Fighting back the tears.....

As much as I love Uganda and truly do long to be there....life in Uganda is hard.  Very hard.  Days are long and the work is never done.  Most families don't eat dinner until 8:30 - 9:00 at night and rest.....I don't know that there is a word for rest in Uganda.

One of our beautiful HOPE+ sisters has cancer.  I met Sarah for the first time in January 2013.  She is a precious woman with 4 beautiful children.  She lost her husband to AIDS in 2005.

We got to see Sarah again in September when we visited her.  She was very weak and we were told she had cancer. 

But she still had the sweetest spirit about her.

Sarah had a hysterectomy 2 weeks ago.  This was done at Mulago hospital in Kampala.  I have never heard anything good about this hospital.  Apparently, her brother and sister sold whatever possessions they could to come up with the funds to have the surgery.  They didn't ask for help or funds.....they didn't even share that Sarah was having the surgery.  I don't know why but I suspect it was because they didn't think there was anyone to help.

Today, my dear brother Richard spent the day at the hospital fighting to get Sarah the blood transfusion she has needed for 2 days.  We have a good friend who is a nurse who just happens to be in Uganda and she went to meet Richard at the hospital to help assess the situation.  Here is her message: 

OK. Just left hospital. She does not have uterine cancer, she had cervical cancer. Typically surgery fixes cervical cancer depending on how severe it is. She had surgery 2 weeks ago, has severe anemia, and is just now getting transfusion. She is severely dehydrated. Doctor recommending she goes for radiation after transfusion, I think she cannot survive it.
I have never in my life seen such hell as where she is....and I have seen a lot.
BTW, doc also told them she has tb of bones...omg. Grrr.
My suggestion is to get her out of there. I have no idea what it will cost...several thousand dollars??
She will die here. No doubt about it. I think we need to consider quality of life at this point. Getting her out of mulago is first step.

Reality.  Sometimes it's like a punch in the gut.

I believe, with everything I have that God is in control.  I believe that Sarah will be healed...if not on earth....certainly in Heaven.  And I also believe God's word and I know He has called me to love these women.

Lord willing, we will be moving Sarah to the International hospital in Kampala.  This is the same hospital Gorret will be having her Goiter surgery at.  It's a hospital with round the clock care.

I want for Sarah what I would want for any person I love....for her to be cared for, loved on and for her needs to be met until the day she meets our Lord Jesus.

Please pray for our brother Richard.  He has given of himself so sacrificially.  His actions breathe Romans 12:1 - Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Please pray for Sarah's children.  They will be alone and this will be a tremendous tragedy in their young lives.

If you feel the Lord leading to help with Sarah's care, please use the donate button below.  All donations are tax deductible through Project HOPEFUL. 




We have been so blessed to stand back and witness God's miracles and provision for Uganda.  Although my heart breaks for her, I know HE loves her so much more than I could ever imagine and I look forward to the miracle He has already done in her life.  He has saved her and she is the daughter of the King.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  Ecclesiastes 3:11

Let the children come to me......

My expectations were low, I mean after all....it was a group of 6th to 8th graders.  Once again, here I was with "little faith".  You'd think I would have learned by now.

Sunday I was up with the Rise group of Grace Covenant church.  I'd shared the previous week about the work of Sole Hope and we were collecting funds for shoes.  I expected 20-30 kids to purchase shoes.  To say my mind was blown  when 54 pairs of shoes were purchased is an understatement.

Imagine how I felt when a precious 13 year old hand me $100.  I asked her "how many pairs are you purchasing" and she responded "10".  I asked her "Sweetie....is this money that you saved" and she said "yes".  God bless that sweet child.  Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. - Mark 10:14

To date, 86 pairs of shoes have been purchased!  We are so excited about the response.  We still have 214 pair of shoes that  need to be purchased and I am NOT going to take the "little faith" road.....I'm going to choose the "great, big, huge faith road".

Please consider joining us and donating a pair of shoes.  You can use the button below to donate.  $9 is all it takes.  Please add "shoes for Bibbo" in notes.

We have a number system in place and we are giving these prayer cards to those who donate. It is our hope to collect letters from the children who receive your shoes so that we can return them to you.

Oh...and one other little....no GREAT BIG HUGE PRAISE.  The school these children attend?  Bibbo school....the one funds were raised for in August?  Ya, that one.  Well....IT IS FINISHED!!!  We will be sharing pictures SOON!!!

Please join me in thanking the Lord for the way He has provided for His children in Uganda.

In Christ,
Dawn

Bibbo shoe drive

We have officially launched our shoe drive for the children of Bibbo school.  Today I had the privilege of sharing with the youth at our church about the plight of jiggers.  Our youth pastor, feeling his own conviction on just how blessed he was, brought in all his shoes.  This is just one side of the stage where his shoes were lined up.

              .I was able to share with the kids about jiggers, the work Sole Hope is doing in Uganda to help with jiggers and encourage them to get involved.  They asked a lot of questions and you could see the concern on several of their faces.  There were approximately 40 kids there today and if every child commits to a pair of shoes, 40 children in Bibbo will have shoes.  But there are 300 children in Bibbo who need shoes so we need your help to get the word out there.  Share this blog with folks you know.  Tell them about what we are doing.  We have some fun things we will be doing so you can give these as "These shoes were purchased in your honor for a child in Uganda" Christmas gifts. In the grand scheme of things, this is not a lot of money.  But it will take a village here in Austin to provide shoes for all the children in Bibbo village.

If you are interested in purchasing shoes, please use this link and be sure to specify "shoes for Bibbo".  The shoes cost $9 a pair.  Remember, you aren't just purchasing shoes....you are preventing jiggers, providing education, employing Ugandans and most importantly....helping to share the love of Christ with those in need.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humblywith your God.
Micah 6:8

Shoes for the children of Bibbo

One of our days in Uganda was spent measuring the feet of children from Bibbo school in Uganda.  Most of these children did not have shoes to protect their feet.  Jiggers (sand fleas...NOT to be confused with chiggers) is a huge problem in Uganda.  Sand fleas embed themselves in the feet of children, lay eggs and cause a long list of problems.  Just days after we returned home from Uganda, this article was in a Ugandan newspaper:

This is such a tragedy since jiggers are completely preventable.

Over the years, I have been blessed to get to know the Collie family who founded Sole Hope.  Their ministry not only does outreach missions to remove the jiggers from the feet of children, they provide training on how to prevent jiggers and provide them with shoes.

After seeing how many children were without shoes in Bibbo, we have decided to partner with Sole Hope and put shoes on the feet of 300 children.

What does it cost?  $9 per child.  That $9 doesn't just provide shoes for a child....it provides employment to local Ugandans.  Sole Hope currently provides employment to 25 Ugandans.

Recently, our friends at Sole Hope came upon the worst jiggers they'd ever seen.  You can read about it here.  We had the pleasure of meeting these children and were so happy to see that their feet were healing beautifully!  This would not have been the case had Sole Hope not been there to help.

So...how do you help?  Simple.  By using the button below to make a $9 donation to Sole Hope.  When we travel to Uganda in January, we will be removing the jiggers from the feet of these children and delivering them their new shoes.

Thank you for being the hands....AND FEET....of Jesus.
 

We're back........

To say we had a "good trip" is an understatement.  It was an amazing trip.  AH-MAZING!  I could spend hours sharing stories with you but I am going to try my best do do a short recap.

The first and probably most amazing experience was being able to watch Pastor Stephen receive the news that the church they have been trying to build for 4 years HAS BEEN FUNDED!  Only God.  This is the miracle we got to witness.

 

At the end of church, we arranged for the entire church to walk to the grounds where they have been building their church.  John called Pastor Stephen and shared the news with him.  I have never in my life seen such a celebration.  There were no dry eyes.

We had the pleasure of visiting Bibbo school....the school Steve Sanchez and friends raised funds for.  They are likely to finish the school in November!

 

While we were there, we measured the feet of 100's of children as we prepare to raise funds for shoes for 300 children.  We noticed several children had jiggers in their feet and we believe this shoe drive will be a tremendous blessing to them.  

 Also while we were at the school, I visited with Gorrett.  This is not the first time I've met her but this time I felt God nudging me to ask her about her condition.  Gorrett has hypothyroidism.  My daughter has hypothyroidism.  We have the luxury of insurance and medication.  Gorrett does not.  The goiter in her throat has been growing since 2003.  She sometimes stops breathing when she eats, she has difficulty swallowing and is losing weight and she is in constant pain.  We made arrangements for her to visit the International hospital Kampala.  For Gorrett to have labs run, surgery & hospital stay, it would cost $1720 dollars.  We have committed to raising funds to help this precious woman.  If you are interested in helping with Gorrett's surgery, you can use the donation link above and just indicate "Gorrett surgery".

We had 36 women graduate from the HOPE+ sisterhood and it was a true celebration.  We had 2 healthy HIV- babies born to their HIV+ mamas which is a HUGE praise. 

 

We interviewed 23 new women to be part of the next HOPE+ sisterhood.  Each and every one of them has an amazing story and we loved them all.

We were taken care of and loved on by the beautiful people of Uganda in ways that humbled us and brought us to tears.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

         If you would like to get any additional information on how to get involved in any of the projects mentioned, please email me us @ gendauganda@gmail.com 

Enjoy these amazing videos of the children from Bibbo school and Gertrude, one of our HOPE+ sisters celebrating when we delivered beans to them.

In Christ,

Dawn