April Update
Our Progress
April 10th, 2021
Recently with God’s blessing, our founder Daniel, visited Uganda and the Kireka School for Children with Special Needs. He and his team spent the week meeting with the students, teachers, and various community leaders. They also made trips to purchase supplies that were desperately needed by the children and the school. Keep reading to learn of the impact that was made with faith and God’s grace!
Daniel and the team arrived at the school on Valentine’s Day. The first order of business was to meet, chat, and dine with the children, parents, and teachers. Backyard Church in Auburn had taken the time to hand make Valentine’s Day cards for every single child, mother, teacher, and even the support staff! The children also received shoes as gifts, and there were even enough supplies to bless many of the mothers with shoes as well. Emotions were high, as none of the attendees had ever been celebrated in such a way before. Unfortunately, due to cultural views and limitations to education, the community views the children’s unique disabilities as a curse. The children and families are shunned and offered little to no assistance. As you can imagine, this is heartbreaking for the children and their families. To be showered with love from strangers was very moving for everyone, and the families were baffled as to why strangers would do such kind things for them. We shared a meal with them and shared the message of Christ and Salvation. We wanted this community to know that God has not forgotten about them. During this meeting, four of the mothers committed their lives to Christ – Glory to God!
The next day, we collected wish lists from the students, mothers, and teachers and went shopping. With God’s blessing, we were able to gather and provide all of the children’s requirements. We were also able to buy enough medicine and medical supplies to sustain the clinic for 6 months. We bought a Smart TV to allow the children access to more educational and recreational opportunities. We provided a new clothes iron, a new refrigerator, and repaired the water pump, leaving them with a reliable water source.
At the school is a young woman who has volunteered at the school for many years, and her mother is a teacher there. Due to the needs at the school, this young woman’s education has been on hold. With God’s faith and blessing, we were able to provide her with a scholarship as a token of our appreciation for her family’s contributions to the school.
On our third day, we met with community pastors to follow up from our visit last year. At the time, we had encouraged them to join our outreach ministry to support the children with special needs. Due to the misconceptions of the children’s illnesses, they and their families were being denied access to the churches. On our previous visit, we met with 30 pastors, and on this trip, we were able to follow up with 25 that have implemented special needs programs in their churches and communities! The local Rotary Club in Uganda provided walking support in the form of crutches for some of the children, and they are now being welcomed into the churches as well as assisted. God is so good! A pastor reported that one of the children who suffers from epilepsy has been completely seizure free since being assisted and welcomed by the church – a miracle! There were an additional four mothers of Muslim faith in these communities who gave their lives to Christ.
On our final day, we went to view the land that had been purchased for the construction of the new school. Part of the property is in a wetland, and we learned that it would be far too expensive to build there. We decided to convert it into farmland for the school to grow crops and have a steady supply of healthy foods for the children. Given this setback – the only setback during our trip, we decided to inquire about available properties close by. We were fortunate enough to identify 25 acres of land, merely 10 minutes away from the first. We plan to purchase 5 acres there, as the land is conducive for construction and on the River Nile! We are confident The Lord will provide the required resources to see this goal through so that we can begin construction.
Thank you so much for supporting our vision, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with what God is doing in Uganda!