Gill and Carlos Olaaka - Uganda |
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July 2008 Prayer Letter
Hello to you all once more. We hope you are doing well and that things are good. We are fine, all in all, though having had a very hectic few months with both of us having our ups and downs physically. We are both doing fine now, so we thank God for that.
Since the last newsletter, all our Oasis Projects have continued to go well. The school-age girls in the Bambejja Child Support Project finished their first term in school, and we have been so thrilled to especially see a group of girls who went through 6 month informal ‘catch up’ schooling from June-December last year doing extremely well in school: (see picture – girls in blue T-Shirts went through the programme).
These girls had lost hope of continuing school, but their 6 month intense learning programme has done wonders for their ability and self-esteem, and now they show amazing dedication. One girl is around 14 and only in Primary 3 but so keen to study, and it’s so brilliant to see her in school – she knows this is her chance for a better future (she had been working as a maid in a house, and was under threat of abuse by the man in the home until Bambejja heard of her situation and helped remove her from that home). The girls also enjoyed a first term holiday programme where staff taught crafts, bewildered them by showing ‘Shrek 3’ (!!), played games and ran the Alpha course (basic Christian teaching) with the older ones. It was a fantastic experience, with many girls understanding more than ever God’s love for them.
Some new work as started as a girl called Sarah who is on a placement from the UK has been trialling a life skills course called ‘Esteem’ in 2 different schools in Mbale. This course helps young people to understanding their bodies and promotes wise decisions in the area of sexual health, which is very much needed here as unbelievably Uganda has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the world. The majority of girls who have an unplanned early pregnancy consequently drop out of school and may be ‘married off’ as young as 14 and 15, and their choices in life are severely hampered. So far the frank, creative classes which help young people to understand the value of their bodies and lives have been received extremely well, and we hope to run this course in many more schools when the pilot programme is complete.
The Net2Work program in Northern Uganda is expanding, and now aside from the Gulu eAcademy we have received support to start a new one in Pader, another war-ravaged town where there are many former child soldiers and displaced people who have been traumatised by the 20 year long civil war (see pictures below of the children portraying their abduction and the Internally Displaced People’s camp, where people live as they are too afraid to return to their homesteads which have been targets of rebel attacks in the past).
Now the North of Uganda is stabilising, with relative peace in the area, and there are many opportunities for people as towns begins to rebuild economically and people who are computer trained are in a prime position to find employment. We will hope to begin the first class in Pader in September and are concentrating on the set up stage over the next few months. It’s a really exciting project, where the students not only receive an IT certificate at the end, but also life skills, entrepreneurship training and a massive boost of confidence (picture below is of students in class).
Aside from all that is happening at Oasis, we are enjoying life immensely with lots of things keeping us busy. Carlos recently helped out a day’s sports day run by the visiting Crosslinks SMILE team. This was run for some street boys who come to our church for life skills lessons and emotional support, and it was a wonderful day of having fun and allowing the children play. We are also looking forward to a visit from Gill’s parents and Aunt in July, and also expect many different visiting teams from UK and Ireland over the next few summer months.
Well, that’s if for now - thanks as ever for your support and prayers, and we look forward to updating you next time.
Much love,
Gill and Carlos
Prayer Points:
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For the set up of Net2Work Pader and for the students who will be recruited, that they will benefit from the course
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For all the families and children we work with, for their health, protection and provision – prices of basic commodities like food have risen sharply recently, as all over the world, and many people are really struggling to survive.