Lawrence, who once was so shy he was considered a “cry baby,” now bursts with confidence at Makerere University Business School in Uganda.

The first day he went to the university, with support from our Leadership Development Program, he could not believe it. He marveled at the expanse of the campus, gaped at the beautiful buildings and thanked God for this opportunity of a lifetime. He was determined to achieve his dreams — among them a passion for leadership.

Lawrence had grown up a very shy boy. In fact, many times he was a victim of false accusations but he never defended himself. He simply cried. He grew up with his parents and three brothers. They struggled through life. His father, a fisherman and sole earner in the home, contracted cancer and painfully passed away when Lawrence was 10.

Life was tough. Lawrence’s mother did not have a job but depended on peasant farming. The family had little food. They skipped breakfast, had a cup of porridge for lunch, and usually ate posho (mingled maize flour) with avocado or greens for supper. On a good day they would eat beans and posho.

This was their routine. The boys grew thinner each day and often fell sick.

“Whenever we fell sick, Mum bathed us with herbs and told us to sleep and cover ourselves till we were warm. She could not afford medication.”

When Lawrence joined the Lugazi Child Development Center, it was a great relief for his family. The first thing he did was seek treatment for a terrible toothache that had bothered him for more than seven months because of lack of medication.

He received lots of love at the child development center and anticipated going back every Saturday.

At the center, children were given milk, eggs, bread and bananas for breakfast. At lunch they received rice and meat or matooke (plantain), beans and peas. Sometimes they enjoyed sodas. It was like he was experiencing a whole new life.

“Our director, staff and volunteers at the center loved me very much. The director treated me like his own child.

When I was in primary grade 2, they taught us about Jesus and the things He did when He was our age. I liked Jesus very much and I gave my life to Him.”

With support and love from our staff, Lawrence discovered his God-given potential and self worth. Little by little he gained confidence in himself and stopped being so shy. He joined the school choir and always stood in front.

Lawrence also learned at an early age to take on leadership positions and to always act with integrity. Later, when he joined the university, he believed he was the leader the students needed. Today he perceives himself as a leader of integrity who adds value to his followers.

In his first year at the university Lawrence became the representative for Baganda Nkobaza Mbogo Student Association. In his second year he was elected as the speaker; now in his third year he is the chairman and leads more than 500 students in the association.

The Baganda Nkobaza Mbogo Student Association is a national association aimed at preserving the culture of the Baganda, a people group living in central Uganda.

It is not an easy thing to balance culture and the teachings of Jesus Christ. And not many people understood how Lawrence could say he was chairman of this association and yet confess Christ as his Lord and Savior.

“I believe that as Christians we should take up all positions. Perhaps if someone who is deeply rooted in the culture was chairman, many evil practices would be encouraged. But I bring change and I can influence fellow students. They see my walk in Christ and I believe I influence them a lot.”

Lawrence is also the chairperson for the Family of Christ Ministry, where he leads 53 students. On top of that, he leads the Leadership Development Program fellowship at his university and is the treasurer of the gents ministry called Men of the Original Image.

He is grateful to all of his sponsors and to his church because, without this support, it would have been hard for him to make it in life. Lawrence is excited at what God is doing and once he is out of university he hopes to start his own businesses in coffee and dairy.

He also aspires to join national politics. His initial target is the seat for Member of Parliament for his home area, Buikwe West, in 2016.

Lawrence is grateful to Compassion and to his church for loving him.

“I have seen Compassion International struggle to see that I reach where I am today. They have given me so much support and so many things. From the time I joined the ministry, I felt like there was an invisible hand holding me up. I was so happy!

I am in the Leadership Development Program and I feel you are really investing in me. You want me to be the best leader, the best future parent, and an honest and compassionate person.

The Leadership Development Program has shaped me well and I am very grateful. Now I feel ready to face the world and contribute to it.”

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

I love that I don’t always know why I write what I write to my sponsored children.

At first glance, words on pages may seem as though they are merely words, but an 11-year-old boy named Sam from Ghana provided a powerful reminder that words prayed over and led by the Spirit have a power and a purpose all their own.

I received such words from Sam many times, and the impact of those words has changed more lives than I will ever know.

The first time I realized Sam was truly receiving his words from the Holy Spirit was when he wrote to me on September 14th, 2010 and shared that his prayer for me was that God would give me a double portion of health.

He had no way of knowing how dangerously sick I had been. I didn’t tell him because I hadn’t wanted to frighten him.

Sam also had no way of knowing that as he was writing, his prayers were being answered halfway across the world. September 14th, 2010 was the day that God brought me from barely walking, to running for the first time. It was the day God helped me begin to miraculously outrun sickness – going from sick to healed literally overnight after months of illness.

It led me to wonder what else God would do through our letters.

I shared with Sam that I had traveled to Honduras with Compassion and that my best friend Tia had been on two mission trips to Africa.

In light of his prayer about my health, I took note when Sam responded that when he had heard I had been to Honduras and that Tia had been to Africa twice, he prayed God would bless us for our work, and he also prayed we would come to Ghana to meet face to face.

Sam shared that he had prayed and God would “let it come to pass, Amen!”

The words were simple, but it’s how the Holy Spirit translated them to my heart that caused a ripple effect that would soon reach further than either of us could ever have imagined.

Unable to shake the feeling that God had shared this through Sam for a purpose beyond meeting our beloved Compassion child face to face, Tia and I began to research the needs of children in Ghana. We were horrified to learn that child slavery is still practiced in parts of this country.

Children as young as 4 years old are sold into a life of bondage that perpetuates the cycle of poverty and destroys lives.

In fact, there are more slaves worldwide today than there have ever been, and at least 50 percent of them are vulnerable, precious children.

We launched a fundraising initiative to raise funds to provide expanded resources for children rescued from slavery in Ghana, which would in turn help facilitate the rescue of more children. Having raised $30,000 in mere months to provide for these children, we set out for Ghana in November of 2011.

That is when Sam’s prayer, which had been answered all along, was answered “face to face” when I, along with my 13-year-old son Joshua, my best friend Tia, and our friend Debra met him face to face.

Together, we celebrated the impact his letters had made not only in our lives and in the lives of our families and friends, but in the lives of children in his country who would be rescued from slavery — all because of words the Holy Spirit led him to share in what seemed like a simple letter from a child.

I used to think that when sponsors chose not to write to their children, it was simply the children and the sponsors who lost the opportunity to affect each other’s lives in beautiful ways. Now I can’t help but ask myself what we’re robbing the world of when we don’t take a moment to write to these precious children.

The words on the pages don’t have to be perfect. The Holy Spirit will make them so.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: JD Richardson gave up housework for lent years ago and never looked back. God filled all the free time she acquired by shaping her into a writer, photographer, Compassion Advocate and sponsor of 16 Compassion children from around the world.

If you’re interested in writing a guest blog post, we are happy to consider publishing it. Read our guest blog post guidelines.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Dear servants, I have learned about God’s grace just like you but in different ways. In 2008, I had just finished my degree in human resources management, though my marks were not very good. It was during that time when God continued teaching me how His grace works.

He didn’t give me the chance because I was strong, had wisdom of the world, or because I came from a good and wealthy family. No way. He didn’t look at my background.

But for His glory He made me number one out of all other applicants. His grace paved the way for me. His grace marked the initial stages in my career, and now, three years later, I can still tell of His grace as my doorway to join Compassion.

So am I proud to be in this ministry? Compassion is my name, my pride, my rope, and my hope for many. Joyous? Yes. Blessed? Indeed, just because of His grace.

So, never qualify or disqualify yourself by the world’s standards. Just know one thing: You are seasoned and purposed to display His splendor to many generations. His grace covers up all other qualifications.

JESUS UP!

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” — 1 Corinthians 1:27, NIV

Prayer: Our Lord and Father God, may You teach all of us on how to live, knowing that Your grace covers our weakness in Jesus’ name. May You increase the amount of grace to whoever needs Your presence to overcome. Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Raphael Joachim Lyela works as a Field Based Partnership Facilitator in the Dodoma region of Tanzania.

Read all the One in Spirit devotionals. 

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

In the midst of post-election violence in Kenya, one entire church was burned down. We lost all of our paperwork and child documentation — nothing was left.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

In boarding school miles away from home, I had run out of cash and needed bus fare. The fastest way to get cash from home was via ordinary mail. Even then, I knew better than to bother Mom with bus fare when she had so many other pressing needs.

Being a new believer, I turned to God for help. “Lord, please provide bus fare home. Please, Lord.” In the Christian fellowship, I had heard of daring faith in which students prayed for similar needs and proceeded to board buses without a coin. I dreaded the idea.

As the day drew nearer, I had to make a Plan B. Thankfully, a friend was benevolent enough to lend me just enough cash to get home.

As we streamed out of the school’s main gate, I was confused about God and prayer. In fact, I had a little doubt that God really existed. Or perhaps my request was too insignificant.

Feeling downcast, I took the corner seat in the last row and stared through the bus window. As we got on our way, a passenger just in front tagged me. Without a word, he pointed to someone a few rows ahead. I was greeted by the smiling, familiar face of a regular speaker in our Christian fellowship, who told me, “I have paid for two.” I had a choking feeling, a mixture of joy and anger.

Why couldn’t God provide before I borrowed? Doesn’t He understand right timing for those of little faith like me? Why overstretch my faith beyond my limit?

By stretching my faith, I learned, like Mary and Martha did, that God answers prayers in ways beyond what we can expect. Jesus was quick to remind and demonstrate that it is never too late for God.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” – John 11:21, NIV

Prayer: Lord, as we pray, help us trust that You will answer even in ways inconvenient to us because you are God. Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joel Macharia is the country director of our office in Kenya.

Read all the One in Spirit devotionals.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Anne was one of those children at Bugolobi Child Development Center who gave their lives to Jesus Christ every day after the altar call at the center. She had done this for the three years she was part of our Child Sponsorship Program.

As a Child Development Officer at the center then, I did not know whether Anne and the other children took salvation seriously or, better still, whether they understood what salvation was. It was not until Anne turned 10 that I understood that God honors a child’s commitment to Christ, and He gives such a child His Spirit, too.

I remember that it was an ordinary Saturday. Because Anne was 10 years old, her mother, a police constable, deemed Anne old enough to come to the center and return home on her own.

After attending the center program with a host of other children on that Saturday, Anne boarded a 14-seat commuter taxi that evening for Kitintale, the suburb where she lived with her mother.

My colleagues and I were stunned when at dusk Anne’s mother appeared at the center premises concerned that her daughter had not returned. We immediately reported the matter to the Bugolobi police.

We put announcements on radio describing the little girl and asking if anyone knew her whereabouts. We did not get any response from the public.

After five days, Anne’s mother called the center informing us that Anne was at the Jinja police station. The kidnappers had abandoned her in Bujagali. Bujagali is located about 100 kilometers (80 miles) east of Kampala near Jinja town; it is a lonely spot famous for the whitewater rapids of the River Nile.

Eventually we did meet the little princess and she narrated her ordeal. Anne said that when she entered the taxi, she assumed that the two women were passengers going home after a busy day.

“They were friendly. They gave me a book with pictures to read.”

Anne did not remember what happened next except that it was morning and there was a loud sound of gushing water coming from the neighborhood. She saw a big river that she recognized. We had once taken all the children at the center to see the Bujagali rapids.

Anne continued to share with us in tears, wiping her eyes all through,

“I was taken to a small hut. The man inside the hut saw me and told the women that his spirits did not like the Holy Spirit inside me. He said that the women should go and bring another child to sacrifice.”

The two women ushered her out of the witch doctor’s shrine and ordered her to walk ahead of them. That was the last Anne saw of the women; they disappeared into the bushes lining the footpath.

In Uganda, most footpaths reconnect to the main road. Anne trekked until she reached the Kampala Highway. It was the most tormenting journey of her tender life!

At the highway, she asked for the nearest police station. A Good Samaritan took her to Jinja police station whereupon the police made connection with the Bugolobi police.

When we got Anne back, we took her for trauma counseling. She found strength to testify before fellow children at the center. Her testimony moved the one hundred and fifty plus children in attendance that Saturday to commit their lives to Jesus Christ and ask God to give them His Spirit.

Anne reiterated to the fellow children that when children give their lives to Jesus, God gives them His Spirit!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gerald Kateu served as a child development officer with the Bugolobi Child Development Center for seven years before joining our Uganda field office as Sponsor and Donor Services Associate in July 2008.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

 Compassion began its ministry in Tanzania in 1999 with the Child Sponsorship Program. In 2008, we added the Child Survival Program.

In just over 11 years, Compassion Tanzania now works with 236 Implementing Church Partners in 12 regions of the country. We have been growing at an average of 30 percent per year and currently serve almost 64,000 children.

Country Director

Joseph Mayala Mitinje joined our ministry as a senior accountant in 1999 and also served as an operations coordinator, human resource specialist, and program implementation manager. He was appointed country director in 2009.

Prior to Compassion, Joseph worked at the Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania as a bank clerk before being promoted to business development manager and account relationship manager.

Joseph holds a bachelor’s degree in advanced accounting and auditing from Shivaji University in India; a post-graduate diploma in human resource management and international relations and stock market & exchange control from the Central Institute of Management in India; and a diploma in computer programming from India’s Space College.

He also holds a MBA from the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute.

Joseph is a board member with Haki Kazi Catalyst and previously served as a church elder and chairperson of evangelism and missions for the Arusha, Kilimanjaro and Manyara regions at the African Inland Church.

Implementing Church Partners

Implementing Church Partners are local churches in Tanzania with whom we work to deliver child development programs and frontline ministry in the field.

• Spiritual Climate
  Christianity is strong and the gospel is preached throughout the country, but superstitious practices still exist. For example, some believe that albino body parts will bring wealth.
• Unique Challenges
  One challenge that Implementing Church Partners face is retaining their child development center workers. The salary and benefits offered are low relative to the market, specifically for health workers. Thus, staff turnover is high.
• Contributions
  Implementing Church Partners make financial contributions for Children’s Day and provide the classrooms and kitchens.
• Church-to-Church Partnerships
  We have one church-to-church partnership between an Implementing Church Partner and a sponsoring church in the United States. The benefit is that the Implementing Church Partner has assurance that the children in their child development center will be sponsored. Also, it is beneficial for the children of both churches to share experiences with one another.



• Partner Development Activities
  We develop our Implementing Church Partners through training, facilitation and partnership meetings.

Child Survival Program

• Caregiver Literacy
  We offer literacy classes for the Child Survival Program caregivers three times a week using government curriculum.
• Income-Generating Skills
  We offer monthly training in income-generating skills to the caregivers in our Child Survial Program.

  These skills include agriculture, cooking, small-animal keeping, poultry, embroidery, tailoring, gardening and catering.



• Health Care
  The Tanzanian government provides prenatal care free of charge to mothers, and Compassion Tanzania pays for ongoing follow-up consultations for the mothers and children as well as any medications needed.
• Nutritional Support
  We provide nutrition education to Child Survival Program caregivers on a regular basis.
• Involvement of Fathers
  We hold group seminars during which Child Survival Program fathers are encouraged and challenged to participate in Child Survival Program activities.
• Transitioning Out of the Child Survival Program
  We work mainly with the Child Survival Program caregivers to make them aware of how the Child Sponsorship Program works and prepare them for their child’s transition.
• Areas of Expansion for the Child Survival Program
  We plan to expand into the Mara, Tabora, Iringa and Singida regions of Tanzania because these areas are extremely impoverished.

Child Development Through Sponsorship

Your sponsorship of a child in Tanzania provides a variety of benefits.

The children are busy with school during weekdays, but they have time on Saturdays to attend their respective child development centers.

• Meeting Times:
• 3- to 5-year-olds: 6 hours on Saturday
• 6- to 8-year-olds: 6 hours on Saturday
• 9- to 11-year-olds: 6 hours on Saturday
• 12- to 14-year-olds: 8 hours on Saturday
• 15- to 18-year-olds: 8 hours on Saturday
• 19 +: 4 hours a week



• Nutritional Support
  Each child receives a meal on the days they come to the child development center. A typical meal consists of milk tea, eggs, bread, rice, beans, meat and fruit. We also provide supplemental food for children who are malnourished.

  Our goal is to provide healthy food for the children and to encourage program attendance.



• Vaccinations
  In Tanzania, when a child is born, the government provides vaccinations and monitors adherence.
• Extracurricular Activities or Community Service
  At our Compassion-assisted child development centers, we offer arts and crafts, music, sports, games and income-generating activities (such as tailoring) every week. We also offer annual camps and community involvement.
• Vocational Activities
  Adolescents participate in entrepreneurship and apprenticeship activities, and they also go camping together. The public schools do not offer these activities so we hope to fill the gap and expose the youth to additional opportunities to have fun and learn important vocational and social skills.
• Parent Involvement
  We hold parents’ meetings, offer parenting classes and conduct training in entrepreneurship, health and HIV/AIDS prevention twice a year.

  Parents also cook for the children weekly.



• Areas of Expansion for the Child Sponsorship Program
  We plan to expand into Dar es Salaam and Tanga, which are in the eastern and northeastern regions of Tanzania. These are some of the neediest areas of the country with many children living in poverty.

Complementary Interventions

Compassion’s core Child Sponsorship Program, while comprehensive, cannot address all obstacles to a child’s healthy development. Thus Compassion’s Complementary Interventions program works in harmony with the holistic child development model to provide additional services as needed such as the AIDS Initiative, Bibles for All Children, disaster relief and water projects.

Complementary Interventions in Tanzania are most commonly implemented to provide insecticide-treated, anti-malaria mosquito nets; water systems; infrastructure such as toilets, classrooms and kitchens; income-generating activities for families; and medical treatment for children if regular funds are not sufficient.

Highly Vulnerable Children

The primary needs for Tanzania’s highly vulnerable children include food, clothing, shelter, parental care and support, and social integration. To meet these needs, we have foster care, cottages and counseling available.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Our Child Development Center Coordinators fulfill many daily responsibilities to serve the children in our ministry.

Godfred Abbey is the center coordinator at Manheam New Life Child Development Center in Ghana. He plays an important role in the lives of sponsored children.

What influenced your decision to work at Compassion?

First of all, I was attracted to Compassion because of the child-focused mission. I love children with a passion. I worked as a teacher for close to 15 years, and I have felt what joy comes from working with children.

I did not hesitate to apply for the job when my church went into partnership with Compassion and it was announced that qualified people were needed for the child development center. I wanted to be a part of the people who would impact children to grow into becoming fulfilled and responsible adults.

Above all, I was really motivated to quit my job and to take up this role in the ministry because it is a Christ-centered and church-based organization. I wanted to serve Christ with all I have. I felt that there would be so much peace and harmony.

Where do you get the daily spiritual motivation to carry on working with children in poverty?

I am motivated by the joy in my heart to be serving my Creator by serving these needy children.

I am motivated by the joy I always feel in my heart in the middle of personal family challenges.

I am motivated by the positive transformations I see coming up in the children.

I am motivated by the hope and joy I see on the faces of the children when they gather at the child development center site every Saturday, and I know that these things that I feel, these things that I see and am motivated by, are from God.

And I get motivated by His Word in 1 Peter 5:2-4.

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers — not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being an example to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” (NIV)

Do you think that Compassion would still be where it is now if it wasn’t Christ centered and church based?

This ministry would not have been able to reach this height in just a few decades of existence. There are other child development organizations far older than Compassion that have yet to achieve half of what Compassion International has been able to do.

I believe that we must give the glory to Jesus because He has done it all. I also believe that because our ministry targets the local church as the channel for ministry, it has contributed immensely to the organization’s success because it is the Church’s mandate to give light, hope, joy, peace and redemption to those in need, and we work solely with the local church.

Have you come face-to-face with a situation in your work with needy children in which, if it had not been for Christ, the story would been different?

Every aspect of what we do here at the church and at the child development center with these children has been by the grace of God. I do not have any specific testimony to give because every child in the program is a testimony.

When we started the program, many children came with many sicknesses and real life-threatening health conditions, but today these children are all free and healthy.

Some children came here with violent behaviors. They would fight at the least provocation. Today these children can say “sorry,” “thank you” and “please.”

Most of the children were hopeless, but with Christ they have something to look to the future for. Some of them were not in school; [now] they are in school. They can read and are able to write their own letters to their sponsors.

I know that it is only God who has worked in these children.

What is your favorite part of your current role?

As a child development center coordinator I have many volunteer teachers, so I need not go to the classroom to teach the children but I do because I love teaching. I am overjoyed when I teach the children something and they get it and put those things into practice.

What is your philosophy in life?

If you will not do what you have to do with all your heart and might, do not do it.

It is my policy to tackle everything I do with full attention, dedication and with all my heart. I do not like working with people who grumble and murmur at their work.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Zoom Koom is a cool, refreshing drink from Burkina Faso, West Africa. Zoom means flour. Koom means water.

According to Emmanuelle Boco, who submitted the recipe, zoom koom is a drink for welcoming newcomers and is served on special occasions. On Saturday night, when you welcome the new year, be sure to provide your guests with some zoom koom deliciousness. It’s easy.

View a larger image of the recipe.

Emmanuelle’s recipe isn’t as complete as it should be; some key steps are missing. But years of watching the Food Network helped me make numerous executive chef-like decisions throughout the process.

Before I was able to make the first one, I had to figure out what a tamarind decoction is.

Decoction is not a misspelling or a made-up word. It’s the end result of extracting the flavor from something by boiling it.

A tamarind is the pod of a large, tropical tree in the legume family. It contains sour, acidic seeds and is an important ingredient in Worcestershire sauce. It can be found in Indian and Asian markets.

I didn’t go the tamarind decoction route. I opted for the lemon juice and water mix, even though Emmanuelle didn’t specify how much water and lemon juice to mix together. That became executive chef decision one.

Executive chef decisions two and three were determining how much ginger to use and whether I really needed two-thirds of a pound (300 grams) of sugar.

This is how it played out.

My wife prepped the pineapple while I skinned the ginger. Skinning ginger is the testosterone-laced version of peeling it.

As I began to channel my masculinity into the ginger skinning, I had to decide how much ginger to skin. The verdict: one whole root. My wife was frightened, but it turned out to be a good amount … if you like ginger.

I pureed the pineapple and ginger, then mixed it with the 300 grams (2/3 pound) of millet flour for 10 minutes.

I had to help things along initially by using a spatula to ferret out the flour that didn’t want to play with the wet ingredients.

Since the recipe called for one liter of tamarind decoction, I decided to use one liter of water in my lemon juice mix.

I juiced five lemons and added that to the Kitchen Aid.

Then I overruled myself and added only six ounces of water because step two of the recipe called for a “little water.” A liter is more than a little, although they sound the same.

I never added more water because I was happy with the smoothie-like consistency; however, in hindsight, if I had added more water it probably would have been easier to strain out the flour.

Emmanuelle’s recipe didn’t call for straining the mix, but I found a different zoom koom recipe on the Web that did. Before I strained the mix I rebelled one more time and put the kibosh on adding 300 grams (2/3 pound) of sugar to the drink. I added only two ounces of sugar.

I opted to strain the mixture because two-thirds of a pound of flour made zoom koom sound more like a meal than a drink.

After pouring the mix into the strainer I expedited the extraction (of the liquid) with some pestle action, which left this behind.

Then I forgot to add the vanilla, which was probably a subliminal thing since the recipe doesn’t specify how much to add.

By this time, I’m not sure you could call what I made authentic zoom koom. But my wife and I called it yummy.

When I make my next batch of zoom koom for our New Year’s party, to supplement our homemade egg nog, I’ll add more water to help filter the flour better. This first attempt tasted gritty. Not bad, just gritty. Like when you add lots of wheat germ to a smoothie.

I expect to sweeten the sequel to make it more appealing to our guests and to balance the power of the ginger. What I originally made was quite strong; 10 ounces was all I drank before calling it a day.

Let me know what you think.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

When Akite first joined the Child Sponsorship Program, her family did not know that they too would benefit. Akite’s father, Awany, was grateful to God for helping him with one of his four children.

We gave Akite school fees, medical care, a mosquito net, clothes, shoes, a blanket and a mattress. Awany knew he would have to continue struggling to provide for the other three children and his wife, but he underestimated how much the Child Sponsorship Program would help his entire family.

Awany has since received so much more than he had ever imagined. Today he looks back with a smile. It is hard for him to believe how far he has come. Even his community has benefited.

When the Adwari Child Development Center first opened, a 20-year insurgency in the northern part of Uganda had just ended. Everyone was still in fear.

Many had been tortured. They witnessed their loved ones die. Others were forced by the rebels to kill their loved ones. Property and crops were destroyed and the people were destitute.

The best thing that could have happened to this land was the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet Pastor Joseph, overseer of Corner Adwari Victory Outreach Church tells us that some people would not receive the gospel because they were too hurt. Some of them felt that if God really loved them, he would have rescued them and their loved ones. They were hopeless.

When we began a partnership with Corner Adwari Victory Outreach Church, most of the people were homeless and had no food. Many died from starvation.

Most of the survivors were still living in camps at the church and feared going back to their homes. Awany, who narrowly survived death, remembers that during this tough time there was a famine and our ministry distributed food to all the families of the registered children.

Awany received 45 kgs of beans and 50 kgs of maize flour each month for two months. He also received supplemental foods like eggs and milk for Akite, who was 4 years old at the time. Akite and her 2-year-old sister escaped death because of this intervention. Even as he received this food, Awany shared some of it with his starving neighbors.

He cannot imagine what he would have done without this assistance. At that time no one really planted crops because people thought that the rebels would come back any time.

Awany lost 84 heads of cattle to raiders and when he went back to his home, he found a shattered house. Awany had little comfort because he also lost three brothers to the war. He had to start from scratch.

A miracle happened when Akite got a sponsor. Akite’s sponsor sent her family a cash gift and Awany invested it in goats. Eventually these goats multiplied and he was able to provide for his family. One of his children often fell sick and he used the money he got from the business to treat her.

Many children in this area still go without clothes, but Awany was able to buy clothes for his children and also pay for their school fees. He was thankful for Akite’s sponsor.

Sometimes Akite’s sponsor sends personalized gifts for her, but many times she sends the entire family a gift. For each gift and letter that is sent by his daughter’s sponsor, Awany has ceremoniously recorded it in a book.

Perhaps the greatest gift they have received is the money Awany used to construct a new small brick house for the family. The house is almost complete and recently Awany bought 18 iron sheets to complete it. He is overjoyed. Awany and his family are blessed indeed; most of the people in their village live in grass-thatched huts of mud and wattle.

All parents of registered children receive different training at the child development center. One training that changed Awany’s life was that of sanitation and hygiene.

Awany confesses that before this training, he did not think that having a toilet was important. When his family needed to make toilet calls, they would simply do it in the bush or dig up small holes, use them, and later cover them with soil.

Most people in the village did the same. But when he received training on sanitation and hygiene, Awany resolved to build a toilet for his family.

Many people were affected with HIV/AIDS during the Lord’s Resistance Army war. Awany has benefited from the voluntary counseling and testing that the child development center arranged for all caregivers. He was found free of the virus and benefited from training on how to stay free from HIV/AIDS. Awany and his wife have also received training on nutrition and now their children are living a healthy life.

Awany also received seeds from the Compassion center to plant trees and they have since grown. He hopes to sell the wood some day and continue to generate income from the trees.

His wife, Amongi, planted a garden of ground nuts from the seeds they received from the child development center. They are grateful because now they do not have to worry about food. Their garden has since flourished.

The larger community has also benefited from the presence of our Child Sponsorship Program in Adwari. The center received Complimentary Interventions funds for water and they built a borehole in the community.

Now the people in this area enjoy fresh and clean water. Before this borehole was constructed some families had to walk many miles to fetch water from ponds.

Awany is grateful to our ministry and the church, which have been a great support to him, his family and his village. The practical help that we offer to the caregivers has also gone a long way in helping people in this area receive the gospel of Christ.

Pastor Joseph says that since the Child Sponsorship Program started more people have joined his church and our presence is a blessing to all the families of registered children and to the community.

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