I bring joyous greetings from the Lulwanda family. The year is coming to an end and it’s hard for us to realize that you will not be able to visit us this year. I know all of you are longing to see our kiddos! Our prayer always is for God to protect you and grant you good health so that we meet again come next year 2021. A lot of great things happened this month and we are grateful to the Almighty Lord for what He is doing in our midst. It’s now a full month since certain measures were lifted after the lockdown by the government.
Many people have lost their lives across the globe and life has changed for all families due to the effects of covid-19. The pain and fear shared by all the people across the globe is still fresh on our minds and our prayer for 2021 is total healing and recovery from the Coronavirus. As we re-opened the Home to allow staff members like teachers to return, and community candidate kids reported back to School as announced by the government, we had great fear that the virus could easily be spread to the Lulwanda Children. Thankfully we have not registered any related covid-19 case and we are grateful to the Almighty God. Continue praying that nothing will ever happen to our Children and staff members.
HEALTH
All our Children and staff members are doing great. We have all the first aid medical supplies to take care of the minor illnesses like flu, cough and minor injuries as they play during the free time. All our Children including the house moms received a dose of Albendazole tablets for deworming this month. We are in touch with our health partners like Joy Hospice in case there is a need to carry out laboratory tests. We have given our Children supplements of daily vitamins to boost their immunity. Mary Namari still has the challenges with her sight which has affected her studies at school. She was taken back to St. Benedict Eye Centre-Tororo and placed an order for a special pair of glasses which will improve her sight.
SOCIAL BONDING
We shall NOT take our Children in the villages for social bonding with the clan members as has been the case previously. We can’t risk the lives of our Children where we are not sure that the Ministry of Health guidelines and procedures will be adhered to during the Christmas period. It’s again a blessing to celebrate Christmas with all our Children. We plan to have a number of activities to simply enjoy Christmas and also teach our Children the real meaning as to why Christ came into the world.
TENDO CHILDREN
A total of 12 Children have completed the two year stay at Tendo and will be exiting it by December 2020. At this point, we believe all of them have acquired the necessary life skills to survive outside Tendo. This will help us to create space to accommodate the new entrants who have been reintegrated after reaching the age of 18 years. I will be sending the updated list of Children entering and exiting Tendo next month.
UNIVERSITY CHILDREN
We have six Children who should have joined the University by August 2021 but due to covid-19 this has not gone to plan. Peace Ayombe, Brenda Namakoye, Mary Nalumansi, and Joseph Wabuyi have been admitted at Uganda Christian University Mbale. Ambrose Mutema was admitted at Livingstone University Mbale and Malvin Nakayenze at Makerere University- Kampala on a government sponsorship. This month, Peace Ayombe, Mary Nalumansi and Brenda Namakoye are conducting online studies right now while Joseph, Ambrose and Malvin will begin next year January 2021. The ones studying online are doing well and have shown interest in the studies. University and trade school is becoming very expensive due to the increasing number of Children joining every year. We continue to pray for God’s providence in catering for the educational needs of our Children. The final year students were meant to graduate this year 2020 but due to the closure of all schools and Universities, they were unable to complete and graduate last July 2020. Right now they are winding up the assignments and hopefully, they will be able to graduate next year 2021. Continue praying for them that nothing hinders the way as they wind up with their studies and let the Almighty God protect them while at the University.
SECONDARY REPORTING
All our secondary kids who reported back to school are doing well. We did not have an opportunity to visit them due to covid-19 restrictions. We provided all the scholastic materials and requirements needed at school including the fees. However, we are in touch with the school administration in case there are additional needs. They will be breaking off for holidays on 18th/December and go back to school in early January 2021 as they prepare to do the final exams in March and April 2021. Let us continue praying for them to excel in the final exams.
LULWANDA PRIMARY SCHOOL
All is well for the primary school as teachers are busy helping our children to complete the syllabus before the closure of the second term. The candidate Children have been registered with the Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) and they will be sitting for the final exams in March 2021. The Lower primary kids are equally busy learning from Home as schools are not yet open for lower classes. The candidate Children will break off on December 18th and come back early January 2021.
FARM
Our Children have harvested maize and beans they planted in the first season and they are soon harvesting for the second season. Children together with the house mothers have participated greatly in the garden work and they do it out of love because it’s their responsibility and duty. We have small vegetable gardens around the new houses and Children enjoy picking a few leaves to add to their diet. Our children enjoy taking milk from the farm cows on a daily basis. This has helped to save money which we would be spending to buy milk to boost the immunity of our Children. Once in a while our Children eat pork slaughtered from our piggery farm and once we raise more chicken, then our Children will start enjoying Chicken meat.
CONCLUSION
Thank you for the support and we are so grateful for your kind hearts. As we get close to celebrating Christ’s birth, let us reflect on the hope, peace, love and joy brought by Christ. His arrival brought transformation in the world which can’t be disputed by all loving Children of God. We are planning to have a Christmas party for the staff members together with our Children on December 19th 2020. Sending you all lots of love from Lulwanda and wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS!
IN HIM
Paul Isabirye
Administrator – Lulwanda Children’s Home
