Informal School & Kampingsa

Today marked another big day for Tomorrow’s Heroes, we started our informal school. I don’t know if school is too big a word – we have 8 kids coming at the moment – but like I always say – I don’t care about numbers, I care about making relationships. That’s why we had to limit the numbers, we want this to have a lasting impact on these children and that’s the only way we can do it. The Sunday program is great, we get to meet over 50 kids every week but this is more intimate, more special, it gives us a chance to really get to know these kids.

The aim of the school is to build up relationships with the kids, to get to know them and their circumstance and then to find out what is the best way we can help them. We have one main teacher- Katherine, and then Luke (on his day off-Thurs) and Kevin are going to help her. It happens every Tue and Thurs from 10am-1pm. Please pray for the leaders and the kids.

Unfortunately today there were only 3 of the 8 children at the school; a lot of the children have been put into Kampingsa. On Sunday the police arrested the children as they were sleeping  outside and took them to the police station, we then heard today that they had taken them to Kampingsa, Kampingsa is a ‘remand home’ for the boys, the boys hate it, it’s more like a prison, they beat the boys and live in uncomfortable conditions. The boys have told me some terrible stories about this place and that’s why every street child fears the police. As we grow up we know that the police is where we go when we are in trouble, not here, not for these boys, when they see the police, they know that means trouble. So about half our class were taken to Kampingsa, Kevin went today to see if he could get them out. Please pray that the children are safe and if they run away from Kampingsa that their journey to Kampala is safe.

 

On a more personal and happier note, Luke got a permanent job here in Uganda, starting in Aug. He will be the After School Coordinator for one of the biggest international schools here. We are both very happy, as this means that our future here is more certain :) At the moment we are looking for a house to live in after we get married

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Future…

It’s been a while since I last blogged, a lot has been happening and I haven’t had a moment to spare.

As you can see from the photos below the boys in the home are all very happy at the moment, they are enjoying school and working hard. We always have such a great time when we go to the house and we are really blessed to have such fantastic boys, their future looks bright .Unfortunately a sponsor has stopped sponsoring Nelson, if this is something you feel you can contribute to please get in touch.

 

Now for some exciting news…

Future…

 

Over the next few months we are exploring the possibility of opening another home (another 8 boys and another uncle). This is a long process and one that we do not want to rush. It will probably not happen until early September. Over the last couple of months we have been observing the children’s behaviour and trying to find out what children are ready for this step. We have plans to start an informal school two mornings a week for children who we think are ready and willing to leave their street life behind.  Through this informal school it will give us a chance to explore the different possibilities open to each child, whether that is resettlement with their family, joining the ILP home or being connected to another home.

We are excited about what the futures holds!

I remember a long time ago, about 3 or 4 years ago I had a book, in this book I wrote down my hopes/ my vision/ my dreams I had for the street kids, it always circled around a drop in centre. I still have this dream that one day I will be involved in a drop in centre, a place that is safe for these kids, a place that can really take the time to assess the best situation for these children and a place where the children can learn how to be children again. But as we look to the future I see this informal school as the first step. The only down side is that I won’t be involved with it ‘on the ground’, we are going to get volunteers to run this program (as I will be working at school). All I want to do is give up my job and do this full time, this is the reason I am in Uganda, but at the moment it is not possible, I pray that one day it will be.

 Another exciting piece of news is that we are starting the process of partnering with other street children organisations. In Uganda we are partnering with Frontline (Calvary Chapel Kampala Church), they hold a very similar program to TH on Saturdays. As we move forward together we can gain skills from one another that benefit the children. In the UK we are partnering with Abaana Ministries, (a charity very close to my heart), they will help us with fundraising, very soon all donations will go through Abaana, they will gift aid them and then they will be sent out to Uganda.

Please continue to pray for us as we look into the future and the many possibilities that lie ahead.

 

ILP House

The 8 boys and Kevin (William is at boarding school when this photo was taken)

Kevin, Moses, Tom, Mathias, Musa, Lawrence, Peter, Nelson, Matthew

Lawrence is settling into the home very well!!

 

A Typical Sunday @ Tomorrow’s Heroes!

 

Laurence

We have known little Laurence for a long time, he has been coming to the Sunday program for a long time, he is a cute kid who would brighten up anyone’s day. His usual greeting is a run and a hug around the waist! As he is very young (around 10yrs old) he has always been a boy we’ve had our eyes on. His behaviour is great, unfortunately he doesn’t have much English but we look forward to seeing that improve.

So Laurence’s story… one day I come to the house and he is lying on Tom’s bed sleeping, Tom was at the church getting some extra teaching from Suzi and had brought Laurence back to the house with him. I didn’t really think much about it and assumed that he would probably leave. I then talked to the uncle and he said that he wanted to stay; we let him stay the night and wondered if he would stay any longer. William was leaving for boarding school in a week so we knew we had a space available in the house. After a lot of talking with Laurence and finding out more about his history and background we decided that he would be a great fit for the house. He was excited to register at school and to stay in the house and become part of the family! We have half a sponsor for him so are looking for the other half (£25 a month).

 

Two Sundays ago we packed the car full and took William to boarding school, it was a very special day, William thought the school was amazing and said it looked like ‘heaven!’. It’s a fantastic school and hopefully he will love every minute he is there (and learn a lot!). As we were filling out the forms I turned to William and said, ‘how old are you?’ He shyly said ‘17’ and giggled a bit, we both knew that he was a lot older but if he wanted to say 17 I wasn’t going to put down something different. He is going to be in a class with a lot of younger students but he doesn’t care as long as he completes school. I asked him why he wanted to go to secondary school and he responded, so that I can go home and provide for my mum.  

 

Home visits/ big news!

As I went home for the Christmas holidays we encouraged the boys to do the same, to go to their villages and visit a family member (brother, mum, dad, auntie, granny). This was a risk. We were not sure how the families (or the child) would respond. For some of the children they hadn’t seen their families in over 5 years. We gave them the choice, they didn’t have to go or they could stay for a month/week or even just a day. But all wanted to go, so just before Christmas the boys dispersed throughout Uganda with a leader to see their families. It was great to hear all about their time at home and most were welcomed with open arms. One boy’s father, after seeing his ‘lost son’ said that he could now ‘die in peace’!

The eldest boy, William, sat his Primary school leaving exams before Christmas and at the start of the week we were told that he passed, this was such a huge achievement for him. He told me that he is the only one to have done this in his family. To celebrate we took the boys to the beach on Thursday as it was a public holiday, it was a great day. We have decided to put William into a boarding school as these are the better schools. We have found a great one about an hour outside of the city. It will be the same one that some of the Abaana boys go to, so I’m going to make sure they look after him! This also means that we can take another child off the streets and bring him into the home.

Over the last 2 weeks we have been very lucky to have a past volunteer with us, Suzi got in touch with me about 4 months ago and asked if she could do her teaching placement with the street kids. So this week Suzi (and her mum Caroline) have been working with 10 street boys in the morning and then in the evening they go to the home. It has been great and the boys have responded so well to having being taught on such an individual bases.

As we look to a new year we are excited about what is ahead. Big things happened last year and I believe God will be working hard this year as well!

For those of you who don’t know, I got a very special Christmas present this year – a diamond ring!!! Luke dropped to his knee and asked the big question the first day I was home. My answer was of course ‘yes!’ We had a week to plan most of the wedding and surprisingly got a lot done, I even found my dress!! Luke then came back to Uganda with me and has been looking for job opportunities, at the moment he is doing part time stuff (swimming lessons, tutoring) but has managed to fill up his week. When he does have a spare minute he is busy doing the Tomorrow’s Heroes work that I don’t have time to do. He is looking for more permanent work and a couple of opportunities have come up that he is exploring, please continue to pray that God will open up a door.

Christmas party/end of year

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start writing, the last few months have been incredible. I have seen 8 boys changed, their sad faces have changed to happy faces, their hunger has gone, their old dirty rags have been replaced by nice clean clothes, they are sleeping on a proper bed instead of a cardboard box, they have love and they are showing love, their broken English is improving, their temper and hatred for life is disappearing, and their love for God is growing. It’s magical to see. It’s a privilege to witness.

 

The Christmas party was a blast! The kids had such a great time. We started the day with a talent show, and then went on to play musical statues and pass the parcel. Then the kids ate, and my… did they eat!!  When we were playing pass the parcel, Tom was smiling away and dancing to himself out of the circle, I said, ‘Tom, why are you not playing, you might win,’ he replied, ‘no I can’t win, the present is for the street children!’ and then he continued dancing with a huge smile on his face, I grabbed him and gave him a huge kiss on the top of his head!! It is such a delight to see Tom smiling and happy, he now knows that he is no longer a street child, he no longer has this label.

 

Pass the parcel

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Mathias cooking |

Musical statues —–>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the kids ate, Amos told them the Christmas story, emphasising and concluding our theme that Jesus is the Ultimate Hero. Then the kids got to get their Christmas gifts – either a pair of shorts or a t-shirt and a pair of Niginers (plastic sandals), they were all so happy to receive these. THANK YOU to all that donated clothes. (I am still collecting clothes of all sizes, even adult size for the older kids, so if you find yourself with too many items of clothing this year, please pass them my way-esp jumpers, trainers and trousers.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the kids disappeared into the night I look around me and I see faces that have been with me every week, in the pouring rain, in the hot sun… no matter what the weather they are there. And it dawns on me how blessed Tomorrow’s Heroes is to have such a dedicated team of leaders. Leaders that love these kids with all their hearts, leaders that don’t want to see these kids in the situation that they are in, leaders that are willing to give up every Sunday to play and have fun with these children that the rest of society despise and reject. As we close and give our thanks to God, I give thanks for these leaders, who each have their own talents and gifts and are using them to bring glory to God. Without these leaders, tomorrow’s heroes would not happen.

 

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Tomorrow’s Heroes Leaders – Joseph,  Antonio, Kevin, Abbie, Mark, David, Nasser, Zara, Amos, Derrick, Timothy (missing in the photo – Jonah and Pamela)

It’d been an amazing year and God has been working hard! I would like to take this time to say thank you, thank you for giving, thank you for praying, thank you for caring for these vulnerable children here in Uganda. Lives are being changed; hearts are being won for Christ… Thank you. From me, the kids and the leaders, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

life is bulungi (good)

Today as the program was going on I looked around at what was happening. For some reasons it was so relaxed, the kids were smiling and happy, the leaders were having fun and it made me think and I started to realize how much God has done over the last year. In 2 weeks we will be having our Christmas party, this time last year we had nothing, Tomorrow’s Heroes didn’t exist. And as I looked around I saw mostly familiar faces, kids that have been coming since the start, I smiled at Kato as he walked passed me, he sticks out his hand and ‘bongas’ me, then I saw Bwanika and I make a funny face because I knew that he would laugh, these kids are no longer just street kids to me, they have become my friends. And every week I look forward to seeing them and hearing their stories. Sometimes I forget their situation, I just think of Ash as the boy that is always smiling or of Herbert who always wants to make trouble or of Emma who always wants to help, but when these boys aren’t with us, they live on the streets, it breaks my heart that they don’t have anyone who loves them. One of the main aims of Tomorrow’s Heroes is to build up relationships with the children, actually that is central to everything we do- we become friends. As I looked around I continued to realize how much God has blessed us, with fantasitc kids and leaders, we have some fantastic leaders who love the kids dearly and without them we would not be able to run.

 

Tom has settled into the house very well and the other boys are taking on the role as his big brothers. In Uganda they have their big holiday in December/January so most of the boys are sitting their exams and will soon be off for Christmas. The kids have a busy Christmas period, in two weeks time they are going to a scripture union camp and then after that they are going for a visit to their relatives. We felt that it was so important to try and keep a link with a member from the kid’s family, as in Ugandan culture the family is central to everything. We let the child choose who they would like to visit, we then made contact with the family member and then over Christmas one of our volunteers will take the child home. Some (like Tom, who only has a granny left) will stay for the afternoon; others will stay for a week or two. It’s a daunting task and I fear what the results might be, some relatives might be thrilled to see their kids, others might not. But hopefully over time the relationship between the child and his family can become strong. We have kids from all over Uganda, for some, like Nelson, William and Moses it will take over 10 hours to get home. Please pray for all the kids as they make this very hard journey.

 

We have our Christmas party on the 11 Dec, all year we have been learning about the Heroes of the Bibles, the Christmas party will round of the topic with Jesus as our ultimate hero. We are going to party, party, party! We will have a nice big meal and sodas and then give each child a gift (tshirt, soap, sweets) The 4 Americans that are working for abaana at the moment have kindly donated flip flops for each child as well . W are going to have a talent show, play pass the parcel, dance, play games and have sooo much fun. I’m excited, please pray for this event that in amongst all the fun the children will learn the true meaning of Christmas (Amos will be doing the talk).

 

On a completely different note (sorry this is a long post, anyone still with me?!) some great news… Luke booked a ticket out to Uganda in Jan, he has not got a job confirmed but is hoping to start a Sat youth club and do a variety of coaching sessions (amongst the International community), hopefully all this will pay the bills! The best thing is that he will be able to help with the work load of Tomorrow’s Heroes, and as always two heads are better than one! He hopefully will have a lot more free time so can really invest time into TH. This came at the right time as I got told this week that after Christmas I will have to move down to Year 4 (at the moment I teach year 5 with a very small class, the two year 5 class are joining into one class), this was a huge concern for me during the week as the move will involve me having to do a lot more school work (planning, harder class) and I worried I wouldn’t have enough time to invest in TH. But God had it all worked out, and three days after being stressed out, Luke had booked a ticket.

I’m home in 3 weeks, its crazy how time flies…

 

Over and out.

Kx

Coming Home :)

Last Sunday was a special day. I had told Tom to come to church, Matthew had volunteered to lend him his clothes and Rachel and Tara bought him shoes so there would be no problem with him coming. So just before church starts, I’m about to walk through the door, when I see a small street kid crouched over crying. I couldn’t see who it was, but was sure that I would know him, so went over. To my surprise it was Tom. He was in tears because they wouldn’t let him into church because he didn’t have any shoes on (someone had stolen his two nights before). So we marched off down the road to get him another pair of shoes. As we were crossing the road I realized we were holding hands, I can’t remember if I grabbed his hand or if he held my hand, but either way this seemed like a big step with Tom, who is usually quite distant. So after we get his shoes we walk into church, because of the bombing last summer there is always tight security. I walk in first and I can see the security men looking at Tom, they said to me, ‘is he with you?’

I proudly replied, ‘yes.’

His reply, ‘Keep an eye on him, he’s trouble.’

I look down at Tom, no wonder he acts the way he does, all he comes across is rejection. We walk up to church and everyone is so surprised to see him looking so clean and smart, he stays by my side the whole time. He fell asleep during the service, but at least he could sleep in peace!

During the program I decided that there was no point in waiting any longer – it was time to take Tom home. I told all the other boys to go home and tidy up and Tom and I went out for a nice meal of chicken and chips. His English is so good and it was great to hear more about his past and his ambitions and dreams. We then went to the house, the boys all cheered when we walked in, they were excited to see him, I think they are all going to treat him as their baby brother!

Tom is home, tom is loved, Tom is no longer a street child. Hallelujah!

Sleeping rough in Kampala

So this time last week I did something that I probably never thought I would do. I (and some of the Abaana crew, including Scott) slept out on the streets of Kampala. For one night I was a street child. I got to experience life as it is for them. Conclusion: It’s not easy. The kids (and even more so the people passing) were amused at what we (the white people) were doing. We literally slept on cardboard boxes and in potato sacks (which went up to my knee-not so great as a blanket! But kept my shoes safe, so no one could steal them!)

At the start I didn’t think I was going to sleep, I didn’t feel so safe, but Abaana brought security guards to look after us, so eventually I gave in and tried to sleep. Unfortunately it wasn’t that easy. It was a mild night so at first the coldness was not too bad, but once it hit 3am it got very cold. The hard concrete, the noisiness of a busy city, the lights…all added to me waking up every 15minutes. It was hard, but what an experience, something that I hope I will never forget. It’s very easy to see these kids every week and then leave them and forget that this is their life. They live on a cardboard box, not for one day, but every single day, come rain or shine. 7…8…9 year old boys… young children, why are they not with a loving family tucked up in a warm bed at night, being kissed goodnight and read a bedtime story?? Instead they are cold, hungry and high on drugs. That’s something that really hit me that night, the fumes the boys were sniffing were intense, at one point I had to get up because the fumes were too much and giving me a sore head. But for these kids, it takes away the pain, it takes away the cold and it takes away the hunger- it’s why they use it, to help them get through the day.

There was a little boy called Muhammad, he must have been 7 years old, at first I thought he was with a brother but he wasn’t, he was by himself. He was the cutest wee boy, he literally didn’t stop laughing and giggling all night. We played with him and tickled him and his smile brought a smile to our faces, he was happy, he loved the attention. But I don’t know how he could be happy, his situation is unbearable, he is too young, but for one night he enjoyed having adults care for him. I think about his smile and hope one day that he will find a loving home and family.

By 6am we were up walking round the city collecting metal scrap and plastic bottles, after 3 hours we went to a dealer to get paid for our goods, for 3 hrs work we got 500ugx (about 12p) it was enough to buy a chapatti for breakfast. We then went home, the boys continued to work so that they could get lunch.

It’s a day I won’t forgot, a day that I hope when I get too comfortable with the ‘good’ life I will remember. And as I lie my head down every night in a comfortable warm bed, it  makes me thank God for the wonderful blessings he has given me and I send up a prayer for my friends knowing that God can use his servants to rescue these vulnerable children.

 

For more information about Tomorrow’s Heroes visit: http://streetchildrenuganda.wordpress.com/