Kabale, Uganda

Joe Knittig, Live from Uganda

Yesterday, we arrived in Kabale, Uganda. This is the site of our first children’s village with the Church of Uganda. We were blown away.

We’ve hung a few pics of the site and children.

This village is called “The Father’s House” after John 14:1-4. The local church views the children as Christ’s own, and therefore, their own. They just needed a few more rooms in the Father’s house.

This village is a story of heroes. The local church formed a leadership committee to manage the village. Community leaders – pastors, teachers, entrepreneurs, a veteran – from within the church have carried the burden of this work with passion, faith and excellence.

They formed a humble but innovative construction business to do the building. They constructed 10 homes, a kitchen, latrines, and a depot – the profit goes to development ventures. They sent a leader to Zimbabwe for advanced agricultural training. They very carefully selected the neediest orphans in the community – truly the lowest of the low. They hand selected educated mommas with a passion for children and a deep love of Jesus, and trained them. These mommas prepared to meet their children with excited anticipation. They tirelessly canvassed the surrounding community for months to gain community understanding and support. (They did all of this, and even came in well under budget!)

The local church leadership has preached on the church’s orphan care duties, and exhorted participation. Church members have responded. One local farmer brings 2 large trays of eggs for the kids each week. Others bring fruits and beans. Others just stop by with their children to play and have fellowship.

The man who went to Zimbabwe has already begun ag development. He’s teaching the mommas and the mommas the children how to tend to pigs, and care for the coming garden. That man is the committee’s heroic leader, Pastor Obed, one of the local church pastors. He leads by example. He has worked 15+ hour days to prepare the way for the children. He went to Zimbabwe to take the farming class and now teaches what he learned to the mommas and kids. He stops by to see and show his love to the kids every morning. He embraces the kids as his own, and others are following his example.

Kids whose parents have died… Little girls who’ve been defiled in orphanhood… They now stir each morning to mommas eager to see them, and then later to Obed’s huge smile.

There’s no fancy stuff in the kids’ material trappings. They now live in standard mud brick homes. But it’s not what the kids go into that matters most; it’s what goes into the kids. And what’s going into them is a great deal of love and hope. One of the little girls (age 6) lost her parents and was abused in the hut she had to stay in before she was found. Of the change in her life, she exclaimed to her house mother, “I am in heaven!”

This local church is embracing its ministry. They are already in high gear to make sustainability a reality. Here’s how one of the leaders has explained the local church’s view of our partnership:

“When we were young children, we took water pots to the river to get water. Carrying the water back was a tremendous burden. The most difficult part of that burden was getting the full water pot from the ground to our heads. After that, we could manage quite well. What you are doing is helping us lift the burden of these children upon our heads. With that, the burden rightly belongs with us. They are our children. And with God’s power, we can more than manage.”

The local church is rising-up to meet this great challenge, and the fruit’s all over the place.

We’re now on the way to Kampala, and then to Lira in northern Uganda.

Have a great weekend.

Joe

Photos from Uganda

Just another day in Haiti.

Hello from Uganda.

Hello from Uganda.

What a great day yesterday. We started our day in Masaka with the first 30 children we brought into care in Uganda 2 years ago. It was the end of their school term. At the end of term, students have a program: singing, praise, thanksgiving. We were so fortunate to be here to see it.

I can hardly believe what 2 years of deep love can do for kids in the most difficult circumstances. I remember Day 1 for these little ones, most of whom lost their parents to AIDS. Grim. Yesterday, they were fully alive. In the program, they beamed with confidence in the love of Christ. There is a security there that they know cannot be moved or removed. That message lived out shook all of us on the team.

These kids have become pillars in their community. They’ve remained integrated in the community by serving others. Orphans serving and giving to others: how about that?

They are all from a nearby area called Mbira. Their pastor, JJ, and his wife, Harriet, have taken the lead in the care and nurturing of the children. JJ has planted a church in Mbira – a little wooden church that now overflows with 150+ members. JJ takes the kids there to serve others in this very poor community.

One person they serve is an 85 year old widow who can no longer tend her land. The kids farm her garden for her, so she has food to eat, and regularly tend to her care. That dear woman repaid this kindness by giving the church a large piece of family land. The kids farm that land and are producing maize. The church now operates a maize mill. Now the kids grow and the church processes their own staple food, from the land given by this widow.

Another person in Mbira sold 15+ acres to the church for $2500. Great land. Fertile. That site will now become a full blown children’s village around the bustling and growing Mbira church. The village will bring a school for 250 kids and homes for 100 orphans who are scuffling to survive. JJ and Hariet will move to the site and lead this effort. More homes will likely be needed. We’ll start with homes for 100. The surrounding villages (the people) will embrace this step to help their own children.

The first 30 kids from Masaka – the kids who came from Mbira – will move to the Mbira village. This is huge for them. The older kids especially are excited, as they view this as an opportunity to serve so many other kids like them in the same area where they once suffered. They now know what the love of Jesus Christ can bring – complete transformation of the heart, soul and mind. They’re not too little to understand. They’re living it.

Sorry to go on and on… It’s just amazing to see God’s work and creativity, and we want to share it with you. This work is about more than orphan care.

Today we are in Kabale in the mountains of SW Uganda. This new village recently welcomed the first 60 children. A women’s group led by Marsha Campbell funded this entire village. (Ladies, we’ll take lots of pics!)

Pure and faultless religion…

Wish you all were here with us.

Joe

Looking forward to it

We never presume upon God, but do you ever have the feeling that He is going to move in a big way? Not because He has to, but just because He does. That’s who He is: alive, one the move, and at work all around us.

I’m heading to Haiti today with fourteen others from six states and all four time zones. The youngest on the team is 17; the oldest in their 70’s. In fact, one us was born in every decade between the 1930s and the 1990s. Most have not been to Haiti. Most have not loved on orphans for a weekend or experienced the riches of God amidst great poverty. That’s about to change. God is on the move!

I have the same feeling around this year’s BIG Event on September 25th. God is on the move! He’s bringing the heart of Third World orphan care to hundreds at the Uptown Theater in KC. (Click here for more BIG Event info). Whether in Haiti, Uganda, or KC, you’re invited to do God’s work by caring for His kids. It’s a privilege, and we’re looking forward to it!

Kyotera kids

Here’s one more quick pic… Diton clowning with a bunch of the Kyotera kids. Thumbs up.

Tomorrow, we head to a new village to be in Mbira, and then on to Kabale in SW Uganda (60 new children in care there).

I’ll blog as I can.

Thanks for your hearts, GO family.

Christ’s transformational love

Pastor Diton said that God’s using the church to demonstrate Christ’s transformational love. To explain, he introduces me to Stephen. Here’s a pic of Diton with Stephen.

Stephen lost both parents to AIDS. He made a go at survival on the streets. That ended with him being thrown into a fire. (He has horrible scars on his arm and torso.). He tried squatting in the homes of others, and was chased from home to home. There was no capacity for these families to care for their own children.

Then Diton found Stephen. And Stephen found family. In the name and at the compulsion of Christ, the local church welcomed Stephen into loving care with no strings attached. He is safe. He is healthy. He goes to school. He is loved. His life has been utterly and completely transformed. As he talks about what has happened in his life, he hopes in the present and future. He tells of blessing. Not death. Not fire. Not scars. Not rejection. Not shame. Blessing.

Diton says that people in the community walk by and stare. They see the church caring for the kids once thrown away. And they want to know why.

Now they do more than walk by and stare. They stop and ask. They come to church to hear and see why this is happening. And they are welcomed. And they are told. The explanation they hear is that Jesus loves us without condition, so that’s what the church is doing for the Stephens left behind. This message overwhelms.

For any skeptics of Christ’s power, try telling Stephen it’s not real.

This is how the church should love ALL. How simple, inspiring and humbling.

Joe

On the move in Africa!

Today, I’m in Uganda. I’m here with Adrien and the Long Hollow Church leadership. We arrived late last night, and drove to Masaka this morning. We spent the day at Kyotera Village, one of our children’s villages here.

Wow, what a day. We were all blown away by the great work of the local church at Kyotera.

Kyotera is in Rakai District, the epicenter of the African HIV/AIDS pandemic (the first discovered AIDS case in Africa was in Rakai). 2 years ago, there was a lifeless plot of land along a red dirt road here, with an empty building once intended to be a church plant. Enter Pastor Diton, a Ugandan pastor with a heart to serve the poor. Diton started a church 2 years ago in the empty building.

In the last 2 years, this church has come to life in a huge way under Diton’s leadership. The church now cares for 84 orphans (most of whom were on their own from AIDS impact in the family), and has become a growing community influence. As Diton said today, the Lord is transforming this community from “the bottom up” as the church brings the neediest children into family at the church. As an example, I’ll tell you about Stephen in a minute.

The church’s faithfulness is being rewarded. Long Hollow is going to take on the kids’ care, add several more homes, and fund a school for 250 children here. This work is exploding of life!

Here’s a pic of some of the cute little children’s homes at Kyotera. Thanks so much to the following for giving the 84 a shot: Enegren family, Moyes family, Heiniger family, Seyferth family, Breckon family, Bicknell family, and Church of the Resurrection.

Joe

Almost There

After more than 26 hours of travel, Joe Knittig and Adrien Lewis should be touching down in Uganda right now.  They left yesterday for two weeks in Africa.  Our Nashville friends from Longhollow Baptist Church are with them, as they meet with Tony Appelgate and Allison Barfoot, servant leaders who have committed themselves to orphaned and abandoned children across Uganda.  Next week, they’ll be in Malawi with Peter Maseko and family. 

We are so encouraged by what we see God doing in Uganda and Malawi.  He has brought great partners, who have built a solid foundation of planning, expectation control, communication, and implementation.  Many of you have given and gone to plant the seeds that make this work possible.  Dozens of children in Africa already call their GO Project village “home,” with hundreds more soon to follow.  We’d ask for you to pray with us, as we trust the Lord to complete the good work that He has started!

Growing Hope for Haiti

Earlier this year, after the earthquake struck Haiti, students of Arundel Elementary and Middle School in Baltimore, MD expressed interest in helping with the disaster relief. Soon after, the school introduced the “Growing Hope for Haiti” campaign. The students were encouraged to donate special money at their school called “Tiger Bucks,” which would then translate into real bucks. School staff members also were encouraged to pledge a certain amount for every 1,000 tigers bucks donated or to make a flat donation. Individual and classroom incentives were presented to the students to create some healthy competition that would support a great cause of the students’ choosing. The school hoped to raise 1,000 tiger bucks within the month. 

With the motivation of the students at Arundel, they reached this goal in only 3 days! These students donated a grand total of 5,617 tiger bucks — more than 500% of their initial goal! The “Growing Hope for Haiti” campaign proved to be a tremendous success and fostered community and self-fulfillment for the students of Arundel Elementary and Middle School. The school graciously chose to donate the proceeds of their campaign to The Global Orphan Project.  As a result, three orphaned and abandoned children in Haiti will receive their own beds and food for a month!  On behalf of these children, thank you, students and staff of Arundel!

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