Uganda Updates

March 15, 2015 – James Harms Uganda Presentation

 

 

March 15, 2015 – James Harms Uganda Slideshow

 

 

October 24, 2013

Since the launch we added 25 more children because of the ones who live too far away to come to discipleship or simply moved out of the area. We have right at 100. We need only 3-4 more sponsors to be at 100% We set the amount to be 35.00 a month. We have an account set up at Pinnacle in Grant. It is the Care Uganda account under the E Free church for tax purposes, so everyone can have a receipt. You can also set up auto monthly withdrawl. There was a change made at the Ugandan government schools where they feed everyday at the school. So instead of us feeding every day we pay money or give food to the school in the name of the sponsor children. So our big day is Saturday. They come at 9 for porrige, and have discipleship all day till 4 With a nice meal at noon, with meat and vegetables. Play games, bible memory and lesson. Then during holidays when not is School we run this program, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. We are going back to Uganda on Jan 25 and will be there 2 weeks. Anyone can come. We have 13 now with a possibility of 2 more yet. Our goal is to finish the bottom floor of 3 rooms of the school while we are there. I would like to build a house there on site for people to stay when we go there. Save hotel bills and traveling back and forth. We need money for this first though!  

June 23, 2013 – Kemling’s Post Trip Update

 

 

May 26, 2013 – School’s Progress to Date

 

May 16, 2013 – E-mail from James

It is an exciting time at the Kayango Care Point. Over the last year we (C.A.R.E. Uganda) have been making plans to start a school. As you can see in the picture, we have a good start on the building. Although we would like to have our school completed asap, we have decided to temporarily tackle a more pressing need of our sponsored children. While spending a lot of time the last few months constructing the school, we have noticed several areas at the care point that need our attention. Even though our relationship with HopeChest has been good, it is becoming more obvious that they are stretched thin and the Kayango Care Point may not be getting all the attention it needs. After much discussion and prayer we have decided to take on the running of the care point ourselves. With that in mind, beginning May 1, we along with the Ugandan Board, have begun to handle the day to day operations of the care point. In an effort to improve on what HopeChest started, we have set some new and exciting goals: 1. We hope to more accurately track the sponsored children to insure that the most needy and most likely to attend the care point are sponsored. 2. It is also our goal of the care point to provide meals six days a week while improving the nutritional value. 3. Most importantly, we want to fully meet the children’s spiritual needs through discipleship. You as a sponsor have been very important in helping HopeChest build a functional care point. You have changed the lives of your sponsored children. As you continue your sponsorship, we are asking that you switch your monthly giving from HopeChest to C.A.R.E. Uganda. In order to do this you may choose either to write checks made out to Grant E-Free with “Uganda” on the memo line or set up automatic withdrawals. These funds will be placed in a separate account where 100% of all sponsorship support will go to the operation of the care point. Thanks in advance for your support of God’s work in Uganda, C.A.R.E. Uganda  

January 19, 2013 – E-mail From James Through Diane

Here’s a brief summary of what’s been going on in Kayango this last week. Brad Robertson and James arrived in Kayango last Saturday, and Bill Wright arrived yesterday. Kayango is ten hours ahead of us, so as we go to bed they leave the hotel for the next day. Right now it is Saturday morning, and the guys are getting ready for a meeting and then Bill will be marrying Pastor Sam, who has been part of our care point from the very beginning, as he selected our first 100 children. Pastor Sam and Christine will be celebrating their marriage with many this Saturday afternoon! Before the wedding, the guys are working on the details of getting the land switched from Children’s HopeChest to the Kayango community. That’s going slowly, as many things in Uganda seem to do, but everyone is excited! In addition, a decision was made to build the school into a two-story building for many reasons, including you can build more for less money than if it is all single-story high, plus it leaves more land for gardens and animals. On Monday Scott, a friend of Chad’s, will be bringing a cement mixer and they will begin pouring cement. James said laying the foundation was fun…… he was hauling rocks “larger than my head,” he said, “and then smashing them with a sledge hammer. We (everyone working) were all exhausted at the end of the day!” On Friday James and Everlynn took the children school shopping. As more of the children entered secondary school there are now eighteen (yes, 18!) children in the private schools. If construction goes well, all the children in Kayango in primary school will be in our private school by their second term, which begins in May. On Monday, Bill begins teaching the pastors again, and James will teach two hours a day on money matters and financial principles. Pray for these men and women in this course, as what seems basic financially to children here is unknown to most adults in Uganda. They don’t know how to save or to budget, and will never get out of poverty without these skills. They need to deeply know and love God in ways that He wants them to love Him and not only in ways that are familiar to Uganda, not all of which is bad. Bill asks them if they want to be Ugandan Christians or Biblical Christians. Pray that they have faith to trust God when their culture and the Bible conflict. Pray for stamina as they are taught for close to 9 or 10 hours for 5 days in a row, so that they hear what the Lord is teaching them. Thanks for all your prayers for all these people, and especially for James, Brad and Bill. Please keep lifting them up as spiritual warfare is intense there at times. None of this would be happening without your prayers, financial gifts and words of encouragement!  

January 3, 2013 – E-mail From James

Just wanted to give you all an update on your sponsor child and our plans. Lord willing Bill Wright, Brad Robertson and I will be traveling to Uganda on Jan 11, 2013. So yes that is right, it is letter writing time. Could you please have your letter to the E Free church by next Wednesday. We will have a basket there to collect them. They love pictures of your family!! Even simply printed on regular paper. We will be working on the construction of the school when we are there. Maybe 2013 will be the year it will open. Please be in prayer about this!! When we are there we will enroll the 15 children that we have enrolled in private school for the year 2013. If your child is one of those enrolled in school and you want to help with the expenses, I would like to have the cash by Wednesday also. The cost to enroll one student, just tuition is about $500.00 for the year and then each tri-mester we need to purchase school supplies and personal items, which is about $150.00 per student. If your child is not in school but you would like to help with expense that would be greatly appreciated. It has been amazing to me how the Lord has always provided all of our needs for this on every trip!!!! What an amazing LORD we serve! Thanks for your faithful monthly support! At CHC they are always amazed at the Grant churches and how our support is always there!! Thanks a lot! Your gifts are making a difference in the lives of orphans in Kayango. You can call or email if you have any more questions. easternsky123@gmail.com  

November 4, 2012 – Uganda Presentation

 

September 30, 2012 – E-mail From James

Would you please announce if anyone is even remotely interested in going along with Bill and myself on the January trip to Uganda please let one of us know. Bill needs to set the dates so the Pastors can arrange their schedules so we want to decide soon on the date. There will be a lot of last minute things that will need done before school starts at the end of January. Please be in prayer as we are in the process of building the school and hiring all the people to teach and run the school. Also in the evening on November 4th, which is orphan Sunday, we will have a Uganda presentation at the youth building at 6:00 pm. Please plan to come. Also we have the $50,000 matching grant for the school building. We are at about $39,000. right now so please donate now to take advantage of this gift. Corn for Kayango!!  

August 28, 2012 – E-mail From James in Uganda

Work is progressing slowly, but it IS progressing on the fence for the entire school compound area. Land (2 small pieces) was purchased immediately next to the care point, so that Children’s HopeChest now owns 5 acres all together. This is large enough to build both primary and secondary schools, the homes for widows and children, all other buildings, like the administration building and all the animal barns, etc, as well as still having land for the garden and animals. The door or gate has been completed and will go up when the rest of the fence is finished. The concrete fence post have been purchased, and the men have dug the holes to put them in. They need to finish setting the poles in the holes and filling the holes up with concrete to secure them. Then they will put up the fence, which will be 8 or 10 foot high chicken wire. The Pastoral’s training is going well. Yesterday, as James was teaching on the Ten Commandments, the topic of capital punishment came up. Even though God first ordained capital punishment in Genesis 9, after the flood (thanks, Bill, for that info!), they were ALL vigorously opposed to it. Bill and James described how it looked like here in the USA. Then the pastors told James and Bill how it works in Uganda. If you have money and you murder someone, it is OK. If you murder someone who is wealthier than yourself, your doom is certain. These people are the poorest of the poor there in Uganda, and they said they would never see justice done as the Bible describes it, or even as we hope and expect it here. That was an eye opener for everyone! On Tuesday afternoon James went shopping for basic supplies (like paper, pens and pencils, and other items that are the same for all the children). He said, “I didn’t wear my Ugandan hat, and still, everyone knew me! How did that happen?” (I suggested perhaps it had to do with his glow-in-the-dark skin?) On Wednesday, he and Everlynn, the discipler, will take the girls and (two) boys shopping for personal items, like clothes, shoes and so on. Things are going well, and everyone there appreciates your prayers for them! Praise God for what He is doing there through all of you! Thank you!  

August 12, 2012 

Today while I was in Lincoln I had an interview with a young woman, Alissa Gooding, who would like to be a teacher in Uganda at our school. She is a grade older than Angela, she has graduated from college and has her elem ed teaching degree. I did not ask her age but I would guess 23 years old. She attends Indian Hills church where my cousins Randy and LaVon Sperling attend. They know her and her family and Alissa is recommended by them. She has spent time in the Phillippines. When I told her about the huts with 10 children she said that is where I want to live!! When I asked her some of her doctrine she came through fine and then she asked me, yes I was now put on the line, What do you believe about end times? I said pre trib rapture and 1000 year reign. She said a literal 1000 year reign on the earth and I said yes and she said good!! I also said I believed in the doctrine of election and she said I was OK there also! I know this sounds too good to be true! I told her she would have complete freedom to share the gospel with the children even in school. She was excited. I told her I thought moving there in Jan without visiting was too soon and especially living alone! Can you believe I am saying to slow down? She agreed. So here is a tentative plan. She will come along with our Jan trip and see how everything could be worked out. She asked what we as a church would do for monthly support for her. She also asked what it would cost to live there a month. I am still praying and asking for another couple who wants to move to Uganda. My niece Braina, who has been to Uganda and lived there is in school right now to be a mid wife. I am going to ask her if she wants to move to Uganda. I also Asked Ashley and Austin! So I guess we as a church need to decide how we would want to support our own missionary there. This might also involve CHC and going under their umbrella. You guys remember now, I am the visionary I see the big picture and know nothing about all these 1000 details that need worked out to get her there!! Thanks for all your help!!  

August 2, 2012

The school will be under the CHC HopeChest Uganda NGO status as a separate entity. We must get additional governmental approval for the school. A timeline has been put together for the funding that is needed as well as when school personnel will need to be hired. Two points we agreed to from the last call: • We will consider admitting into the school children from outside of Kayango. • We weren’t sure if it was best to have 100% of the children be boarded at the school. Joseph will discuss this with the school committee. James will be in Uganda on 22 August 2012 for a 10 day trip. He will be available for the stakeholder meeting that Joseph, the social worker and Simon will hold on 25 August. This meeting can possibly be adjusted so that James can be at the meeting. Need to get the Grant community the budget and the timeline of those budget numbers. Question: can the school be advertised and run as an explicitly Christian school? James would like one of the criteria for the prospective teachers and administrators be that they are (Bible believing) Christians. James feels that Agre could potentially be a good operations person for Joseph. Joseph would need to interview him. James submits a strong recommendation for Agre’s candidacy. The two initial job descriptions that will need to be created are for the headmaster and administrator. For the next call CHC to have budget numbers for the operating expense of the school in relation to the timeline that has been created with Joseph. James would like the rate of support to decrease each year ($100,000 per year to decrease to $90,000 per year as rough numbers) and so on so that there is a transition of ownership and responsibility from the Grant community to the local community. This agreement could be made with the school administrators. Make this part of the overall school plan. • Steve’s input is not to try to solve for it now but to set the expectation now. After the school is up and running (once all of the grades are established), have the community and the school administrators work to solve for that within the first year.