Second Week in January

The funds for the well were finally transferred!  Many thanks to Steve Cushing for making it happen, it  was not an easy task!
The well construction will start on Monday!

The teachers will be returning to school on January 27th,  to begin preparing for the students return.   We were planning on hiring 3 more teachers.  A 3rd grade teacher to replace Esther, Esther will move into a new role an English teacher and Science teacher. English and Science as have been identified as a weakness in our students when they get to middle school.
3rd Grade teacher hired!
Farouq's surgery was cancelled, due to bone deformation which is crushing his organs and causing swelling. The good news is all his organs tested normal.   He is  first being treated for a cough and  then will start another prescription regiment, to help bone growth to alleviate the pain caused by the crushing.

Farouq is 16 years old 4' 10 inches tall and weighs 30 pounds.  He is in the 5th grade.  This young boy has battled health issues his entire life.  In 2010 when I first met him he could barely breath, he was very close to death from spinal tb. Yet he attempted to go to school every day.  Other students at the school would take turns carrying him. Many days he would be so weak they would have to carry him home in the middle of the day.
In every picture I have received  and every  time I visit this young boy is smiling.  His suffering never shows in his face or in his action,  he is always grateful and praising God for the goodness in his life.

Week one

The first full week of the year has started with gusto
1. Katie and I have our tickets. Ready for our visit! A month away!
2. A new teacher was hired for the 3rd grade!
3. Esther  can be move into her new position. Monitoring the children's attendance and health.
4. The bore hole will be started this week, it should be completed before the children return to school.
5. Prayers needed for Farouq. He is having surgery on Monday for a hernia plus bone deformation which is crushing his stomach and other organs. 

In the next couple of weeks we should find out how our 7th grade did.  They will need uniforms and school supplies. A class of 20 children X 100 dollars each, cost $2,000.00. Let the fund raising being.  :)  I am hoping to raise enough to bring it with us when we go.

2013 Extra's above and beyond the budget

Health Care Cost for 2013

8 months of medical care 271 patients treated cost $1,647.00. 

99 of these patients were treated for malaria.

Deworming the entire school 3 times during the year $390.00

Caring for Families that are HIV positive (3 families) $60.00 per month per family.

Mosquito Net  for every child $4,000

Shoes for every child.  $1,200

Hog Project

Providing 192 families with a Hog - $5,000.00

Extra Activities at the school

Field trip for students- $2,500

Christmas dinner -$1,200

Meal when we visited $1,200

A gift for every child when we visited $4,000 

Keeping the education going into Middle School

Secondary Education for 16 children  $3,840.00

School uniforms for secondary Students-  $1,300

Total $24,240  raised above the monthly budget.

Christmas dinner

Christmas Dinner-December 24^th

The estimate is the 280 children attended the Christmas Dinner. They had a Christmas Service filled with stories and prayer. They shared a cake  had soda and a meal of rice, meat, dried fish, matoke  and g-nut(ground nut or peanut) sauce.

2013 year in review

2013 has been a year of incredible joy and deep sorrow.

We met and exceeded most of our goals for this year. 

Medical Care

The year  started with great sadness Pastor Deo's  11 year old son died of malaria. It infected his brain before they could afford to have him treated.  In Uganda you must pay for treatment or they will not treat you. 

With this heavy on my heart and filling my daily prayers; God  answered providing another blessing and connection.  Show Mercy opened a medical center not too far from the school. All of our children and their families can go to Show Mercy and be treated at no cost to them, they send the bill to me. 

All children are de wormed every semester.  We provided treatment for jiggers (insects living in their feet)  To help prevent jiggers, we provided every child with a pair of shoes.  

The result is the children are healthier.  In 2008 these children did not own a ball, this year they won the district tournament. I could visibly see the difference during my visit their stomachs were not as swollen and their skin had a healthier glow.  

This connection was scary for me, how was I going to pay the bill when it comes in.   Since we started there was only one month that I had not raise enough funds when the bill came in.  So I prayed for 3 days, on the third day I sent one email.  In the email I asked for assistance paying the bill. The immediate response, they were going to pay the entire bill.

Another situation that brought me deep sadness a young child in the 1^st  grade was consistently sick.  The nurse at Show Mercy suggested that the child be tested for HIV.  The mom did not want to have her tested, she did not want to know.  We assured her that we would provide for her and care for her. The entire family was tested.  The mom and the young daughter are both HIV positive.  We are providing monthly food and transportation to the medical clinic where they receive their treatment.    Two other families have been identified as being HIV positive .  We are providing the same care.

To help prevent malaria we provided every child with a mosquito net

We also provided every child with a pair of shoes  to help prevent jiggers.

Piggery

We started the year  purchasing a going out of business piggery.  This included 48 pigs many were pregnant. We gave them to families that were prepared to care for them.  The condition was that they must give 4 from the first litter to 4 other families. The gift that keeps on giving.  This gift has been a blessing to so many families.  During our visit we saw and learned more about taking care of pigs than I ever imagined.  The 192 families have been  blessed by the gift.

In the past we had purchased some families goats .  When Cathy’s Grandfather heard we were in the village and looked  for us until he found us. He wanted  to let us know how grateful he was and thank us for the gift of a goat.  They now have 4 goats which are providing milk and income for the family. 

The Visit

When we visited every child received a gift,  a back pack with pens, pencils, pencil  sharpener eraser and other trinkets.

Another note area of sadness 2 young girls were sold into prostitution. During our visit we were able to rescue one, but later learned she is pregnant.   We are praying over how best to handle this situation. Winnie we are still trying to find.   This is heartbreaking.  We have rescued several girls over the years and the pattern is they are sold between Christmas and February.  I am planning on going in February this year to try and prevent this from happening.  Donations would be greatly appreciated to help support my  trip.  Cost $3,000.00 most of that is air fare.

School Changes

Working towards being a Government recognized school.  Every classroom has benches / chairs and the teachers all have desks with cabinets.  We hire a second cook and purchased very large pots.  We also hire 3 new teachers that are certified.  2014 we are hiring 3 more  qualified teachers and creating a new position for Esther.  Her new role will be overseeing all the children for health care and following up if they are not attending school. 

An end of year very generous donation was made to build a bore hole at the school.  This project should be completed by the end of 2013 early 2014.

The school year is ending with many celebrations for the children

1. Speech Day on December 6th, the children sing dance and perform for their parents and receive their report cards to find out if they are promoted.
2. The school field trip on December 13th 
3. Christmas Eve Dinner on December 24th.

I will be posting 2014 goals after spending time in prayer!

Loving a Village One Child at a Time!

Love,

Mom Sandy Gwoyagala  (my Ugandan name)

The story of the well at the Christian Mission Academy.

God's plan is perfect and he places people in the right place at the right time. 

  I am a member of Zontas, Women for advancing Women around the world.  The end of October I attended the convention in Bedford.  It was an amazing weekend.  Zontas women are doing amazing things locally and around the world!

One evening at dinner there was a gentleman at our table.   I was talking about this project,and through divine intervention he was seated at my table.  Five days before we met, his mom told him she wanted him to help her find a way to build a well in a third world country without a lot of administration fees.  

You will all see the rest of the story unfold.  

Show Mercy at work at the Christian Mission Acadamy!

Thumbs up for deworming!

Posted on November 22, 2013

This morning Kristy and I headed out to Bakka. I called up one of my trusted boda drivers, Hamsa. He came to pick us up and drive us to Christian Friends Academy. I love the boda ride to Bakka. Fresh air blows through my hair as I look up to see a beautiful view of eucalyptus forests amongst the hills and valleys. Fresh rain last night ensured it was lush and green! Villagers are out and about as we cruise by. We wave and respond to the chanting “Bye Mzungu!” (white person) with a Lugandan greeting “Muli Mutya!?” (Hi, how are you!?).

As we pull up to the school the teachers have already arranged the students in lines by class. The children here are getting to know us as we come every three months to deworm them and many of them have visited our clinic as well.
Today we were there for the deworming program. A majority of the population in third world countries is effected by intestinal worms. They get into the intestine through the mouth from uncooked or unwashed food, contaminated water or hands or by skin contact with infected soil. Parasitic worms can consume as much as 20% of what an infected child ingests!
The treatment is simple! One chewable tablet of a drug called Albendazole. This can be taken every three months to treat this specific intestinal worm.
Today there were 301 students at school. They all got dewormed!


We are so grateful for our partnership with Sandra Gannon and Trinity Covenant Church. This partnership enables use to provide health care to all students and their immediate families! What a blessing!