Can you imagine? With a population of 48,000,000 people in Uganda, only 175,000 COVID-19 shots from France and 100,000 shots from India have been donated too date.
The pandemic is increasing in 10 African countries, Uganda being one of them with a spike of 30% in the past week. Three major television stations had a joint news bulletin with the theme "Act or Perish" and today, President Museveni announced to the nation revising ALL the directives spoken on June 6th.
I won't go into everything but the main new restriction is no more cross boundary movement of people on foot, public transport or private vehicles. Everyone must stay where they are until further notice.
I've written a blog a month for twelve years and this one is the most difficult. I'm realizing, sitting here in my comfortable home, what this means. The meaning behind this announcement is translated to thousands of people unemployed with no immediate way to provide for their families. A health care crisis of this country's hospitals and clinics remain ill equipped to handle plus no oxygen left in hospitals to help the dying. Today, it was announced that if you become sick, you stay home.
Presently, there are 100's arriving at our gate daily begging for anything to eat. As much as it breaks Edwin and Precious' heart, they cannot help due to word spreading. I want to let you know how proud I am of Edwin. As they are crying for food at the gate, if Edwin goes out to talk to them calmly and explain we have nothing to spare, they thank him and they leave quietly.
Our story is only one of many and we realize this. Precious and Pastor Richard tried so hard to go to the the many villages requesting them to bring Bibles. These villages were where the soldiers delivered food in the latest famine and told them it was a gift from Jesus. We had started our church and Edwin figures there would be 1,000 people from our community wanting to attend. Precious used her own finances to start building a Bible School where she and others could teach the people right on our property. This was our dream for Home of Angels. Please pray it comes to fruition and we will be able to help as many people as we can before it's too late.
In the meantime, I do have a few pictures to share with you. In all this sadness, we want to share some happy times also.
The children are growing so fast that I hardly recognize them, especially now in masks. They are vigelent about wearing them and understand the seriousness of COVID-19.
We'd like to introduce you to Aunty Betty, our newest employee. She has had many years experience working for Amani Baby Cottage in Jinja until our friends Danyne and Serg left Uganda.
Ptarmigan primary school is ready to be painted when everything opens up again. They are currently deciding on a colour that will withstand the red dirt.
When the soldiers delivered food in the famine a few months ago, they told the people in these poor villages that the food was from Jesus. Weeks later, the village leaders started calling requesting we bring Bibles to their villages. On this particular day, 48 out of 60 people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. You might be asking yourself, how can poor people like this dress so well? If you go to church anywhere, you dress the best you can, even if it means you borrow clothes or shoes.
Here we have a picture of our own church being started. Today, the foundation is down and the walls
will be going up as soon as we can start working again. You can also see the concrete wall in the distance going up.
Under very sad circumstances, Precious had some money come into her possession. She decided to build her dream and that was a Bible School. They didn't tell me until I discovered a building going up in the distance of the school and called them on it. Oh my, I destroyed my own surprise. Precious is an amazing team partner, not only in marriage but in the operations also. She works with Pastor Richard in the villages and really has a control with what's happening at our Home of Angels and with the children.
I'd like to introduce you to our "Love Project"! Precious is again handling all details allowing Edwin to work on the building projects. A few years ago when I was there, 32 families with mentally and physically challenged children came for a meeting in our grass hut. We wanted to help them and with
the help of Edwin's friends, they were able to grow food on their land for one year. Of course over the past few years, these children have grown and Mamas can't carry them anymore, so we got involved again. Today, this group of women and one man have grown in size to 81 families and Precious has established a committee with a board of which she is the head. This won't be a bandage effect, but a way for them to be self-sufficient from now on. They are learning with their children at their side to be able to raise money for food and survive as a community together.
We again have been truly blessed and have partnered with Galcom International in Ontario. They have developed a solar, audible, very lightweight Bible in many languages, one of them being Lugandan. I let Edwin listen to it online and he was amazed at how clear it was and that for the people in the bush he could visualize 20-30 people sitting under a mango tree listening together. As soon as cargo is again allowed into Uganda, we will have many on board one of those planes. Thank you Galcom for helping us help others in the Busoga Kingdom.
Believe me when I tell you that you are all in our prayers. So many of you have followed our story for 12 years, sponsored children and helped us in huge ways that we could never have handled ourselves. This story is not about Banana Bread Barb, Edwin and Precious. This is about God and how He used this old lady and a loaf of bread. Who would have ever dreamt it would have come this far? And I'm not joking about the "old" part. Thanks everyone. 💝
