that opportunity for the young Ugandan's.  Our Ministry Liaison/Client Advocate-Education, Lauren Walker will be hosting a Ballet Workshop for students to come and explore the opportunity to become part of a dance program.  Then, weekly classes will be taught, and the students will be encouraged in their creativity.

 I think of the many Psalms in Scripture that give reference to dance, and how David even danced before King Saul on numerous occasions.  I can close my eyes and imagine the joy in a person's heart as they dance before the Lord in thanksgiving.  I can remember my own children when they were little, how they expressed their joy through simple childlike dance.  It seems to somehow, for the moment, make life a little easier to bear.  It somehow makes the struggles of this life disappear if even for a little while.  We are excited and honored to have the opportunity to work with the students in such a way.  We will be leaving on January 19th for our next trip to Uganda.  During that trip Lauren will be moving there and committing to at least 18 months in Uganda, working in basic literacy with those who have been unable to go to school, working in areas of education with some of the schools in teaching a class or two, and providing the ballet classes for the youth.  We are collecting used ballet slippers in all sizes, and at least a dozen pair in sizes 7 and 8.  If you, or someone you know may have a pair of the dance slippers that you can share with us, we would love to hear from you.  Lauren is also hoping to collect three specific books that will be of great help in teaching not only ballet, but expanding language. The books are: Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet by Gail Grant ($9.99), 100 Lessons in Classical Ballet: The Eigh-year program of Leningrad's Vaganova Choreographic School  by V.S. Kostrovitskaya ($12.99), and Basic Principles of Classical Ballet by Agrippina Vaganova ($7.95) All three books are available at Amazon.com.  We are also looking for any DVD's or VHS copies of professional classical ballet being performed.  If you have an old copy lying around, or find one at a yard sale or flea market, we would love to recieve it.  Please pray for us as we offer this creative outlet for the youth of Uganda.  Pray that God will be honored and glorified, and that these children will find peace in the midst of struggle, that they will find joy in the midst of hardship. Most of all, that they will come to know the Lord and will ultimately dance for Him.

When a child becomes the parent....

There are many families in Uganda that are headed up by a child. The father of the children below was a bigamist with two wives.....all three died of aids, leaving the children alone.

Distant family members came.....not to care for them......but to steal what little worldly goods those children had....a goat or two, some spoons and a pot maybe.  They were left with nothing.......just the corrugated tin roof over their tiny shack.


But then the relatives returned.......to steal the roof!  This time the grapevine in the village was working full force and all the villagers came out and chased them off with machetes.  Yea for the calvary!!!


You noticed that they are smiling in the picture below?  Some of the team brought them a few necessities of life.  Once again the village grapevine was in place and the villagers came out, not with machetes this time, but applauding! 

This simple little graveyard is almost in the backyard of these children.  Their parents are buried there.  No one seems to know who made the headstones.  Probably some villagers hauled the stones and carved them. 

Below is Kefa Sempangi with a child.....look closely and you'll notice the child has a few crackers in a bag.  What a treat!  Kefa Sempangi has long worked with the people of Uganda.  

He had returned to live in Uganda and was there with his wife when Idi Amin started the mass murder of many.  He saw the many orphans there and began working to help them.

His book A Distant Grief is a real eye opener!   We need our eyes opened!

We ask for your prayers for the orphans of Uganda. 

Enock's Story

Though we do not yet have a picture of Enock to post, I wanted to go ahead and send you this letter I receive yesterday from my friend Rev Dr Kefa Sempangi.

Kefa is a former member of parliament and has written 2 books, "A Distant Grief" which chronicles his life, his work with orphans, and his many narrow escapes from death at the hands of Idi Amin.  His second book "From the Dust" is a sequel to the first book and is about his work with street children in Uganda. 
Enock's story is one that will touch your heart and change your life.....


Laura,
One of our children at the orphanage died last week 7th Nov and was buried yesterday.  There was a huge gathering for burial.  Enock Sebanga born 1988 became a national concern in 2000 through the media and was among the first children to attract government intervention.  Sebanga was almost starved to death by his own parents at Kalerwerwe in Kampala. 


During Sebanga's brutal torture his left collar bone was broken and exposed to the surface.  It was restored to normal position at Mulago Hospital in 2000.  It is two and a half years that Doctors at Mengo Hospital found out that this bone had generated cancer in Sebanga's body-Leukemia.


In 2000 Sebanga's parents stood trial and were charged and sentenced in the courts of law.  From the beginning of 2009 Sebanga had been undergoing chemotherapy treatment at the Kampala international Hospital, until about a month ago when his blood count could no longer contain the tough chemo treatment.  Sebanga was terminally ill and given 28 days to live, the exact time he died.


He died a born again strong Christian.


Yours in Christ.
Rev. Dr. Kefa Sempangi

Just one child

Each time a child receives a sponsor, we will be featuring him/her on our blog!  It is exciting to see God at work in the lives of these children.

Frank is 12 and goes to Bethel Junior school.  He's a bright and serious student who understands the value of education.  His mother died and when not in school, he lives with his dad.

Frank was abducted last February by some local witch doctors who wanted him for a child sacrifice.  Try to imagine the terror he must have felt....the knowledge that this was the end of his life and that it would be a horrible death!

It once again leads me to think about my own children and what it would have been like to send them to grandpa's house and wonder if they would make it there safely.  Frank didn't make it that day.  How his grandfather and his father must have worried.  How they must have searched and questioned everyone they met to see if anyone had seen him.

I would always worry if I was late getting my children from school, worry that they would be scared and think I wasn't coming.  I can't imagine the fear if they had been picked up by strangers and targeted for murder.

By the grace of God, Frank has a scar on his stomach, from what I don't know.  That scar saved his life.  When the witch doctors saw the scar and realized Frank wasn't a perfect sacrifice, they released him to return to his family.

If only those witch doctors could know that the perfect sacrifice was made on the cross at Calvary!  That Jesus is the one they need, not a child off the street.

I pray that all the children will get sponsors.  That those sponsors will pray diligently for their child to come to know that perfect sacrifice and to then spread the gospel throughout their world!

Thank you God for each person who sees one of these children and recognizes him or her as their child, that bonus child that they can help in a world of poverty that we can never even begin to imagine!

I thank my God upon all my remembrance of you, always in every supplication of mine on behalf of you all making my supplication with joy,for your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now;  being confident of this very thing, that he which began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ: even as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how I long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; so that ye may approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offense unto the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.  Philippians 1: 3-11 

Simple Things

I was thinking about the people in Uganda this morning as I was sitting in my PJ's having coffee.  I am here this morning typing this and it is already 4:45 in the afternoon there. Since the time change this weekend, they are now 9 hours ahead of us.  Most of them did'nt get up thinking about that first cup of coffee, rather, they thought about traveling by foot to get water in jerry cans so they could prepare food for their family.  They considered a new day where they will probably, if they have a job, make about 50 cents today, some may make a little more, but nothing by our standards here in America where even with our economy and job issues, we have more than them.  I thought back to Paul, the young man who recently had spinal surgery, recovering.  I thought of the over 500 children we are working on sponsorships for....over 300 of those children can be sponsored for only $150.00 a YEAR. The other nearly 200 can be sponsored for $350.00 a year because they
also have to live at the school as boarders because they either have no family or live too far from the school.  I thought about the Kalangaalo Water Project we have going, trying to raise $10,000.00 for a well that will tremendously help that precious remote village and their overall health.  I couldn't help but think of the Little Boy at the Gate....Lawrence, and how God is so mightily working in his life and his circumstances.  God sees those "forgotten" people, the poor, helpless, lost.....He not only sees them, He loves them and He is working amidst their struggles, their circumstances.  More often than not, God works in peoples lives through other people...what a blessing for both!  I can tell you as a very inadequate sinner, how humbling it is to know that God has somehow chosen to use me in another person's life.  He is allowing me to be involved in His kingdom's work.....He doesn't need me, that is for sure.  For some reason in His grace and mercy, He is blessing many lives through Mercy Uganda, my life, Lawrence's life, those who are sponsoring children, the sponsored children, our board members, and the list goes on.  If you will notice, when God opens a door for us to minister to others, we end up totally blessed and ministered to ourselves.  I praise Him for that. I thank Him that He is allowing me to get to know some awesome people and work amidst some spiritual giants.  He is helping me grow in all of this.  My prayer is that He will be honored and glorified.  I pray, too, for an obedient spirit, a willing heart, for strength in serving Him, and for courage always to do the hard stuff that He wants me to do.  Well, if you are reading this over your cup of coffee I pray that you will also reflect on what God is doing in your life. I ask that you say a prayer for Mercy Uganda, and for the women, children, and whole villages that God has placed before us.  Perhaps you too would like to be a part of this work.  We would be honored to have you!.