Greetings from Kabale!
Donna & I have been in Kabale this last month with Jess & Beth Ritchie and our incredible 2 Roads staff. We arrived in Entebbe Uganda under the CDC’s level 4 (do not travel mandate). Having not been able to travel here for the past year and half we were quite determined to come. God made a way!
Justine, Jim, Josephine, Anthony, Benias, Hellen
There are lots of restrictions here due to COVID, but we are still able to do God’s work. Each day we have been able to meet with 5 or 6 children. We started with the older children and have been working our way down in age each day. We have had the opportunity to get to know these young people better in this focused approach. We have played games, sung worship music, prayed, studied God’s word and had some really good fellowship time. Of course, almost every day some play football (soccer) and everyday we get to eat lunch together. Beth, who recently graduated from nursing school with her LPN, has also been teaching health and wellness classes.
On Mondays we gather with the staff for a time of prayer, worship, fellowship and Bible study. These are great times of bonding together. We are of one heart and mind in our desire to see the children God has placed with us become disciples of Jesus Christ.
A few days ago, as I shared from God’s word with some of our children, I was reminded of the influence Muslims have here. Please pray that we can love them to Jesus! Specifically pray for one young lady who we have shared Christ with. She is reading Luke seeking the truth.
Some restrictions were lifted by the Ugandan President last night, but we still can’t gather together with everyone. Schools will remain closed for another 60 days (!), which continues to have a detrimental affect on the children’s lives. Without being able to go to school there is lots of boredom and some students are tempted to quit school altogether. Others suffer abuse at home as they are forced to live in difficult home situations. Teenage pregnancy has increased dramatically here in Kabale. We have had one father threaten to kill his children and we have had to get the police involved. Another girl came to the junction this week because her mother is abusing her. She shared with our staff social worker that she has thought about suicide as a way out. Our sponsored children know that the junction is always a safe place that they can come.
Just before we arrived our staff distributed food relief to 100 families. One of our priorities is to continue to do Parent training; teaching our parents how to love and nurture their children in a loving environment. We can provide Biblical training and discipleship for our sponsored children, but they return home sometimes to very difficult circumstances. Our prayer is that we can begin to help our parents know a better way to raise their children…a way that was never demonstrated to them. We seek, with God’s help, to begin to break the cycle of poverty and parental neglect that creates “damaged” adults who perpetuate this behavior.
Dealing with this culture and the society norms is overwhelming. Only with God’s strength can we begin to make inroads of change. Please pray for our staff as they face daily challenges. Pray for more sponsors.
Blessed, Christine, Leticia, Donna
We have been looking at some other properties to purchase as our current land cannot be used as it is tied up in the courts. Justice here moves really slowly. We currently lease the junction property that we work from. We would like to purchase a property with a building on it so we can continue our programs without a big annual lease payment. We are looking at a few properties that have been schools in the past that would possibly work for us in the short term as we hope to begin our own school. We are targeting January of 2023 to begin our school. The scope of opening a school is overwhelming to say the least, but we definitely believe that this is the direction God would have us go. This of course will be in addition to the current ministries.
We will be sharing a number of projects in the coming months that will help to supplement our ongoing programs. One project was to buy bibles for the ladies in our fellowship who don’t have one and also for our newer sponsored children who don’t have a copy. Even before we had this project written down, the Vacation Bible School at FBC Hydro took up an offering to provide around 100 bibles! That was an answer to prayer!
Bridget, Penny, Boaz, Moreen, Brenda, Sheila, Bonita
Please pray for Ishimwe Kevin who is currently in the hospital with a kidney issue!
Thank you for your continued Support!
Blessings,
Greg & Donna & All our staff!