Reunion in Uganda

Monday, May 10, 2010

Five years ago, my son Josh and I made a trip to Gulu in Northern Uganda.  We had heard many stories about the more than 20,000 children who would walk several miles every evening to sleep in relative safety to escape being abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Young boys were forced to become child soldiers, and young girls were raped and forced to become sex slaves, resulting in many pregnancies and becoming child mothers.

One of the first people we met in Gulu was a 13-year-old boy named Moses.  Both he and his brother were abducted by the LRA.  The very next day, Moses had a gun put into his hand and was forced to kill his own brother or he would be killed.  Moses spent a year in captivity before he escaped—but not from the memory of the horrific acts he had been forced to commit as a child.   And although Moses was one of the fortunate ones who had escaped, he was alone, destitute, and had nowhere to go.  Listening to his story, we learned that thousands of other Ugandan children have lived through the same hellish nightmare.  Josh and I knew we had to do something.

That is how the Good Samaritan Vocational Center in Gulu, Uganda, got its start.  This center provides an education for these child mothers and former child soldiers who, although now free from the LRA, had lost their childhoods and their chance for an education.  They had no way to sustain themselves.

Since that first visit five years ago, we have impacted 5,000 children and young people.  By providing the children with a basic education and teaching the young people trades, such as welding, tailoring, and cosmetology, as well as giving them the Word of God, we not only teach them how to make a living, we teach them how to live.

Josh and I just returned from a recent trip to Gulu, where we attended this year’s graduation ceremony. To date, we have graduated 750 students.  Each graduate receives the tools of their trade so they can immediately begin their careers.  These graduates have dignity, self-esteem, confidence, and most of all, hope.  

While there, we also had the chance to reunite with Moses.  Now, at 18 years old, he is getting ready to go to college.  I can’t tell you what it meant to us to see the impact that has been made on this young man’s life.  

Please take a moment to watch a brief video of our meeting with Moses. I know it will touch your heart.

Please pray for our continued efforts at the Good Samaritan Vocational Center in Uganda.  Currently, we are raising the funds to construct a multipurpose building that will house a kitchen, store, dining hall, and will have bathrooms for the students to use. These facilities will not only enable an expansion of the student body, but will also allow for a versatile space that can be used for events and training.

The cost of this building is $39,000, so I am asking you to please consider supporting this project in Gulu. Don’t underestimate the power of your gifts.  No gift is too small.

We believe the 5,000 lives that have been impacted are just the beginning of what God is doing in Uganda.