What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2: 14-17
Speaking on behalf of the voiceless children in Uganda….
We greatly appreciate your time and consideration of partnership with Every Child Ministries, The Way Home Project by prayer and financial support as our family moves to begin this project in just a few weeks. We are intending to begin the first phase of our holistic compassion ministry to abandoned and institutionalized children, by ministering and supporting the unsung heroes of Africa…the “GRANNIES”!
Grandmothers in Uganda single-handedly care for tens of thousands of children orphaned by AIDS, sometimes as many as ten to fifteen in one household. These are courageous women who bury their own children and then look after their orphan grandchildren, calling on astonishing reserves of love and emotional resilience. But they do so with almost no support. They are the unsung heroes and the backbone of Ugandan family caregivers. Although African ‘Grannies’ have learned to be resourceful, they need help or the reality is, their hard lives will become unbearable:
The steeply rising cost of staples like rice means that many cannot count on even one meal a day, let alone enough food for a family.
Grandparents take on the care of their grandchildren, while still mourning the deaths of their own children.
They need help to buy coffins and pay for dignified burials. Many families must spend a third of their meager incomes on funerals.
They need funds to buy uniforms for their grandchildren: Primary education up to P-7 is ostensibly free in Uganda, but uniforms are mandatory and classrooms can be up to 100 children.
They need help to establish sustainable incomes and sustainable gardens to secure life and possibly afford a good education.
They need mattresses, water supply and good shelter and working latrines. Many live in mud-and-straw huts without latrines and almost no ventilation, which means that in dry times, interior dust creates breathing problems. In the heavy rains, quite frequent in Uganda, the walls dissolve. We could help build a new brick houses and/or latrines to replace some granny’s crumbling mud shelters.
It’s very difficult to grasp the extent of the AIDS pandemic. Statistically, of the 33 million infected worldwide (that’s about the population of Canada) 22.5 million live in 15 sub-Saharan Africa countries like Uganda. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the seeming hopelessness of it all but what we can experience is the joy of generosity and Christian love in doing what we can to minister to the basic needs of these precious families that we can help ONE at a time.
The 1st phase of THE WAY HOME- developing the Grannies ministry, will build our reputation of helping the biological families care for their own in Uganda through strengthening Christian grandmothers and her grandchildren. During the 2nd phase, after the first 1 to 2 years on the ground in Uganda, we will begin a Foster Family program. Working in the Church will be our greatest resource for finding the neediest grannies and the families who will eventually step forward to serve as foster families to orphans who God gives us as abandoned or institutionalized children.
We have commitments for this program already and our goal is for a “seed” fund to initiate our grannies program. All 2010/2011 Way Home Project donations in excess of our goal will be allocated 50% to our grannies program and 50% to the Way Home Foster-2-Adopt Program.
Is God is tugging at your heart? Let us hear how God might be calling you to partner with us–financially enabling us to begin these vital programs in support of widows and orphans. Thank you for your heartfelt prayerful consideration!
For the Glory of our Father…
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
James 1:27
I WANT TO INVEST ETERNALLY THIS CHRISTMAS
