Merry Christmas from Uganda

Christmas time is almost upon us and we hope that you're all preparing your hearts for the amazing gift of Christ's birth and all that it means.  Whether we celebrate in a country blessed with everything or in an impoverished nation, we must never forget that we have received a priceless gift and remember all that He has done for us.

2016 has been a very productive year and we couldn't have done it without all of you.  We currently have over 200 goats being raised in Malindi village, 280 chickens, 200,000 conifer seedlings ready to be transplanted on a donated 40 acres of land and 26 beautiful children adjusting to life as a real family.

Thank you for changing lives from so far away by sponsoring a child or by donating towards projects to be completed.  Six new little ones have arrived and yes, there is still trauma involved but we can see the healing already taking place.

These pictures will give you some idea how happy they all are.

Leaving for Sunday school

Just to give you an idea of what's happening at our Home of Angels, we were donated 40 acres of land on which to plant 200,000 conifer seedlings supplied by the government.  Since all our crops had died due to no rain, we now have the land to start these seedlings.  Edwin, James and Paul went to work planting while the children water them daily.  It won't be long before we can take them to the village for transplanting.  In the future will have a forest of trees to sell to help with our operating costs.

1 month later

Sam and Ivan are in charge of making sure the little boys are washed every evening.  They're teaching them life skills at their young ages and also to help the Aunties with the work load   

Washing the soap off with a good excuse to have some fun at the same time.

We have had a compassionate donor come into the lives of the people suffering in our community.  As I told you in the previous blog, we had a fire that destroyed 2,700 people's livelihoods.  Many of them were seamstresses.  This donor wanted to help by replacing some of the machines lost.  We have had the privilege of presenting these gifts quietly within our compound to the most needy in the community.  With each machine, a Bible is given in their Luganda language and that's when we see the big tears.  They all know that God is behind this great gift and He's using simple people like ourselves to distribute them.

It's the culture to present a chicken when showing gratitude to someone.  This rooster was originally Jessica's Christmas dinner but she thought it was more important to say thank you to her donor instead.  

The Aunties are getting a new stove inside the cookhouse.  It will have complete ventilation and be fuelled only by wood.  They won't have to stand outside in the rain to cook anymore and the food will stay warm for a longer period of time.

Every year we have one big birthday party.  This year the entire party was arranged by the children, right down to forming an organizing committee.  Mariam and Joanne baked 4 large cakes and frosted them, the little people cleaned the grass hut and the other children blew balloons and decorated. Before the singing, tradition calls for everyone to be sprayed with water. 

The biggest present of all.......chocolate cake

   

All of us here at Home of Angels would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and thank you for continuing to pray for us here in this unbelievable heat with very little rain since June.  For the first time in my life I'm personally watching the full effect of famine on these people and it's a helpless feeling not being able to help them.  To watch a small child climb a huge mango tree in hopes of finding just one mango to eat breaks my heart, but I know it's the reality of famine.  We would be so happy if you would pray for rain with us.