December 2021 Newsletter
Greetings from Uganda! As the end of the year approaches, we wanted to share with you a special note from Silas and Betty Atugonza, Ibonde and Jinja Children’s Homes Founders and Directors as well as Sam Tumwine, a volunteer at Ibonde as they reflect on your support over the past year. It blessed us to read their messages, and hope it blesses you as well. Click the + sign next to each of the bold “Greetings” to read their messages.
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We would like to start by thanking the almighty God for giving us abundant life. Merry Christmas and happy new year to you our family. We thank God for guiding and protecting our Nyayo Children. 2021 has been a year filled with grace and God’s love.
We did not anticipate lockdown being put on us in 2021 but even with lockdown throughout the year, we have seen God’s abundant hand of provision to our children and our volunteers and they never lacked a single day.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our donors and the leadership of Nyayo in the USA. Our children and everyone prays for you intentionally. It’s our duty here in uganda to keep you covered in prayer so that the Lord can bless the work of your hands. You are not forgotten and you are our closest family even though far by physical distance.
We have a lot of testimonies to share with you about Gods goodness. One of our testimonies is that though we had a tough lockdown where schools and churches closed, our children never missed a day being taught. They never lacked what to eat or drink. Church buildings closed but our homes didn’t close so we did not stop to worship God.
Another testimony is that none of our children had serious illnesses and we thank God for that. This is also a result having good diets for our children since 2020. We have discovered that since 2020, our kids are in much better health conditions and they are not stressed because now they don’t lack!
As Nyayo leaders here in Uganda, we are blessed beyond measure by sharing our lives with our children as we continue to give beyond what is required of us. We never dreamed of this kind of stability but within 2 years Nyayo has helped us to know that God answers prayers. Our prayers is that God keeps opening more doors so we can keep being a blessing for more children. This year has been more exciting as we have started the pig project and cow farm for our children. May the Lord keep expanding our influence and growth in all we do in 2022. God bless you.
Silas and Betty
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Nyayo.
Here in Uganda we are always excited when we hear about Nyayo and all they have been doing to help facilitate our children. As a volunteer for the children homes for over 6 years, I am excited to say that this has been one of our best years for our children and the rest of us volunteers. Our children have been blessed with all they need to live a meaningful life.
As a senior volunteer, I pray that Nyayo support may keep expanding so that we can help more children in Uganda because there is still a lot of children in our villages that need great help. Thanks for always thinking about us and loving us.
Sam Tumwine
The videos below are a Christmas greeting for you and the Christmas celebration that occurred at Silas and Betty’s home after church. Their home is right across the street from the Ibonde Children’s Home and where the first home was located. The rooms shown are also where we stayed when we took our first mission trip in 2017.
December News! Our kids had a blessed Christmas! They each received new clothes (thank you for helping us raise enough money to buy them new clothes!) and had a nice party with special food and drink. At church, Gordon read several messages that we sent them from ourselves and different donors. Gordon said they were really encouraged to hear from us.
External donors gave $3,147.67 this month! We allocated $2,097.67 to Basic Needs, $500 to finish buying Christmas presents (clothes), and a special $550 from one our donors specifically for one of our older girls Joan. This particular donor has been supporting Joan’s college tuition since 2017 and this will mark her final semester! Our founders were able to add our own donations to the Basic Needs so we have once more been able to meet our goal of $4950. Please click Monthly Financial Report for a full detailed breakdown.
Thanks to those who gave! We would not have been able to support our kids this month without the following and wanted share a special thanks especially to:
Cindy Dorsainvil, Lydia Foutch, David Phillips, Ryan and Sydney McKenna, Arman and Leslie Jahandafard, Curran Hyde, Angi Keel, Josh Cornett, Earl and Stacey Sutton, Nathan and Cayce McAlister, Brandon and Mahalie Todd, Anna Barrera, Jacob and Amanda Patterson, Joyce McConnell, and Alex and Michelle Moore, Taylor Handley, Russell Beavers, Whitney Gordon, Martha Garcia, and Bethany de Haas. Thank you all!
Next newsletter you can expect to see our annual report with different figures of what 2021 looked like from a financial point of view. You can also expect to receive tax reports for those wishing to seek tax exemption when they file this year.
Thank you for all who have ever given donations and/or your prayers! I hope by Silas, Betty, and Sam’s notes you can tell how impactful you have been :)
Happy New Year,
Michael, Gordon, and Hunter
