I just returned from my second trip to Uganda. My first trip was just last summer when we made our initial visit to four camps. The progress that has been made in these past fifteen months has been amazing! During the first trip it seemed like all of the kids there had large stomachs due to the worms in their systems which was causing malnutrition. Now a little more than a year later, there was a significant decrease in the number of children with this condition. They seemed healthy and happy. The albendazole tablets work! Obanga Tek! (God is Good!)
In going from camp to camp I was amazed at how the Global Refuge Team had become incorporated into the communities. Our team from the U.S. is known on a first-name basis and warmly welcomed. We have Ugandans who are working with us and can be spotted by their GRI shirts and big smiles. They are becoming the leaders for their people.
Several programs have been developed and are running successfully in the camps. I was able to watch a girls graduating class of Priceless, our abstinence program that has graduated several hundred girls so far and is now in place for boys. Bethany and Marianne have done an amazing job of building that program and training the Ugandans to be the teachers. Seth is now working with the Priceless boys and that program is also growing. Shaunessy and Becky developed the HIV/Aids clinics and have had over 500 people in attendance. At first it was mainly women who attended, but now the men are coming around also. And Wes is doing an outstanding job as the country coordinator in making these programs come together.
Our team of six was an amazing group of people and it was a real pleasure working with them. Jolene, Jason, Sara, Jacque, Maria and I were all able to jump in and become a part of the ministry, working hand-in-hand with the permanent staff. Jolene has committed to work with GRI long-term and will begin in January.
One of the pleasures I had was to work with the albendazole/worm tablet distribution. The Vacation Bible School at my church, Arvada Covenant Church, adopted GRI as their summer project and raised over $5,700 for medicine for the Ugandan children. They also wrote letters to the Ugandan kids. The Ugandan kids were very happy to know that the children in America cared for them, loved looking at pictures of the ACC kids and several have even written letters back to the Arvada kids.
While most of the trip was positive and up-beat, we also visited young men and women who had been captured by the LRA rebels and were forced to serve as their soldiers. Sitting face-to-face with those people and reading the pain in their eyes as they told their stories was very difficult. What they had to endure was very hard to comprehend.
On a final note, it looks like we are going to be able to establish a medical clinic which will provide western-style medical care. We met with the District Chairman/Governor, Colonel Macodwego. The meeting went very well and the clinic will be a partnership between GRI and the district, and will be run by Dr. Tom, our own Ugandan doctor.
God is doing great and marvelous things in Uganda! Obanga Tek!
Tom
In going from camp to camp I was amazed at how the Global Refuge Team had become incorporated into the communities. Our team from the U.S. is known on a first-name basis and warmly welcomed. We have Ugandans who are working with us and can be spotted by their GRI shirts and big smiles. They are becoming the leaders for their people.
Several programs have been developed and are running successfully in the camps. I was able to watch a girls graduating class of Priceless, our abstinence program that has graduated several hundred girls so far and is now in place for boys. Bethany and Marianne have done an amazing job of building that program and training the Ugandans to be the teachers. Seth is now working with the Priceless boys and that program is also growing. Shaunessy and Becky developed the HIV/Aids clinics and have had over 500 people in attendance. At first it was mainly women who attended, but now the men are coming around also. And Wes is doing an outstanding job as the country coordinator in making these programs come together.
Our team of six was an amazing group of people and it was a real pleasure working with them. Jolene, Jason, Sara, Jacque, Maria and I were all able to jump in and become a part of the ministry, working hand-in-hand with the permanent staff. Jolene has committed to work with GRI long-term and will begin in January.
One of the pleasures I had was to work with the albendazole/worm tablet distribution. The Vacation Bible School at my church, Arvada Covenant Church, adopted GRI as their summer project and raised over $5,700 for medicine for the Ugandan children. They also wrote letters to the Ugandan kids. The Ugandan kids were very happy to know that the children in America cared for them, loved looking at pictures of the ACC kids and several have even written letters back to the Arvada kids.
While most of the trip was positive and up-beat, we also visited young men and women who had been captured by the LRA rebels and were forced to serve as their soldiers. Sitting face-to-face with those people and reading the pain in their eyes as they told their stories was very difficult. What they had to endure was very hard to comprehend.
On a final note, it looks like we are going to be able to establish a medical clinic which will provide western-style medical care. We met with the District Chairman/Governor, Colonel Macodwego. The meeting went very well and the clinic will be a partnership between GRI and the district, and will be run by Dr. Tom, our own Ugandan doctor.
God is doing great and marvelous things in Uganda! Obanga Tek!
Tom
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