Greetings from the Lulwanda family, I hope that all is well with you. A lot of activities have taken place at Lulwanda even through some challenges as a result of the pandemic which cuts across the globe. Overall, we are well by the Grace of God, and I am glad to report some of the things that happened in February.

MEDICAL REPORT

Medical wellbeing at Lulwanda is great. We have a well-trained team of mothers and now Children who recognize when illness is present and it is promptly addressed. We had no major case of any illness this month. Ongoing care continues for those with existing medical conditions along with a strict compliance with COVID-19 SOPs (standard operating procedures). All guests are required to have their temperatures checked, hands washed and face masks worn while on site. Thankfully God’s provision has seen us through some of the toughest months of this pandemic in Uganda. Please continue to pray that God gives all of us wisdom and good health in the coming months.

DISCIPLESHIP

Discipleship is ongoing, both in the individual home setting, and within small groups. Church is conducted on site by Pastor Martin due to the COVID restrictions that mean Children are unable to attend community Church. We are seeing a breakthrough in the lives of many of our Children as they become more disciplined in Christ. Bible studies for staff are also done weekly and the Word is being proclaimed throughout Lulwanda. Tendo and town/resettled Children Bible study are set to resume mid-March now that the Kelley family has returned, but has continued virtually and in the Tendo home. Please be praying for the Holy Spirit’s movement in awakening the hearts of our Children and staff to the truth of the gospel and the hope it presents in their lives: not just in the reception of God’s Grace, but the application of Jesus’ teaching in their daily lives.

MINISTER’S VISIT

This month we hosted the Minister for Youth and Children’s affairs Hon. Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi and other government officials who accompanied her during the countryside visit to all Child care institutions. The purpose of her visit to Eastern Uganda was to check on the condition of all homes, quality of services offered to the children and give her recommendation. Some of the homes that were found not offering quality services to the children were closed immediately. The Minister was impressed with the good work at Lulwanda. She was very impressed with the construction of the new houses which gives Children an opportunity to live in a home- like environment. Care is very good due to the manageable number of Children under every house mother. She thanked the Lulwanda donors and sponsors for helping the Uganda government to raise up Children who will be the future leaders and better citizens. We requested the Minister to help us to renew our home approval Certificate which is expiring in May 2021.

JANE KATAIKE

Jane was successfully resettled with her family relatives in Pallisa District. She was placed under direct care of her paternal Uncle Richard Bumba and his wife Tino. She has been enrolled for a certificate in hairdressing and she loves what she is doing now. She was unable to complete the P.7 grade due to the low grades scored and most of the time she would repeat every class twice or thrice. She had also outlived the age for staying at Lulwanda and yet Tendo would not be the best option. The social workers took her through counselling and psychosocial support during this transition and she has adapted well to the environment.  We hope Jane will be able to make money after one year of study as she perfects her skills, rather than continuing with the formal education with little or no chance of succeeding.

ANNUAL SHOPPING FOR CHILDREN

We bless the Lord for the gift of provision for our children through this entire season. Annual shopping has been ongoing and the children have been provided a number of items and they are so excited. This is always the most expensive month where we spend a lot of money during the opening of the new year. Among the items purchased include bed sheets, blankets, mattresses, school stockings, bags, mosquito nets, underwear, shoes and sandals, scholastic materials etc. We only remained with secondary and primary personal shopping and still hope for God’s provision. Overall most items have been purchased and this was good back up for them to live a happy life.

RENEWAL OF CARE ORDERS

Through this month, we had another group of children whose care orders had expired and had to be renewed. The paper work of each Child was done with current photos attached and submitted to the probation officer for approval and in turn submitted to the Magistrate’s court for renewal. I am glad to report that all our Children have updated care orders which is the first requirement from the government.

ABANDONED CHILD

Timothy Wataka, a Child from St. Kizito Babies Home, was brought by the City Probation officer and placed under temporary care of Lulwanda Children’s Home. Timothy is a 4-year-old young boy who had outgrown the age for staying at St. Kizito Babies Home and there was need to secure his protection. He was abandoned in a pit latrine by the mother and the whereabouts of the father is unknown. The mother also disappeared after being released from prison, and her whereabouts are unknown. He was first taken for the Covid 19 test before admission. He was attached to house 4 under the care of Mama Beatrice and he was so happy, calm and positive upon joining the Lulwanda family. He plays well and interacts with his friends and caregivers freely. We are hoping that Timothy will be one of the 11 kids to be rescued this year 2021. Great thanks to the GICF board for reviewing reports about this boy and accepting him to join and be part of Lulwanda.

TEAM BUILDING EVENT

Mercy, who is a finalist at UCU (Uganda Christian University) Mukono, organized a two-day team building event at Lulwanda. She organized the inter-house competition with various activities like cooking competition, dancing and this involved the house mothers supervising the Children. Winners of each category were rewarded with gifts as a way of appreciation for the job well done. The event was crowned by a campfire at night where there was pork roasting and counselling of the young ones at Lulwanda. All of the Children were excited and happy.

CONCLUSION

We shall continue to extend our gratitude to all of you for the unceasing support through this great journey. Our prayer is for the Lord to bless you and continue to meet all your needs according to His will. We shall keep you updated on every event that takes place at Lulwanda. Thank you all.

Best regards,

Paul Isabirye

Administrator- LCH

 I bring New Year’s greetings from the Lulwanda family. It has been God who enabled us to get through the year amidst the unprecedented pandemic. We still believe He will remain faithful to all of us and get us through this New Year successfully. Thank you for supporting us even when you had more challenges back home. I know the love of God and great passion for kids drives you to live a sacrificial life to help them reach their full potential. Thank you so much. Allow me to brief you about the activities of the month of January.

MEDICAL

I am grateful to the Almighty God for His protection of everyone at Lulwanda. We can’t just take it for granted as all the Children have been in good health. Coupled with our daily routine medical checkups and close monitoring, this made our Children stay healthy and strong. We keep in touch with our sister medical agencies to ensure that all our Children and staff are safe. 

DISCIPLESHIP

We continue to guide our Children to grow in the fear of the Lord though weekly Bible study and evening fellowship. Our Children have gone ahead to have memory verses and make skits out of the lessons learnt and present them every Sunday.

NEW YEAR THEME

Our theme for this year is ‘’training ourselves in acts of Godliness’’ (I Tim 4:7-9) as we serve the Children that the Lord has entrusted in our hands. All the staff members seem to understand the theme well and have started implementing it practically.  Recently some female staff members donated a batch of both new and old clothes to the big girls who recently joined Tendo. I have observed a spirit of team work among the staff members and we pray that this will continue for the good of the home. Teacher Harriet of Nursery section bought 100 kgs of rice and donated to our Children. Again when there was need to raise money for the Children who did not have shelter, the staff members pledged significant funding. This was done out of Love and also appreciating GICF for the support given especially during the coronavirus period. The very strong bond and attachment between the staff and Children is really admirable.  We agreed that training ourselves in Godliness involves being accountable to the Children and the organization.

CANDIDATE CLASSES

Our candidate students have reported back to school; please we need to be praying for them as they will soon begin the final exams. The P.7 Candidates will begin on March 30^th/2021, S.4 will start on February 26th/2021 while S6. Start in April /2021. Currently we are coming up with the budget for the blessing of the P.7 candidates as they prepare to sit for UNEB exams. We have fully paid up the fees for all our kids and provided all the scholastic materials. The University Children have continued to study on line as Universities are still closed. Meanwhile the LCH Children of lower classes have continued to study at home using the new houses as classrooms and teachers are busy helping our Children to complete the syllabus.  Due to coronavirus disturbance, the academic year will certainly change. The academic year is most likely to start from August and end in July.

HIRE OF SYLVIA AS A SOCIAL WORKER

After graduating from Uganda Christian University with a bachelor’s degree in social work and social administration, we decided to employ Sylvia Logose, an LCH child, as a social worker. She becomes the second Lulwanda Child to be employed (after Dison Junior who is currently teaching at Lulwanda Primary School). Sylvia is doing very well in the social work department and we are proud of her work.

ASSESSMENT OF FAMILIES

We carried out assessments among three families of children who were reintegrated with their families. These children include; Grace Egulasi, Mariam Bahati and Joyce Neboshe. The assessments were done to identify the current family situation and how best we can help them fit in with their respective families. These children’s home situations are tough and challenging due to unavoidable circumstances. For instance Bahati Mariam has no home and family, she was just picked up near the swamp by a Good Samaritan. Tracing has been done for all these years that she has been under our care, but no family member has been identified except the caregiver who picked her up.

Grace Egulasi and her siblings (Dee Emmanuel and Clement Kuddo) happen to be born of one mother but different fathers. The mother died without telling the clan members the identities of the biological fathers. Nobody has ever come up to claim any of the Children in both cases and the families are struggling and unable to provide for the children.

Joyce’s issue is different in that she has been attached to her maternal relatives and her mother is still living on the streets of Mbale as she is mentally challenged. The father has never shown up but the maternal Aunt accepted to receive her after resettlement. Our goal here is to ensure she is in good health and to enable her to complete her studies.

MINISTRY REPORT

We submitted a six month report to the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development. It’s a legal mandate to furnish the Ministry with a report twice a year. We are in the process of renewing our license for the next five years and the file is almost ready for submission.  We have all that it takes for our license to be renewed. Keep praying for us that all will be well when we face the Ministry officials.

CONCLUSION

We continue to provide counseling and career guidance. Our goal is to enable our kids to reach their full potential in Christ.  Once again, I thank you very much for supporting the Children and providing the funds needed to buy food, medical supplies and tuition among the many activities that need funding. Be blessed.

In Him

Paul Isabirye

LCH- Administrator.

Merry Christmas to you all! I bring warm greetings from the little beloved Children and staff of Lulwanda as we conclude this remarkable year 2020. We are grateful to the Almighty God who enabled us to get through the year amidst a lot of challenges. Thank you for standing with us and supporting Lulwanda Children as part of your family. As we approach our 20^th anniversary of the initial plans for rescuing and supporting these orphans (who were once rejected and abandoned by society), you have been faithful to God, and we are now harvesting the fruits of your labor. I thank you for supporting this noble cause that has brought positive changes in the lives of our Children. Allow me to brief you on the highlights of the month of December.

MEDICAL

All our Children and staff members are doing great physically, emotionally and socially.  We had minor cases of flu, cough and malaria which were handled at the home. Also a few cases were taken to Joy hospice for further investigations to rule out any suspicion of Covid. We had a one day medical camp organized by Hope medical Centre within our area of operation and offered free medical services to both the Children and staff members. The activities involved HIV/AIDS screening, deworming, counseling and education about sexually transmitted diseases and hygiene.

FIRST GRADUATES

Allen Muhijja and Sylvia Logose graduated this month both with a degree in Social Work and Social Administration. They are a living testimony of the work that God is doing at Lulwanda.  They are now a source of inspiration to the rest of the Children. This was evidenced on the day of the Christmas Party as each gave a speech and all Children were very much touched and promised to work hard. We plan to have a graduation party next year 2021 to thank the Almighty God for this great achievement. Thank you very much for all that you have contributed to ensure Allen and Sylvia realized their dream in order to have a better future. We are expecting more University Children like Mercy, Ivan and Doreen to graduate next year March 2021 if they complete the examination papers and other requirements successfully.

Junior Dison Osangada qualified with a Grade III teaching certificate and currently he is employed at Lulwanda Primary School. He is doing a great job to teach his little brothers and sisters. He is a source of inspiration to the Children who have disciplinary issues and an example on how to turn your life around.

SECONDARY HOLIDAY (CANDIDATES)

Our secondary finalist Children (S4 & S6) are back from school after the government had allowed them to report back for learning in October 2020. We are glad that all are healthy and free from Covid-19 which was our biggest worry since they had interacted with so many people at school. They are enjoying the Christmas break but are also reviewing notes in preparation for the final exams due in March 2021. They are expected to report back to school on January 18^th/2021 along with semi-candidates after the presidential elections in January 14^th/2021. We are not certain when the rest of the students will be reporting back to school.

REINTEGRATION

We have reintegrated sixteen (16) youth because they have reached the age of 17 years and are no longer eligible to stay at Lulwanda. They will spend the next two years at our transitional facility-Lulwanda Tendo. This will help them to learn more life skills.

FOLLOW UP OF RESETTLED CHILDREN

A follow up of all resettled Children was conducted this month. A list was forwarded to the Local management committee for consideration of some Children who have reformed and need to be restored back. This list is still under scrutiny by the local management board. Once it’s done with recommendations, we shall forward it to the US Board for further scrutiny and advice.

FINANCIAL TRAINING

Our social workers Irene Mutuwa, Olive Kalenda plus Anthony Wanzala a Child of Lulwanda attended a financial training session facilitated by Virgil Hughes of New Vines International, inc. (NVI). The training was carried out via Zoom and was organized by Mama Aida Ogenga and Larry Hoelscher. The training was aimed at equipping the participants with skills of how to save money and protect the savings through financial discipline. It’s important to have saving goals in life and work hard at achieving such goals and this was backed up with scriptures. Upon completion of the training the trainees will come and train the rest of the staff members plus the reintegrated Lulwanda Children. This will help our reintegrated Children to start up business enterprise from the savings they have secured. Great thanks to Larry Hoelscher who financed the training which included other Church members from the Eastern Presbytery.

CHRISTMAS PARTY

It was all joy when we held the Christmas Party for all the staff members and the Children. The party started with different activities like dancing, sack racing, water bottle filling, and football between the staff and Children. As expected the Children who are skillful in football beat the staff members and took the trophy. The party turned up to be a reunion with our older kids who were reintegrated with clan members and had taken quite a long period of time without visiting Lulwanda. We felt the joy and love of God as we hugged and shared a meal with our Children. We used the same opportunity to counsel our Children to embrace Christ who will secure their bright future both on earth and after life.

Apart from the Christmas party, our Children have been involved in singing, learning to play instruments and playing football. We organized a football tournament with the community people and our team played so well even though it ended in a draw. Since we are in the campaign period, some politicians grabbed the opportunity to campaign and donated some little money to the two teams. All was well during this Christmas period.

CONCLUSION

All I can say is Ebenezer! It has been a year of challenges but God Has been faithful and His grace has been sufficient. The world has been greatly affected by Covid-19 and we shall live to tell the next generation, but let us continue to fix our eyes on the creator of Heaven and Earth for the ultimate solution. We are praying for the quick recovery of our friends who are sick of Covid-19. Thank you for the love and support given throughout the year. As we celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the initial idea of Lulwanda, just know that we appreciate all of you for the kind heart towards the orphans of Lulwanda for the Glory of His Name. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021 FRIENDS!

IN HIM

PAUL ISABIRYE

LCH-ADMNISTRATOR

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 18^th/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 18^th 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 19^th 2020. Sending you all lots of love from Lulwanda and wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

IN HIM

Paul Isabirye

Administrator – Lulwanda Children’s Home

DEAR FRIENDS

I bring joyous greetings from Lulwanda Children’s home. Our hope is that you are all well during difficult times. A time of crisis is when one discovers who is a true friend and indeed you have proved beyond doubt that you are our sincere great friends that God has blessed us with. Thank you for showing the Christ-like love by standing with us during this pandemic of Covid-19. I am happy to report that none of our Children has suffered from this deadly disease and we continue to pray for God’s protection upon you our donors and sponsors.

MEDICAL

All is well and God has been merciful during this Coronavirus season. Children are healthy, and apart from occasional flu or malaria there have been no serious illness or injuries. Thank you all for your prayers and donations during this trying time. One Praise is that our sweet dear Lydia Mukite who had broken her leg and had surgery is now able to walk, run, and jump without any pain. The metal pins have also been removed and it’s hard to tell that she has ever had the surgery.

 PRIMARY SCHOOL, SECONDARY SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY FINALIST

Our Children in candidate classes for both primary and secondary have reported back to school as per the presidential directives, and we are praying that all goes well. The Children who reported for secondary include; John Mutsoshi and Abel who are in S.6 at St. Mary’s Lugazi, Carol Naula S.6 Tororo girls, Norah Masai S.4 St. Mary’s Lugazi, Gift Naluboka S.4 Tororo Girls plus the seven Candidate Children of Mbale Secondary School.

University Children who were supposed to graduate in May 2020 have gone back to the University to finalize research work and exams. Hopefully by February or March 2021 they will be able to graduate. Please continue to keep them in your prayers.

DISCIPLESHIP

Due to the continued closure of schools and closing / opening of churches from time to time, all discipleship at LCH has been handled by Pastor Martin and house moms within the facility. The Children meet twice a day to worship and study God’s Word. They also have family devotions conducted by the house mothers before bed. Tuesday Bible studies for Tendo have been transformed to digital Bible study. We have provided them with unlimited internet and the materials along with worship songs for them to use when meeting each evening as a family. This has fostered an environment where each Tendo Child takes turns leading the discussion and teaching with provided materials. All resettled LCH children or Tendo Children that did not have or had lost their Bibles have had replacements provided to them so they also can participate. This has caused us to grow closer as a family and draw near to God in a very powerful and unique way. All glory to God Almighty for His turning tragedy and chaos into beauty.

MINISTRY OF GENDER INSPECTION

We received officials from the Ministry of Gender and they were much impressed with our home, especially with the construction of the new houses and home like environment. The commissioner said this will enable proper monitoring of Children, and children will be raised well since they receive the love and care from the house mothers. During our quarterly meeting for wardens and Administrators country wide which was held on line, the Commissioner urged other homes to visit Lulwanda and borrow a leaf of what we are doing.

MAMA AIDA AND “I CHOOSE YOU” KIDS

We are grateful to Mama Aida for sparing time to come and share life experience with our kids and staff. The “I choose you” kids were able to share the word of God and urged Lulwanda Children to count themselves blessed by God since they have friends around the world who love, care and think about them all the time.

Mama Aida had a wonderful session with the house Moms and urged them to remain united in order to raise the Children who are useful in the society. She encouraged the house moms to love the Children even in difficult times. Even when the Covid-19 disease escalates, nobody should think of abandoning the Children but should remain and be committed to serving the Children that God entrusted in their care.

FARM HARVEST AND CHICKEN CONSTRUCTION

We started tasting the fruits of our labor by harvesting fresh beans and maize that were planted by our Children together with the house Moms. We planted maize and cassava for the second season and hope to harvest maize by December and cassava by July 2021. Our Children are enjoying farming and have seen the benefit of planting their own crops. This will help us to reduce the costs of purchasing food at home while demonstrating to the Children that families can be sustained very well by growing their own food. 

We have constructed two structures for a chicken rearing project and we hope our Children will be able to learn valuable skills about raising these birds but also bring in some small income for the home. We have started with the broilers (for meat) plus the local birds which are cheaper to keep.

LULWANDA PRIMARY SCHOOL

With the government relaxation of lockdown and allowing candidates back to school, we have used the opportunity to have our LCH home Children to be taught by the teachers at home. We hope by the end of the year our Children will have learned a lot and be ready for the next class. We have a special program for community Children where teachers give out assessment holiday packages after every three weeks and keep the community children busy while at home.

FOOD RELIEF FOR STAFF AND CHILDREN

We are so grateful for the money sent towards food relief for both staff members and our reintegrated Children. This brought a huge smile to every one since most people were not working and the food prices had gone up. With so many dependents at home, life was really very difficult. But with your assistance, all goes well. Thank you so much.

CONCLUSION

As life seems to be coming to normal with the relaxation of the lockdown, we thank you for your continued support during this hard period of time for the last seven months. Thank you for taking keen interest to read this report and praying for us. We appreciate everything you do for the Children of Lulwanda. May the Almighty God bless!

In Him

Paul Isabirye

Administrator

Lulwanda Children’s Home