Are you one of those people that find yourself in the midst of uncertainty, confusion and chaos with what's happening in our world today? How easy it is to lose sight of everything we have to be thankful for in times like these? Let's look for the broken places, trusting God to give us the wisdom and skills to make them whole again.
In 2009, when Edwin and I started, this entire picture below was bush with maybe a couple of homes. It was a coffee plantation that was given to Edwin by his father to build one home for homeless children. Edwin and his friends cleared it and in 2010 Home of Angels was born. Edwin and I want you all to know that this wasn't just us who made this happen. It was God and He used this old lady and a loaf of banana bread together with a young man in Uganda who's heart was also to help children. He brought many of you to partner with us, encourage us, help me to bake the 15,000+ loaves of banana bread and most importantly, pray for us to succeed. Thank's to all of you for being part of our journey.
Many of you are asking about your sponsored child. We have eleven older children that are attending schools six days per week outside the walls of our home. Hope and Desire are currently attending YWAM north of us and the younger children are also attending our Primary and Nursery school six days a week. With COVID, the rains and interruptions in communication, it's been difficult to get pictures until now. I hope you see your child in one of the pictures below. Another question asked is, how is Home of Angels set up? Thank goodness for Google Earth because now you can see the three compounds and where each building is located. Our medical clinic and gardens are near and within walking distance.
Another question many of you are asking is "What are our future plans?" There's only one answer and that's to become self-sufficient where Edwin and Precious will be able to operate on their own. This won't be tomorrow of course, but we're working on ideas to make it a reality in the next couple of years. We want to get our church in full operation; the Trade Centre up and running where our children will be able to learn a trade when phasing out so they will survive on their own. We've recently been recognized for this. It's not easy for children leaving homes at 18-years old to survive without any training. Because of that, the officials in Jinja have asked permission to use Home of Angels as an example for other homes.
Of course!! Let's get everyone doing this and help these kids.
We've come a long way from one little house for boys. The community has built up all around us and honestly, we have been so blessed by this. They help us and we help them and it's worked out very well.
This diagram shows the church without a roof but in reality, everything is finished except the seats. The wood for the pews for 500 people has been drying for two months and now the men are working hard to make them. It should be another month before completion, hopefully for the next blog.
I have to tell you who these girls are because you might not recognize them. Right to left is Zakia, Annet, Mariam and Eva. Yes, they are now allowed to grow their hair. These are some of the older girls that will be phasing out of Home of Angels in 2023. They're currently learning to sew and doing quite well I'm told. These are also my banana bread "queens". They all learned to make it when I was there, so now with their new oven for baking, they can get all the practice in they need.
From left to right we have Zakia, Ivan, Sam, James and Junior. The girls are Mariam, Eva, Annet and Joanne. It's been two years + since I've been back and I'm having a little trouble recognizing them now. They have turned into amazing young adults and we are very proud of all of them.
Back Row - left to right: Elijah, Yasin, Eddie, Frank, Alan, Silas and Paul
Front Row - left to right: Jimmy, Jeremiah, Andy, David, Yahigha and Eric
Front Row - left to right: David, little Sammi, Remme, Jeremiah, Andy, Yahigha and Silas
Middle Row - left to right: Shakira, Elijah, Alan and Eric (all kneeling)
Back Row - left to right standing: Betty, Bridget, Tracy, Chloe, Ratisha, Paul, Lovisa, Barbra, Eddie, Precious and Yasin
Front Row - left to right: Joweli, Remme, Andy, Sammi, Jeremiah, David and Yahigha
Middle Row - left to right: Yasin, Betty, Paul, Silas, Eddie, Alan, Chloe and Precious
Back Row - left to right: Lovisa, Ratisha, Frank, Elijah, Bridget, Barbra and Tracy
Lovisa teaching the kids a traditional dance
The Bible school is almost finished on the outside with one large room completed on the inside. Pastor Richard has a network of nineteen pastors that he is currently working with that will use this one room until we can complete the rest of the school.
Sula is planting grass in front of the Bible school. He plants one root at a time and it's always done to perfection. It turns out to be the thickest green grass I've ever seen and has absolutely no chemicals ever put on it.
Edwin and Precious' friend has offered to teach our older children to make door mats to sell. These children will be the first group to leave, but before they do, they will be teaching their other brothers and sisters coming up behind them. We hope to teach a good variety of trades for their journey outside our gates.
Have a good summer everyone and thanks again for all you do to help us.
