March 1, 2012 Update

Dear Friends, 

Greetings from African Hearts. I hope this finds you well. We are all fine except for Peter Sentongo in the Ssenge Home who is sick.

Will you please take a moment and read the following updates: 

Homes

We are moved from the Kampala Home this week. I am very proud of these young men because they thought it would be fitting to clean and leave the house in very good shape.  They have been a great testimony to the landlord, and he is very proud. He said he prays he gets new tenants as good as we have been. We have pretty much packed up everything.  We have decided to take every boy living in the Kampala Home to boarding school and hostels to give us time to prepare the new place we want to build for them in Ssenge. 

The Ssenge Home is doing well. I am glad to report that we managed to rescue 4 more boys off the street, and they are now happily living with us in Ssenge.  Yusuf, Alafat, Marvin, and Hakim are the four new boys in the Ssenge Home.  They are very grateful to belong to a family and to have an opportunity for an assured meal, medical care, love, devotionals and an education at the African Hearts Junior school. We decided to put them in school right away while we look for sponsors for them since the teachers say they are a good fit.  According to the assessment, Yusuf needs to have more coaching and building up his esteem, but all this will be taken care of.  Lubega George is also back with us to study at the African Hearts Junior school. He has been taking good care of our new goat.

Slums
Thanks to everyone who prayed for Sabote.  We were all scared, but God healed him from the dog bites.  I saw him, and he was smiling again which he had not done in days after he was bitten by dogs.  The slum programs are going well.  The rains have started, and this is the most challenging time for street children!  Please remember them in your prayers that they will not die or be overtaken by running water. Pray that God will be their shelter even at night.

School

As you all know, the new school term began January 31.  We started with classes from nursery to primary six.  We have about 400 children this academic year. We started using our new classroom block to accommodate the new students.  The kitchen is also in operation.  We have managed to put a fence around the school, and we still have some small construction projects.  We have hired new teachers, and the children look very happy. Many thanks to those sponsoring some of these children to have an opportunity for an education. 

Vocations

The boys have started making bricks for the new Ssenge House to replace the old Kampala House. We are thinking of offering services locally to generate funds.  One of the boys has learned how to make liquid soap and he is going to teach others so we are can produce for large shops in Kampala. Also looking at the Ssenge Community, many women are widows or single parents, and the reason most of them cannot pay to send their children to school is lack of jobs so they cannot earn any income. So we decided to revive the training we had offered to help them take care of their families. We are brainstorming about proper implementation so please keep praying for us as we plan.  We praise the Lord that through our partners Engage Hope we got a loan to buy a van to transport our band, and we hope to use it also as an income generating project.

Prayer requests

1. Wisdom
2. Equipment especially for the babies at school
3. Healing for the sick boys
4. More business for the band

God Bless.