Christmas Party

In my last blog entry, I mentioned the orphanage that I visited and my interest in working alongside with them. I find God quite interesting, that when you have a thought in your mind, and even if you don`t exactly express the interest to anybody, He knows. So the opportunity came up, where God opened a door for me before the end of 2010 to show me that it is almost time to be prepared for the coming year. A week after the orphanage visit, I was invited to do a devotional and speak to the children at the orphanage. The theme of the devotion was HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS. In the devotion, I spoke to the children and youth about finding hope in God, that even if promises made by friends and family are broken, God's promises never fails. Even if co-workers reject you, God will not reject you. Even if you look to your best friend for help, yet he abandons you, God will not. Something that we usually take for granted is the Bible and the many promises from God. We should constantly remind ourselves of those promises and how good He is to us. Psalm 103:13-14
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

Abandoned

I visited an orphanage that was close by town here in Arua. The program is called ORA and was first established in New Zealand, and later on over the years, an orphanage was established here in Uganda. As you may know by now, my experience in Bolivia has been one of the most memorable experiences in terms of missions. God began to give me a heart for orphans, and that is why I decided to pay a visit to this particular orphanage. Though this orphanage is not the same types that I worked with in Bolivia, but it did not stop me from paying a visit and looking into working alongside with ORA. There is over 90 orphans with ORA, but only 6 of them live in the orphanage. At first you would think, well where would the other 84 orphans stay. Well actually the situation here in Africa is a bit different. Different in terms of, if the parents have passed on, the child would still have their guardians to look after them. Most of these orphans have guardians to care for them at home. Unfortunately, very few of them would not have guardians to care and watch them grow up into a healthy individual. These individuals would be the ones to live at the orphanage. You may ask yourself, 'How does the organization sustain itself and how do the orphans get nurtured?' The organization began recently selling coffee beans. The orphans themselves are sponsored by people around the world. The support provides these orphans with education, food, medical assistance and any other basic living needs. Below is a picture I took from the orphanage site.