Newsletter Christmas 2023

You know what our Lord Jesus Christ did in his love for you: He was rich and yet became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich

2 Corinthians 8:9

Dear Friends of Amuka!

I (Antje) am currently sitting at Entebbe Airport waiting for my flight to Istanbul. I want to use this time to translate two letters from our Ugandan staff to you in Germany:

“We, the three employees of the Mother-Child Group (a group for children with disabilities and their mothers or grandmothers), greet you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We hope you and your families are doing well. We deeply appreciate all your support and especially your love. We are three employees in this group: Agnes, who conducts physiotherapy, Kathryn, and Prossy, who serve as counselors. We encourage parents to care for and love their children and show appreciation to the children. The number of children being cared for is constantly growing, and they are making progress. Those who were weak are becoming stronger, some can now sit or walk. This was achieved through exercises, parallel bars (for walking practice), orthopedic chairs and standing aids, playing with the children, and through prayer. We pray a lot for you in our group, and we also ask you to pray for us in the Mother-Child Group and for Amuka in general, so that we can continue this work, serving children with disabilities and God our Father.
From Kathryn, Agnes, and Prossy.”

And from our teachers:

“We are so happy about you in Germany, who make our work easier. Thank you for supporting the kindergarten through your donations, love, encouragement, prayer, and loyalty. This cooperation makes us strong to serve the little children here, to care for them and love them, as well as the entire village community. We are also proud of you for making the food aid for our Family Group members possible. We are also grateful for our salaries, which we receive every month without exception. Thank you also for the dietary supplements with vitamins for our kindergarten children, this has been very helpful. Dear friends, may God bless you with a long life!
Marsden, Annet, Justine, and Rebecca.”

We are very grateful for your great support that makes this work possible in a remote area where there is otherwise so much hopelessness. Unfortunately, we had two very sad deaths in December: Our guard Jimmy lost his 2-year-old daughter Angel, who suffered from sickle cell anemia, and little Aaron died at 6 months from liver failure. Nevertheless, both families were very grateful for all the support from Amuka, especially Aaron’s parents, as it helped them prepare for the death of their child and receive pastoral care.

For the new year 2024, we plan to be more involved in the neighboring primary school, initially with counseling for the students of grades 6 and 7, and if possible, with the construction of new latrines, as the old ones have become unusable. We also hope to offer more services to children with disabilities, as the need is great and there is no school for these children in the area. However, we lack the necessary expertise for this.

We wish you all a peaceful Christmas and a richly blessed new year 2024,

Your Orge & Antje


…and here are some impressions from the last few weeks: