Monday, September 7, 2015

September Update 2015

They Spent a Million (shillings) to Come See Us 

They never produced the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire show in Uganda. The millionaire craze that swept the world a few years back (they even made a movie about it) never reached Uganda. Simple fact is being a millionaire here isn't much of an accomplishment. The inflation here is quite high and their base denomination, the shilling, takes three and a half thousand to equal our dollar. You can be a Ugandan millionaire just by going to the ATM. Most purchases here favor the exchange rate. This is one of the reasons we recommend Uganda as a short term mission destination.

We are Ugandan millionaires. We don't seek it out and certainly the goal of any funds we receive is to improve the opportunities of our local neighbors not get rich. We have also used support to increase the development of the base here at Hopeland both in our housing and agriculture supplies. Your giving allowed us to add to the budget of last team we hosted to buy more materials for the project at the village birthing center. Of course any financial accomplishment we have managed is because we are merely the extension of the folks in the States who send us support. So many have invested in Africa that we are constantly looking for new areas to minister.

With our most recent guests we visited a children's home in our district that has 37 disabled children. Home of Hope was founded by a mother whose son was born with cerebral palsy. With no local support she opened up her home to other children with disabilities and now ten years later she takes care of all who come. Sadly disabilities like CP, epilepsy, encephalitis, and downs are harshly judged here and many times the staff will open the front gate in the morning to find someone has abandoned their child in the dirt. It is a grim reality but it all changes when you stop hearing the history and just sit down with the children; well you can try to sit down as soon as guests arrive you are pushing children on swings, talking walks with the wheel chair able and handing out sweeties. We had a wonderful visit and hope to return often.



As we posted last month we have been loaned a car for six weeks. It was because of this car we were able to go to Home of Hope. Without a car we couldn't make it. Public transport doesn't go that far away from the village and hiring a car would be too limiting for the frequency we'd like to go. The village birthing center also falls into the category of, "We'd go more often if we had a car." So after a year of not having a car we are reaching out to ask for a vehicle. We have one in mind from a friend in Kampala that took very good care of it and is willing to give us a deal. Out the door with servicing, insurance, new tires, and registration we need $4,000 USD. We've been given $1,000 already and pray to get the rest before the middle of this month.


Many of you have seen our biggest news which is Sarah and Aaron Bunch came all the way from Texas to visit us. The children had no idea and what a surprise it was. If you haven't seen the video of the children's faces when they walked up you are in for a treat. We had a amazing ten days with them and look forward to them bringing a team next year. If you'd like to come out and do some worthwhile ministry, visit another country, and perhaps see some wild animals (and I don't mean our children) let us know; it's why we're here.
As much as we have have learned about the Ugandans and their culture from riding public transportation, it is time to own our own vehicle. If you would like to help in this process please follow through on the fundraising site by clicking here.