For the past couple of days, we have been at a ministry north of Kampala near the town of Luweero called New Hope Uganda. I first learned of this organization at my new church in Colorado Springs. The worship leader, Josiah Dangers, grew up here as the child of missionaries Jay & Vickie Dangers. The Dangers family moved to Uganda in about 1986 with the intent of being here only a short time, but have been here since.
In 1986, the war between the guerillas and the government was just winding down. It was a time of great slaughter of people and it was centered right here in Luweero. Now President Museveni was leading guerilla fighters to take over the government that had been so brutal to people. The local people fled the area for safety or sought protection by the guerilla fighters.
In 1988 Jay Dangers met Jonnes Bikimi and God knit their hearts and led the men to begin a new ministry in the area so devastated by war. Listening to these men describe the area and the condition of the people here was heart-breaking. The people were wandering around with looks of complete loss and hopelessness. The men felt lead to bring the hope of Jesus Christ to the people of the “Luweeero Triangle”.
They purchased the land that New Hope Uganda sits on now and arrived to land populated only by unused bombs/ammunition and was littered by the skulls and bones of the people slaughtered here. Slowly, over the last 25 years, they have built this into an amazing ministry. There is a heavy presence of Westerners here and they have a very close partnership with the dedicated Ugandans who serve here also. The grounds are very well laid out with the primary school being the heart of the family units. The road around the school has 8 “spokes” – one the entry/exit and the other 7 are paths leading to the family units where orphaned children live in real family groups with a father and mother to love and lead them.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. Psalm 68:3-5
All of the people here are fathers or mothers to all of the children here. All are part of one of the family units as an aunt or uncle to the children. All staff also attend a 5 month Institute of Family and Children Studies – described more as “God breaking you down to nothing and then building you back up to what He wants you to be”.
Our work here has been to work with the administrators and headmasters of the school to determine ways to introduce the children and teachers here to computers. We are looking to help set up computer labs for the students. While they have wireless internet available, they suffer the same problem that most of the rest of Uganda suffers – VERY slow and unreliable connectivity. One area that they have excelled at is in the utilization of solar power. Every home and administrative office has “national power” from the grid, but that is generally off 3-4 days per week. They have been very aggressive at setting up solar power systems. In the house we are staying, you really cannot tell that the power has been out for the last few days because we have lights, are able to charge our computers or anything else we need to do.
There are some very dedicated people here doing great work for the children and community here. They have instilled the strong influence of fatherhood in all aspects of family life and biblical foundations in all of the teaching in the schools. They are leading an initiative in Uganda to unite the Christian schools to re-write the government curriculum with a biblical worldview as the foundation and have implemented a program known as the “IY House”. This program takes students who have completed their S4 year of study and puts them out in the workplace in Internships for a year and puts them in a home in the city of Kampala for 3 months where they learn critical thinking skills (very intensively) and prepare for adulthood in Uganda. They are doing this in a place that has been transformed to order and beauty!
This IY House transition year has become a key to preparing the children to transition from the dependency of sponsorship into being thriving, self-sustaining adults.
It has been humbling to sit and listen to the servants here talk passionately about the ministry and
see the natural love for the children here. In a fellowship time last night, I was struck as we sat around the room talking and praying together so freely, that God has truly brought people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation together here in this place to bring the Hope that is in Jesus Christ. This area, where hopelessness once ruled, is now the New Hope of Uganda.
Today I travel to Gulu to work with the medical students there to try and achieve their vision of establishing an organization to provide medical care to Northern Uganda – not just ravaged by war, but now recovering from the 20-year reign of terror at the hands of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) and Joseph Kony.
Thank you for your prayers and continued encouragement. It is only in the name of Jesus that we live and breathe and have hope! It is in His mighty name that we pray and believe . . . amen.
Dave
PS If you are interested in learning more about New Hope Uganda, you can look at their web site at http://www.newhopeuganda.org
PPS sorry that there are not many pictures today, but the internet connection is very slow and I want to make sure to get this posted.
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