New Hope Uganda Ministries, Inc.

Winter 2002

"A father to the fatherless is God in His holy habitation. God sets the lonely in families" (Ps 68:5,6).

Our First Secondary School Graduates

by Nancy Kirsch

Four years ago, when I came to New Hope to help set up the secondary school I started with two classes. The S.1 class had 10 students and the S.2 class had five students. Last year in December the students who were in S.2 when I started were the first to graduate from New Hope Academy. Of the five students in that class only two finished their secondary school education at our school. Their names are Ssenkumba Patrick and Nakyeyune Sarah. When the school started in 1998, Patrick had a green hat that he wore whenever he could. I think he liked to wear it because he could hide his eyes from me with it on. He used to talk to me as little as possible and I was convinced he hated me. Sarah was not at all happy that she didn't get to go to the secondary school where all the other students got to go and she has told me that she determined in her heart to hate me. Teaching them was not easy and I remember the first year of school wondering if Patrick wouldn't run away like his friends. Sarah was barely respectful and whenever I told her to do something I always prayed silently that she would listen to me. I couldn't understand why, if God had called me here to help start this school, He couldn't have given me better students, but I decided these were my students and it was up to me to love them and show them God's love. Loving them has not been easy, and at times its left me in tears, but it has been worth it and I would do it again.

My relationship with Sarah started to improve when I started going to visit her family group. I didn't know anyone in her family group except for Sarah and another boy who was a secondary student, so Sarah would always come and sit by me. I also taught her how to make Hilda's chocolate cake. Sarah has since told me that learning to bake was something she was really interested in and that when we baked slowly by slowly she stopped hating me and saw that actually I was kind of a nice person. Sarah really struggled with digging her banana holes that all the secondary students have to dig for their banana plantation. (The money from the bananas helps pay their school fees.) She came to me a couple of times and told me she'd have to leave because she just couldn't manage to dig those holes. I often went and helped her and tried to encourage her. Later she told me for sure, she was going to leave because of those holes. Today her bananas are starting to produce fruit. Sarah is one of the key people in her family group and she found cooking, helping to look after a little boy named Ivan, and balancing schoolwork to be a struggle but she persevered.

My relationship with Patrick started to improve in the second year of school. Patrick had been sick and hadn't been in school all week and Sarah was in classes by herself. One day one of the teachers told me that I needed to talk to Sarah because she was crying. When I talked to her I found out that she was worried that Patrick wouldn't come back to school and that she would be in classes alone for the next two years. That afternoon, instead of teaching Sarah, I took her and we went to visit Patrick. Patrick lives out in the village with is mom. In my mind, I pictured him corning from quite a good family because he was quite smart and it was obvious that he was studying outside of school. I was very surprised when I saw the house he lived in. It was a mud house with quite thick walls, but only one very small window and a thatched roof that looked like a poorly made haystack. His mother, whom I had to speak to through Sarah because I haven't learned much Luganda, told us Patrick was sick with malaria but that he would be back in school soon. I left him two apples and a bottle of juice. It was the first time I had gone out to the village and I just couldn't believe that that was where he came from. Today, having been here longer, I no longer look at things the same way and often the kids who live out in a mud house with a thatched roof perform just as well as the kids who live at New Hope in our family groups.

I think Patrick was really surprised that I came to visit him at his home and after that, if he missed a day or two of school, I would go and see him again. Patrick struggles to communicate what he is feeling or thinking and after some misunderstandings he has learned to volunteer more information and I have learned to ask more questions. Slowly by slowly, our relationship started to improve and I knew it was getting much better when Patrick started telling me things voluntarily about his life.

Last year both Patrick and Sarah had great struggles in their families that I was afraid might cause them to not finish the year. Patrick's family (none of them except one brother are saved) was involved in a big feud with a neighboring family and Patrick ended up being in the very middle of it. Sarah's younger sister became pregnant and Sarah was the one who tried to help me counsel her and give advice to her. Sarah and Patrick had to sit their exams last year that all students in Uganda sit when completing S.4. It is a very difficult exam and the last year of secondary school is very hard academically. It was not the easiest of years, but it was a much better year for our relationship and I think both Patrick and Sarah understand now in a much different way that I love them and so does God and that He is for them. Today if you were to meet Patrick and Sarah you would think New Hope has done a really good job. Sarah is a vivacious, joyful young lady working in the clinic while waiting for news of acceptance at a midwifery school and very involved in being a mother figure to two little children in her family. Patrick is a determined, hard-working young man who over the Christmas break last year made his own bricks to build himself a house, and the house itself is good, with square corners and an iron sheet roof. He also helps younger children in his village with their schoolwork, particularly in math, and is planning to teach in his village primary school to put himself through an electrical technician's course. Currently, he is doing his last two years of secondary school which is called A levels here. God is at work in both of their lives. Patrick has not yet confessed Jesus as his Saviour, although his friends here who have a real burden for him tell me that he is changing and that God is at work. Sarah is growing in her relationship with the Lord and it has been a joy to have her join us as a junior staff this year. I really consider it a privilege to have had the opportunity to be their teacher, auntie, and friend. God, though, deserves all the credit for answering prayers for them and for giving me the love to love them.

New Hope is needing assistance in paying for Sarah's midwifery course. If you are interested in helping sponsor her for two years, please contact New Hope Uganda Ministry.

New Hope Uganda Multiplied

On May, 15, 2002, New Hope Uganda will open the doors to the New Hope Institute for Childcare and Family. The institute is our attempt to multiply what we are doing in Kasana and comes in response to the many requests we have received for advice and training in "what we do." Over the years, the Lord has given New Hope Uganda insight into Childcare and Family and this knowledge is being sought by individuals and agencies wanting to work with orphans around the world. NHICF has been established as a school for teaching people how to care for orphans and establish Christian families. We will train personnel for New Hope, but will also offer the course to other mission agencies. Student enrollment will be limited to fifteen for each four month course, with half the slots reserved for students from African countries. The course will be offered annually or semiannually depending on enrollment and time available.

While our founder, Jay Dangers, was home on furlough this last term he began to develop a curriculum and plans to start the Institute. As word got out about this training, the first class quickly filled up and we are already taking applications for the second term to begin in February 2003. Starting with a construction budget of $44,500.00 New Hope Institute will begin building on open ground south of the guest house in January 2002. The institute will include a classroom/office/library complex, five furnished huts for students, as well as a common room and kitchen.

Of particular need, besides money for construction, are funds to purchase books relevant to Childcare and family. If you would like to donate to the building of the institute or the library, you can do so through the Ventura office.

Please keep the Childcare institute program in prayer as plans progress. For a brochure about the training or costs, please contact our North American director at his address listed in this newsletter.