Saturday, April 25, 2009

IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?



On Saturday morning our "Dr. Sam" came to the The Door OF Hope. Let me refresh the story of "Dr. Sam." We met Sam last year when he lived in the University's Dorm, for medical students, that was just down the road from where we lived. We became friends and he had become very interested in what we were doing in the ministry. He offered to volunteer his time to help us with the health of the children. http://hewillprovide.blogspot.com/2008/08/i-prayed-likelord-donot-bypass-these.html One of our supporters offered to help Sam with his medical school fees which was a big burden for him and in turn Sam committed to volunteer with us even after he graduates from medical school. He recently got reassigned to our local government hospital, so he is back in Masaka again.

On Saturday Sam gave a class on Skin Diseases complete with a slide show. Praise the Lord, our power was restored in time for him to complete his entire presentation. This was a very informative meeting and the kids and adults learned a lot. This is especially important here because there are a lot of traditions in Africa that contradict what is common knowledge in first world countries. Sometimes we are not just trying to give the remedy for the disease but we need to combat the wrong information that the people have come to believe as the correct and only way doing something. We had a question and answer session and the kids seemed pretty enthused about the class. Sam was able to see a couple of the children individually who had some concerns or ailments.



After lunch, four of our boys accompanied Dr, Sam and Robyn to Malago Hospital, this is the same hospital that we had mention in previous blogs (about Robyn and Nicholas). http://hewillprovide.blogspot.com/2008/09/jesus-i-love-you.html Two of the boys that went on this trip are planning on becoming doctors. We not only wanted to share a hospital experience with them but to have Sam be a mentor to them. Like many others here in Uganda, he has to struggle to obtain school fees. Sam is very good in talking with the kids because he finds a way to bring God into his teachings.

We will soon post the story of this trip to the hospital that is being written by Robert, one of the boys that accompanied Dr Sam. Praise God for all His Goodness!
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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

"On The Air"

Priscilla, Robert, Maddy, and Jennifer at FM 95


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On Saturday afternoon four of our children were on the radio! It was an exciting day for all of us at The Door of Hope as we were at home tuning our radios to listen to the show. The host of the show is a leader for Y4C (Youth for Christ) the youth group at Masaka Pentecostal Church. Their topic for the day was "How important is parental guidance for the behavior of the teenager."
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Our family was so proud to hear all the opinions of the radio guests because they had some good answers and comments. I believe they did a good job because we have been invited back. That is always a good sign!
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As I was listening I couldn't help think about the background of some of these kids. The listening audience never were told that these children live in a group home and have not all had parental support or guidance. Maybe that is why they do value parental guidance! When I heard some of the answers and I knew they were speaking from their heart because I know the history of these children and they were speaking from experience.
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They really did a good job, I am not just a proud grandfather.


Saturday, April 11, 2009

A Tea Party With The Prophets!

I am always amazed by who God sends to us for a visit. Many friends stop by on a daily basis and we actually have to encourage them to set an appointment because of our busy schedule of being in and out and being involved in so many projects, because we really want to be here to spend time with them. Here, we have, what I call, tea parties. I remember having tea parties with my two daughters Jenny and Kimmy; we would have make believe cakes and cookies and tea and anything else that I would ask for, because I was always their guest. We would sit at that little red table and talk about everything and we would "make believe" we were friends meeting over tea. This was many, many years ago, and as I reminisce, I have to stop to wipe my eyes.

Now I realize that all that was for practice when "I grow up" and go to Africa. Because here they really drink tea and we sit and visit, something that it seems people are too busy for back home. We usually have a great time with our visitors and many have a message that they didn't know they were bringing. Prophets! A tea party with the prophets!

Recently we had a meeting with Pastors Betty and Gerald Kasozi from God's Revival Church. We also look forward to meeting with them whether we meet at their church or they come to visit us. It is especially exciting to witness when 10 year old John 12 year old Moses come home from school, and as they wait at the compound gate for it to be opened they peer through the opening and see Gerald's little motor scooter. They jump up and down and giggle and scream and point. They know that motor cycle very well. (Moses and John joined us our first week when we opened the Door of Hope. We met them last summer after the Kazosi's took them in off the street, and we had sponsors for them to go to school but we were not sure what the logistics were going to be. God revealed to us, to all of us, the sponsors, Jill, Cheryl and Micah, along with Betty and Gerald and Robyn and myself, that the boys would be joining us here at the Door of Hope.) Well, these boys could not contain themselves when they ran inside to see "mommy and daddy" Kasozi. To have both Gerald and Betty together here for these boys was a great reunion.

As we visited, Betty had a few stories to tell, and anyone who knows these two, know that Betty has some good stories to tell, usually they are a testimony to the Lord. Somehow it will always end with praise the Lord! Recently Betty had been seriously ill and since this was the first day in a while that she felt good, they had to come over to share and say thanks. Thanks to our supporters, we were able to fund her hospital visit that saved her life. She had a serious tooth infection. This was going on for several weeks, in fact the last time I wrote about them was if you remember, was the water project; remember we thought we were going to talk about chickens and I was there with Rob the missionary on March 5th. Betty at that time had a terrible toothache and we happened to have some tablets that day to help relieve pain. Now this is over a month ago and this tooth was not letting up, they said it had to be pulled and they pulled it. But it was still hurting weeks later, anyway back to the hospital and after several attempts, visits, discussions, x-rays and they find that there were pieces of tooth still left embedded in her jaw and the infection was through her blood stream. One more surgery and another major dosage of antibiotics she is feeling well again. So she came by to say thank you to all of you and praise God! She literally thought she was going to die.

I told you that people come with messages, and yes she had messages as well. One was, if you remember, when we were talking of their water project that we are supporting through our H2O8 program. It just wasn't that the water was inconvenient or costly but sometimes they were doing without water. As she prayed and thanked God for the water I realized how much more serious it was or to put it another way, how much of a gift it is to them. When she says "many nights we just did without water," but God has brought them water, something that they have prayed for a long time. This is just as impacting as if we were digging a well for them. In this case we just had to have the government system extended by laying a pipeline to there property. Water is something that most of us take for granted back home, even though we may complain about the bill, but it is there running and clean when we need it.

During the prayer, Betty asks for God to bless us here at the Door of Hope and to stop any obstacles and threats against us as we run our ministry. She is hitting on some major areas for us, we were just in the middle of receiving the notification of accusations from that "other ministry." Anyway we need to respond to this agency about these ridiculous things and it was reassuring from God, through Betty's prayer, that we have the Lord on our side. Betty had no idea of what she was bringing us. Praise the Lord on how He works and how He reminds us that He is here along our side for us to lean on or for Him to carry us; Have you heard the story of "One set of footsteps in the sand?" Isn't it amazing how He uses us to make it all happen? He certainly doesn't need us, it is a blessing to be used by God, and we should all look forward to when He may use us again. Imagine picking one of us out of billions of people, and how many of us is He doing this to simultaneously. Now that is an amazing God!

Happy Easter!

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Sunday, April 5, 2009

This Is Real Life

Today our local Chairman, Joseph, came by for a visit. He is the LC1 and 2 (Local Chairman). He is the first step in government for our area, actually in Uganda, he is a pretty important person because everything goes through him or needs his approval, he will be writing our letter of introduction so we can get our Post Office Box and he is one of the first steps in getting our NGO status in Uganda. We have met with him on quite a few occasions and he has become a friend of The Door of Hope Family, and he really appreciates what we do for the people.

Today he brought a lady and her grandson for an interview to see if the grandson was able to get some assistance from us. The boy is 15 and lives with his grandmother. They were very pleasant to talk with. Because of the nature of our business we have to find out a lot information. We need the background stories and the present situation; regarding, family history, health, and financial. This is a lot of personal information that needs to be discovered.As Robyn and I sat with this family asking personal questions I was feeling very strange and as I find out later from Robyn, she was sharing some of the same feelings. This women was widowed in 1977 during the Idi Amin regime. Her son, the boys father, was killed in an automobile accident and the mother of the boy lives about 100 miles away and has not seen the boy for a couple of years. The grandmother was remarried but that husband also passed away. She has a small street business selling used shoes but business has been slow and she is only making about 3000 UGX a week, about $1.50 USD

Did you see the movie "The Last King of Scotland?" I am recalling this movie as I am hearing first hand the effects of what Amin had done. This was what I refer to as "real life." Who am I to be asking these questions? Yes I am the one responsible to gather this information, but this is really very humbling and at times uncomfortable. It would be a lot easier to just tell people at the gate that we are full and don't have any room for more children. But when you sit with people face to face and hear the stories that, let's face it, I never new anyone with stories like these in America, except for the refugees we knew in San Diego.

We have experienced this same thing several times before. We have sat with children and heard how their parents were murdered during the Rwanda war, did you see "Hotel Rwanda"? We heard a mother tell us how her oldest child was murdered and cut into pieces. Sometimes when I hear these "true" stories I have to fight to hold back the tears! I hope I don't get desensitised to these stories. This is their life here in Uganda, and somehow these people continue to carry on despite their hardships.

We had to place this boy on our waiting list. We served them lunch so they wouldn't go away hungry and we knew their situation at home so we sent them on there way with a bag of rice so to last them for a few days. That is how God works sometimes to get people through hard times. He gives opportunities for us to help others the best we can when we can. It is our choice!
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Friday, April 3, 2009

Only Monkeys in Trees Please!

Well we had our first accident at the house last Friday afternoon! Friday was the Masaka Primary Schools Athletic competition. One of our older boys, Rock, was not participating in any of the events so he stayed home. As boys do, he thought it would be fun to climb the guava tree in the back yard and eat a few fruits. He was at the top of the tree when the branch broke and he went tumbling out, landing on the cement. Thank God he wasn't seriously hurt but we immediately took him to the clinic.

After waiting in the clinic the doctor sent him to the x-ray & ultra sound department. Of course this department is in another building that has a flight of stairs down to reach the department entrance...hum isn’t that crazy. Only in Uganda! Thank God Uncle Sam was with us and he was able to carry Rock down the stairs because he couldn’t walk! We did get right in and got x-rays of his head, pelvis and arm. After the x-rays were complete it was back up stairs to see the doc again. He referred us to an orthopedic surgeon, which surprised me that Masaka had one. So we were on our way again. The ortho doc was great!! He said that Rock only had a broken wrist in 2 spots and there was no need for pins! Praise the Lord!! He put on a temporary cast and we were off.

Rock is doing good now!! We went to the orthopedic surgeon again yesterday and he put on his permanent cast. As always Rock is in good spirits and was able to go back to school today. Boys will be boys huh!! I told him only monkeys are allowed in trees! :)

Rita

We Now Have 15....Oh My!!!

We Now Have 15…oh my!

We now have 15 children at the He Will Provide- Door of Hope home!!! The kids run the gamut of personalities! With the boys John Travis is quite and reserved and Rock is always smiling and joking around. With the girls we have Winnie that is smiley, and always talking and Imelda who is quiet because she is shy about speaking English. But when she is asked to lead a Bible study she is bold and has an evangelist, pastor's heart. All the kids are amazing! I can write a little about each of them sometime soon.

Here are all their names and ages:
Maddy, 16
John Travis, 18
Rock, 17
Winnie, 13
Jennifer, 14
Barbra, 16
Sarah, 15
Priscilla, 14
Shadia, 16
Imelda, 15
Moses, 11 (we think—don’t have a year he was born)
John Jr. 10 (we think—don’t have a year he was born)
David, 16
Robert, 17
Rob, 12

Until I write a bit on each child please continue to check out my Blog http://www.faithhopelovemissions.org for the stories or the He Will Provide site at http://hewillprovide.blogspot.com/

Love and Blessings,
Rita