Parish of Heswall

A Church for the Whole Community

Uganda Mission 2007

Childrens Work

Youth Work 11-14s DSide

Uganda Mission 2007

The Youth Fellowship Uganda team returned safely to Heswall on schedule on Sunday 12th August after three amazing weeks and were welcomed home by parents, family and friends. We thank God for the ways in which He has used the team, for the existing relationships strengthened and the new ones developed and for His protection over the young people and their leaders.

We have many stories to share about our adventures, the wonderful people that we lived and worked amongst and all that we saw and experienced. We look forward to telling more and sharing with you all the continuing work that needs to happen in these communities.

There was a special Uganda celebration evening on Friday 14th September 7.30 - 9.30pm at COGS where the teams and the medical team shared their experiences in more detail and launched the ongoing Uganda Challenge. This seeks to respond to the immediate and longer term needs that the mission team identified for example:

extension to the Rock of Joy School toilets
clean water borehole at Masaka
Sponsorship of techers at Masaka
Food for children during the school day
a new school
medical needs - a longer term health project

There are so many opportunities to get involved - email uganda.mission@btinternet.com for a leaflet.

This years Harvest offering, previously in support of Send a Cow, is getting behind the Uganda appeal. Details and donation envelopes from the office. The young people have already contributed £7,000 towards the total!

The Uganda Mission

A team of 32 young people and leaders, with a medical team of 3 doctors, two nurses and a dentist has been in Uganda for 3 weeks returning on 12^th August. The purpose of this venture was to work with children in two schools and an orphanage. The medical team ran clinics in rural villages outside Kampala and some of the young people had the opportunity to join this team of doctors for a couple of days.

We have spent the past 18 months building links between our young people and the children in Uganda. 21 children in Lungujja are now sponsored by our young people and as a youth group we pay the salary of 3 teachers for the schools. We recently raised money which paid for school uniforms for the children most of whom only had one set of clothes to wear. We have also paid for a temporary classroom so that more children can receive the free education. Our sponsorship money enables the children to have a simple meal at lunch time and pays for basic books and pens. For some children this is the only food they have in the day.

During the time we were there, we helped with teaching at the two schools and the orphanage school. We also offered practical help such as building work and painting. We ran a holiday club each afternoon for the children in each centre. This was be based around a theme or story in the Bible and we did related games, songs, art and craft work and drama with the children. Running the club in the afternoons provided children with the opportunity to make friends and do something fun that teaches them about God and gave us the opportunity to show them that they are loved.

The young people and leaders have had to raise £1000 each to take part in this exciting venture and they have worked very hard at this.

The projects we were involved in:

Rock of Joy Children’s Centre, Lungujja

This is a primary school that has been set up by the local church for children with parents or guardians who cannot afford to pay the normal school fees. The two schools aim to improve the quality of life for each child that attends and provide them with an education that they could otherwise not afford.

Rock of Joy School, Masaka

This is the sister school of Rock of Joy Children’s Centre in Lungujja with 300 pupils. Facilities here are extremely basic with the majority of the children sitting on the floor with no writing materials or resources.

Kampala Children’s Home, Kampala

This is a new orphanage in the capital of Uganda for children orphaned by the conflict in Northern Uganda and from Aids. It has its own school for the children who live there.

Medical Mission

A team of young people from the Youth Team worked with John and Myra Sloan and Ruth Abbott taking medical aid to villages. They had a training program that started in September and worked hard to learn basic skills. 8 young people left their teams for 2 or 3 days to join the medical team.

Office Address:

Village Road

Heswall

Merseyside

CH60 0DZ