I greet you all in the name of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. We continue to thank all of you for the great work you are doing in the lives of the Lulwanda children. I hope all of you are doing well by the Grace of the Almighty God. This month we had a number of activities which l would love to bring to your attention.
HEALTH
Health has been well within the Lulwanda family. Our malaria rates have continued to reduce greatly because of fumigation of the compound, mosquito net compliance, and additional mosquito-repelling donated medicine that has been placed around the compound. House Mothers are doing a great job recognizing illness early and bringing to Uncle Ryan for treatment. Our main area of concern now is water treatment and cleanliness. We are trying to obtain water filters for each home to treat drinking water that is normally bacteria filled, but are having a hard time locating them within Uganda.
We are grateful to God for his provision of health over this place. Please continue to be prayerful for God’s protection.
We continue to take Mary Nambozo and Ketty Kakayi to receive medical care and attention from the psychiatric medical personnel in Mbale Regional Referral Hospital. So far the two girls are progressing well and their social life has greatly improved. Next month 3 medical personnel from the psychiatric department of Mbale Hospital will hold a two day training workshop with the house moms, administration and the social workers on how to assess and handle children who are emotionally unwell.
This month the government carried out a national immunization against measles and rubella. The focus was for children below 14 years and the target was to reach out 18 million children. The government targeted all schools in Uganda, hospitals and public places to realize the target. At LPS all community and home children were immunized and protected against the killer disease. We had a total of 46 LCH children who received the vaccine. The government assured the public that the vaccine was safe for the children and that there are no side effects in future.
NEW KIDS – GREAT NEWS!
We are in advanced stages of bringing in 6 new kids at the beginning of next month!! We have compiled the reports for the new children that include the social inquiry and right now we are working on the care orders before bringing them to Lulwanda. We are waiting on the probation officer and the Chief Magistrate to complete the paper work for legal guardianship. We are all excited to receive the new kids and we want to thank you for the financial support. Below are the names of the new kids;
Esther Asekenye (5 yrs), James Auloyi (8 yrs), Brian Kotoje (5 yrs), Zeulesi Mudondo (8 yrs), Jackline Amongin (6 yrs), Timothy Otim (3 yrs).
We have also submitted names of our kids to the probation officer whose care orders expire this month and need renewal. These include; Ketty Kakayi, Whitney Khanakhwa, Dan Makhonje, Mark Pande and Mary Nambozo.
VISITATION OF CHILDREN
It is always a blessing to visit our children while they are in boarding school. The purpose of the visit is to find out the child’s progress (Academic, health and the social wellbeing) and also complete their school fees payment. We are happy to inform you that all the children were found in good health. Academically some had performed well while others are still struggling. We encouraged them to work hard, prayed with them, had lunch and then wished them success in their forth coming exams. A final list of the best performers will be compiled at the end of term so that the children can be rewarded for their hard work.
S.4 AND S.6 CANDIDATES
We are grateful to the Almighty God that 14 of our S.4 kids started their final exams at the beginning of this month and will have all completed doing their papers by the end of this month. At the beginning of November, 5 of our S.6 Kids (Malvin, Peace, Mary, Ambrose and Joseph) will begin the final exams and, God willing, they will be joining a University by next year 2020. Let us continue praying for them that none will fall sick and that God grants them wisdom to pass the exams.
LPS CHANGES
As we come to the end of the year, we are planning to invite all the community parents of LPS students and brief them about the strategies from the US GICF Board to be implemented by next year 2020. Some of the changes to be implemented next year are to recruit community children around Lulwanda Home to benefit from the quality education. However we shall maintain a maximum of 25 kids per class. The plan is that community kids coming to LPS will only contribute 80,000= (Eighty thousand shillings) per term which is affordable to village parents to cater for tuition. The coaster bus will no longer be used to drive community children from Mbale town to Lulwanda Primary School. Instead the Coaster shall be used to take our Secondary Children from Lulwanda to Mbale town and back.
SECONDARY SCHOOL CHANGES
We are planning to make changes in the secondary education of our Children. We have realized that our children being far from us in boarding school is causing behavioral issues since they lack parental guidance and mentorship. This has also led to poor performance because of too much freedom and lack of supervision while they are in boarding schools. Our desire is to see our children raised in an upright manner both mentally and spiritually. So next year most of our children will be taken in the Coaster to a good day school in Mbale town (Mbale Secondary School), and return them to LCH in the evening. This will help us to check on the progress of our children on a daily basis and have the evening fellowship together. Some of our kids who are focused and are performing and behaving well shall remain in the boarding schools.
DEDICATION OF PRIMARY SEVEN CANDIDATES
It is routine for LCH to always hold a dedication service for the Primary Seven children. This year’s program started with Assembly in church, worship & intercession, praises, official opening prayer, dedication and prayer for candidates and presentation of cards. The main preacher was Pastor Richard Wamboka from Masanda Presbyterian church. The day was marked with a tour to a Wild Life Centre, swimming at Mt. Elgon and finally lunch & cutting the cake at Uncle Ryan’s home. We thank God for this day and we believe our candidates are going to pass with good grades.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
We are grateful to Sharon Church-McDonough, GA who donated money to purchase musical instruments for the discipleship department. The instruments purchased include; 2 full range speakers, a digital keyboard, a bass guitar, an electronic-acoustic guitar and a set of local drums. We are grateful to Ryan and Megan who coordinated the fundraising and delivered all the monies to Lulwanda. Please be praying that God can provide through donors the funds for purchasing a mixer and amplifier so that we can lead worship and events both at Lulwanda and at Bulolelo Church effectively.
CONCLUSION
Once again, we thank each you for touching the lives of Lulwanda Children through prayers and financial support. We feel happy when all our children are progressing well and there is a bright future ahead of them which could have been a nightmare if it was not for your support. We are so grateful and may the Almighty God bless!
In Him
Paul Isabirye
Administrator
LCH
