It's Friday and I am asking you to pray for Suubi Teen MOPS in Uganda.
First I want to thank God that Nantongo Sylvia and her daughters have recovered from Covid. They were sick for about two weeks but are now feeling good again. I think 18 of our women and kids have now recovered from Covid. Many in the country are not recovering and we realize how blessed we are. Please continue to pray for the good health of our people. And pray the vaccinations to continue to come to the country of Uganda. The President will address the nation on Saturday night about the lockdown. We fear they will extend the lockdown. The problem is the lockdown does suppress the spread of Covid. That's a good thing. But the ones making this decision are not hungry. They can hide in their nice homes, or even leave the country. The poor have no place to go. They are locked in tiny houses in the slums. Crime goes up, domestic violence rises and the hunger is unbearable. We have teenage mothers knocking at the gate of the workshop begging for opportunities we can not offer them because we simply have no funds. But in faith, I told Sylvia to make a list of 10 women. We would feed 10 more women and their children. Each family costs about 25 Euros a month to feed. When the lockdown lifts we will allow them to sell our soap to earn a commission for rent. This is what we can offer them for now. But we need people who would consider donating funds towards food. At the moment we feed nearly 100 people a day. All our expenses are stretched to the breaking point. But what can we do? We must in faith ask God for more resources. We know we can not feed everyone, but we want to make room for more. You can find ways to donate on our website.
Please pray for the government to have wisdom about the lockdown. If they do extend it, pray they will provide food to the poor. They gave some funds to about 500,000 to 800,000 families. But Uganda has 8 million extremely poor people. What they have done is not nearly enough.
This week the UN called for Uganda to open its schools. Most of the schools in Uganda have been closed since March 2020. In fact, many of these schools are bankrupt and for sale. Even when the schools are finally allowed to open, I am not sure they will have any schools left to attend. And because most schools in Uganda are not free, many families will not have the funds to send their children to school. So many have been dealing with long-term unemployment. But in Uganda, there are no paychecks or benefits when you are unemployed. You merely borrow from everyone you know and sell everything you have. The lockdowns have set the nation back a decade. It is an economic tragedy that can not be counted.
During the lockdown, we have employed 10 teachers to teach our Suubi kids. Our child sponsors have faithfully given us the funds to continue to ensure our children get an education. This week they are having the kids write letters to the sponsors. Thank you notes.
We are also going to take photos of the women who are graduating from sewing school. As soon as the shops open up we hope to buy all of these women a sewing machine of their own. They are anxious to start earning their own income. And everyone is asking what is next. We could run another sewing school for teenage moms. But I feel we should expand our influence by running a sewing school for leaders. It is only an undeveloped idea. And we need to find the funding. But for 12 months we want to teach 10 older single mothers who will faithfully train teenage mothers to sew. We would need to pay for their food and housing. We would need to find sponsors for their children's school. And of course the funds for materials and the sewing teachers salary. I think we really need 20,000 euros. We also need a waiting list for families who wish to sponsor the kid's education. Not just for one year, but for all the years, they are in school. I am guessing 15 to 20 sponsorship families waiting to support the children of these leaders. Eventually, they would go back to their villages and towns and train teen moms to sew. We will need wisdom about who can be in this sewing school. How do we accept applications? Anyway, this is the idea. I dream about training teachers who will train more women. If possible, we want to begin this program in January. If you feel lead to do a bake sale, car wash, or any other fundraiser towards this need, please message me. Thank you! You can read more about child sponsorship on our website. I want to create a waiting list of 15 to 20 sponsorship families so we can make this an offer to future sewing school students.
Vacation Bible school begins once again today. they of course meet in small groups to limit the risk of Covid. But this program brings everyone in the group great joy. Thank you for praying for our VBS.
The women who are making baskets have gotten a lot of compliments on their new purple baskets. As soon as they finish the final 5 baskets they are making, we hope to purchase more materials. And if you have suggestions on colors, please let us know. Right now they are trying to concentrate on quality. They want to make baskets that will last a long time. And this actually makes me so proud. I see so much growth in our people. They have matured so much.
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