Uganda Projects – Mbale and Kamala
By Pat Reese
I am sure each of you constantly faces new challenges in
your life. It often seems that before we can recover from one
problem, another presents itself. Fortunately we have a God
who is big enough to see us through the difficulties, no matter
how overwhelming they may seem. The people in Uganda have
also been facing some difficult challenges and God has been
right there with them through each one.
In a land of such poverty, education is so important because
it makes it much easier for them to provide for themselves. Pay-
ing for school fees in an economy where many cannot even buy
food is quite prohibitive and many children never receive an ed-
ucation. God has provided, through generous donations, for the
school fees for all the sponsored children. Besides getting
through primary and secondary school, the children need either
to continue on to college or learn a trade, in or-
der to become self-sufficient. Getting into col-
lege can be very difficult in Uganda even with
the best grades, due to lack of available spaces
in the colleges, but God has supplied a way for
them to learn a trade. Pastor Mukhooli has three
sewing machines and someone willing to train
the children in the trade of tailoring. All that is
needed is fabric and thread in order to make
clothes for the children there and for the wid-
ows’ families. They could possibly even earn
money by selling clothing.
Another challenge these people have been
facing is ongoing drought. Fortunately the
drought is coming to an end, but the news is not
all good. According to an article in New Vision
newspaper, “Seasonal rains that have begun
over parts of Uganda will be below average,
thereby exacerbating the effect of the recent
drought.” The article goes on to say that the rea-
son for the below average rainfall is “a moderate
La Nina phenomenon, which means that rains are coming in
earlier than usual but the total amount of rainfall will be below
average. We are not going to achieve enough soil moisture by
the time we enter the next dry season between June and July.
The people will feel the impact, especially cattle keepers, but
farmers will not be much affected if they plant their crops
early.” Again, due to many liberal donations, we have been able
to provide food and water through this time of drought.
The most recent challenge to be met was the difficulty of ob-
taining food, fuel and other necessities due to unrest before the
presidential and parliamentary elections. No one knew how vio-
lent the situation would get before the elections on February 23,
but based on incidents which took place at past elections, people
were not taking any chances. According to Pastor Musungu who
is in Kampala, shops were closed for four days, foreigners fled to
Kenya, and food prices soared. Things were worst in Kampala
where Kizza Besigye, a presidential candidate, set up head quar-
ters. We were thankful that, although there were some reports of
violence, the European Union observers stated that the election
was “relatively peaceful compared to previous elections.” Fear-
ing that food would be unavailable or unaffordable, funds were
sent early enough for Pastors Musungu and Mukhooli to pur-
chase enough food to last until things settled down.
A recent letter from Alfred Mukhooli informed us that the
relief funds had arrived and beans had been purchased and
shared with Pastor Musungu, who traveled from Kampala topick
them up. They have been distributing to the starving in both loca-
tions. Pastor Mukhooli also told us that his older brother was
very ill in the hospital with cancer and AIDS. Most recently we
learned that he has now died. Some of the widows have also been
hospitalized. He will inform us of the details as soon as possible.
These good men have many burdens to shoulder as they work to
care for so many in the face of such hardship.
We would like to feature David Wamboka as our orphan
this month. David is actually twenty-three years
old, but still has three years of high school to
complete. David’s family was attacked by re-
bels in Northern Uganda in 1998. He was able
to escape to a nearby town where, a little over
two years later, another raid took place. David
again managed to get away, and ran to Mbale. It
was there that Pastor Mukhooli met him and
heard his story. David explained that he wished
to take a trade course but could not afford the
payments. Pastor Alfred has taken an interest in
the young man and brought him to his home to
live. David has been saved and can have a good
future if he can complete his education.
It is a wonderful privilege to be instruments
through which God can help these people as
they face each new trial. Your prayers and dona-
tions have been a great blessing. Please con-
tinue to allow God to work through you.
?
-5-
NEWS FLASH!
On the 17th of March thirty-one young children were
brought by lorry to Hope Center. This was due to the fact that on
March 14, the government had closed down an orphanage hav-
ing ninety-two children. The ninety-two children were divided
up and sent to three different institutions, as was the case when
OBREC was closed down nearly four years ago. Some of our
children remember that experience and are pleading with Pastor
and Edith not to send these children to the streets.
When Maurice inquired of the government official he was
told, “We gave you those kids because we thought you could at
least give them good care. We closed down the center when we
discovered that those children were going without food for
weeks. The lady who used to care for them had died last year.
Then the center was taken over by her relatives who, instead of
caring for the children, take money for their own use and leave
the children to starve for weeks. That is why we decided to
close down the center, because there was no one responsible for
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David Wamboka
