Summary of the …amazing year

Dear friends, about 12 months ago I met Sylivia Nantango as she was starting a MOPS group for teen moms in Kampala Uganda.  I spent hours listening to her as she shared her heart for these young women.  But the needs are overwhelming.  I knew immediately I was to jump into the water not to save her, but to help her.  And we have worked very well together.  We share the same goal.  It is a goal to empower these women so they can help themselves achieve a better life for themselves and their children.  There are so many needs to meet, so many goals not met.  But as we say goodbye to this amazing year it is good to consider what has been achieved.  

In May we started 5 women in a sewing school.  The school was very good at first.  But the teacher got greedy.  She took on 20 extra students.  Our women had very little opportunity to use a sewing machine.  So in August, the leaders of MOPS decided they should pull the women from this school and start their own workshop.  The local church gave them a room they could use.  It was in bad condition and needed a new floor, ceiling, and roof.  For almost 3 months the women renovated the new workshop. 

 In November we opened the doors with sewing machines donated by many of you.  We have a teacher who was an orphan from a genocide in the Congo and trained to be a tailor in Paris.  She has done a remarkable job.  The women have made amazing progress.  They even wore cloths they made themselves to the Christmas party. We have 8 women in the tailoring workshop.  Two more waits to join this group.  They need people to sponsor them 60 Euros a month.  We could also use 5 more sewing machines.  It would benefit the women to have their own machine to work on.  The sewing group has finished sewing 1800 washable sanitary pads for 300 school girls in rural Uganda.  These will be handed out in February. 

We have met many medical needs this year.  We paid for a lifesaving Cesarean section for Paullah and her son Phillip. 

 We paid the medical costs for Olive who had severe buns to her leg.  She remained untreated for lack of funds.  It got so desperate she almost lost her leg.  But after treatment, she has made a full recovery.  And we also paid for the medical costs of a toddler who was also burned by falling into a kitchen fire.  But the leaders of MOPS had learned from the experience with Olive not to delay.  And because of the fast intervention the baby has made a full recovery and has no scars.   We paid for the medical costs of Juliet’s birth.  A desperate grandmother came to MOPS because her granddaughter had had an abortion that went very badly.  The girl was bleeding to death.  So we paid the hospital bills.  It saved the girls life.  The grandmother gave her life to Jesus.  And one of the women in the MOPS group had a very sick baby.  It turned out the child had syphilis.  So we paid for the treatment for the baby and mother.  Both are doing well.  We also shut the workshop down for 10 days to avoid the spread of Mumps.  All our women need vaccinations.  They also need bed nets to help prevent malaria.  

We purchased garden sacks and good soil for two test gardens.  These gardens are doing very well.  But there is no water in the gardens.  We will need to install rain barrels in the coming year.  We would also like to build a giant chicken coop for 100 hens.  The eggs can help supplement the diet of our women.  And any extra eggs can be sold. 

Finally, the women have learned to make soap.  Sylivia came to Germany in June to learn this skill.  She has taught her women.  They just finished making 600 bars of soap for International MOPS.  The goal now is to get a soap making workshop licensed.  As a legal business, they can sell soap to shops and hotels.  The money can be used to support the sewing workshop and hairdressing school.  We have 9 women that want to learn hairdressing but we have no money for this yet.  Sylivia and Olive went to Zambia in December to teach soap making to the MOPS group there.  We are anxious to see what this skill can do for the group in time.  We hope in 2018 to open a soap making workshop run by two of our moms.  The profits will go to the group. 

Next year I hope to travel to Kampala in late August early September.  I want to bring a team to teach skills and do practical work.

These are only a few highlights of this past year.  The group gave back to the local community.  They had a visit by the archbishop of Uganda.  They hosted a film crew from America.  They helped women in domestic violence situations. And so much more.  They celebrated monthly feasts.  They gave hope to people who felt hopeless.  And so much of this because you gave them their support.  And we are very grateful.   

"Thank you so much for strengthening us in this ministry...Thanks to MOPS for allowing us to be part of the incredible grassroots movement... We're looking forward to what GOD has for us in 2018.Happy New Year 2018. TeenMOPS Kampala Uganda. and Sylvia Nantango"