Global Aid Network Mission Reports

Reported by Kathy R.:

Greetings from Uganda.  I wish you were here with me.  The ministry here is going so well.  Our team has been working in the home with these precious children and caretakers (aunties).  On Monday we met with the children in the Christian school they have started on the grounds.  We walked by teams into the village and went to some of the homes of the students.  We witnessed to the parents of the students and took them sugar and soap and a gospel apron as a gift.  It was an incredible blessing.  Tuesday and Wednesday we did the same thing in the villages.  On Saturday we will have an outreach/through the school with a morning of activities with the children and an afternoon outreach with the parents.  Please pray for these times.

Words cannot express the beauty of the children and the country or the depths of the poverty of the village.   

Many of you know the story of Jefta.  The little baby who was found burned and covered with dirt.  Yesterday, beautiful little black naked bodies were running out of the home to greet us as we walked back from the time in the villages.   What had happened.  They had just had their evening baths and hearing us, escaped from the aunties and ran out to greet us.  2-4 years olds, healthy and beautiful.  We helped get them back into the home and started putting on nappies-diapers and clothes.  I picked up one, really healthy-read “a chunk of change” to put a diaper on him and his jammies.  It was JEFTA.  He was constantly smiling and laughed as I blew on his tummy and counted his toes.  What a joy to give him hugs and kisses and silently pray for this sweet boy.  The wounds have healed so well, but they are still well seen.  There are so many stories like this.  But to see their joy, happiness, all the food they want and great education now with the school along with big doses of love is a huge blessing. 

 Our team taking tour of Noah’s Ark Children’s Home upon arrival.

New Construction of Health Center

Students pray before lunch on the first day of school.

(120 Students grades 1-4)

We praise God for the safe travel He’s given the Global Aid Network Uganda team.  They have arrived safely for their layover in London, and the advance team in Uganda is eagerly awaiting their arrival.

During this project the team will continue to minister to the children at the Noah’s Ark Children’s Home, but will also have the opportunity to visit a local school serving 120 children.  Volunteers will be able to minister to the students’ families one-by-one, and present friendship gifts of sugar, soap, and other items in addition to sharing the life-changing message of the Gospel.

Please continue to pray for the team’s safe travel, and for God to prepare the hearts of those they will encounter.

It is the final day of the trip and a telephone call came in from the local police station that a child had been abandoned.  The founders of Noah’s Ark Children’s Ministry in Mukono, Uganda get such calls very often.  The orphanage is home to 65 children.  Well, that was before the call.  Pita, one of the directors of the home and two social workers left in the early afternoon to pick up the orphan child.  When they returned, the Global Aid Network team was surprised to see, not one, but three children—one in the arms of each worker.  Patricia, a frightened and skinny two year-old girl, held Pita tightly pressing her head against Pita’s neck.  Henry, also two years old and his baby brother, only a few months old were scantily clothed.  The three looked dirty, hungry and in need of tender care and attention.  Moved with compassion, Pita named the baby ‘Nathan’ meaning ‘a gift from God.’  The team from Global Aid Network had a prayer service with the newly found children and praised God for the work of Noah’s Ark.

A fifteen member team from Global Aid Network visited Uganda over a ten-day period in November 2006.  While there, the team had the privilege of staying at the Noah’s Ark Children’s Ministry.  Global Aid Network had partnered with Noah’s Ark in building a home for children who were abandoned and those who had lost their parents to war, AIDS and malaria. The ministry has sent aid to build a wall  around the facility, which was necessary due to the constant abduction of children for child sacrifice and human trafficking. Piet and Pita Buitendijk had been making missionary trips from the Netherlands to Uganda since 1996 and in 2000, sensing the direction of the Lord, they decided to build a home to shelter a number of Uganda’s 3.4 million orphans. Since then, the home has expanded to facilitate the increasing number of children, is now situated on 19 acres of farmland and has 20 work aides and a pastor to attend to their spiritual needs.

The team had numerous ministry opportunities in the local schools, church and at the orphanage.  Uganda, like the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa is severely affected by the AIDS epidemic.  The team shared its HIV/AIDS program with over 1,200 students from 2 local high schools, emphasizing the need for abstinence before marriage, fidelity in marriage and Christ-like character development as a means of stemming the AIDS pandemic.  They were also able to distribute toys and share the unfailing love of Christ to 300 children at an elementary school.

A rare ministry opportunity came for several members of the team when, while returning from a school presentation, rain diverted their mile-long walk back to the orphanage to a hut serving as a restaurant. There, the team met 12 people from the nearby village.  After introductions, the team shared their game presentation with the villagers.  The local pastor, who had accompanied them, had the opportunity to meet the parents of some of the children who attended Sunday school at his church and to share Christ with them using gospel bracelets that include beads of various colors that help to simply communicate the Good News of Jesus.

Currently, as night shelters close in northern Uganda and the refugee camps are phased out more children are expected to be on the streets.  Global Aid Network is monitoring the conditions, poised to send additional compassionate aid as needed.  Let us continue to pray for the work of Noah’s Ark Children’s Ministry and the people of Uganda as they struggle to survive in a nation recovering from political, social and economical upheaval.

Global Aid Network will be sending a ministry team, November 4th to 18th later this year as they continue their support in this needy country. For further information on how to participate in this upcoming mission trip or donate to the work being done in Uganda, please visit our website at: http://www.gainusa.org/give/detail.cfm?id=8 .

Can two people make a world-wide difference?  Pietr & Pita Butendijk are a loving couple from the Netherlands who founded the Noah’s Ark Children Home in Uganda.  The compound stretches for twenty-three acres and is secure, protecting children from animals and kidnapping.  Recently, a Global Aid Network team traveled to Noah’s Ark to assist Pietr & Pita in their ministry.  Over the course of the next several days, American volunteers had the opportunity to minister to these 68 children first-hand, in addition to sharing AIDS education and the gospel inside three schools in the surrounding area.

Ministry at the orphanage itself is a never ending opportunity.  According to Kathy R., “You never left ministry there.  In the mornings some of our volunteers were up.  They were bathing babies [and] every child gets a bath.  And they change clothes several times a day, they were helping them change clothes, get dressed, get ready for breakfast.  And then we went all day and at night some of them were praying with them, helping them read stories and that kind of thing.  So you never left ministry.”

A tragic reality around the world is that some babies – especially girls – are simply abandoned by their parents.  Though many parents grieve as they turn over their kids to authorities, sadly others have different stories.  Kathy shared about one such orphaned girl named Elizabeth.  “Elizabeth was found on the side of the road in a bag.  She still had afterbirth on her, she had never been cleaned up, she was covered in flies.  [Today,] she is one of the most confident little girls you will ever see in your life.”

The Noah’s Ark Children’s Home in Uganda is a refuge for orphans from all walks of life, and each story is truly unique.  Just take Mary, Margaret, and Gladys, for example.  According to Kathy, “They are precious triplets…just beautiful, smiling girls.  The mother had given birth to one of them and was hemorrhaging and was actually driven by bicycle 40 miles, delivered the other two, and then she died.  The father and the grandmother couldn’t possibly take care of nine children – they were very poor farmers.  It wasn’t a lack of love; it was just a lack of ability.”

And that’s where Pietr and Pita of Noah’s Ark came in, providing home and hope for these three girls and many others – teaching them about the love of their heavenly Father in the process.  Through the love of Jesus, these people are changing the world one child at a time.