Bringing the Good News
to CHILDREN IN UGANDA

The team is currently on an island in the middle of Lake Victoria. They took a 4-hour barge ride to get there, and where they are staying is beautiful. That said, outside of a tiny strip of places for visitors to stay, just one street over begins the worst poverty imaginable. For those of you familiar with the Namahdi area (the more rural location of some of our sponsored kids that is in the poorest district of Uganda), Dan says Namahdi pales in comparison to the poverty on this and the other 67 Lake Victoria islands. These islands have the highest HIV rates (17%), highest poverty rates, lowest literacy rates, and the most sickle cell disease (inbreeding).

The population of the islands was in the millions 100 years ago, but African Sleeping Disease (a parasite called trypanosoma spread by tsetse flies) wiped out almost everyone. The islands were forcibly evacuated by the British to try to curb the disease. The current population of all the islands together is 100,000. Only 3 schools, all terrible quality, service the islands.

While fishing was once the main way of living, fishing has really dried up, forcing families to try other sources of income such as selling firewood, making brooms, making bricks, selling charcoal, etc. Dan says what’s tricky is there is absolutely no infrastructure for anything to thrive. They visited Lela’s library on the island from The Lela Initiative, reading to a number of children while they were there. They are praying about how Hands of Love might come alongside some of the children on the islands to enable them to attend boarding schools on the mainland.

Tomorrow they head back to Kampala, and then the following day they fly out at 11:55pm Uganda time. It has been quite a full trip and everyone is pretty exhausted. They are actually leaving a day later than planned due to airport union strikes in Brussels, so that extra day will hopefully allow them some rest before they get on a plane. They are flying back with Delta since their original flight was cancelled. We are thankful they are routing through Amsterdam given the current global climate.

Although very busy, it sounds like it has been very impactful. Every sponsorship, every gift, every prayer, every hug and every penny matters.

Now that the home and school visits are complete, summer camp is in full swing! Bring on the games, the worship, the THREE FULL MEALS a day (unheard of for these children) and all the fun and connection you can have on the beautiful shores of Lake Victoria! This is only the second summer for our HOL kids and it sounds like it’s off to a great start! Those team members that have been to Uganda before are loving connecting with old friends and kids. Those who have not been but have sponsored kids are enjoying meeting them for the first time. From the looks of the pictures, Rick and MaryAnn Nolle’s sponsored twins have settled right into camp as well. Though they are among the youngest of all the kids, Dan reported that little Jonathan is definitely large, in charge, and FULL of energy!

Dan also said they broke into small groups today, and he, David, and another team member from Rapid City were with the oldest boys. Apparently they had a fabulous discussion time about stepping into manhood and leadership. I’m excited to hear from the others about how their discussion times went with their breakout groups.

The HUGE beach balls and 9-Square-in-the-Air are a hit, and camp ends each evening with a special time of Ugandan worship.

Three children came into camp pretty sick with Malaria. One of the kids is my parent’s sponsored daughter, Deborah. The staff got them to a clinic pretty quickly to get them meds and it sounds like they are already feeling much better.

While at the schools, the HOL leadership had the school leadership write up a few students they thought deserved character awards. Our team brought over medals, and today each student who received an award was brought up in front of the others as one of the team read what their school leaders had written about them. It sounds like it was very impactful, and Dan said the students who received the medals wore them around their necks all day. This was a new thing for this year, and my guess is it will be repeated in years to come.

Each of the three schools they visited had a chance to choose a gift based on an amount we had committed a few weeks ago.  Two of the schools chose water filtration systems, and the more rural school chose a nice printer/copier so the teachers could actually give out homework and tests to the students on paper.  All of the schools were quite excited and proud to show the team their new gifts when they visited. The schools with the water filtration systems (in place for a few weeks now) said their student illnesses have gone way down.

Camp ends Sunday after lunch and then the team will head out for the third part of their trip.  Goodbyes are always hard, you can pray for everyone involved as they get ready to leave camp.  After camp, the team will be visiting a remote island on Lake Victoria to go to the new library established by the Lela Initiative. More on this to come.

Josh Bancroft has been gracious to funnel me some pictures, so I’ll attach a few to this update.  Dan said the Wellspring team has been incredible, jumping right in with the kids and staff to form relationships and love on kids as much as possible in just a few short days. Thank you for your continued prayers for the team and all the staff, students, and families with Hands of Love.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday will be filled with school and home visits.  They begin each morning visiting about three of the poorest sponsored families’ homes to hear their stories, pray with them, and bring them some basic food and supplies.  Each afternoon they will visit each of the three schools that our sponsored children attend.  We have purchased lunch for ALL the children and staff at each school, as well as a larger gift that has been determined by the staff based on what they need most.  They will spend about 3 hours at the schools, presenting the same GOSPEL we do at Camp Motion, playing games, and encouraging the students and the staff.

Monday night, the team will have a meal with the Ugandan Hands of Love staff and their families.

Also Monday night, one young lady will begin preparing for her student visa interview. The interview is Wednesday at 7:30am Uganda time (11:30pm Tuesday Central time). Please pray for all of the preparation and coordination leading up to the interview, and then of course the interview itself.  Pray for this young lady, and for the courts and agencies to have miraculous favor, and for the emotions and practicalities that follow regardless of the outcome.

Wednesday evening the team travels to a different hotel to be closer to camp, which begins on Thursday! This is such an exciting experience for all the kids, pray the Lord’s presence will truly be known and felt during this time.

Uganda is 8 hours ahead of us. We appreciate your continued prayers.