It is Friday and I am asking you to pray for Suubi Teen MOPS in Uganda.
Yesterday I took my mom to the airport in Frankfurt. I cried when we had to say goodbye. We arrived early. In the parking lot of the airport, we held hands together and prayed. Mom prayed for my family, but she also prayed for Suubi. She knows their needs well because we have had many conversations about the group. I can not explain what a privilege it is to have my mom. I know many of my friends no longer have their parents. And maybe you never prayed with them, you prayed for them. I can only encourage you to be that kind of person yourself. Pray with your kids if they allow it. Or pray with someone else who will appreciate having your prayers. Each of you is an adopted mother, grandmother, and grandfather to the teen moms and their children in Uganda. When you hold them up each week, you are giving them the support they don't receive from anyone else. And it's so valuable. We are so grateful that you pray for us.
One issue that weighs heavy on our minds is school. School fees have literally doubled since the lockdown. It is an impossible thing for us to send our kids in Kampala back to the classroom. We have 31 kids in our Kampala program. There might be school programs heavily subsidized by corporate sponsors. But as of today, we can not find any programs that will accept our kids. When my oldest daughter Jessica was going to start school a program that did not exist opened up for her. Jessica is severely autistic. We planned to send her to a school for disabled kids. We got a phone call from the district. They were creating a program to mainstream autistic kids in public schools. She would have her. own teacher and be in a normal first-grade class. She was the very first autistic child to receive this service. If we had looked for the program we would not have found it. It found us. We have looked and found nothing but closed doors. But maybe God can create a door.. and then open it just for our kids? He did this for Jessica. He knows our Suubi kids by name. I am praying he provides a way for them to return to class. For now, we will support them in tutoring and with food and medical care. And we need 10 more sponsorship families. The new school term begins the first week of May.
The economy has slowed down in Uganda because of the price of oil. The women at our Lilly Avenue stores are struggling to sell clothes. We are going to help them pay rent by having them sew washable sanitary pads for school girls. Many schoolgirls drop out when they get their periods. They can not afford pads. So we will have our women at Lilly Avenue stores sew 1200 washable sanitary pads to be given to school girls. And in exchange, we will cover the rent. It's just for May. But long term they need a solution. If we had a grant we could continue to. pay rent in exchange for pads. Or if they got small contracts or more business. Pray for them to be able to pay the shop rent in June and beyond that.
The chickens are growing well. They are now using dust baths. And the women have learned to sprout grains and seeds. So the chickens are eating sprouts.
The gardens at the center are also thriving. The tomatoes are looking very good. The greens are giant and without any damage from bugs. Having a green shade house is a real gift. So far they only grow enough greens for the center. In time they might also grow enough to sell. But they are now enjoying the kale and spinach. That's very good for their health. My chief concern is the toilets. We need wisdom about building new toilets that meet the government requirements.
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