Campaign: Save the Babies!

Praise God, we have an update on our program!

We received a phone call today from the Probation /Child Welfare department. They have set November 5th for the date for us to meet with them to come up with plan of action! This is exciting for many reasons. The government and the NGO's are not only working together for a common cause but to save precious lives! Our plan is to meet with several of our faithful ministry colleagues here in Masaka together with the government officials.

We had a brief discussion tonight with some of our ministry partners at our bi-weekly International Fellowship meeting. We have enthusiasm for working God's plan whatever it is! He placed it on our hearts do something about the babies being dumped in the rubbish piles.

So far The Lord has provided this:

The sign designer

The sign printer for signs at the dump sites

Donations towards the costs for the sign frames, concrete, and installation.

A local printer lined up to print educational posters for churches, shops, etc.

A meeting with the local officials.

Here is what we need:

YOUR PRAYERS!!

THE REALITY IS THIS; IF WE SAVE BABIES FROM DEATH, THEN WE WILL HAVE TO CARE FOR THEM. I HOPE WE DON'T THINK THAT IS A PROBLEM!

Are you ready to get involved in this project?

We would love to have you!

Praise God!

Our Star Pupils!

John is 12th out of 88 students!

Moses is 6th out of 94 students!

We first met these two boys in 2008, shortly after they were rescued from the streets by "Believers World Outreach" who were here on a Missions trip. They were left with God's Revival Church, pastored by Gerald & Betty Kasozi. It was placed on the hearts of two of the BWO team members to sponsor these boys, so they could have food, shelter, clothing and education. When we opened The Door OF Hope Family in February of 2009, they were transferred here. When they arrived, they could not speak English and had a very limited education.

This is their third term in school and they have made a lot of progress. Moses is in P2 and John is in P1. Moses is reading and speaking quite well and John has made a lot of improvement just in the past couple of months. They have grown, physically, mentally and spiritually.

Moses had accepted Jesus in the latter part of last year, when he dropped his Muslim name of Hussein and adopted the name of Moses. This year in August, after he accepted Jesus in his heart, John has made a remarkable improvement in everything, including behavior, spiritual growth and schooling.

On Tuesday, I joined John and Moses at the local bakery for a special treat and reward for some cakes and sodas to celebrate!

Praise God for these small but wonderful miracles!

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Free Haircuts!

On the weekends we open The Door OF Hope Barber Shop! Well it is not quite that sophisticated, but it works. This is when all of our kids can get spruced up for the week! We also open this up to other ministries and Pastors who can't afford such luxuries. If we are able to save them a few coins it helps them to have more for food. As it is customary here in Uganda, school children (both boys and girls), and men keep their head pretty smooth. Tonight, Fatumah brought over the boys from her ministry, The Children Of The Kingdom Of God. This is a real blessing to them!


Sometimes doing small things can be a big blessing! Praise God for all the ways He Provides!
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Join The Campaign- Save The Babies!

This is a campaign for community awareness and education! In order for people to stop dumping their babies in a rubbish pit, they need a choice or a solution to their "problem." As unfortunate as it is, we can't simply say DON'T DUMP YOUR BABY HERE! Because if they follow those instructions, they will just dump the baby elsewhere!

The campaign is to show them alternatives, to save lives! We will be directing these babies to a "safe haven" or a receiving station so we can place them in a baby's home for proper care under the guidance of the local authorities.

Here is our progress report:

• We have an award winning graphic designer volunteering to design the signs!
• We have a sign printer in the USA who has volunteered to print and ship the signs!
• We have local public officials backing our efforts!
• We have fellow NGO's ready to help in our our efforts!

Here is what we need:

• DONATIONS to locally build the metal frames and install the signs in concrete.
• The final approval from Child Protection Services, and senior authorities.
• YOUR PRAYERS for a successful project.
• Final wording to get the message across, in two languages!

WE INVITE YOU TO GET INVOLVED!

A Tribute To Our Sponsors & Friends!

This is a tribute to our sponsors and friends from one of our boys. This was a class assignment for prose & poetry. It is entitled "MY JAJJA'S," this is what the kids call us, it means grandparents. But the only reason we are able to do our work is because of you and your good gifts, we only have the love for the kids but you make it all happen! Please see what all this means to this one boy.

My JAJJA'S

What a wonderful gift.

They are so caring and loving.

So Marvelous!

What a wonderful gift.

They pay for my school fees.

They provide me with food

Oh so marvelous!

They teach me how to talk English

And they advise me to practice it all the time.

What nice jajja's they are!

Oh so marvelous!

They make sure that I have everything.

They advise me on things that will help me.

Oh so marvelous!

They encourage me when I lose hope

And they teach me to believe in Jesus.

Oh they are really so Marvelous!

By John Travis

John is a very quiet young man and for him to approach me with this, is really a big thing! We are his only family and it has been great to see him grow since February when he joined us. It is actually difficult to just give a little background on John because I think he has enough stories to write a book. He witnessed losing his parents in the Rwandan Genocide around 1995 and somehow, by the Grace of God, he is OK!

Thank you to all our sponsors and friends! May God bless you!

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FAITH

Praise God! I would like to share these testimonies with you. God's Revival Church is one of the local ministries here in Uganda that we partner with.

On Sunday when we visited God's Revival Church, I delivered a message, as God had spoken to me about the topic. As He is so amazing, sometimes the message is not clear to the messenger but the message is meant for the ones receiving it. It is only by faith that these types of messages are delivered, because if you listen to other voices, it could be Satan trying his hardest to discourage us from speaking what God has chosen for us to say!

I think on first reading this, it may sound confusing! What I am saying is that faith in God is always important. Because when He chooses to communicate through us, we have to know, that it is what He wants us to do (to deliver the message).

I can't explain how hard the devil tried to stop me! Here is what I am praying for now: The next time that I receive so much opposition in preparing the Word, that I will recognize it sooner and not let it even have a chance to work. That it will instead encourage me to continue on the same path! Thank you God to use me as a vessel to carry your Word! I pray for humility and wisdom in doing your work.

After the church service we visited with Pastors Betty and Gerald. We were so happy to see so many chickens. Last March when Rob Brennecke was here as a missionary with us, we visited with Betty to discuss chickens. Rob had experience raising chickens with his family in the US. I was hoping we could do something to help them with their chicken project. They had on a few occasions attempted to raise chickens for income and had run into a few problems.

But if you recall a few months back, as we reported here in this blog, the topic of conversation changed from chickens to water. In a few minutes of talking I became aware of their situation of needing water. We had a water program called H2O8 and we had the funds to assist them in getting a tap.

The water project is a success! They not only have water but it is a blessing to the community as well because it is nearby for many to come and fetch water. The government tap is not perfect water but it is a huge difference from swamp water. Because of our water project, it was necessary to install a main water line to the village which will help many people in the future because they will now only have a short distance pull a pipe line from if they want to install a tap.

But this is where it even gets better! With the profits of selling water they have invested in 200 chicks, some fryers and broilers, this is the first step so they can purchase some layers! God sure has His ways of working these things out!

Our ultimate goal with any of these projects is to help us all to become self supported! It is the starting of these projects is where we need help. But you see after we helped with the water, it becomes a stepping stone. We recently received a motorcycle, so we can cut our expenses and generate an income as well. Please pray with us in thanksgiving as we recognise that these are truly gifts from God!

We thank you for all your prayers and financial support to make all of this possible in Jesus' Name!

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God Knows What We Can Handle

With the wind blowing in my face at 11:00 pm it is exhilarating to say the least especially after doing our evening radio show. It gets my adrenaline up as we deliver the evening message of the Word of God. What a wonderful opportunity He has given us to serve Him. As Jennifer and I headed back home after we finished the show I was thinking how God wants us to do His work. The night air is refreshing and maybe a little chilly sitting on the back of a motorcycle as our boda driver guides us around pot holes and bumps and safely gets us back home. I think; what am I doing on a motorcycle on these roads and at this hour and in this country? This is God's plan? He is funny! And I am wide awake! But I am not complaining, I asked for an evening time slot and He answered!


We did the show by ourselves again this week, just me and Jennifer. We were prepared for our solo this time and things went well. Pastor Moses had a robbery where he is staying and they took everything he had, which wasn't much. Even his clothes! So he needed the night off and we were able to handle the show, Praise God! Please pray for Pr Moses!


God never gives us more than He knows we can handle. Well maybe a little bit more just to keep stretching us and our faith. We were just having this conversation with the pastor last week about God providing provisions, and he was wondering when God was going to start to provide just a little bit more for him. Then he gets punched in the face with something like this. Yea, sometimes He really stretches our faith. So Moses really does need your prayers for renewed strength and encouragement!
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In God's Plan

Is this the destiny that God had in mind for one of His children?

UPDATE:

Masaka, Uganda Today we met with Ruzena Rita, Senior Probation & Social Welfare Officer for our area here in Masaka. She is over Child Protection Services and has jurisdiction over our facility. One of her main concerns is taking care of the OVC (Orphan & Vulnerable Children). She is quite enthused about our Save The Babies project and will be discussing it with her boss and setting up a group planning meeting with all of us; NGO's, Churches and whoever else we can get on board to join in this effort.

California, USA I heard from Lauren Chavez, one of our volunteers, and she is asking her aunt to help print some adhesive signs that they could ship to Uganda and we can stick them on some metal sign posts. This is a real blessing and could be a more sophisticated sign that what we can get here locally. Maybe we could get a couple artists out there that can offer an idea or two.

We still need to raise some funds to pay for the metallic signs, concrete, etc.

I spoke with a radio announcer and host, that we know through the church. I filled her in on our project so that she will be able to help over the radio with some public education about dumping babies.

Do you want to know how God works?

He sent Rita, the probation officer, here today on another mission, so I didn't have to track her down, as she is extremely busy in her position and it is normally pretty hard to catch her. A footnote to that is, she wants us to take in a foster child from a neighboring country for a couple of weeks. So we will have another teenage girl for a while. Right now, if a child needs care such as in this case, the only place they have for them is a jail cell at the juvenile center. Even, as in this case, the child is a victim not a criminal.

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