MORE CHILDREN GO TO SCHOOL

This has been a very exciting week for the children in our community, as more needy children got an opportunity to go to school on Monday.
At close of last year,30 more children received sponsors.

Getting a sponsor is a special blessing for children in our community, where education is taken as a special privilege only for the rich families.

Most of the families in our community are so poor, and they can’t afford taking their children to school. The majority of children in our community are orphans and very poor children, some born of single mothers.

Thousands of children loiter our streets with no hope of ever going to school.

When I came back from my trip to the USA, I told our church members that more children had been assigned sponsors and it caused a lot of joy to the children and families.

Last week, we took the new children to one of the best schools in town for interviews and good enough they were all enrolled in school. Children have never been so happy!

These children love education. They are happy to be given an opportunity to go to school.

This week, they all reported to school, with some of them putting on shoes for the first time.

There was a great stir in the community as people saw some children they had written off, dressed in clean uniform with back packs, going to school!

One woman shed tears when she saw her son in uniform going to school. “When I lost my husband, I knew that was the end of educating my children” She said. Thank God her son got a sponsor and she can now go to school.

As a church, we know that God has special plans for these children. Education is one step that will help the children develop their God given talents and develop into the kind of people God wants them to be; future leaders that will bring an impact in our community and communities around us.

Education helps to develop the brains of the children to handle different challenges in life. Children who are given the opportunity to develop mentally will be successful and effective in life.

Thank you dear friends for partnering with us and to give these future leaders an opportunity to go to school.

May the good Lord bless you abundantly!

To sponsor a child, please write to us or Whitney Smith at:whitney-123@hotmail.com

KAMPALA MUSIC FESTIVAL

Mwangaza, a music group, part of Africa Renewal Sponsorship program in Kampala arranged for a music festival last week. Several sponsorship projects were invited to participate. Our children were also invited. To our children, the news came with a lot of excitement. All the 60 children now in the program anticipated to attend. Unfortunately only 20 children were invited to participate from every group. Several groups from different cities were invited to participate and they were supposed to present different music items.
The leaders had a hard time to choose who were to go. Finally it was decided that the children who can sing and dance better, would be given the priority to attend. 20 children were selected and last Sunday they gave some presentations before the church. The members of the church especially the parents and guardians, were so excited for this golden opportunity for their children to travel to Kampala and especially to train on their skills. On Monday very early in the morning our children boarded the early bus. It takes 7 hours to reach Kampala which is in central Uganda. And by evening the children had adjusted and shown around. Because of excitement they forgot about food for the whole day. They enjoyed the ride on the Bus seeing different places they had never gone to. They were amazed to see Lake Victoria, the biggest lake in Africa. The festival took three days, with several groups presenting their items. "It was all very exciting and challenging seeing these children show the art of God's creation" Says Doreen, one of our children leaders. Our children participated very well and among the 12 groups who attended, our children were the third. The two leaders who went with them brought back an amazing testimony, how our children performed well and excited every body, especially with the Kikiga dance(local dance). It is amazing to see different skills and gifts these children have. The enemy would have killed all these precious gifts. Thank you friends for giving these children an opportunity to go to school and expose these children to great opportunities. Most of these children had lost hope and were seen on the community as useless and worthless children. Many of these children were on the street as beggars and some of these small girls were all already involved in acts of prostitution at an early age. They tell stories how men would seduce them with 200 Ush for buying a piece of cake.The young boys say,they would go to steal because they were so hungry. Most of them would spend three days without tasting food. One child said, i wished i was never born! But since they came into the sponsorship program of our church, God has transformed their lives. They are a big testimony on the community. They now know how to pray and recite scripture. They sing very well, praise to our God. I was amazed to see these children perform in our church service as they prepared to go to Kampala. Please pray for our children as they grow up so that they great skills and gifts God has put in them will grow and be utilized and benefit the kingdom. Also pray that God will provide uniform for our children. We had to borrow uniform from other singing groups. Our children got a challenge as they were traveling back, the bus they had boarded had a mechanical problem and being late they had no alternative. Have way on the journey back home it broke down and they remained on Bus in Mbarara town. It was a horrible experience for them to sleep on the Bus and on hungry stomachs. Early in the morning, another Bus picked them up and brought them to Kabale. By the time they reached they were so exhausted but happy! How we pray that the Lord will provide our own transport means for such trips in future.

KABALE HOUSE OF HOPE-2009

We had a great start of the new Year, 2009 at the children house.
There has been a few changes and the children are so happy with the changes, since this has improved their daily living and more assurance for their future. One boy told me,"we were beginning to get worried of our future!". Another girl said, "Pastor God hears prayer, we have been praying that God should intervene." Last year the children got concerned after the Rock administration shared with them the new Rock procedures and policies. The Rock Outreach was the funding body for our children home. After a series of meetings, the Revival Tabernacle board disagreed with the Rock board on policies and procedures regarding the children welfare and their future, in comparison with the Revival Tabernacle plans and vision for the our children. Therefore the Revival Tabernacle board decided that the church shall run the children home independent of the Rock Organization. At the close of 2008, the our church board decided to partner with the House of Hope/People For Missions as the funding body of the children home and now the home is called Kabale House of Hope.
The news of these changes brought a sigh of relief to the children, and now they know God has a plan and purpose for all them. All is well with the children, as they look back from where the Lord got them from.
Recently Andrew one of the boys that used to be on the street, gave us a moving testimony. He told us how he had no where to sleep and how they would fight over the food in the trash. "But today I am a changed person, I now have what to eat and can dress well. I go to school and i have improved on my grades, i know i will be an Engineer one day" says Andrew. Above-left, is how Andrew looked like,before he came to House of Hope.
Thank you every one who has contributed to make a difference in the lives of these children. They are all happy and feel blessed.
Isaac the youngest boy recently got a problem, he fell down as he was trying to master riding the bicycle on his own. He dislocated his arm bones. We took him to hospital and he is now improving.
Keep praying for these children, so that God will help them to be all that He created them to be and d do what God wants them to do.
Feel free to write to us in case you want to be a blessing or an encouragement to these children in any way.
Our address is: P.O. Box 1065, Kabale, Uganda.
Or e-mail us at: jbakashaba@gmail.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"You crown the year with your goodness, and your path drip with abundance" Psalms 65:11
As the rest of the World, gathered in club houses and Hotels to drink the last drop as they came to the end of the year 2008 with a shout and blast of fireworks, we were in church praying and rejoicing in the presence of God.
Multitudes gathered at Revival church by 7:00 p.m. and started to pray and make intercession. We first thanked God for his goodness that led us through the year 2008, before we started to make prayer requests for the coming year.
Different people were praying for different needs. I was amazed when one lady told me later that she was praying that her son gets a sponsor for his education in 2009!
But collectively, we interceded for our nation and for our community that the will of God will be done and God's kingdom will come.
We also prayed for personal break blessings and individual victory in the coming year.
As we prayed, the Lord spoke to us by his Spirit that 2009 will be a year of the fulfillment of God's promises to his children. We then begun to claim the promises of God according to his word.
By the time it struck Midnight, we were all soaked in the presence of God, declaring great things in prayer, praising and glorifying the name of the Lord.
Moments later, we called off the prayer meeting, since we had to come to church the following morning for thanksgiving service.
Happy New year all our friends. may the new year bring you joy and blessings and the fulfillment of God's promises in your life.
God bless you!

CHRISTMAS WAS GREAT!

"Behold a virgin shall... bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is translated God with us" Matthew 1:23
This Christmas God proved, He is with us!
Our plan was to have all our children from the sponsorship program and the children house come home for Christmas together with many other orphans, needy children and street children from our community.
However it turned out that things have changed economically and affected us much in our country. Prices on all commodities have been hiked to almost double.
We invited over 200 hundred children coming home for Christmas excluding the adults. But God stretched the funds to feed all the children and everyone who came home.
Every year we plan to have lunch with children who would have not enjoyed Christmas, to come and have it with us at our home. Many families in our community are so poor that they can't afford a good meal on Christmas day.
Traditionally in our country,Christmas means eating big and good meals and dressing nicely. I remember i put on my first shoes on Christmas day, i was 10 years. I have never forgotten that Christmas!
Children whose parents cannot afford good clothes and shoes, always spend Christmas day crying, for they feel marginalized.
What happens is that these children feel left out and they go to look for comfort and company from wrong places. In the end, on Christmas day, many children come home with broken heads and others so drunk. It's terrible seeing a 5 year old child drunk. And some young girls end up being raped and abused. We have found out that many young girls get pregnant during the Christmas season not excluding the risk of contracting AIDS and other diseases.
God gave me a heart for making sure that such children feel happy and are safe at Christmas. My desire is that these children will at least have a good meal on Christmas day. I thank God for all the friends that are so supportive in this vision.
This year's Christmas was one of those exciting moments, by 1:00 p.m, after service, our compound was already filled with children, as more and more came in one by one, so happy that they have people who care to have them enjoy their Christmas. It was my great joy to see children all around us and every where; in rooms, in the kitchen and compound.Some people from church helped prepare the meal. We prepared Matoke, potatoes, Rice, chapati,beef and chicken. And it was so delicious. The children ate to their fill. To my surprise the younger children ate two rounds. Each child took a coke (soda) and a cup of bushera (our local drink from sorghum).
We then put on music and children danced for the Lord. The youth played several activities that kept every body entertained. The children enjoyed taking pictures and sharing different stories of what the Lord has done. The kids enjoyed until late in the evening. It was fun!
As the kids were going back, one child asked me, "Pastor will we come back for Christmas next year? "Of course", i answered, "why not?"
I felt so bad for the children who were left behind.We could not invite more children than the funds available, so very many children were left out.
We pray that the Lord will provide more funds next time so that we will help more children.We also pray that the Lord will provide a vehicle that will help transport the children back and forth.
Thank you dear friends who contributed towards this Christmas lunch. You put a smile on the faces of many children. You made their day! May God bless you.
Happy New Year!

SPONSORSHIP END OF YEAR MEETING

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord." Psalms 127:2

Yesterday was an end of year meeting for all the sponsored children, their parents and the staff. This was organized mainly to evaluate the events of the year together with parents/caretakers and the children. We also wanted to give the children a happy ending of the year.
We talked about several things especially pertaining to the welfare of the children. We evaluated the academic performance of the children, their spiritual stand and the social stand.
The parents testified that there has been a great improvement on the lives of their children. The children have improved on their grades at school.
The staff said the input of the parents was equally important to realize the desired changes in the children, since they spend the most time with the children.
The parents accepted to take up responsibility to keep checking the children reports and home work assignments for better grades next year.
The parents also noted a big change with the children spiritually. Their children have changed in their behaviors and character. They know how to pray and recite scriptures. They are a testimony on the community. Our children have made an impact on other children. Step by step, we are transforming the community, as we touch the lives of these children one by one.
The parents gave us moving testimonies as they thanked the church and the sponsors for taking up their children. One by one, they reported how they had given up on educating their children because they lacked school fees. "Our children were chased from school every week", the parents said. Most of the children would keep changing schools due to defaulting. The few who would raise part of School fees would fail to buy books and pens.
It is a big testimony on the community now,to see these children going to a very good school,very smartly dressed and with shoes.
Thank you so much dear sponsors for making a difference in the lives of these children. Your gifts, support and love for these children is a great blessing to all of us.
The children were the most excited. They enjoyed lunch and fellowship with one another. They sung praises and testimonies.
Some of them had received Christmas gifts from sponsors and had good clothes and shoes.
However, we had gifts for all the children. We received Samaritan's purse Christmas gifts from our partner ministry at Africa Renewal Ministries and we distributed them to the children.
The gifts were not enough to give to all the children in the community, so we gave them only to the children in the program.
They were so excited to receive them, they could not wait to get home and open the boxes and see what was inside.
We are so grateful to every one who sent a gift to Samaritans' purse. It is amazing how your gifts end up in the hands of poor children in a village like ours, tens of thousands of miles away.
God bless you so much.
Merry Christmas!

KIDS BACK FOR CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

Last week the Child Sponsorship children were so excited to come back home for holidays.
The children were so happy as they came to church one by one with their reports. Most of them performed very well and were promoted to higher classes, with a few who performed poorly. The survey showed that those who performed poorly was a result of poor conditions back home. Most of the children do not get lunch before they go back for afternoon sessions. Discussions are under way to see if we can revise our annual budget and include daily lunch for these children especially those who come from very poor homes.
The children told stories of their experience at school during the school term. Some were moving stories as children narrated how much they used to suffer before they got sponsors. Some said, each year they would go to a different school because they were chased away for failing to pay school fees. Most of them could not afford exercise books and so they could tear out papers from one book to be used for 8 subjects! Many were going to school with torn clothes and without shoes.
They are so grateful to their sponsors who have made a difference in their lives. To them it is a great joy and a divine opportunity for them to given a chance to go to school.
I was amazed to hear their stories! These children have big dreams, some of them want to become Teachers, Doctors, Nurses and Lawyers!
The Sponsorship program has helped to develop our children and our community. These children love the Lord and well behaved in the community. They are able to communicate in English.
We still have a big challenge of space. We need more land where we can build offices and a big ground for recreation, games and other activities, to develop them physically and socially.
This holiday is particularly exciting to the children because of Christmas. They always look to another Christmas, because traditionally it is a time to dressed differently and eat differently. To the families who can afford, on Christmas they change menu from red beans, greens and posho to beef, rice and Matoke. Many children put on shoes on Christmas. To those whose parents can't afford, they spend the day crying that they are not like the rest on Christmas.
Last year, with support from friends, we organized lunch for the orphans and the poor children from the community. It was a great time and so exciting for the children. Some testified that, that was the first time to test a soda(coke).
We are praying that God will provide for us again this year, so that we make a Christmas lunch for all the children.
To make a contribution to the Christmas lunch or buy clothes and shoes for children, please write to Whitney Smith at:whitney-123@hotmail.com