Our community in Uganda is no exception to experiencing the struggles of our world today. Our friends and neighbours have gone through a vicious cycle of poverty this past year because of global warming. With little information of world events and no understanding of why their planting seasons have changed, their journey certainly describes life in our broken world. This is one of the reasons our church is so important right now. To teach the people that in their times of genuine struggle and pain, we can know God's peace and permit it to rule our hearts.
I've been getting many calls and emails regarding the outbreak of Ebola in Uganda and is it close to us? The epicentre is in Mubende, 152 km east of Kampala and 217 km south of Jinja City and at this time they are monitoring it very closely. I will keep you all updated and thanks for being so concerned.
As many of you know, 13 years ago, I and others started baking banana bread to help a few children in a garbage dump have a small home. They wanted to be called "Angels" instead of "Orphans". Their dream came true and we were able to make this happen because of a very kind man named Jimmy Pattison. He allowed me to receive all my ingredients at no cost so we could send 100% of sales to Uganda for construction. Now that the children have learned English, they wanted to make him a sign, but as you can see, they struggled as to who was going to do this. Voila.....two signs and an expression of deep gratitude was expressed from all the children at Home of Angels.
Here are one of the wonderful staff groups at a Save-on- Foods store in Abbotsford. They have been amazing as have many of the other stores been over the years. Whatever store it may have been, the managers and staff have been so supportive and the biggest surprise for me is how quickly our banana bread has always sold out. Most stores had banana balloons of some kind but look at this one. How perfect was it to have a massive gorilla, that I'm sure must be from Africa, towering over us! 😏
Our church is finished except for a little painting on one side but I couldn't wait to show you. It 's been registered in Kampala and we've been approved to open but because of the deaths caused from floods washing away homes and the typhoid and cholera on the increase, there are currently many funerals in our community. It's the custom to attend if you had known the deceased.
It's almost time for the boys to be out planting the grass and trees around the compound.
Besides the Ebola, we have also have a Scabies outbreak and this did effect us inside Home of Angels. Again, contaminated water from the heavy rains is the cause. A microscopic scabies mite will burrow into the upper layer of the skin where it lays eggs. This causes intense itching. Currently in our community there are many cases and we think that an outside child attending our school may have brought it to class. If caught immediately, it can be controlled. Edwin has every child in HOA and all teachers on a special creme. The families of the children attending school outside have also purchased it.
There are many classes in our new Bible School but what they've realized is that the numbers must be cut down for each class. There is a great interest in the Bible and whatever they learn here, they take out to teach to friends and neighbours outside our compound. Pastor Richard and his team are starting to change lives.
Construction has started on the girl's home outside the compound walls but with the continual rains, it's been slow. The next five girls that will be phasing out in 2023 will be housed here but in the meantime, due to increasing gas prices, it will be a lot cheaper to house the teachers here until the time the girls will accommodate it.
The Love Project
There are currently 87 families with mentally and physically children living in our Love Project. They are hoeing the beans and maize recently planted. With the schools open now, they are making chalk for the teachers and the same soap that was such a hit before. Every month, each family saves $3.00 to be banked to purchase more supplies for the following month. They have also made enough extra to purchase a small piece of land for more planting. Precious still continues to be their accountant and guide them when necessary.
Whenever there's a village meeting or a death in one of the surrounding villages, you will hear the drums. Initially in Africa, drums were traditionally used for communication and it's still the preferred way in the bush. I was sent this without sound which makes sense, but you can visualize the effort by watching this.
No matter how chaotic the world may become around us, we can find quietness and strength in our heavenly Father's love and power. Thanks everyone for your help to continue us on our journey to become self-sufficient.
