Remembering Benard

I love Christmas time.  A time to remember that our Lord, Jesus Christ was born into this world to die for us and to take the punishment for our sins.  What a loving Lord He is and what an amazing love He has had for us and has for us.  He came into this world with nothing and left with nothing but love!  I cannot understand how anyone can deny Him their love.  He is the most wonderful person in my life and He is my everything.

I cannot say enough wonderful about my Lord, Jesus Christ and I hope that all of you are thinking of Him always too.  He cares about everyone.  He loves me, you and all people, young or old!

As I think of his love and realize that He is the one who put Uganda in my heart and He is the owner of the vision that I have for Uganda and the children there, it brings me to tears.  A country where children are not born with any dreams or hope, but when they learn about Him they have hope.

I remember one such little boy named Benard.  He was only three years old.  He was sponsored by a woman and her husband from Colorado.  Benard lived with his parents, who were extremely poverty stricken.  His father drank day and night and even brewed his own liquor.  He abused the mother on a regular basis, beating her until she would have to go to a clinic for help because of bruising.  He often would hit the little boy as well.

Benard would get up early in the morning to go to the gardens with his mother.  He had a goat from his sponsor and he would take the goat with him.  As his mother worked, he worked side by side with her and tied his goat up near by.  He would often eat something like a raw sweet potatoe for breakfast.  He was a very shy and quiet little boy and very afraid of men.  He was not in good shape at all, he had malnutrition and a big belly full of worms that were eating his food.  He slept in a mud hut with his mother and would get bites all night long from mosquitos and ants.  He had no dreams with such a life.

One morning when he and his mother were out working in the gardens, he felt something disturbing his goat so he went to see what it was.  He saw a big snake and was scared but went over and untied his goat and got a big bite on the ankle.  His mother did not know what to do and she told him to get to the clinic fast.  She sent him on foot while she followed.  She did not know that walking there was the worst thing for him.  He fell on the way and died before he ever reached the clinic.  This snake was a cobra.

We buried him the next day.  His sponsorship money bought him a sheet to be wrapped in, a coffin, and a hole dug with bricks and cement put around the area where his coffin would lay.  I cried so hard and the mother could not stop crying.  She kept saying my little boy, my little Benard.  Wow, even though this was nearly ten years ago I will never forget little Benard and how quickly his little life was ended in the village of Kamonkoli.

Please pray for his mother, she is still struggling with the husband and now resorts to a witchdoctor to help her.  She lost heart and cannot believe that there is a God who loves her so much and cares about her as Jesus does.

 

Memories!

There are so many things that I can remember to write about.  However, when I sit down to write I get this writer's block!  Where do we begin.

When I first went to Uganda the thing that really tugged at my heart was the children, their conditions for living and physical health, the lack of education, the lack of love they receive and care.  I wish I had time to go and hug and give love to every little kid there is and even the big ones!!!

I spent a lot of time giving baths to little kids when I first got there.  I bought this big plastic tub called a basin and would fill it with the big yellow jerry cans and give them baths.  It seemed to me that none of them ever bathed!  There were little critters to deal with also!  Critters like body lice and jiggers.  Jiggers are little bity red critters that dig under the skin - mainly on the feet around the toes.  They have to be dug out very carefully so that you do not break them and cause a bunch more little ones to spread.  They are a lot like ticks.  After they dig into the skin they swell up from sucking blood and they itch and hurt at the same time.

Then there was shaving off hair that was unkept.  The children seemede to really love the care and attention that they never seemed to get.  Even little kids go and get their own water and have to carry it.  Then when they get done bathing they go back and play in the dirt and unfortunately most of them have to sleep in the dirt.  If you consider that the homes or huts they live in are made of sticks and mud with grass roofs and the floors are dirt.  The floors are smeared with cow dung and left to dry to make it hard, but this seems very unhealthy to me.   The kitchens are made of the same and have three stones with fire wood in the middle of the stones for cooking on.

I feel for the children in Uganda and I know that they need more care and more love and I ask for your prayers as I continue to love on them and help them and reach out with them with the love that our God gives to them.

 Every day children die from malnutrition or malaria from lack of care or someone to look after them.  Help Hines Ugandan Ministries to make a difference - checkout our website www.hineskids.

"Religion that God considers pure and perfect is this - one that looks after orphans and widows in their distress and keeps oneself pure before the world."  James 1:27

"Whoever welcomes even one of these little ones in my name welcomes me."  Matthew 18:5
 

Another Little Woman of Africa

This week I want to write about my Violet.  Violet Namisi came to live with me when she was four years old.  She was so cute.  She was scared to death and her mother was still alive but was very sick from the AIDS virus and had developed tuberculosis.  She expected to die about six months before she did.  Her mother's name was Esther.  Esther came to know the Lord before she died and I had actually spent over a year with her in discipleship.  She shared the gospel with many people and God used her to bring her mother to the Lord.

Esther wanted Violet to stay with me when she found out she had tuberculosis because it is so contagious.  The third day that Violet was staying with me she broke a glass by accident.  Instead of telling me she ran off and hid and I spent a whole day into the evening looking for her, together with other staff and her mom.  We finally found her hiding in bushes.  She was afraid that I would beat her for breaking a glass, and I explained to her that I would never do that.  I guess her mother would discipline her for such things by beating her with a stick, which is typical in Uganda still.  She felt much better when she learned that I would not do that.

She came back to the house to live and was now happy.  She began to grow close to David as a brother like and settled in with us as a family.  She loved to climb the mango tree and get mango's for eating.   When she got her first doll to play with she really loved it and carried it around a lot. 

Violet was always shy and quiet, but could giggle like nothing you ever heard before and it would delight me so much every time she began to laugh.  She could easily get excited or tickled.  David to this day teases her like a real sister and it turned out they were cousins.

Today Violet is still shy and giggles when she gets teased about anything.  She loves to play games like rummy cube or card games.  She attends St. Lawrence Secondary School and is in her fourth year at the Crown Campus.  She likes Zac Efron and any boy who looks like him!!!  She enjoys comedies and music a lot.  She does not talk a lot but when you get her engaged she is fun to chat with and enjoy.  She always surprises mom!  Violet is good at playing the drums and has a wonderful singing voice but is too shy to sing in front of a crowd.

She is very pretty and has had it very hard.  When she was nine years old her younger brother Junior, who was seven years old, died from the AIDS virus as well.  She still has one older brother and one younger brother.  The older brother is a sponsored kid and is in a vocational training school at this time.  Her younger brother is in high school his first year and has struggled to be able to go to school.

It was hard on her to have lost both of her parents by the time she was four years old and then to loose her brother too.  We tried to help Junior but he was already too far gone to be helped by anyone but the Lord and the Lord took him home.  I really cried when he died.  Violet cried as well, and still does at times at the mentioning of his name.

Violet loves Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and depends on Him for everything in her life.  She always tells me "Mom, I know that Jesus has always been with me and because of this I will always make it until He returns and then we will all live with Him  in Heaven."

My Little Women of Africa I

I talked about my daughters that have been growing up with me for so many years now here in Uganda.  I shared a bit about Sarah and Harriet.

Let me tell you about Katie (Catherine) Amuroni.  Katie was a sponsored child since she was six years old.  Her father died when she was four years of age and she never knew her mother, who had left when she was around two years old.  Katie had a step-mother named Pauline who died when Katie was five years old.  Her father and step-mother had died from the AIDS virus. 

Katie has grown over the years to love the Lord and is now in the 6th year of high school, or her advanced level.  Next year we pray she is able to go to University.  She is a lovely girl with a wonderful sweet personality.  She likes to sing and sings well, and she enjoys messing in the kitchen.  She also likes romantic comedies for movies, such as The Wedding Planner or Ella Enchanted. 

Katie was left on my doorstep when she was seven years old by her Grandmother.  It was New Years Eve and I had gone for a dinner at Dr. Mugondi's home with all the rest of the kids and Christine.  We were there until around 8:30 in the evening visiting.  When we came home we found Katie sitting on the doorstep with a small cavera of her clothes. 

Her Grandmother had spoken with me previously about helping Katie, cause Katie had severe malnutrition, and I had talked of taking her in for some time to nurish her back to health.  I guess the Grandmother was not waiting for me to give the time!!  I believe, however, it was God bringing Katie there.  She has been an encouragement to me and such a joy.  Mom loves you so much Katie, thank you for the joy that you bring to so many, and the love in your heart that comes from knowing our Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

Living!

One of the first heart breaking experiences I had in Uganda was visiting in the homes of the people.  It is difficult for one to come from American and see how people are living in villages in Uganda.  Try to imagine if you can what it is like to actually live in a mud hut. . .

There are six kids in this home that I am telling you about.  Four boys and two girls and the parents.  The father has no education and he tries to earn some funds by digging in people’s gardens.  He makes around $1 to $2 a day.  Not enough to buy any food, but if he can save it long enough he may be able to get something.  He also has to work in his own gardens, so he sends the wife and kids to do this while he helps in other’s gardens. 

This morning they are eating raw sweet potatoes because there is no firewood or charcoal for cooking and no money to buy any.  The wife collected enough to boil some water, but it was not enough to cook the food too.  Three of the children have gone to get water for bathing with their 20 gallon jerry cans and it will take some time to go for the water cause the borehole well is very far away.  They will carry the jerry cans on their head to return.

Last night the sleeping was difficult because the mosquitoes were biting as well as the ants.  The floor to the mud hut is also made of mud.  The walls are made of mud as well and it was raining all night, so it was very cool.  This family does not have any blankets, mattresses or bedding of any kind.  In the night when they want to go to the bathroom they have to go out and find a bush that will work.  There is no bathroom or even an outhouse.   The roof is made from grass and often leaks when it rains.

The kids return from getting water and the first one goes to bath.  The shower is made near a tree with upside down dried out banana tree leaves.  These are the walls of the shower place, the floor is dirt and there is no door that closes just an opening.  The young boy steps in to bath with a plastic basin which is broken and begins to throw water on himself.  They do not have any soap as they cannot afford to buy any.  So he just uses water to and tries to scrub with his hands.

Last night the Dad did not sleep well wondering how he is going to raise the kids and send them to school.  He was never able to go to school himself, nor did his wife.  He teaches them everything he knows about gardening and surviving the way they have always had to. 

In this family no one knows Jesus Christ as Lord or Savior.  When someone shares with them they have a hard time believing as life has not shown any mercy to them.  Their dreams and hopes are crushed before they can really begin.  Who is this God that you say cares and where is he?  This is a common question.

One of the children is thinking about suicide but in this culture it is the worse thing a person can do.  They will not even bury the person but just crush everything around them down and burn it as it is a disgrace to commit suicide.  It is a sign of weakness.  Still, they think about it quietly to themselves.  There is no future – why do we exist? 

I believe that so many ministries use the word Hope in their name because they realize just how much the people in these countries need hope.  Everyone in the world needs hope, but unfortunately in countries where there is much there is false hope or hope in material instead of the living God.  HUM is a vision that God had, not Hines.  It is a vision that He put in my heart to share with the people in Uganda.  A vision of seeing children that have hope because they come to realize that they have a father in Heaven, that Jesus died for them and was raised from the dead.  A vision of children finding their father through Jesus and finding true hope that comes from His great love that knows no bounds.

Share this vision with me by helping the children in Uganda that I work with.  Let them see the hope that can be theirs for the asking and receiving through Jesus.  You can see how on our website www.hineskids.org  Help us to make a difference to the orphans and vulnerable children that God wants us to reach out to with His love.

 

The Graduates!

We are excited to say that we have more graduates from University this month.  Stephen Mudangha and Jesca Norah Kataike both graduated from Uganda Christian University.  Stephen majored with a Bachelor's in Agricultural Engineering and Entrepreneurship and Jesca graduated with a Bachelor's in Business Administration/Accounting.  We also have Sarah Sabano, who has been working with us as a Social Worker that went to school at night to get her Bachelor's in Social Work Administration from the same school and Harriet Acham, who graduated with her Bachelor's in Social Work Administration.  We have others coming up this year and are excited to see them finishing because of faithful sponsors.  God bless you all for helping these children to do something with their lives.  Harriet has a widowed mother who has really struggled and the same for Stephen and Jesca (who are brother and sister).  Sarah's parents have many children and have really struggled.  The we have Anton Otimongo, who is graduating with his Bachelors from Gulu University.

Coming up soon we have Sosi Musana, Andrew Nkambo, Harriet Konga, Alice Nawere, Diana Nankoma and Julius Bumba (who we wrote about earlier in a post), Michael Wafula and Fred Gadala with their diplomas which are like Associate Degrees.  We also have Badiru Mukama, Peter Kolokolo, Andrew Muluga, Helen Gwenda, Henry Maleza and Julius Musene who finished in vocational studies.

Most of these young adults are God fearing people who want to make a difference and they will because of the sponsors that faithfully sponsored them through until the end.  Thank you to all of you who care and are a big part of this ministry.

Mudslides of Bududa

Recently I went and visited an area known as Bududa on the slopes of Mt. Elgon.  Mt. Elgon is an old volcanoe with some activity going on at this time.  It is 14,177 feet high.  Mbale sits in the foot hills of the mountain range that borders Uganda and Kenya.

I am always amazed by the disasters that happen.  There are six children who lost both parents in the mudslides so we were asked to check out the children and see how we can help.  The children's father was a Pastor of a Penecostal Church and he was working hard to get everyone to evacuate, but the mudslide turned almost 90 degrees and went over his home while he and his wife were having lunch.  The children were at school.  The youngest is 5 years old and the oldest is 14 years old.  Right now they are staying with their Uncle and his wife, who has eight children of his own.  They are all evacuated and living in a tent in the Bududa area.

The mountain has been splitting in many areas causing these mudslides or landslides.  The day it happened it was not even raining.  There are volcanic rocks all over still blue in color.  A landslide also occurred on the Kenyan side this month, killing over a hundred people.  There were eight killed that are known of in this mudslide.  The last one we visited left over 2,500 people living in tents for a long time and hundreds were killed.  Please pray for all of these people.

The government is trying to get the people to move, but they do not have any funds and they have no where to go, no land, etc.  The government is trying to relocate them and paying the expense but finding it hard as there is over a hundred thousand people living in the areas of the mountain.

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Above and below are a few pictures of the area we visited recently.  You can see the big machines digging and looking for bodies of people who were buried.  Another man lost his wife and one of his children.  Their bodies have not been found and he is left with a four year old at home.  He is beside himself and so upset that he does not think he can manage life.