Thursday, October 17, 2013

A Special Month

This has certainly been a very special month on both our side of the world and in Jinja, Uganda.

We have had a 40' container donated by Dorothy and Barry Kenna, two people who have poured their hearts and souls into our project over the past three years.  The Kenna family has purchased this container in order that we will be able to use it for either storage, offices or places for children to sleep.
It is also a wonderful chance to equip our homes with the necessary items to function both for the children and for the future teams visiting.

We have been so blessed to have had an anonymous donor come forth to donate the cost of the trip by ship to Mombasa, Kenya and then by truck into Uganda.  The Gleaners in Abbotsford have also donated 500,000 high protein meals for all the children and the people in our community.  Thank you to the hundreds of hands that chop vegetables every day to have made this happen.  Our plan is to go into the deep villages to share this food with the poorest of the poor.

We have been given 80 feminine hygiene kits from the Community Loft in Coquitlam including a donation of an industrial size snapper.   This will equip us to have classes in our grass hut to teach the women how to help their young girls with feminine hygiene and also classes to explain what is happening to their bodies.  No more witchdoctors telling them they are full of evil spirits.

We do need your help though.  We would like to ask all of you if you have any of the following items that you would like to donate for our Home of Angels.  It is the one chance for us to transport items to set up our homes and we would be very grateful for your help.

You can email me at jaajabarbshomeofangels@gmail.com with anything you would like to send.

Kitchen:
  • Pots and pans
  • Corelle dishes 
  • Any utensils for a kitchen or baking equipment
  • Silverware
  • Tablecloths for a large table (12 people) or placemats
Bedroom:
  • pillows
  • twin blankets
  • night tables
  • 3 dressers
  • Any large throw rugs for the stone floors
Livingroom:
  • couch and chair
  • coffee table or end tables
  • large rugs on stone floor
  • desk
Miscellaneous:
  • Treadle machine
  • Good quality flannel material for pads
  • 100% cotton (quilters type cotton) for the shields 
  • Good locks for security
  • School materials...pens, pencils, writing tablets, anything to learn English and study with
  • Garden equipment such as wheelbarrows and hoes
  • Bathing towels, wash cloths or tea towels for kitchen, etc.
  • Board Games for children to learn communication in English
  • Black leather shoes of all sizes for school and rain boots/coats for the children
Thanks in advance to all of you.  We really appreciate your help and dedication over 
the years in helping to make this work.  God has used you in such a wonderful way to change
lives.




This is a sample of the feminine hygiene kit that we will be teaching the women how to make.  Many young girls who don't know what is happening to their bodies hide for one week out of the month.  They either have no parent to tell them what is happening to them or they are being told that they are full of evil spirits.  Education is the only way....




We have a new gate on our 2 acre sustainability land.  We have a 500 layer chicken house being built and also have the children planting their own gardens in this area.  Beside the gardens, we have avocado, mango, banana, pineapple and jack fruit trees thriving . Eventually, we will be able to sell our eggs and fruits as another way to provide money to sustain our Home of Angels.




Removing the stumps before the gardens are planted.



Our gardens....oh my goodness.  In Canada, we have a radish come up out of the ground and it looks like a little mushroom size red vegetable.  Well....in Uganda, it comes up like a tomato size red vegetable.  Everything is huge, including the green beans and carrots.  I am sure all of this will be
cooked for nutrition.  Wondering how a radish will do being cooked....hmmmm




This is Joseph.  We almost lost Joseph two years ago.  He needed a bag of blood twice in 2 days and when I tried to donate mine, they said I was too old.  Doctor Isaac got in the chair and gave his own blood to save him.  Since then, he has been stable but with these vegetables, this little boy will be one of the ones who will really benefit. This is what these kids need most of all.  It is evident that God is watching over them as these vegetables thrive in our gardens.



We have been blessed with layer chickens as another sustainability program.  Thanks to the Ames Foundation and Thomas in Hong Kong, we are able to build a brooder area along with two lay areas for the 500 chicks that will be housed here.  Thanks to both of you for not only helping us to sustain ourselves but also supplying our children with eggs that they so desperately need.




The paving stones are almost completed.  Dirt is placed on the road intentionally to fill the cracks when the rains come.  This has been a pain staking venture for one man who has literally made 30,000 by hand.




No more mosquitos....we have netting throughout the entire building for preventing all these little
pests from entering our homes.  We can now open the windows and get air, never to worry about
those malaria infested mosquitos from entering again.




We are in the process of building a sock pit for the latrine used by the children.  The showers will be installed soon and this area will be complete.




I want to introduce you to Saika.  This little boy was abandoned a year ago.  He was 5 when he went to the streets and now is addicted to glue.  Glue helps them to survive through the pain and fear.  We know he is a true orphan and he does have a brother with him on the streets that is younger than he is.  We will be putting him into a detox home and if he can overcome the addiction, we will take him with us.  We have to be sure he will be OK before we will put him with the other kids, but if not, we will continue to work with him until he is on the road to recovery.  We need your prayers for Saika and his brother.

This has been by far a very special month.  We have had many blessings pouring down on us in the
Western world to enable us to help these little ones in Uganda.  I did promise Edwin and the kids that I would make sure you all knew how grateful they are for your help.  Really, if you don't see it, it's difficult to  imagine.  With your caring hearts, you have helped children in such terrible situations come into a home where, yes, they might wet their beds due to memories of fear, but we can work with that.  You have given them safety, love and hope.  What more can you do for any child?

I also want to thank Katie and Jenese for their wonderful work in raising money for us by baking jinjabread.  They have made over 5000 cookies and raised over $1,300,00 in four months.  Thanks also to Chris for helping with all the technology.   See http://jinjabread.ca for updates.

God bless you all for your love and dedication in helping us.