Dear Friends,
Pastor Naboth Atusasire, the pastor of Bible Baptist Church in Mbarara has a
counseling ministry to AIDS patients. Through this counseling ministry and
visiting these dying patients in their homes, he has come across a number of
orphans living in desperate circumstances.
For example, a boy named Edward* who lost both of his parents to AIDS was
taken in by his uncle. When the uncle couldn’t afford to care for him, he
left the boy with some friends of his who treated him as a slave. Edward was
forced to haul five-gallon jugs of water used for making a homebrewed
alcohol. One day, he fell into the fire and was severely burned. The people
he was staying with didn’t care or try to get treatment for his burns. After
a few days when his rotting flesh began to stink, they made him sleep
outside in the goat shed so that he wouldn’t stink up the house. That’s
where his uncle found him when he happened to come by to see how Edward was
doing. His uncle took him for medical treatment, but was still at a loss for
how to care for the boy because of his own poverty-stricken situation.
After discovering many orphans suffering in similar circumstances, Pastor
Naboth had an overwhelming burden to help them, so he started a small
boarding school as a ministry of the church. Now Edward, and others like
him, have a clean place to stay, food to eat, and are getting an education.
Many of these orphans have gotten saved within the first few days of coming
to the school. Pastor Naboth has daily devotions with all of the boarding
students, and he is discipling those who have been saved. He is also
counseling some who have been abused or suffered traumatic experiences.
These precious children now have hope for the future and a chance to grow up
to be men and women who can make a difference for God.
Of course, it costs money to house, feed, clothe, and educate these dear
orphans. So far, just nine have been sponsored for one year, but there are
many more who desperately need to be sponsored so that they can get out of
their deplorable conditions and into this Christian school with godly people
to look after them. It costs $500.00 to sponsor a new orphan into the school
for one term (including the cost of a bed and other one-time expenses), and
$140.00 each term after that. There are three terms in a school year here,
so to sponsor a new orphan for one whole year costs just $780.00.
Please pray and see if God would have you sponsor one of these precious
orphans, and give them a chance for a future. We will look forward to
hearing back from you. Thank you.
Yours in Uganda,
Russ & Sylvia Daniels
* Edward’s name has been changed to protect his identity.
PS: New pictures of the progress on our Home Project on our
Housing Project Photos page.
