Children receive blessings

Previous Post from Thursday, 08 May 2014

Hello Family and Friends,

It’s always a joy to write to you to keep you updated with what the Lord is doing here at Give Hope Ministries in Busia, Uganda. Thanks for taking this time to learn what is happening!

We have had a great increase in child enrollment in our program this academic term, which started in February of this year. At the end of last year we had 52 students; today that number has more than doubled to 109!

The children are at school from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm; they attend classes, have devotions (for teachers, too), play games, take naps (especially the young ones), and we provide breakfast and lunch for all student; dinner is provided for the children that reside at the school. 

The blessings keep coming! We now have a school van that picks children up for school, and carries them home after school. What an unimaginable blessing this is, as some walked up to 4 miles to school and then another 4 to get back home.  The van does have some mechanical troubles that can create challenges so we are trusting and believing in God for a bigger and more dependable ride.  This week, our behind window screen got broken and we are using a polythin bag  to avoid water entering the van since we are in the rain season now

We praise God for the current progress on the construction of our last class room block and our first 2 story building! The walls are finished and now we are waiting upon the Lord for the second floor.

We are glad to report to you about the beds that we acquired for the children. We have thirty beds ready for starting the program. We have not started on building the housing units for the orphans in the program yet, but we are still trusting God for that project to kick off.

God blessed us tremendously through one of our church partners, Grace Fellowship Church, USA; they supplied much needed clothing, shoes, pencils, pens, and books.  The children and the caretakers were so glad to have these supplies. Thank you once again, Grace Fellowship Church for your generosity and love to these dear ones that we are serving together. We are overwhelmed and grateful for your generous donation and love.

We were so blessed to have our friend Joe here with us who shot a video at GHM. Keep a look out - the video is coming out soon! We would be happy to hear your feedback.  If you would like a copy of the video, or if you would be interested in having someone speak with your congregation, please contact us.  I will be traveling to the United States sometime in April to share the progress of Give Hope Ministries with family and friends. I’d be happy to meet you, as well!

We also had one of our donor and friend, visit with us here and this is the response we got from Renee after her visit with us here in Uganda,

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Dear Willy, 
It was so nice to visit you and meet your beautiful wife, Autumn.  I thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the school, Proverbs Junior Academy. I enjoyed seeing each of the classrooms and learning a little about the teachers and students and what they were learning. I can tell that the kids are very
happy there. They were also very thrilled to see you. It is obvious that they feel very cared for and you make them feel very special by interacting with them, playing basketball with them, eating lunch with them and calling them by their names.  After seeing the village and hearing about the community, I was even more grateful that the school now exists. I'm also happy to know that the
children are all getting breakfast at the school, as well as lunch each day. 

I am hoping that as the funds are available you will be able to continue building and expanding so that you can meet even more needs. It will be nice to have the dormitory ready so that more of the children that need housing can stay at the school. Also, I will be happy to know that you have a way to get the water out of the well as opposed to pulling it up by hand; that was A LOT of work!!!

It is great that you are able to pick up the kids that need a ride to school. I'm sure that the children are more apt to learn if they are not worn out from a long walk TO school each morning.  Also, since the school day is long and rigorous - I bet that the kids look forward to the fun ride home together in the van. It's so neat how things have come together and the school is operational and meeting the needs of the orphaned children in Busia. I know that the needs are great and although no one can do it all...your ministry has made great strides in helping the children that need it most. Keep up the great work.  God bless you.  

Sincerely,

Renee

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As always, thank you for praying with us and supporting us. We genuinely appreciate you and wish you and yours all the best.

Will you partner with us today to educate, nurture and equip the next generation of children living here in Busia, Uganda?

Sincerely in Christ,

Willy Ouma

Through the Eyes of a Child

Previous Post from Monday, 16 December 2013

There is a certain Christmas song that seems a distant memory now; the lyrics are “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.”  Oh it is not among the classics like “Hark the Herald Angels”, or “Jingle Bells” or even “Grandma got run over by a Reindeer.” However, it delivers a message of simplicity and a humbled desire for things we take for granted so often.

Recently the children’s ministry of a small church became partners with Give Hope Ministries. They contacted me and asked, what do the orphan children want for Christmas? So, I sent a message to our founder (Willy Ouma) posing this very question. Shortly a list came back associating each child to the gift of their choice.

There, in this list of requests from orphaned children living in a poverty stricken country like Uganda, was a request for…a pencil. A PENCIL?!

Oh there were toys and clothes and other such things, but a pencil? I was set back for a moment. I looked around and figured out that I did not have a pencil myself, I just don’t use them any more. Again I reviewed the list, but the Pencil stuck out in my mind because this child was given no limitations on his request. The Pencil just seemed so insignificant, even compared the other children’s requests.

Puzzled by the request now, I put down my smart phone, laid aside the tablet, printed the list from the computer, and set out to visit with the children at the small church that made the original request to share the results.

On the drive over, I began to think about my perception of Christmas gift requests: in the world of children caught up with the latest craze; the mega whatever; which everyone must have in order to function in society. And now we have a crisis, a child with nothing: no home; no sense of family; little food; difficulty finding clean water; and likely lacking someone who cares… and they are asking for a PENCIL! It makes me wonder if I am just too stuck on the things of this world.

Arriving, I place the list before the children at the church. They inform me the request made perfect sense, maybe a pencil was needed to write a letter to them, or after all the child is learning at the new school and might make some mistakes to erase or needed to express their gratitude about having found hope in Jesus. Maybe with a pencil he could make a bigger list. Or perhaps she just wanted to write a request for a meal.

In the eyes of the children, they could see through the eyes of the orphan child what I could not. The things of our world had not yet fully blotted out the need for the Pencil to these children.

Today we have the technical power to write our ideas, format, translate and send out thoughts in print around the world. Yet, even with all that power, it was a simple device like a pencil that penned the greatest words ever written, the word of GOD. Today, even with all our achievements, we could not have created such an enduring truth as the good news of Christ Jesus.

God GAVE by Jesus Christ his gift, we have been asked to give as well.

So in this time of focused thanks and giving, GIVE HOPE to the children at GIVE HOPE MINISTRIES. We have so much to learn from these children and we can be immensely blessed by our decision to give. Give as it purposes in your heart, as seen in a child’s eye, even if it is just a Pencil.

- Ray

Sustainability

Previous Post from Tuesday, 19 November 2013

Despite generally noble intentions, the western Church has largely underestimated the gravity and complexity of the situation in developing countries like Uganda and thus presented solutions of inappropriate simplicity. We have consistently over-focused on what we can do or what we can give with our resources. And we have consistently under-focused on what God can do with a life empowered by His hope and love. As a result we have become unknowing accomplices to systems of poverty in our attempts to overcome these very systems.

Jesus did not live out his ministry to the poor by feeling pity on them and throwing money. He didn’t minister by establishing a relationship of status-based superiority.

He lived with them.

He learned about the way that they hurt. He learned about the way they were broken. And He empowered them with his outpouring of love and truth which aligned directly with their need. Jesus conducted His ministry to the needy in solidarity with them. And I believe deeply that this attitude is exactly what He expects from us.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone needs to get on a plane tomorrow and fly to Africa. That would not be helpful. However, I do believe that we should invest considerable effort learning about a society at depth before deciding how best to help them.

In the case of Uganda, many (though not all) of the roots of their current state of oppression can be linked to their subservient relationship to the western world; a relationship which dates back over 500 years. From the transatlantic slave trade (1500s-1800s); to European Colonialism (1800s-1958); to American involvement in corrupt, post-colonial governments (1950s-1980s); to today’s crisis of dependence on Western donors; we have long been a major contributor to Uganda’s problems. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that any lasting improvement in the lives of Ugandans will come alongside a reduction in dependence on western involvement, and that includes the far-reaching hand of Christian charity.

Yes, it is good that we give to the poor. And yes, I believe it pleases the Lord that American Christians are finally awakening to their calling to serve as “a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.”  But, it is key that we remain mindful of how our giving impacts the bigger picture.

As our ministry seeks to follow a sustainable model of development, we do so with a desire to address (on an extremely small scale) patterns of oppression enabled by the complex, broken nature of international sponsor/donor relations. We fundamentally believe that lessening Ugandan dependence on western donors is good for Ugandans. And, most importantly, we believe that Christ wants what is good for Ugandans!

So join us at Give Hope Ministries as we partner with Ugandan families to empower the orphans of Busia, Uganda through education, hope, and the love of Christ. Join us as we make a difference in the lives of children and communities with the use of an initial, upfront capital investment rather than an open-ended donation and the generations of baggage that goes alongside.

Let’s work together to show Christ’s love by empowering impoverished communities with hope and love. Let’s break away from ignorance and live in solidarity with those we have been called to serve. Let’s be a part of the solution.

Let’s Give Hope!

- Jacob