advent calendar days 16-24

 Advent calendar day 16

MOPS (Mothers of preschoolers) is part of a global community in over 70 countries. Our teenage mothers meet as a MOPS group every week. They use the global MOPS curriculum that's been translated into the local language. We thank God for the translation! These girls never had the opportunity to attend school. School is not free in Uganda. Most of our girls can not read or write. And coloring is even a new skill. They enjoy so much just learning and being asked to express an opinion. They love coloring. Sylvia wants to teach them to read and write. We are trying to educate their children, but these moms also need education.

Advent calendar day 17

In September we had 320 avocado trees planted on the property. The trees are about 2 years old. They were grown by Masubi farms. Masubi farms have a very large partnership program in Uganda. They provide the trees for a price and buy the fruit from their partners. They sell internationally, but also buy fruit that's not good enough for the international market. The lesser fruit is turned into oil. Everyone knows avocado needs water. So perhaps we are crazy to have invested in avocado trees? Time will tell. They have the potential to give us 3 times as much income as the ginger per Acer. With this income, we have funds to run the vocational school. That's why we have planted the trees. So far they have lost about 30 plants. Not because of drought. The plants rotted in heavy rain. About 290 trees are thriving. They start producing fruit in about 2 more years. In 6 years they will overtake ginger as our chief income crop. In 10 years ...and for 30 plus years, they could give us 3 times the income ginger gives. The key will of course be water. Can we have a well? Or can we manage to harvest enough rainwater? This was the risk we took in hopes of becoming a self-sustaining program.

Advent calendar day 18

In September and October, we were dealing with a great amount of sickness. Malaria, typhoid fever, and infections, as well as surgery. In Western countries, people go bankrupt from medical expenses. You can imagine what medical costs do to people who live on a few dollars a day. We try to do a great deal of prevention. Everyone in our groups has bednets and soap. They have water filters and take moringa as a supplement. But especially when it rains the misquote breed. Uganda has the highest rate of malaria per population in the world. Water sources get overflooded with waste. That's how they get typhoid and bacterial infections. And surgery...well it just happens. So it breaks our bank but we save lives. And I am never going to apologize for that. We can't support the entire population of Uganda. But we have to help our people. Every year we literally save 8 to 10 lives with medical intervention. And I love these people!

Advent calendar day 19

In October the chief of the village brought a scared homeless and pregnant teenager named Esther to the center. Her mother had died a few months earlier. Her father had died years ago. Esther was living on the street and had no family to take her in. We considered taking her to a ministry in Kampala that cares for pregnant teenagers. But the eyes of the village were on us. And they expected us to help her. The women were very quick to adopt Esther. We gave her a room and new bedding, a mosquito net. She was taken to the clinic to begin regular prenatal checkups. She has food at the center. Her teeth were awful and infected. We had to pay for 4 root canals. That was necessary for the health of her baby. All of this was possible because of generous donations from our family and friends. Thank you.

In October one of the Lilly Avenue stores flooded for the first time. It happened again in November. Finally, we had to relocate the store. The damaged clothes were washed and sent to the Suubi center. At least our teen moms and their children received new clothes. We try not to waste anything.

Advent calendar day 20

At the end of October, they began to harvest beans and flowers. The red beans are an heirloom Italian variety. They produced very quickly. Sylvia plans to save most of the seeds to replant them on mass.

I realize flowers might seem like a waste of space. But flowers attract beneficial bees and insects that help pollinate crops. And flowers are healing for the soul. They give joy. And our women need joy! I wish I could grow zinnias as they do.

Advent calendar day 21

In November the focus was on planning the kitchen cabinets and dining room and kitchen floors. Juergen and Nicole would be traveling to Uganda in December. Some things had to happen to make their trip a success. One of those things was building the kitchen cabinets. We decided to have brick cabinets built. There are already over 30 people at the center. We anticipate this number to double in 2023. With so many people using this space, the kitchen has to be solid. So the builder installed the kitchen cabinets in brick and concrete.

Advent calendar day 22

In December Nicole and Juergen traveled to Uganda for 12 days of renovation. The goal was to put a granite countertop in the kitchen, tile the kitchen and dining room floors, and the porch, and build a mandala garden. They also took photos of the sponsorship kids and received updates and report cards. The updates are being sent to the sponsorship families. We have nearly 60 kids in our program so be patient. We are sending you an update. Tomorrow I will write about the well and the mandala gardens. But the tile was a huge success. We are especially grateful for the individuals who donated money for the tile. Juergen says that it's a jewel in the jungle. There is nothing around that has tile and paint. Everything is mud and dust. The center is becoming beautiful. And its beauty is healing for the women there. They have come from slums and it's like a small glimpse of heaven. We are grateful for your generosity.

Advent calendar day 23

Merry Christmas. This is the final Advent calendar post. I hope you have a safe and wonderful Christmas. Stay home if the weather is bad. Don't risk your life to run to the store! And don't risk the life of the pizza delivery driver! Ok!

In November we got a few larger donations towards a well. The Ugandan Water project came to the center to do a hydrological survey. We don't get results for a few weeks. This past year we had two 10 000 liter tanks put next to the kitchen to capture rainwater. We also had a 110 000 liter pond installed to capture water. But the pond didn't fill up in the rainy season. There are two dry seasons in Uganda. We hope we can dig a well. If the good survey is positive we will have a well early in 2023. If it's negative we will use the money donated for additional rainwater captioning. Because we have avocado trees, we know we need more water.

Last May a child in the area died of starvation. There is a lack of food security in the area near the Suubi center. Even if we are successful in growing enough food for the women and kids at the center, that food becomes a target for thieves if the population around us is hungry. Many people in the area lack knowledge about growing food. They don't have seeds to grow food. We are developing ideas to help the community grow more food as security. The mandala gardens are part of that goal. In 2023 you will hear more about Suubis community outreach.

www.teenmopsuganda.com

Day 24