It's Friday and I am asking you to pray for Suubi Teen MOPS in Uganda. This week I got to drive my 82-year-old mom to Venice Italy. I realize how privileged that sounds. I live in the South of Germany. Venice is normally a 9 to 10-hour car trip. There was poor weather conditions and road construction. It took us 13 hours each way. And mom is not as strong as she once was. We walked very slowly. And we spent a great deal of time just riding on the boats. But we sat for lunch outside the Academia museum on our first full day. And our conversation was about Suubi. I told her about Brian. He is the oldest son of Brenda. When Nicole and I were in Uganda in January we gave the kids the opportunity to make bottle bricks from plastic bottles filled with plastic trash. We will use the bricks in the foundations of the next building. It was a way to get them to start to pick up the trash. And they got some pocket money. Brain embraced the idea and was very busy making bricks. I fell in love with the work ethic of this boy. His mom Brenda was abused when she was only 10years old. Brian was born when his mom was 11. But he is the most amazing young man. He will, I hope make his mom very proud. As I told my mom Suubi stories I could see the people around me were quietly listening to our conversation. The waiter seemed visually moved as we said goodbye. At Suubi, hope is not an idea. It is a concrete reality. We are able to change the lives of individuals that were the poorest population in the world. A boy like Brian...the oldest son of a teenager would have no opportunity to go to school. He would have to manage to survive...and help his family to survive. But instead he goes to school. He has the chance to play. And he can earn pocket change in a small task like filling a bottle with plastic. The money buys him a soda.. and he is learning the importance of recycling.
They finished the plaster in the kitchen. They are planting the tomatoes in the greenshade. They are using soda creates. We had to buy out the inventory of a bottle store in Kampala when we rented the property for a Lilly Avenue store. So they are using the plastic creates for tomatoes. They also had pallet shelves built for the greenshade house. They will be sprouting seeds and grains on these special shelves. The sprouts will be what they feed to the chickens. Chickens can eat seeds and grains unsprouted. But when you soak the seeds and grains, and allow them to grow for a short while you increase the volume of food...and the volume of nutrients available to the chickens. This simple process will save them a great deal of money on feed. It will also make the eggs much more nutritious.
We do have a few people still sick. Please pray for everyone to recover. We found out this week that you need to be a 501 charity to win Project for awesome money. A 501 charity is an US non profit. We are a German non profit and Uganda non profit. We don't know if our video actually got enough votes to win the contest. They keep that information secret. But we are not a 501 charity. So that's probably why we didn't win project for awesome. Next year if we enter it needs to be in a more direct partnership with a church in the USA or probably Global MOPS. I can see us running a program for Global MOPS to teach food security to women in Eastern Africa...or even just for MOPS Uganda. We are disappointed to not be eligible for the prize. That was not made clear...or just in very small print. We are so grateful for everyone who took the time to vote for Suubi. The prize was nearly 30 000 US dollars. I am pretty sure we would have won it if we had the correct tax status. Our video had in some cases 8 times as many views on you tube as some of the winning charities. But we are trying not to get too disappointed. Please pray God gives us what we need to build a well, build more buildings and provide all the needs of the program. I am trying to find joy in today. I tell God what we need tomorrow...but I am not going to worry about tomorrow. Today I am enjoying my visit with my mom. I bought heirloom tomatoes in Italy. I will save the seeds. They will be going to Uganda on the next trip. I will save seeds from the melon and pumpkin and lemons I bought in Italy too.
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