Uganda Projects – Kampala and Mbale
By Pat Reese
Each month I go online and check the Uganda news so
that I can keep abreast of what is happening there. It is not
something I enjoy because there is one depressing article
after another. This month is different. Not that everything
is suddenly wonderful in Uganda, but I did find some pos-
itive things happening there.
The first two articles I read told about peace talks be-
tween Museveni (president of Uganda) and Kony (leader
of the Lord’s Resistance Army). They are in the process of
negotiating a cease-fire.
According to an article entitled, “Tired of Living in a
Camp,” at allAfrica.com, the people who are so tired of liv-
ing in the squalid conditions in the displacement camps, with
no way to earn money or grow crops, are
anxious to take their chances outside the
camps. They want to try to find land where
they can build homes and grow crops. The
government has purchased brick-making
machines to assist them in making bricks
for their homes, and has promised to assist
with tin for the roofs. There are also funds
available for food until crops can be
grown.
Another article, “The Children in
IDP Camps Are Waking Up,” tells of the
hope in children’s eyes as they play
games in the evenings after school in-
stead of going to town for the night to
avoid being abducted.
No one is naive enough to think that
peace has come to Uganda and that ev-
eryone will live happily ever after, but
hope is so important to a people who have had no reason to
hope for so long.
The news from our projects in Uganda is also encour-
aging. In the past month, we have been able to
fulfill some
of the requests that the pastors have made. One of the im-
portant things was the purchase of mosquito nets. Both
pastors were requesting nets to keep the widows and chil-
dren from being bitten. Frequently, children had to be
taken to the hospital with malaria. We were able to pay the
medical bills for these children and for several others who
were seriously ill. Another important request was the need
for new tin for a widow’s hut. Her hut was constructed of
just wooden poles with tin nailed over it, but it was falling
down. We were able to send enough for her to get her hut
repaired. We were able to pay for these things because of
your generous donations.
We have received letters from some of the widows to
their American families. These letters were written quite
some time ago, as each had to be collected as the pastors
visited the widows with their monthly stipend, and then
translated and mailed. One common thread in each letter
was the gratitude for school fees for their children and
grandchildren. As Esther reminded me, an education is
more important to Africans than any other requirement,
more important even than food or shelter. Is there a les-
son here for us, who often have to bribe our children to
study? Michelle will be mailing these letters out very
soon.
This month, we would like to introduce you to
Beatrice Nansamba and her three children, Angella (12);
Violet (9); and Penina (5). Beatrice is thirty-three years of
age. Her father died when she was a
child, after which her mother left her
alone. She worked in a quarry crushing
stones, a very hard job. At this work, she
met her husband and the three children
were born.
One day while working at the
quarry, Beatrice’s husband was crushed
to death, leaving her with the children to
raise alone. They live in one rented
room, and Beatrice has had to return to
the quarry in order to care for them.
They are in dire need of school fees,
clothing and food, as the earnings from
the quarry are very little. If you are inter-
ested in helping this young woman and
her children, please contact our sponsor-
ship coordinator for Uganda, Michelle
Bozenske. Her contact information is on
Page 11. Sponsoring a family would be an excellent pro-
ject for a church school class or other group.
Logan Harvey will be in Uganda for several weeks be-
ginning around August 21. He plans to visit the widows and
their families in the bush, taking photos and documenting
the situations he finds. (Without cameras, it is difficult, and
expensive, for Pastors Mukhooli and Musungu to get pic-
tures of these families. Logan’s digital camera will be a real
blessing). We will be informing you of his findings as we
receive them. Logan continues to be a blessing to the minis-
try and the orphans as he travels from one project to the
other, tying up loose ends as he goes.
Let God lead us to be missionaries working in Amer-
ica to gain support for the widows and orphans, as he has
led Logan to be in Africa.
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Beatrice Nansamba and her children.
