A Brighter Future

Meet Juliet!

And Innocent!

And Ronnie!

These three belong to a family that is involved in the Vision of Destiny sponosrship program. Ronnie attends school at the school which I run and Juliet and Innocent attend a school nearby.

Vision of Destiny continuousely has a long waiting list. Their mom added them to the waiting list early this year. When doing interviews to admit the incoming K3 class for 2010, Ronnie was identified to be eligible.

Late last year, their father learned that he was HIV+. Instead of going to a nearby clinic for counseling and treatment, he decided to take his own life and hung himself. He left these three children as well as a wife and baby under a year old. The wife is not well educated and is unemployed. Survival became a challenge for the family. They were often left outside to sleep when landlords would chase them from their home for lack of rent payment. Meals were scarce and far between. Juliet was sent to live with an aunt in hopes of the burden on their mom being lightened a little. None of the children were attending school.

During first term there was space for Ronnie at my school although he wasn't sponsored. The older two, at that time, there was little that I could do.

In March, a visitor came to help around the school for about a month. She was taken by their story and went back and got a sponsor for Ronnie. She also found a sponsor for Innocent and Juliet, making it possible for them to return to school during the second term this year.

We have been encouraging their mom to have herself and all the children tested for HIV. Please pray that she will find the courage to do this and if any are found positive that she will be willing to use the lifesaving medications which are available for free here in Uganda.

You see, in Uganda, school is a privilege and not a right. Many children are left out of school for lack of money. Even though the government has set up a free school system, there are hidden fees which mean that it does little to help families put their children back in school. Although these schools don't charge tuition, there are development fees, lunch fees, uniforms to be bought, school supplies and shoes that are needed. So, many families still can't send their children to school. And for those lucky enough to be able to send their child to school, these schools are often overcrowded (having 100+ children in a classroom with only 1 teacher), lack infrastructure (children study under trees), have teachers that don't come to school every day (meaning children have to go back home), or have school only two hours each day (meaning children leave primary school without being able to even write their name or read a simple sentence).
So, Vision of Destiny steps in to help these families. All children are sent to Christian schools that have a tradition of high performance.

Children like Sozzi Peter are now attending school. His father died in a motorcycle accident a couple of months before he was born, leaving his mom with little ways of supporting or educating their child. Currently, Sozzi Peter and his mom live in a local church. I use the word church very loosely. It's known more for its cultlike practices such as proclaiming the water taken from a well inside the main branch of the church is the blood of Jesus. Members are taught that when they drink this water or bathe with it, they are blessed with special blessings. There are many other such teachings in the church. Although this child is not yet sponsored, he has been attending my school since the beginning of this year where he is being taught the Bible and given two meals each day. Pray with me that the truth that he is being taught at school will one day be a light to he and his mom and they'll be able to break free from a church with false teachings.

Brandon is another child not yet sponsored but still blessed to be attending my school. I met Brandon through his elder sisters. Their father had died when Brandon was a baby of AIDS. Their mom is an alcoholic and the family lives in a bar. The mom drinks away what little money she manages to earn. The eldest sister was left in charge of finding ways to get food. Often I would find her along the streets, very dirty, begging for food. I got to know her a bit and her mom let me take her and the other sister back to school. I put them in a boarding school since they are girls. I figured it was safer than leaving them to roam the streets at all hours of the night. At that time, Brandon was still to young to start school so their mom had to find ways to fend for herself and Brandon. Then this year Brandon was able to begin K3 at my school.

It's been a challenge for him. Since his sisters are not there to look after him, he's often left with neighbors and even one time was left alone (which led to his spending the night at the police station). Please pray that their mom will come to know Christ and learn how to be there for her children.

So many times I look at the need around me and know that I can only do a drop in the ocean. But, at least for the few children that are in the sponsorship program, the future looks a bit brighter (despite the challenges at home).