There and back again
5 of us from America visited Uganda last month and were greatly blessed. This trip was especially unique because one of our sponsors made the trek to meet the IChooseYou kids his family sponsors as well as celebrate the graduation of an IChooseYou kid he provided a scholarship for!
It is a humbling experience to be part of celebrating an accomplishment that these kids work so hard on for years. Despite the struggle to survive and the low expectations of many of their peers, our kids are diligently studying and growing in their walk with God to be a witness to God’s glory.
We had two graduates this year
We're so proud of our two graduates this year, John Akol and Helen Akuu!
John has already been using his Civil Engineering knowledge to help build a local hospital and a new church building for Mbale Presbyterian Church, which many of the IChooseYou kids attend. John proudly gave a tour of the church building and confidently answered questions about the construction methods used, which sections were most challenging, and what each room will be used for.
Helen also demonstrated her nursing skills as we were able to visit the office where she is currently doing a two-year internship before she returns to complete the next required stage of her degree. She calmly and lovingly administered care for inconsolable twin babies. She often cares for her fellow IChooseYou family as she happens to be working with the primary physician for our IChooseYou kids.
Our need for a ministry van is growing
Our Ugandan team director, Aida Ogenga, has been requesting a transport van since her last visit to America. On our recent trip, we were able to witness first hand this need as well as understand the economics of the specific cost. The ministry relies on renting old failing vans to help with transportation as well as hiring motorcycle taxis. These options are unreliable, expensive, and at times not safe.
On our trip back from one of the graduation celebrations one of the vans, filled with IChooseYou girls, broke down several hours away from home. Thankfully our driver was close behind and able to stop and help do some temporary repairs to limp the vehicle back home. Understanding the immediacy of the need, on our way back to the airport at the end of the trip we visited a used car marketplace. We learned that due to high importation taxes and other government fees the price for a reasonable transport van would be about $25,000.