Monday, February 6, 2012

February 1, 2012 Update

Dear friends of African Hearts,

Warm greetings from the African Hearts family. We are doing great seeing God lifting us up every day. Please take a minute to read about what is happening at African hearts.

School
The new school year started January 30, 2012. There has been so much construction as we have been adding on classes to accommodate all the children in the community. Our school has been running classes from nursery to age 9, but this year we hope to add on ages 10 to 11. Teachers have been busy preparing and planning. We have also increased the number of staff to run the school, and many children have applied to be enrolled. We expect to begin the year with about 320 children which is about 100+ increase in the total school population.

Homes
All the boys in the homes are fine. Some boys in the Ssenge Home were invited to camp by CRANE, an organisation that brings together organisations that work with children, and these boys learned so much that they are now sharing with their brothers at home.

The Kampala Home is in transition. Please remember to pray for wisdom as there are many factors here to consider. We have come to a point where rent and expenses in Kampala have gone so high. We have decided to move the house to Ssenge as soon as we get the funds, but this is a testing time as we have many other children from the community counting on us being there. Please pray for this transition.

Slum Ministry
The slum outreach is great, and we have been feeding children and treating their wounds every day in Kisenyi slums. The demolition of houses is increasing, and we have heard rumors that some rich person is buying up the whole slum. So children are in fear, but we are grateful to God that our partner organisation in Uganda received some funding to rent a facility which is now acting as a drop-in center in addition to the community hall that we are using. We are still working on the paperwork to bring four street boys into the Ssenge Home. Also Mutyaba Isaac, one of our community boys in Kampala, has lost his mother, and we have waited for relatives and no one has showed up. On a sad note, one of the boys living on the street nicknamed Sabote was terribly bitten by dogs at night. I was called when he was in a terrible state. The other leaders and I were so busy, but I am so proud of my Kampala boy Kintu Lawrence who came in and took good care of him by bringing him into the house, feeding and bathing him and took him to the hospital. This is the replication of our ministry that I want to see even in the future.

Vocational Training
We have had some good news. One of the boys Kizito Isa that we sent to tailoring classes is about to finish school and will start making uniforms for the African Hearts Junior School and also training others. Other boys from the Kampala community took classes on how to make liquid soap and also graduated successfully. We are going to to have him train others, and we shall make this soap for sale to support the ministry. The community in Ssenge has greatly appreciated our Brick Technology, and we are expecting more business for our boys.

Success Stories
We had three boys sit for Primary Leaving National Exams, and one boy called Joshua got a first grade, Sowedi got a second grade and another one named Tonny has not yet received his paper. We are happy to be part of this as a ministry. We are planning to have a small celebration to recognize these young men but also to encourage the younger ones.

Ddibya Samuel, one of the best musicians, left for Europe this weekend, but also a few days before he left, he had told me how he was grateful to African Hearts for giving him the chance to dream and hope again and all that God has used it to do in his life. After all that, he told me that he is still part of the family, but he is ready to fly on his own! That was so emotional but very rewarding. Please pray for him as he still carries on the work of African Hearts, but he is no longer living in the home.

Musoke Musa, the footballer who represented Uganda in the Coca Cola Youth Tournament, was also invited to play on one of the most popular reserve teams in the top Ugandan soccer league. This is a new experience but great exposure for him. He also needs our prayers.

All the rest of the boys and young men are good.

God Bless.