Gifts for Marcia’s Birthday!
Posted by Marcia MacIntosh Baugh on Friday, October 11, 2019
Please go to our Facebook page for more information THE WAY HOME AFRICA FACEBOOK PAGE
Category: Grannies
Now that’s a HEAP O’ BEANS Granny Topirista!!
Praising God for this News of Harvest after the two-growing season drought!!
This is how God blesses abundantly : 1/4 lb. TO 176 LBS.!
News from our Granny Coordinator, Pastor Richard:
” Granny Topirister Is Seated On A Heap Of Beans Harvested From Her Farming God’s Way Garden.
She Says,her Farming God’s Way Teachers (at The Way Home) Gave Her A quarter 1/4 (1/2 pound) Of A Kg Of Beans During (Farming God’s Way) Training.
She Has Multiplied This Seed Using Farming Gods Way Techniques And Now She Has Over 80kg (176 POUNDS!!!!) Of Beans.
She Is Happy And Proud Of This Way Of Organic Farming ”
Teaching THE Way Home…FOREVER !
YES we build physical homes for these destitute families that allows them to survive in their time on this earth BUT those are temporary in the BIG picture…
Our main goal is the one you read under our logo ” BUILDING FAMILY TODAY … AND HOMES FOREVER”…for Widows & Orphans in their distress.
SO HOW DO WE LEAD THE WAY to a FOREVER HOME?
We teach in three specific ways:
- We teach the Granny Families through our Granny-coordinator, Pastor Richard Mudde. He visits each of our families in small groups twice a month for Bible study.
- We teach the local (never formally trained) ‘Pastors’ through our one year Pastors Enrichment class.
- We teach the Explorers Club (from The Mail Box club ) through the local village schools surrounding TWH’s compound in Nasuti.
TWH’s staff Teacher for the village School Program is Paula Mundodo. Presently she has classes totalling over 300 children learning about the kingdom of heaven that belongs to them…their FOREVER Home !
”Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14
True JOY at Christmas!
Merry Christmas to YOU from our family (Russ & Marcia Joseph, Dominick & Samson) and on behalf of the 83 Granny Families of TWH, may your day of celebration of Jesus birth this day be blessed and your joy increased:
We have been sharing our joy with you these last 10 days (10 days of Christmas blessings)…this Granny is the picture of true JOY!
Granny Topirista is the 10th granny family of 2016 that you may have been a part of blessing by your prayerful or financial participation. God Himself has increased their supply…we hope being able to actually SEE these before & after photos has been a visual of how Preciously God cares for the least of these in tangibly sweet and practical ways through you in His ministry #TheWayHomeAfrica
This is Granny Toprista Tibitondwa’s Family & their story please pray for them today 
Topirista has a huge family. Maybe that’s why her smile is magnetic. A lovely and not complaining woman. Her mom stays in the bigger house next to her terrible shelter. I asked why doesn’t she and the kids she cares for stay in there? Alfred (our GM and Construction manager) understood the practical part but sometimes even the most practical solution can’t overcome culture. She stays outside because once a daughter or son leaves the home of the parents they can’t go back. There are exceptions but it looks like this is not one of the exceptions.
Mainly Topirista cares for the 5 children of her deceased son ranging from ages 8 to 15. In this culture some men (particularly the past generation) took more than one wife and the wives are called “co-wives”. Christianity is making some progress in helping the people of Uganda on this topic. Actually we may be surprised at such practices, but we shouldn’t let that deter us. We can take a lot of lesson’s from the Ugandan ethics and practices we do not follow. It’s the poverty and existence of so many widow’s and orphans and the introduction of Hope of Jesus Christ we strive to promote.
In addition to the 5 children of her deceased son (Topirista had 9 children of her own!), Topirista cares for the 3 younger children of her deceased co-wife. Topirista is another of our Hero’s! To top it off, her mom is living and blind. A better sense of humor I have not seen and I’ve seen some good ones. In fact when we were introduced she said: “it’s good to see you” and she laughed and clarified saying: “I don’t really see you because I’m blind but I know you are there”. Topirista’s mom is 88, caring for two children of Topirista’s deceased brother, Moses.
For reasons you now know, Topirista was the first one to have her home built in 2016! Thank you for joining in our journey.
BEFORE
AFTER
Visiting Widows & Orphans in their distress
Biography of a “Granny”:
Mwamini Kaswa became a widow several years ago when her husband died in a tragic motorcycle accident. Mwamini, her 4 children and 2 grandchildren were eventually evicted from their home and are currently living in a neighbor’s hallway. But all of that is about to change! Contracts for the construction of her new home on family land have been signed and a three room brick home with two room latrine & bathing room is being built by The Way Home’s local laborers, funded by our dedicated ministry partners at ‘Homes for Homes’.
Praise the Lord as He faithfully directs His obedient followers to look after His vulnerable widows & orphans…
God has not forgotten you Mwamini.
Profile of a true HERO!
Granny Topirista has a huge family.
Maybe that’s why her smile is magnetic.
A lovely and not complaining woman.
Her mom stays in the bigger house next to her terrible shelter.
I asked why doesn’t she and the kids she cares for stay in there?
Alfred (our GM and Construction manager) understood the practical part but sometimes even the most practical solution can’t overcome culture.
She stays outside because once a daughter or son leaves the home of the parents they can’t go back.
There are exceptions but it looks like this is not one of the exceptions.
Mainly Topirista cares for the 5 children of her deceased son ranging from ages 8 to 15. In this culture some men (particularly the past generation) took more than one wife and the wives are called “co-wives”. Christianity is making some progress in helping the people of Uganda on this topic. Actually we may be surprised at such practices, but we shouldn’t let that deter us.
We can take a lot of lesson’s from the Ugandan ethics and practices we do not follow. It’s the poverty and existence of so many widow’s and orphans and the introduction of Hope of Jesus Christ we strive to promote.
In addition to the 5 children of her deceased son (Topirista had 9 children of her own!), Topirista cares for the 3 younger children of her deceased co-wife.
Topirista is another of our Hero’s!
To top it off, her mom is living and blind. A better sense of humor I have not seen and I’ve seen some good ones. In fact when we were introduced she said: “it’s good to see you” and she laughed and clarified saying: “I don’t really see you because I’m blind but I know you are there”. Topirista’s mom is 88, caring for two children of Topirista’s deceased brother, Moses.
For reasons you now know, Topirista will have her home be the first The Way Home construction team will build this coming 2016 as soon as possible, beginning January!
Thank you for joining in our journey.
We are thankful for your friendship, prayers, and ask if you can help, and encourage you to continue if you are already give, but if not please give what you can to support the expansion of the Kingdom through The Way Home, sending your gift payable to Every Child Ministries, memo note: The Way Home.
Address:
PO BOX 810
Hebron, Indiana
46341
or electronically via our website donation page: http://thewayhomeafrica.com/make-impact/
A monthly gift would help very well.
Merry Christmas!
Gasping @ “Jesus Loves YOU”
Today is Monday, June 1.
It was time for a special time with our staff to talk about the transition from the close of the Gospel’s after Christ had died, rose from the dead (according to the various witnesses, including the report of Dr. Luke) and the beginning of the Church in Acts. Several men were on our compound and are temporarily working with a sub contractor. I’ve enjoyned speaking with them and admiring their work the past few days. None of them believe in Jesus as God or as Savior. They were kind of skeptical, at the suggestion Jesus is God, but were very interested at the testimony of Luke talking so confidently, just reporting what happened but in so doing expressing his own belief in it all. Because they are of another faith, with so many of their friends and family of the same faith around, there’s a lot of pressure to be skeptical of a Christians’ motives. One thing I wanted them to know was what I called an American proverb. I said: ” a person’s judgement is only as good as the information he has”. I told them “we will continue with Acts tomorrow to be picked up by Alfred and Simon when I leave in a week, but remember, whether you believe what the Bible says, or even want to come to a study like this tomorrow or any time, is a matter of free will. Your job is not at risk if you don’t come”. I told them “I examined the scripture for years myself, but after that, I believe it is all true, but you should decide for yourself. The meeting to hear scripture is only the sharing of good, and I believe very accurate, information”. We will see who shows up tomorrow!
We met with three more Granny’s to sign their home construction agreements (one a mother but a terrible situation she is in and an exception was made for her). One is Granny Fatina who with her 4 daughters, one son and three grandchildren all sleeping on the dirt floor together in a 9′ x 10′ feeble hut. Her eye had a thorn in it. It has been worked on by a Physician who knew what to do, thanks to our nurse, Asaph, who took care of her needs. In the process of signing an agreement we talked of a number of points but when I told her “Jesus loves you very very much” she gasped and cried very quickly, caught herself and gained her composure, trying to conceal her emotion. She also is of another faith but something special happened just then. Fatina accepted our Granny Coordinator, Simons’ invitation to join the Granny Group meeting very close to her for the group Bible study Simon leads. Please pray for Fatima and the children in her family.
Our new guard dogs (well…”guard-puppies” so far!) are lodged in our guest house courtyard to allow them to be nurtured and grow. A very nice environment to raise them to a bigger size. The staff love them although generally Ugandans cannot really love dogs. But these dogs are here as “guards that do not take bribes”. As such they protect and cannot be corrupted according to one of our guards. Hope so. Already I’m looking forward to seeing how much Ricky and Lucy will have grown when I return again to Uganda in August, God willing.
God bless, Russ
On the road again (sing it like Willie Nelson)
Keeping you in the loop through Fred (Langeland) – one of four servant-guests serving at The Way Home this week with Russ: –
Fred writes: Third day on the road today. Began with a beautiful sunrise – see below – and then we saddled up and rode about 1-1/2 hr. to our first stop. Really out there but the ride was beautiful. Tim Johnson rode with us, too. We stopped at only eight granny homes today because of the remote locations. We saw some beautiful babies today but were saddened to see that they were all wearing witchcraft bracelets. Even those who convert to Christianity often maintain their previous practices of black magic and ancestor worship. It’s really hard to see that knowing that they will never know the abundant life in Christ unless they can be led away from the old practices. Many of the Christian pastors here are uneducated and preach a gospel that isn’t really the Gospel. More on what The Way Home Africa is working on to help with that later.
We saw some beautiful gardens today – we were really impressed at one stop where there are three grannies in immediate proximity to each other and they have teamed up to do some major power-gardening. Many hands make light work. Their gardens produce a very abundant harvest and they not only feed their grandchildren, but also can sell enough excess to pay for all of their school fees. This concept really works when it’s applied and worked hard at.
As we visited some gardens that are a few years old it was really neat to see how the soil develops over time using the Farming God’s Way method. The soil here is naturally a gritty red clay. It is not particularly fertile and is even hard on farming implements due to the angular abrasive nature of the grit in it. The Farming God’s Way method of using planting holes instead of tilling the soil, covering the garden with mulch to retain moisture and minimize soil compaction, and returning the spent plants to the soil results in a rich, dark topsoil after only a couple growing seasons. It was very cool to see that the neighbors of the grannies being served by The Way Home Africa / Farming God’s Way partnership are taking notice and beginning to employ the same methods themselves. This is really a game changer for the folks over here.
We had a little excitement on the way back this afternoon. The rainy season is moving in and we were doing our best to skirt a big thunderstorm but just a couple miles from home base we were nailed by a pretty nasty hail storm and had to pull off in a small town and take shelter under a canopy with a large group of local men. They looked at us like we’re freaks but nobody bothered us. We often wave to people as we blast down the back roads and they wave back, give us a big grin and yell “mzungu!”. The Ugandan people are very friendly and helpful.
The Way Home- Backroads Tour Day 2
One of The Way Home’s guest-servants this week, blogs about his second day on the roads to photo journal our granny families with Heather:
OUR SECOND DAY ON THE BACKROADS
Fred writes: We spent another day on the backroads of Uganda visiting with 13 grannies at their homes. We observed several fine gardens being prepared for planting. They’re prepping the planting holes now and will plant the seed in another week or two when the next semi-annual rainy season begins. We also prayed with each one that their garden would produce abundantly. No all of them have gardens – we’ve met a few who are blind and one today wasn’t able to get up from her mat on the floor – but some of them we’ve seen have been astounding. While the grand kids are away at school the grannies work on preparing and maintaining their gardens. The idea is that they will be able to raise enough crop to not only feed their family but also enough extra to sell so they can pay the kids’ school fees. If you can’t pay, you don’t go to school here.
We’re learning many things about how to best to help people in other cultures work their way out of poverty. It’s so easy as westerners to want to just put together a team, write a check, and fix the problem. We can see, though, the dependency problems that creates. As we ride the bodas through the little towns along the way we can hear the kids calling out for money from the mzungus. When we pull into the villages it’s like the circus just pulled into town. People come from all around the village to see what we have brought for them. It’s encouraging to see how The Way Home Africa is working to break that cycle with the people they serve. They’re working hard to fade into the background as they train up more and more Ugandans to do the work on the ground. They’re also willing to apply tough love in situations where the recipients sit back on their hands expecting the work to be done for them.
Well tomorrow it’s back to the bush on our trusty bodas and will be joined on our journey for a day by Tim Johnson. Please continue to pray for us and for the work of The Way Home Africa.