Northern Uganda Women and Children Support Initiative, Inc. (NUWOCSI)

Praise God!

…and I have much to praise God for in the three months that I have been in Uganda.

My adjustment to living in a new country; learning a new language; and adjusting to a culture so

different from my own has been an easy one and so far going rather smoothly. I have to credit the people of Gulu in this as they have gone out of their way to make me comfortable in my new home. They have welcomed me with open arms and I am truly humbled by their love and generosity.

Praise God!

I’m in wonder as I can see how God has prepared me for living in Uganda, years before I even knew where Uganda was on the map.

Praise God!

Within the first two weeks of living here I find a rat living in one of my luggage bags. All my life I have had an “exaggerated” fear or phobia of rats and their smaller cousin, mice. I remember praying and asking God not to send me any place that had rats. Well, I have not only dealt with that rat but have also managed to live with mice and bats. God may not have taken the rodents away but what He did do was take my fears away.

Praise God!

I have never been a fan of motorcycles, thinking them as very dangerous and praying that my sons would never want to own one. Well, now I find it’s me, their mother, not only enjoying riding them but wanting to own one (a little one..like a scooter). Here in Uganda they are an economical mode of transportation and can sometimes pass through these roads easier that a vehicle. They’re also fun! ….and yes, I have purchased a helmet!

Praise God!

As I make my adjustments and learn the language my work with the widows and mothers out in the

village continues. Currently, I have only been able to visit them one day a week but will be increasing the number of days that we meet. I have about 35 ladies interested in sewing and in quilt making but am now finding that I can not give these ladies adequate training and teaching in such a large group. When you add in the language barrier it makes it even more difficult.

I know that I need to move my language learning along quicker to eliminate this obstacle but even after that teaching 35 ladies at once is

difficult so what I want to do is to split these ladies into three groups and meet with each on separate days.The smaller groups will allow me to give more individual instruction and direction.

Right now I’m trying to work out the transportation issues on getting out to the village and back again. We are in the rainy season and the last thing the road to this village needs is rain. It pretty much makes the

roads impassable with a vehicle…unless maybe your driving a HumVee.

So, I’m thinking about purchasing a used motor scooter or “small” motorcycle. At least with a scooter I can always walk it through the bad spots. Well, maybe I can! I tried walking just myself through one of those bad spots the other day and didn’t make it. I fell head first into a large mud hole. I was dripping with mud. Oh, what a mess! At least I was able to provide a good laugh for the rest of the team….and passerby’s.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoy working with these ladies. They are working hard in their training and are taking it seriously. Last week I discovered just how important this training is to them. I shared with them about my desire to have a building built that

would be used for their vocational training and for tutoring their children. They were so excited at the prospect. Right now we are meeting outdoors and sitting on mats placed on the ground. When it rains we all move into a hut but with 20 to 30 people in one hut and no light it does not make for a good  training area. We will soon need to move up to some tables and chairs but since we can only work outdoors it can only be when it’s not raining. It rains pretty much daily here!

I was completely overwhelmed and I’m feeling a tremendous amount of responsibility after recently being told that they consider my coming to help them an answer to their prayers, that God choose such a time as this to send me to give these widows hope for their future. Their biggest prayers is to be able to raise healthy children and to provide them with an education. Isn’t this the prayer of every parent?

Please pray that the training we are doing today will soon produce a source of income for these mothers in the not to distant future.

I do feel that it is for these ladies and their children that God has led me to Uganda and my main focus will be in ministering to them, however, there is so many other ministry opportunities here. The local municipal hospital for one.

We were asked recently by a friend to visit his sister in the hospital. She is 23 years old, has 3 children and has HIV. She was in the hospital suffering from mouth sores and wasn’t able to eat because of the sores. We visited and prayed with her and then went out to get some necessities, like food. The hospital provides medical care but nothing else. No food or water, no pillow, no blanket or mosquito net.

In one of the markets we found some drinkable yogurt and brought her some of these along with some other needed items. It turns out the yogurt was the perfect food for her as the cold yogurt was soothing on mouth and it was easy to swallow. After a few days she was well enough to be released.

Last week the ECM team rescued a mother and her children. Two of the children were very malnourished and the youngest did not look like he was going to survive too much longer. The little boy is about age 4 and his sister is 12. The team was able to get them to the hospital where the children received the proper nourishment and care. I went to the hospital yesterday to visit them and the mom, Grace, was all smiles and both her children had marked improvement.

Praise God!

Now, we would like to find sponsors for the children. Sponsorship will provide food for this family and school for the child sponsored.

While at the hospital I also met and spoke with a young girl, 14, who had tried to commit suicide the night before because her mother no longer had the money to pay her school fees and she would have to drop out of school. Her mom is not only taking care of her children but her grandchildren from an older daughter who has recently died. The girl’s name is Sheila. Please pray that she will come to know that God loves her and does have a plan for her life if she would just come to rely on Him to meet her needs.

Almost daily there is a new opportunity to help or minister to someone in need. Some of the requests are urgent needs such as for medical care or food and some are financial pleas from (mostly young) people to help them with school costs so to have a hope for the future. There have been very few looking for a hand-out and most are very willing to work for any assistance we can provide. These young people are just looking for a helping hand to build a better future, for themselves, their family and for their country.

The requests are many but the finances are limited so we do need to have discernment on how and who we help so I ask that you pray for us in this regard.

I am so grateful to those who are praying for and or supporting my work here. Please know that you are important to me and that I am praying for you also.

My desire is to update this blog more frequently and I will work at doing that but sometimes scheduling, the internet and electrical power are not working together. This makes it difficult but there is room for improvement on my part!