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

I bring greetings from the big family of Lulwanda in the precious name of our Lord. We thank the Almighty God for enabling us to go through the month of September smoothly. His Grace has been sufficient to enable us to accomplish a number of activities. Allow me to report on the following.

Health

Medically the Lulwanda family is doing well. We have fumigated for bugs and pests and placed mosquito bait and traps throughout the compound. We received a large number of ProVector flowers from a donor in the US. These flowers contain bait and are placed in each room and mosquitos feed off them then die. Due to these combined efforts malaria cases have drastically reduced. We have had no major illnesses this month and are thankful to God for his provision of good health over our staff and children.

Almost all of our children are now in the new homes and their overall health is benefitting because of this. This smaller setting is allowing us to closely monitor mosquito net use and overall health. Many children also had dental work performed this month that was carried out successfully.

Hand Over Of House 5 & 6

We are grateful to the Almighty God that Houses 5 & 6 have been completed and handed over to us by the P&A contactors. The houses have been built very well and are ready for use by our kids as soon as we buy the household utensils and receive the furniture we ordered. We are so grateful to all of you for the donations made towards building for the future. We are sure that God shall remain faithful in the provision for the next phase, Houses 7 & 8. Thank you very very much for your generosity!!

Farewell Party For Hillary Jackson

This month we said a painful goodbye to Hillary as she returns to the US. She was a very instrumental missionary to the Children and staff of Lulwanda. She was working as the School Coordinator as well as the farm supervisor. At LPS a lot of changes were introduced to help the Children learn better, while in the farm she bought a milking machine to ease the work of the farm assistants, and also improve the quality of milk produced for our Children. A lot of impact has been left behind on both programs and I wish to thank her for tireless effort and the legacy left behind.

Hillary loved to take part of her daily schedule off to spend time playing with children. She taught our Children to make a mud house typical of African settings and this impressed many of our kids who up to now try and imitate the same even if she is gone. During her goodbye celebration, it was very emotional but she encouraged us when she said “I’m not going to cry” and stood strong to deliver her speech. We celebrated her great efforts and prayed for journey mercies. May the Lord continue protecting and using her while in US.

Women Conference

Our girl children in secondary school, Trade school and University participated in a three day women’s conference held at Mbale Secondary School on 5th – 7th September. The Theme was “The power of a praying woman.” The conference was organized by Mbale Presbyterian church and spearheaded by Mama Aida Ogenga and Pastor Morris Ogenga. Different motivational/inspirational speakers shared different life experiences with the women, all based on the Bible. Among things shared included the Love of Christ, and managing resources among believers (stewardship, budgeting and saving).

The last day was a fun night marked with the red carpet experience. Several women of different ages showed off their talent of fashion modeling, and the curtain raiser was Mama Aida Ogenga. Our daughter Mercy Chekwemboi excelled in the fashion show and received a lot of applause from the audience. Pastor Morris and Administrator Paul were called to show off on the runway and this attracted lots of laughter from the audience. The fun night was attended by several dignitaries from the US including Chairman Larry with Dee, Peter Palermo with Rosemary among others. The crowd was excited to see Dee and Rosemary participate on the catwalk.

Children Conference

Our Sunday school children attended the Children’s Discipleship conference held at Mbale Presbyterian church Mbale in partnership with Scripture Union Uganda. The Theme was “Watch Your Life and Doctrine Closely” 1 Timothy 4:16. For one week they were allowed to participate daily in all their age groups. The Children enjoyed all the activities and look forward to another conference.

Team Around The Child Panel

As we abide by the government laws of reintegration for Children approaching 18yrs of age, the following Children were presented to the District panel for assessment and approval. They included Gift Naluboka, Andrew Masiga, Phoebe Nambozo, Sandra Namakoye, Willy Joel Wamono, Mary Namubi, Sarah Fatuma Namubya, Wycliff Seddu, Zachariah Leka, Ivan Butali and Donah Nadunga.

This team guides and advises approved homes on assessments and reintegration, and also helps in improving social work practices.

Lulwanda Financial Analysis

We held a financial analysis discussion, with a goal of reducing the increasing expenditure to fit within the budget. The discussion was chaired by Larry Hoelscher and attended by Pastor Morris, Ryan, Osama and myself. We carried out a ranking for each expense category based on priority areas to reduce the expenditure. We also embraced the idea of using an envelope system for cash management, where cash will only be spent when the budget for that category was not yet used up. Major reductions were made in some categories and we are hopeful that the system will work out for the good of the home.
In enforcing the new changes, we held a staff meeting to share our thoughts with the staff members. I invited Pastor Morris and Chairman Larry to speak to the staff members and reinforce the directions.

Renewal Of Care Orders

We have embarked on the renewal of the care orders for some Children whose care orders are soon expiring. The care order is mainly given for a maximum period of three years and after three years the child can be reintegrated or the care order can be renewed depending on the circumstances at home. All these kids still need care and protection and will remain at Lulwanda. They include, Ketty Kakayi, Whitney Khanakhwa, Dan Makhonje and Mark Pande.

Conclusion

Finally a lot of thanks go out to the GICF donors and sponsors for supporting us financially, spiritually and morally as this has enabled us to accomplish the above activities. We appreciate your endless love and your continued support. God bless.

Yours faithfully,
Paul Isabirye
Administrator
Lulwanda Children’s Home

I bring greetings from the big family of Lulwanda and wish everyone well in all your endeavors. This month of August has been a blessing to us as we had all our Children back from boarding school and we got to interact and share stories from life at school, plus enjoy the fellowship as a family.

Health

The health of the children has been good; we have not had any serious complications and I am happy that Ryan is back from USA to handle any emergencies. He has been briefed of all medical issues and he is now ready to make a follow up of every child. Ryan started by testing for HIV and Glory be to God that all our Children were found to be negative apart from the two known cases. We thank the Almighty God for the protection put upon our Children and Staff.

Secondary School Children

We received all the secondary school children in good health and with no report of indiscipline across all schools. The performance of the children is good for those that are focused and hardworking in school unlike a few who are reluctant and came back with low grades. We have organized counseling sessions for slow learners to improve on their performance. None of our children was sent home for unpaid school fees; all their requirements were met on time whenever we were called upon. We continue to encourage them and give them proper guidance for them to excel in their studies. Furthermore, our reintegrated children studying at Miken Vocational Institute Mbale also ended their first three month’s study program this August for a short holiday and will soon complete their certificates. They are all doing well (Mike Wangota – commercial art and computer graphics, Betty Namutosi – hair dressing, Racheal Nandudu – tailoring and Patience Komugisha – commercial art and computer design).

Alternative Care Training

The Social Workers held one day training with the teachers on Alternative Care. It was a great opportunity for our primary school teachers to get knowledge and exposure on alternative care. The objectives of the training was to give the teachers an overview of working with children without parental care, Child protection policies and promoting collaboration by working together with the Government and donors in taking care of the Children. At the end of the training, all the teachers were rewarded with certificates of attendance.

Social Bonding

Some of our Children had an opportunity to be visited at Lulwanda by their relatives from their village. They came to check on their progress and talk to them. This included Daisy Khanakwa who was visited twice by her elderly grandmother and Aunt, she was so excited to meet them.

Zacharia Leka and Rose Naula also got an opportunity to visit their homes in the village during the holiday. It was nice having such a chance to meet their relatives, interact with them and encourage the students to work hard in school.

Motivational Speaker

We were blessed to have Dr. Vicent Juma talk to our Children. Dr. Vicent was once raised from a Children’s Home and has great love for Orphans. He is a young man of 25 years and working at Nairobi hospital and as well, a vice chairperson of a firm that inspires and talks to children from children’s homes. He is an inspirational speaker and above all serves the lord with all his heart. He encouraged the children in particular areas and strongly emphasized that Children should write down their vision and pray over it daily for the Lord to make it successful. He urged the Children to be respectful to adults and submit to those in authority and above all being thankful to the Lord because they are loved and chosen by God. He further encouraged them to always hear the voice of God and do according to His will. He advised Children to cultivate the culture of reading and do better in class and always embrace the spirit of excellence in what they do. He concluded by informing kids to love one another as the greatest commandment from the Lord. This was a good package for them as they prepare to go back to school. It will help them to concentrate and make better decisions for their lives

Larry And Don Visit

This month we were glad once again to receive Larry and his wife Dee to Uganda. They came along with Don Metz and his wife Ann for a one week visit. Dee and Ann were busy taking sponsor photos of the Children while Larry and Don went for evangelism in Merikirit village. They drilled a borehole for the community and now the community members have access to safe water. Don and his wife Ann donated Lego games to the Children in the new houses. These games were a gift from their beloved daughter who had a birthday party and was given these gifts. Since she had great love for Lulwanda Children, she decided to give everything to Lulwanda. This is amazing for such a little girl to have such great love for other Children she has never seen before. Don and Ann are back in the USA now while Larry and Mama Dee are still in Uganda for a little while to accomplish certain tasks before returning back to USA.

Football Match

We started physical exercises for staff members every Monday morning. The purpose of this activity is to keep our bodies healthy, strong and fit. It’s also intended to unite the staff members as we continue caring for the Children that God has entrusted us to keep. All the staff members and Children have loved the activity and it’s always fun whenever we have it. Through the physical exercise, we decided on playing football and formed two wonderful football teams, one for women and one for men. We had a great time hosting the staff of Covenant Bible Institute of Theology (CBIT) for friendly soccer games. It was smiles all around as our Lulwanda Ladies Soccer Team ended up 1:0 winners in the game they played, and our men’s team came away with a 3:1 win.

Conclusion

We continue to extend our gratitude to you all for working tirelessly to support us, in order to brighten the future of these lovely children of God. May the Almighty God bless you.

Thank you very much

In Him,
Paul Isabirye
Administrator