Matresses!
January Newsletter 2023!
For this newsletter I thought I would pass along most of Amos’s annual report. He did a great job of overviewing the last year. If you are new to Two Roads it will give you a good overview and even if you’ve been around awhile it will be insightful into everything going on!
From Amos: Here is a look at our programs for the past year:
We praise God for the grace to carry on what he has called us to do through 2022!
SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM
This program is the entry point to our Discipleship and Character development work something we believe Kabale and Uganda at large so desperately needs! Each child we admit, we get the opportunity to start a discipleship relationship with them. This year we have had an addition of 24 children, a door we believe God has opened for us to expand and deepen the discipleship classes. Isn’t God amazing? All together we have a total number of the following children and families God is touching.
Total no. of students 150
Total no of families 126
We also currently have seven students at the university, these are:
- Boaz who is done with his last semester and now doing his research.
- Taremwa Emmanuel who is in his last year
- Shaninah also in her last year
- Jim and Rebecca just finished their first year
- Hellen is also in her last year
- Humble who just started his first year.
We have held over 72 discipleship and Bible study classes through this year. We have met kids on a weekly basis. We have engaged them at school through school visits, at the Junction over weekend and Holidays. It has been truly rewarding to engage with these young hopefully future disciples.
SCHOOLS
We partner with 2 secondary schools and 3 primary schools. Some schools have fairly met our expectations while some have not. Working with these schools is challenging sometimes because we do not have a shared sense vision and calling! That is why we take Discipleship classes to schools whenever they accord us the time. (And why we hope to start our own school in the future-greg)
POLICY
The policy works as the social contract with the families we work with. We created this social contract to hold one another accountable in making sure that we are being good stewards of God’s resources. It stipulates the expectations of each party’s roles; the students, parents, and 2roads as the organization.
TEAMS
For the first time in two years, we hosted our first big team! This team had seven people inclusive of Donna and Greg, even with the complications they met coming here from turning around the flight they were on to separating the team to different planes and different times, we still really thank God they got here because those two weeks were so beautiful.
We had fun packed activities that ranged from games with our students to sewing classes with our mothers; sewing which involved singing lots of hymns, to home visits and visiting homes with our pilot rabbit project. Oh, we got to witness a beautiful couple getting engaged at lake Bunyonyi as well. Ryan and Madi!!
Overall, we had a good time with the team.
PARENTS MEETING
Throughout this year, we have been really consistent with our parents’ meetings. it’s been beautiful to watch, we came up with topics around God’s view of the family, Developing family values and traditions, Parenting God’s way and so on. Greg and Donna have spoken at some of these meetings. we have invited other speakers from the community whom believe embody these values. It’s been very beautiful to watch how much these parents are fascinated by the topics discussed having not ever known that even such things even existed. With this, God is transforming and strengthening families. Throughout this year, we have held 24 parents’ meetings. We are believing God for a new paradigm shift at how our parents will start looking at parenting and marriage through these engagements.
ADDITIONAL STAFF
Wycliff joined us at the beginning of this year, he has generally done well in the areas of resolving conflicts and fostering unity among the kids. Even as he still needs growth in taking the initiative, he has proven to be a stable constant presence in the lives of the boys at the junction.
He has continuously held weekly fellowships with the kids at the junction.
FELLOWSHIP
We have kept a consistent day for fellowship through this year and that is Tuesday and an average membership of 80 people who come to fellowship. We have witnessed growth in understanding the word of God and people’s relationship with God.
• CHOIR
The choir has steadily grown in numbers, improved their art and a general positive impact on the character of the members is visible. Wycliff gave a big hand in training the voicing and key following. We have 27 members that includes 13 of our parents. A high standard code of conduct was created this year for someone to be a member of this choir. This saw some members of the choir get dismissed because they could not meet the minimum standards.
• LEADERS
We have kept a consistent training program for the fellowship Leaders derived from the four gospels on how Jesus Discipled the twelve and how he prepared them for ministry. This has been truly revealing to us even who lead these sessions. Our Leaders are getting more equipped to lead.
• TOPICS PREACHED ABOUT
We felt a strong conviction to teach about salvation this year mostly from the Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, Romans, and the book of Hebrews. Just like in the churches of Galatia, Rome and among the Jewish community, they have been false teachers who teach that we are saved by our works. Religion here has held people in bondage. To them it is more important for their followers to pay church dues levied on each member of the church than their members cultivating a personal relationship with God or having a true understanding of how salvation can be attained and why.
This year we shed light on this topic through the authoritative Word of God. We pray and hope that our fellowship members will seek a personal relationship with God.
RABBIT PROJECT
We started a rabbit project this year with 4 families to see how it would work. 2 families are really doing well. They have successfully sold some rabbits already. One family lost the rabbits we donated to them. They were all eaten by stray dogs. The other family had their rabbits give birth but lost most kittens due to poor hygiene and overcrowding in the shelter.
They are lessons learnt in this;
- We should modify the rabbit pen to a more spacious and comfortable shelter.
- Checking on the beneficiaries on at least a weekly basis to see if they are implementing the training in taking care of the rabbits.
- That the beneficiaries need to really be passionate and hands on people in order for this to work.
CHRISTMAS PARTY
Our Christmas party took place on the 10th December 2022. We praise God for providing finances to have this annual celebration of the birth of Christ together as the 2roads family in Kabale! We sang Christmas carols, had presentations from kids that ranged from a skit that depicts the birth of Christ to a poem that speaks to what God has done through 2roads. It was a beautiful day filled with a sense of gratitude, familyhood and community!
We also got to recognize and celebrate the kids who did so well at school and the most improved. We do this to encourage effort in school and celebrate hard work. The best and most improved kids were awarded with goats and then they are two kids who showed great attitude at school even when they were not the most improved. These we gave them a token of a wrist watch each.
The most improved kids were:
- Ariho Roland in the secondary section
- Arineitwe Casbert in the primary section.
The best students were:
- Assimwe Anthony in the Secondary section
- Atuheire Andrew in the primary section
The kids who showed great effort and attitude were:
- Kyotuheire Brenda
- Ninsiima Odetta.
What crowned our day was the donation of mattresses to the parents as a Christmas gift! This came in as a surprise to the parents which birthed an uproar of praise songs for another 30 minutes. There was shouting and dancing, clapping and jumping looking to the sky in praise of what God had done for them. We thank you Two Road Supporters for making this happen.
CHRISTMAS PACKAGES
On the 16th of December, each family received 2 kilograms of rice, 3 kilograms of Irish potatoes, 1 kilogram of peanut paste, a bar of soap, 500 grams of salt, 1and half liter of cooking oil. On December 24th they received 1 and half of beef since they do not have refrigerators to preserve the meat. We distributed these items to 124 families. Thank you for making this a consistent package for families during this festive season.
LEGAL ISSUES
We managed to put together all the necessary requirements by the NGO bureau to renew our permit for the next 5 years. This is always a cumbersome process as the NGO bureau comes up with new requirements after almost every month. We have had to go back and forth with them to provide more paper work on the new requirements.
Thankfully, they have not called again to ask us for more.
We have had two cases in court as well and these are;
- Civil Suit and the
- Criminal case.
Civil Suit
We have pursued this matter for the last 2 years with not much progress. Junior has fought so hard to delay us from owning this land. He has made many applications to delay the litigation process and the most recent was the miscellaneous application of 55 million shillings. Thankfully, it was ruled in our favor. We will not be depositing the money!
Another challenge we have severely faced is the absence of judges on the dates set to hear the case! We have been moved from month to month, date to date and year to year… we just have been relentless in finding a closer date whenever they have moved our case.
We praise God though that most applications have been ruled on. The hearing of the main suit will be in February 2023.
Criminal case.
The case was successfully transferred to the international crimes division in Kampala. We praise God that new partners came on board to help prosecute this matter from Human Trafficking Institute. Next year, the dates for the hearing will be set.
While there was some progress on the case, the victims have been the most affected in waiting! They have endured persecution from their families and communities and received death threats. The staff involved have their share of threats to their life ranging from being followed to breaking into the gate. While this was happening, we knew that God was in control and that he was on side defending and bringing justice to the marginalized.
We worked with other organizations to give shelter to the victims who were willing to move in order to protect them from harm and compromise. We did this swiftly after Richard had tracked us down and made contact with the girls. He was arrested and charged with tampering with witnesses even as he was later given bail by court. However, because of too much waiting and feeling like their life had been put on hold, the girls tried several times leaving the first shelter but thankfully I drove their several times to comfort and encourage them. We later moved them to a more accommodating shelter where they are still living. Am sad to note that they will spend Christmas away from their families.
In Conclusion
As we conclude this year, it is just a pause to reflect, but the work of God continues!
Thank you for the opportunity you have accorded me to lead this incredible team of like-minded people and for your guidance and unwavering support to perform my duties.
God Bless,
Amos Kasigwa.
On behalf of my colleagues here in Kabale
From Greg & Donna: Thank you coming alongside us as we get to participate in what God is doing in Kabale!
Our new mailing address is Two Roads Foundation 28249 C.R 70, Orlando, OK 73073
Rachel Dudley
We have a new volunteer who has been helping us in contacting our sponsors – it’s a sign that we are growing! Here is her picture so if she calls you can connect a name to a face! (You can also know she is really representing Two Roads.) Thanks, Rachel for joining our team!