Dear friends!

I greet all of you in the name of the Lord who has kept all of us safe. I know that all of us may be anxious and busy wondering about the coronavirus pandemic which has posed a great challenge to all humanity. No one knows how long it will last and if it will have any other long lasting effects. Whatever lies ahead of us, we trust in the intervention of God.

OVERALL HEALTH

All our kids and the house moms are doing great. Thank you for promptly supporting us with the additional funds needed to cover the costs of stocking up on three (3) month’s supply of food, household supplies, and medical supplies. Your early intervention has made our lives easier and it has allowed us to continue to feed and nurture the Children for the past two months. We are still in lockdown as a country and we are uncertain when it will end after the official days are over. Continue praying for Uganda as most people are not working any more and don’t have an income source to provide for themselves and their families.  We have already seen an increase in crimes like domestic violence in some families.

LOCKDOWN

Everyone has been locked down whether at LCH or Tendo. As usual, we have ensured that our Children have all their needs supplied. Ryan our medical coordinator has equipped us with all the medical supplies we need, and he only comes to check on the Children when absolutely necessary. I meet with him and Osama once a week in town to plan, update each other, and discuss any matters regarding Lulwanda Children’s Home. Malaria rates have remained steady and we have sprayed for mosquitoes. Lulwanda, due to the quick lockdown and protection of God Almighty, has not seen any cases of Covid-19 or any exposure. Overall life is good and everyone is fed well and healthy. We have been supplementing with multivitamins and vitamin C during this period to keep immune systems strong.

DISCIPLESHIP   

Discipleship continues both at LCH and Tendo but has had to be altered to be in compliance with government regulations. Bible studies at LCH continue but with social distancing and is also becoming more and more home based. Basically there is a bright side as we have been able to concentrate on the spiritual nourishment of our Children. Every day, we have lunch hour prayers and evening bible studies conducted by the house moms in their respective houses with the supervision of Pastor Martin. On Sunday we have a normal service as a family and it’s always beautiful when our kids lead the program, praise and worship. On the same day, we have a fun evening where we have an open house and enjoy every Child or staff member’s performances whenever they have any presentations. This includes dancing, miming Christian songs, reciting scriptures and telling wise sayings including some of our youngest Children like Adrian, Job, Emma, Max, Otim and Praise. LCH Tendo and those who are graduates have been taking part in virtual Bible studies to supplement the weekly Bible study hosted at the Kelley compound each week, which is no longer allowed because of Covid-19 restrictions. The sharing of the word of God has had to shift to continue but we have adapted and are seeing fruit despite the change. Praise God, and continue to pray that God uses this as an opportunity for us as leaders to point the Children to the Almighty God and His purpose even in tough times.

Apart from that, our Children are remaining active in sports like football, volleyball and of course continue enjoying the playground equipment, a favorite for young ones. In the morning hours, some of our kids help in various household chores like the cleaning of the compound, while others help the house moms with the gardening. Others have used this time to learn playing instruments like piano and the guitar. During their free time some watch the TV (especially the girls) while the boys enjoy playing FUFA 2020 on their PlayStation 4. All our Children are kept busy throughout the day.

EDUCATION

As our Children involve themselves in the recreational activities, they also have time to do the holiday package (homework) given by their schools, and home package which was sent by the National Ministry of Education and Sports. As Lulwanda management, we have ensured that all our Children have the learning materials from different sources like the newspapers and via school links. All the government teaching programs on TV are being followed by our Children. We have called the school teachers to start marking the holiday package from their respective homes and bring back the papers for the house moms to revise and do corrections with the Children. The house moms supervise the kids to ensure that they read the story books distributed in their respective houses.

We had a wonderful Easter celebration with our Children. The only difference this year is that they never had any community Christians coming to fellowship with them because of the lockdown. After the service they were served a delicious meal and drinks. Evening time was used for games. I wish to thank you for the funds provided to make this day memorable for our Children.

Once again thank you for standing with us during this period of COVID -19. We are so grateful. Let us continue to pray for God’s blessings, mercy and protection upon everyone during this difficult time. God bless!

In Him,

Paul Isabirye

Administrator- LCH

Dear beloved friends of Lulwanda, l greet you all in the precious name of our Heavenly Lord. Amidst this pandemic of the COVID-19 virus, God is worthy of all the Glory and praise throughout the earth. He can overcome every storm including the coronavirus. Thank you for praying for us even when you are facing the same problem. We are also praying for you that God may protect each of you. There is a reason why all this is happening but victory belongs to those who trust in God for deliverance. His love endures forever!  I am encouraged by 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, “If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Thank you for the inspiration, courage, joy and strength in meeting the needs of Lulwanda. Who can reward you apart from God who started a great work of the ministry in you?

We don’t have many activities this month since were indoors but allow me report on the following.

HEALTH

Medically we are doing well and all staff and children are healthy. Increased malaria rates for the season have been noted due to a rainy season but those rates are beginning to decrease and there have been no complications from any case. We are taking extreme measures to protect our children and staff from COVID-19 at Lulwanda. All non-essential staff have been dismissed for at least thirty days and we are allowing no one in or out of the LCH compound. Essential personnel have mandatory hand washing and disinfection protocols to follow when entering the home. All children have returned from school for quarantine as well. Tendo is also under quarantine and the only person permitted to move in or out is Mama Tendo. She also has strict protocols to follow upon re-entry after buying food stuffs from town. We are prayerful that these efforts will ensure all of the Lulwanda family remains safe and free of illness.

GOVERNMENT RESOLUTIONS ON COVID-19 VIRUS

I wish to thank and commend the government of Uganda for the wise decisions taken in curbing down the virus. A number of restrictions have been put in place like mandatory quarantine for travellers inside Uganda, suspension of public transport and flights, religious gatherings, political and cultural gatherings, closing borders with the neighboring countries, and the closure of all schools among other restrictions. Right now everyone is living in fear due to the increasing number of cases so far. All in all, we believe in God’s intervention. The Government has emphasized social distancing, hand washing and sanitization practices to stop the spread of the virus.

In return, we also educated our children about the coronavirus and put in different measures on how to prevent the spread of the virus at both campuses. Whenever the government adds more preventive measures, we also brief our children so that they stay safe.

STOCKING FOOD

Prices for different commodities and foodstuffs are shooting up as a result of covid-19 virus. We have taken precautionary measures by stocking up on food and household supplies that can carry us for 3 months. We have other essential commodities needed by our children and we hope these will take us a long way before we run short of the supplies. We are grateful for the GICF Board of directors for sending us the extra funds. At least our children have enough to eat for the next three months.

BIBLE STUDY

Discipleship continues to be at the core of what Lulwanda stands for. I wish to applaud Pastor Martin and Ryan for the fabulous job well done. Without a relationship with Jesus Christ and a proper Christian world view, many of our efforts would be pointless. I am encouraged to report that Bible study both at Lulwanda and Tendo has continued to produce fruits in the lives of our children. One example I can give is honesty. In the past our children were very quick to lie and stick to the lies. That is now changing, in part due to the diligent discipleship of staff and how to manage our children’s hearts.  We praise God for the blessing of seeing this change.

Tendo Bible study is more popular than ever. We have 20 children from Tendo who attend weekly, along with 10-15 additional children who have exited Lulwanda and are nearby. This is an amazing opportunity to continue to disciple these children as they are at a critical juncture in their life. Topics covered recently involved apologetics, a biblical view of how to handle disappointment, and fear in the face of coronavirus. With these topics we have been able to use real world examples and pair them with how the Bible directs us to face these challenges. Also emphasis on the hope we should be showing our Muslim brothers and sisters in the face of the fear and uncertainty that is all around us. Be praying that these sessions and studies create disciples not only for our children and their families but that they will be world changers in their testimonies of how great our God is.

CONCLUSION

Continue praying for the Lulwanda management team that God will give us the wisdom and courage to guide the children during this trying moment which is sweeping the globe. Even in hard situations that we shall not abandon the children that God has entrusted in our hands. Continue praying that none of our children will suffer from this virus or else it will be a disaster and none of us would wish such to happen. All in all our children are doing well as we have provided for them recreational activities to keep them busy and happy. I wish to leave you with one verse in Isaiah 26:20, which says “Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past”.  Let us stay at home.

Thank you very much and God bless.

Paul Isabirye

Administrator

LCH

Greetings to all friends of Lulwanda, I hope each of you is doing well. This month of February has been relatively good on our side. The environment of Lulwanda has completely changed with the construction of the new houses. Most of the time, children are kept busy in their respective houses doing different activities like in any regular family setting. All the children are happy — they feel loved because there are few children per house and their needs are addressed immediately by the house mothers.

HEALTH

All our children and staff are in good health. We have had a few cases of malaria due to the rainy season but this has been handled through our daily routine of testing and giving medicine to those found to be sick. We have cleared the nearby bushes and burnt areas where mosquitos can breed and be a danger to our children. We have medicine in stock to treat all sorts of illness. House moms have been given drugs to treat minor illness like flu, cough and wounds in case a child gets a minor injury. Medically all is well at Lulwanda and I thank the Almighty God for keeping our children safe.

EDUCATION

All of our children reported back to school apart from the candidates who are on their vacation. We bought all the school requirements and personal items to enable them to study well. We made payment of school fees for each child.

It was a great joy having our own children who sat for their Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education excel in the national exams. The UACE are the final exams that determine a child’s entry into a degree program at a quality University. The maximum that one can score is 20 points and below is how they performed.

S.N	NAME	POINTS SCORED
1	Malvin Nakayenze	19
2	Andrew Dezi	14
3	Peace Ayombe	13
4	Mary Nalumansi	13
5	Joseph Wabuyi	12
6	Ambrose Mutema	09

Malvin made us proud as she was the best student in Tororo District and of course the best student in the school. She appeared in the Uganda national newspapers as one the best and genius students in the country. The school offered a small envelope to her as an appreciation for the outstanding performance. Malvin will be joining the University on government bursary (scholarship) for the next 3 years. She now joins her LCH sister Maliza who went on government bursary last year. We give glory and honor to the Almighty God who granted knowledge and understanding to our children.

We have secured admission letters for our children who sat for S4 last year (2019) and passed to join A’ Level. Mary Namubi and Sarah Fatuma Namubya went back to Tororo Girls School. Mary is doing Literature, Entrepreneurship, Divinity and I.C.T while Sarah Fatuma Namubya is doing History, Entrepreneurship, Literature and I.C.T.  The two girls are aspiring to become lawyers.  Andrew Masiga joined Mbale Secondary School and he is taking Divinity, Art, Geography and ICT.

 Some who did not make it to A’ Level successfully are admitted to trade schools to study courses as listed below;

S/N	NAME	COURSE	INSTITUTION
1	Florence Naali	Certificate in Hotel and institutional catering	Christian Childcare project
2	Jimmy Wambi	Certificate in ICT	MTAC
3	Sarah Kainza	Certificate in ICT	MTAC
4	Faith Alinga	Certificate in ICT	MTAC
5	Wycliff Seddu	Certificate in ICT	MTAC
6	Grace Egulansi	Fashion and design	MTAC
7	Hellen Namulinda	Fashion and design	MTAC
8	Yusuf Mukasa	Certificate in commercial Art	Miken Vocational Institute

Sarah Gimono, who excelled at O’ level decided to join Nursing instead of A’ level and she is currently admitted at Salem Brotherhood — Kolonyi for a certificate in Nursing. She dreams of becoming a professional medical personnel and help in improving the health of the community people.

LPS

Lulwanda Primary School opened this year 2020 successfully under the headship of Irene Nasike, deputized by Sarah Ajalo together with Saul Wabomba as director of studies. The school is following the implementation of the new strategies as agreed by the LMC and GICF. The school has an enrolment of 245 children. The communities children are 193 while the home children are 52. The administration has identified gaps in the teaching and learning which they are trying to address through remedial classes. The expenditure for the school has drastically gone down due to the proper use of the available resources. We also hired new teachers to handle areas that were lacking and these new teachers include the following.

1. Simon Peter Wesonga – Math
2. Samuel Masolo             _ Science
3. Mike Opiris                   _ English
4. Joseph Emukada          _ Science
5. Dison Junior. O.           _ Math

Dison Junior Osangada was raised up at Lulwanda and we are glad that we have started employing our own children.  We hope to bring more on board so that they become role models for the other kids. We want them to see that if they work hard and remain disciplined, they can have a bright future.

PEER LEARNING

Lulwanda is now a model home care facility for other institutions to learn the good practices about caring for the children. These institutions are referred to us by the District government officials like the Senior Probation and Welfare Officer. We had a team of members from another child care institution around Mbale. They wanted to learn from Lulwanda Children’s Home how we do our work like organizing and review of records in the children’s files, documentation, and housekeeping of children among other things. At the end of the day, they were grateful to Lulwanda for the insights given and went back happily to clean up their house.

CONCLUSION

We extend our sincere gratitude to our beloved donors and sponsors for the moral and financial support given to Lulwanda to enable us to execute our duties. Great thanks go to the GICF and LMC for instituting policies and guidelines that enable our children to reach their full potential. May the merciful Lord reward you according to His will and God bless.

In Him

Paul Isabirye

Administrator

LCH

Happy New Year friends of Lulwanda! As Lulwanda family, we are extremely happy because you have owned Lulwanda as part of your family. We achieved a lot of things last year with your support, and we are still looking at the Almighty to continue blessing us in this New Year. One huge event we shall be witnessing this year is the first lot of graduation for our children at the University. Wow! I will communicate the time when they will graduate but continue praying for them that all goes well. 

Allow me to highlight some activities of the month of January.

HEALTH

Medically all is well at Lulwanda and above all our children are healthy. Upon reporting back from their time with family / next of kin, the children have all been treated for worms and malaria. All of our girls have been tested for pregnancy and are all negative. Routine HIV testing also took place and there are no new cases to report. We had one case of a head injury that required two stitches for Ian Wekesa but he has recovered well and the wound is healed. Lydia Mukite returned from the village for social bonding with a broken leg that has required extensive medical treatment. She is now recovering well.   We were able to carry out circumcision for our boys through a well-qualified health team from a government hospital. The exercise was successful and all have healed. These children included; Christopher Mukisa, Dee Emmanuel, Allan Mwayafu, Kevin Matsukuni, Milton Mubaje, Dan Makhonje, Mark Pande, Godfrey Okware,  Emma Tuwma, Adrian Pedo, Max Mbulayiteye, Job  Wanzoya and  Boniface Washireko.

HOLIDAY PROGRAM

We had a great time during the long Christmas break from school. We started out the year with a New Year’s celebration and a welcome home party for all our children that had gone out to their villages over the Christmas holiday for social bonding. We had a fun event with lots of entertainment and it was capped off with cake cutting and a delicious meal. The boys had a football (soccer) tournament dubbed the Lulwanda New Year’s Cup. We were split into four teams that competed in a league bracket with the top 2 teams facing off in a grand finale. Football continues to be one of our children’s favorite pass times. We also had the usual holiday program that included activities like Bible Studies, Cooking, Swimming, Video Games and more. The children also had fun learning how to play new songs and instruments under Joseph and Pastor Martin’s training. We look forward to one day having a fully-fledged choir.

FIRE SAFETY TRAINING FOR THE STAFF AND THE CHILDREN:

As a safety measure for the wellbeing of our children, and as a requirement from the government, we have installed fire extinguishers in every house. We were blessed to have two police officers from the fire department take us through the training. A number of topics were covered which included precautions, causes of fire outbreak, and measures of minimizing fire outbreaks. The training ended with drills of how to put out a fire.

LULWANDA PRIMARY SCHOOL

We have mobilized for some community children to join the primary school. This is one of the strategies laid down two years ago for the community to benefit from the quality education offered at Lulwanda. We also thank the Almighty God that our 8 children who sat for primary leaving examinations (PLE) last year at Lulwanda primary school all passed and have joined Mbale Secondary School. Here are their scores:

S/N	NAME	AGGREGATES	DIVISION
1	DEE EMMANUEL	14	2
2	HOPE MUTUWA	14	2
3	PATIENCE GAMISHA	15	2
4	GRACE MUTYEMBU	15	2
5	SARAH MUKHANA	20	2
6	PEACE KEZIA NAMONO	21	2
7	TRACY NABUDDO	22	2
8	IVAN BUTALI	22	2

This year we are hoping more kids will perform better due to the changes we have made at the primary school among the teachers and administration. Teacher Irene Nasike is now the new HeadTeacher replacing William Wamoni

NEED TO RESCUE NEW CHILDREN

We received an urgent call from the government authorities to rescue a family of three children. Our team has already visited the family for assessment. We found out that family was polygamous and the mother of these children was the second wife and the husband had multiple relationships. It’s unfortunate that both parents passed on, leaving the children helpless and at the mercy of paternal relatives who cannot afford to provide the basic needs to the children. We have forwarded our findings to the GICF USA board for approval.  We are praying that money will be available for these children to be rescued as soon as possible because they are in great need.

SALEM BAPTIST TEAM

We had a team from Salem Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia join us over the New Year. The team helped by conducting vacation Bible school for all children. The team generously brought various supplies with them for the medical clinic and donated many Bibles for use in discipleship. Two afternoons were spent ministering in the local villages and providing much needed goods to needy families. The team has also sponsored approximately six children since returning to the US. Praise God for His provision.

CONCLUSION

Once again we are grateful to all of you for ensuring that these orphans have a bright future through your support (prayer support as well as financial). Sincerely without your donations, providing medical care, clothing, food and education would be impossible. All that you are doing has saved these kids from living on the streets and suffering. They are grateful for you because they now have the big family of Lulwanda where they receive love and care. Thank you for the support, prayers and love.

In Him,

Paul Isabirye

Administrator

LCH