I bring greetings from the little ones of Lulwanda Children’s Home. If you were here every child would wake up in the morning and say hello to each of you. All our children appreciate the love and care you show them. This is clearly seen when some of you come to visit Lulwanda and look at the beautiful smiles on the faces of the children. A lot has happened this month and once again I’m glad to report on some of the activities.
HEALTH
Overall health has been good at Lulwanda. Our kids rarely get malaria now, and apart from cough and flu occasionally, there is not much to report. Mental health continues to be a renewed focus and a team of Christian counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists continue to work with certain children with special mental health needs. All children have been dewormed and are in good health.
SPECIAL TRAINING
We held a two day long training program with three Christian counselors and one Psychologist from Mbale Regional Referral Hospital this month. The training covered various topics like how to connect with children that have been through trauma, team building exercises, alternative care methods, and parenting skills. Other areas also covered included; identifying roles, strengths and weaknesses of caregivers, the various stages of growth and child development needs at each stage, and identifying the causes of stress and stress management strategies.
Attendees included social workers, administration and all house mothers. The first day was held on the LCH campus and day two was held at Lulwanda Tendo.
NEW KIDS !!!
Once again it was a great joy for the Lulwanda family to receive six new children this month. It was an exciting moment for all the staff and the children. Singing, dancing and jubilation covered their homecoming event as Zeulesi Mudondo, Brian Kotoje, Timothy Otim, Jackie Amongin, Esther Asekenye and James Auloyi entered the gate of Lulwanda. We are grateful to the Almighty God that these kids have been rescued and right now there is hope that they will be able to reach their full potential. Our gratitude goes to our donors and sponsors for the support given in restoring hope to these orphans.
CHRISTMAS SEASON
We held the annual Christmas party this month for our children. Sharon Baptist Church from McDonough Georgia donated money through the Kelleys to buy additional Christmas gifts for all the Lulwanda children. With the money donated, two new pieces of playground equipment were purchased; all playground equipment was fixed and repainted. Small toys and chocolates were also presented to the young children along with the playground overhaul.
The older (secondary school age) children each received a small rechargeable portable speaker with a flash drive containing ten (10) mixed genre Christian albums, a videogame (FIFA 20) for PS4, and chocolate. Lulwanda Tendo and University students received a cash gift. We are so thankful for the kind donation of Sharon Baptist Church.
We also bought Christmas clothes and shoes for all our children using the money received from GICF. All the items were purchased by Mama Aida. Special appreciation goes to the GICF for the continuous support rendered to the children.
Lulwanda Primary School
The primary school organized a study tour for P.4-P7 students to the Parliament of Uganda in Kampala. They were welcomed by the Speaker of parliament as they were seated in the Gallery of parliament. After the parliamentary session, our children met the Speaker in visitors’ board room where they had face to face interactions. The Speaker encouraged our children to be God fearing, disciplined and work hard while at school so that they become the future leaders of Uganda. One of our kids read a letter to the Speaker in which they appreciated the work of the Speaker and more so being at the forefront in fighting for the rights of children. Later our children had the opportunity to meet other members of parliament who were still in the parliamentary chambers and corridors. The tour ended by visiting the Uganda museum where they saw and learnt so many things about Uganda.
We had a graduation ceremony of the nursery children (kindergarten) graduating to primary one. The occasion was colorful as the nursery children had several performances which included the poems, songs and at the climax a northern traditional Karamojong dance known as ”Raka Raka dance.” The parents and children were grateful to God for how far He has brought us.
As term three come to an end, most of our children have been promoted to the next level of classes. However, a few of our primary kids will repeat their class in order to master some concepts before being promoted to the next level.
SECONDARY CHILDREN
Most of our secondary school children have safely returned home to LCH for holidays. They will be reporting back for the new term at the beginning of next year in late January 2020. Meanwhile all the candidates for S.4 and S.6 completed their final UNEB examinations, and results will be released in the middle of February 2020. The rest of the secondary students have been promoted to the next level of classes apart from the two girls at Tororo Girls School who have been advised to repeat the same classes due to performing below expectations.
LPS PTA MEETING
We held the PTA (Parents and Teachers Association) meeting in which we explained the new changes at LPS starting 2020. In this meeting we explained to the parents that with effect from January 2020, we shall not provide transport to all the community children due to the rising costs in gas and maintenance. Secondly, the coaster which has been used to carry the Community children will instead be used by our Secondary children going to a day Secondary school in Mbale town. We also informed the parents that we shall charge a total of eighty thousand shillings (80,000/=) per child per term. This would cover tuition and breakfast. However a lunch plan can be subscribed to and would be provided by a third party, Pastor David Muwoya, at an affordable amount of money. Meanwhile parents will buy uniforms from the local market at a cheaper price. The goal in the fees reduction is to help benefit the children in the villages around Lulwanda by giving them access to a quality education at an affordable fee at Lulwanda primary School. The parents were excited by the communication and thanked the GICF for loving the community children around Lulwanda and for reducing the school fees.
CONCLUSION
Thank you for the love and desire to know what takes place at Lulwanda. You are very supportive and caring to the children that the Lord Has entrusted in our hands. All our children know about this because you have restored hope and their future is now bright. It is a blessing to be a part of this story and we pray that God continues to provide for us. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support.
Kind regards,
Paul Isabirye
Administrator
LCH
