Uganda: Children enjoying new orphan home; further improvements, security planned

Photo: Girls at our Uganda campus are happy about the addition of the newly constructed orphan home.

We are happy to report that our children in Uganda moved into their new orphan home in March 2015. They are very thankful — it is a completely new home built from the ground up. The previous rented facility was nothing more than a skeleton of a shelter with an outdoor kitchen and outhouse — it was very small, with no power or plumbing. The new home has 10 rooms: 4 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 dining room, an indoor kitchen, a study room, and 2 bathrooms. Currently, five orphans are living in the new home with our director and his wife — they have adopted the children as their own in addition to their three biological children.

A water storage tank will soon be installed which will provide the home with water pressure to activate the plumbing system, and a septic tank system is in place for proper sewage facilities. In addition to the solar panels that power other parts of our campus, more panels will soon be ordered which, once installed, will provide power to the home. In the part of Uganda where our main campus is located, there is no public electrical service, thus our solar power is a great blessing.

The new orphan home was laid out on our property in such a way that future expansion will be possible, allowing us to bring in more orphan children in the future. But first we plan to finalize the plumbing and solar solution before moving on to seeking more funding for the expansion. Our next step will be to complete the security wall around the campus to ensure the safety of our children. Since it is a 6-acre campus, this cost will be considerable, but a very worthy expense, at around $10,000. Just this week 5 piglets were stolen from our piggery, and many other items go missing often. The campus is currently wide open and exposed to danger, so it is important for us to build the security wall as soon as possible.

Our native-led team continues their hard work on our organic farmland to diversify the types of crops we grow. In addition to our original crop of potatoes, we now also grow beans, corn, kale, and eggplant. This abundance ensures our farm staff’s employment, and helps to put a fresh-cooked nutritious lunch on our students’ plates every school day. In addition, safe drinking water from our well prevents numerous illnesses.

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