November 2022 Newsletter
Hello Nyayo Family!
November was yet another month filled with blessings! The children’s basic needs were met and we also were able to meet two of our project goals! Not only did we meet these goals but we also had very generous donations that went towards other much needed areas as well. In addition to our monthly Nyayo updates, we also wanted to share more of this last mission trip with you all, to give you an insight on the work our team accomplished!
November 2022 Giving Report
Donors gave $4,950 towards Basic Needs this month! This is the first time in 35 months of operating that we have ever had donors completely cover basic needs so we are very grateful at this big blessing :) In addition to this, we had other donations that are shown in the graph below. Please click Monthly Financial Report for a full detailed breakdown.
A special thanks to our regulars and one time givers for this month’s allocation:
Sebastian and Eun Joo Tarchala, ,Shellie Mitchell, Josh Cornett, Armin Jahandarfard, Pat and Alex Burgess, Anna Barrera, Jordan Anderson, Adarsh Ramakrishnan, Sierra and Sam Smith, Christan Yarbrough, Taylor Sutton, Arman and Leslie Jahandafard, Mahalie and Brandon Todd, Taylor Handley, Lydia Foutch, Angi Keel, Stacey and Earl Sutton, Amanda and Jacob Patterson, Alex Moore, Lauren Russo, Cindy Dorsainvil, David Phillips, Ryan and Sydney McKenna, and Curran Hyde.
Thank you all, we truly would not be close to meeting the needs and are already seeing the fruit from the sustainable projects. We couldn’t do this without your help!
School Uniform Donation
In October, we were also blessed to receive a donation of $1,500 to be used to purchase the kids new uniforms! These are the shirts we showed in our last post that we also tye dyed with the kids during our mission trip.
School Building Construction
One of our school buildings at Covenant Primary School is still in the process of being built. The first-floor of the building is complete, which has 4 classrooms that are currently being used throughout the school year. The second floor construction had been previously halted since January 2020 due to our focus of funds on other needs for the kids. Due to meeting our basic needs goal this month, we decided to restart phase 2 of the school construction. We applied $150 from a donor who’s had a heart for this project for a while and applied $150 of our own funds to restart this project! We will soon have a campaign on our donation page and more info on what this project entails as we go forward. We are not sure yet what this will be used for but have tossed around a lot of ideas to include a room for a library as well as classrooms for vocational subjects.
The school building that we plan to complete.
Mission Trip 2022
In last month’s newsletter, we talked about our pre-trip obstacles as well as the events that occurred on our travels from the U.S. to Uganda. This month, we’ll be continuing to share the details of our mission trip as we show you all a glimpse from our first few days on ground in Uganda.
Monday 24 October: Travel From Entebbe to Fort Portal
Breakfast & Bible Study Before Departure
After a long day of travel from the U.S. to Uganda, everyone woke up refreshed and eager to see what Uganda had in store for us. The hotel staff was amazing and very hospitable as they served us breakfast consisting of foods like eggs, sausage, yellow potatoes, fresh fruit, chapati (unleavened flat bread), and African tea (black tea mixed with whole milk and cane sugar). After breakfast we enjoyed each other’s company and dived into our daily bible study, where we studied Psalms 119. We made it a point to begin each of our days studying God’s word as a group to help us focus on Him before setting out to do His work each day throughout the mission trip. After our bible study we loaded the bus up with all our luggage and started the six and half hour journey to Fort Portal.
On the Road to Fort Portal
We started our journey in Entebbe, which is located on the Lake Victoria peninsula southwest of the capital, Kampala. Our bus ride took us westward towards Fort Portal which is located in the Kabarole District, near the border shared with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The long bus ride afforded us the opportunity to see the beautiful terrain of western Uganda first hand. We passed through lively villages containing small businesses and vendors, herds of livestock, and rolling hills of agricultural fields and plantain tree farms. We even got to witness baboons on the side of the road while passing through Kibale National Park. Some of these fields we passed through had popular cash crops such as coffee, tea, plantains, cotton and tobacco, as well as valuable livestock like cattle, goats and chickens.
Fort Portal Arrival & Tour
After a beautiful, long ride, we finally arrived safely to Fort Portal at about 5:30 in the evening. Gordon’s family welcomed us with open arms and had the guest house ready for us upon arrival. After dropping our bags, Gordon gave us a tour of the property which sits just a few hundred feet from Ibonde Children’s Home. The property is beautiful and has a main house which accommodates Gordon, as well as his parents, other siblings and other caregivers. On the compound you can also find the pig shelter, plantain trees and a pasture where our cattle roam. Directly next to the main house, there is a two-story guest house that has six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, and a family room. On the second floor, there’s a balcony where we would spend most evenings, sipping tea and reflecting on the day while enjoying a beautiful overlook of the luscious green cattle pasture below.
Meet & Greet with a Night of Worship
After the quick tour and some dinner, we walked across the street to Ibonde Children’s Home to greet the kids before heading to bed! As we were walking up, the kids greeted us outside of their dorms for an amazing night of worship! The worship was led by Gordon’s sister, Rebekah, which had songs in both English and the local language of Rutooro. The night of worship was a perfect way to start off our week with the kids, as we got to witness them pour out their love and joy while singing and dancing for the Lord! Although we didn’t get any of the songs from this worship on video, below is a short video to give you a glimpse of some of the kids dancing!
When preparing our lessons and songs for the kids, we had purposely wanted to make sure we showed them just how special they are. There was a song they taught us on this first night of worship that really stood out to us. The song mentions how we are each uniquely created and how God knows each of us individually. It was neat to hear the kids sing this song because it made us realize they knew how special they are to God before we even had the chance to tell them that. The song is called He Knows My Name by Tommy Walker. The words are below:
First Stanza: I have a maker; He formed my heart; Before even time began; My life was in His hands.
Chorus: He knows my name, He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls, And He hears me when I call.
Second Stanza: I have a father, He calls me His own. He will never leave me, No matter where I go.
Tuesday 25 October: First Day at Ibonde Children’s Home
Breakfast & Morning Worship
We started most of our mornings at about 7 each day, where we would usually enjoy cups of coffee or tea in the living room before breakfast and bible study. Caregivers Winnie, Esther, Gordon’s Aunt and Rebekah were incredible hosts and always ensured that we had everything we needed whether it was food, drinks or just daily needs in general. Winnie used to live at Ibonde Children’s Home and now serves the kids and guests as she prepares for a career in nursing.
Breakfast was a variety of spreads each day but usually consisted of some eggs, chapati, potatoes, fruit, bread, and avocado to name a few items. After breakfast we jumped into bible study where we would continue to read Psalms before setting out on our day.
After bible study, we all headed over to the school where Rebekah would lead us through our morning worship with the kids! We also would teach the kids new songs during worship each day, with the song “Father Abraham” being taught the first morning! The kids got a kick out of it. Afterwards some of the older teens performed a dance routine that they had created for us and it turned out fantastic! We truly appreciated the heart-warming gesture and it was really neat to see the time and effort they put into it!
The dance that the kids performed for us at worship!
School Property Tour
Once worship ended and Gordon prayed for everyone, the kids headed off to their respective classes, leaving the rest of the morning for our team to get an official tour of the school and children’s home property, as well as one of the local churches Silas and Gordon pastor. The school is called Covenant Primary School and it sits directly across the road from Ibonde Children’s Home. The school provides elementary through middle school education and teaches the children a variety of subjects such as sciences, social studies, Christian courses, math, and agriculture.
On the school property there is a supply storage room, six classrooms, an empty multi-purpose room used for serving food and miscellaneous activities, as well as a large field used for soccer and other outdoor games. One of the school buildings has unfinished construction, as the first-floor was completed but the second-floor construction had to be temporarily halted due to funding. It was an awesome experience to be able to see the kids actively learning and engaged as we popped our heads into each of the classrooms!
Tour of Ibonde Children’s Home & Sustainability Projects
After getting a tour of the school, we took a peak at the Ibonde property as well as some of our sustainability projects. Ibonde Children’s Home resides on roughly four acres of land and consists of four dorms, one bath hall, one kitchen, and one sick bay. We met most of the caregivers who help with laundry, cooking, cleaning, providing security and managing the Children’s Home. We got to see the kids dorms, bath hall and sick bay as well as a little preview of what the daily operations look like in the kitchen! On the Ibonde property, there is also three kindergarten classrooms which is meant to help protect the younger kids from the dangers of crossing the street to Covenant school.
After touring Ibonde, we went back to Gordon’s family property to get a more extensive tour of the piggery and cattle sustainability projects. The construction of the shelter and care of these pigs is incredible and we thank Abraham, Gordon’s younger brother, for taking lead and helping us with this project! We got to feed the pigs and see how they are cared for. Right outside the front door of the shelter, we were afforded a great view of the pasture below to see our cattle grazing. These sustainability projects have come along way, so it was really cool to see the progress with our own eyes!
Church Tour
Rwengoma Eternal Church of God was our next tour of the day! This church is about 15 minutes from Ibonde Children’s Home in Fort Portal. This church is where Silas used to be a pastor and is now one of the churches that he oversees in the area as the Senior Pastor and Director. The church is currently only a one story building but is currently being prepped to hopefully start construction of the second-story, God willing. The goal is to build a new sanctuary on the second level and convert the first level into living space for more kids.
There are also 3 classrooms on the property which helps some local kids receive a primary level education. We actually help provide meals for these kids as well.
Rainy Day Games, Name-Tags & Food!
After touring the various properties and projects, the kids ended their classes and our team met them for porridge at the school! This snack between breakfast and lunch is new and due to the milk that the 3 cattle are producing! It has eliminated the need to purchase $150 worth of milk a month at Ibonde which is being reinvested into more nutrition such as this extra meal. More will be stated on the impact of the cattle later.
Our team served them porridge and spent quality time getting to know them before the rain came pouring down around noon, causing all the kids and team members to take cover in a few different classrooms! Although the rain shifted our plan for the day, it ended up working out perfectly! In one room, a few of us taught the kids songs, in another we taught them games such as “duck, duck, goose” and some kids never even left the rain and instead embraced it while running around outside! Not only did we teach them games and songs, but they also taught us. The storm brought a perfect amount of chaos, as we got to run around in the rain, play games, laugh and all be kids for the afternoon!
When the rain slowed down, we played a game outside on the field with all the kids! It’s a local game that they taught us called, “Enjangu Kanerra” or “Crying Cat”. The game involves one person being the “cat”, one person being the “rat” and the rest of the kids forming a circle to protect the rat from being caught. It was a really fun game and it was a neat experience to immerse ourselves in their culture and be able to learn new things from them!
Hunter playing as the Cat and Mike as the Rat during the slippery match of Enjangu Kanerra!
Before we got back on track to our schedule, the kids ate lunch that was prepared for them from the kitchen staff! Our team helped the caregivers serve the kids plates of rice and beans before moving onto our next activity. After serving the kids, we lined the kids up into 6 even teams which were each led by some of our team members. Once the kids met their leaders, they went to separate classrooms where we helped them make their own name-tags! We wanted name-tags to be a way for us to be more personal with the kids, knowing them by their names as best as we can while also allowing them to remember which team leader they belonged to for the week. We also took advantage of this opportunity to take pictures of all of the kids with their name tags so we can update our website with all of them (hopefully starting that soon)!
Once name tags were complete, we ended the day with our evening worship led by Rebekah before heading back down the road to the guest house. It was great to end our days worshipping with the children and just seeing how much love they pour out for God each and every day.
Our evenings were very relaxing and quiet as we spent the evening enjoying African tea in the living room and on the balcony reflecting on our first day with the kids. Winnie, Esther, Gordon’s Aunt and Rebekah served us our meals throughout the week and helped us with anything we needed which was an absolute blessing! They served us amazing dinners that consisted of a meat such as chicken or beef, rice, potatoes, plantains, and chapati to name a few.
Our first day with the kiddos was officially in the books as we all laid our heads down for a good night sleep!
Conclusion
That’s all for this month’s newsletter. We will continue to slowly provide updates of each of the remaining days of our trip in future newsletters! We will also be updating our Mission Trip 2022 webpage with this information too. Hopefully this helps paint a picture of what the trip looked like through our eyes.
Things We Are Praying About
We continue to ask for your prayers for God’s continued guidance as we follow along wherever the Spirit leads. Prayer is clearly being answered in ways we aren’t even asking for help in. If you’d like to pray along with us, these are things Michael, Gordon, and Hunter are currently praying for:
Blessings for the children and caregivers of Ibonde and Jinja Children’s Home
Guidance for Michael, Gordon, and Hunter as they continue to lead Nyayo
Guidance for others who are helping
Guidance on upcoming projects for the children’s homes
Healing to the residents of Uganda who have ebola and protection for those who don’t have it
Bible Study
Weekly Zoom Studies
Please reach out if you’re interested in joining our bible studies via zoom every Monday at 7pm CT! We welcome anyone who wants to learn more about Jesus, even if you just wish to keep your camera off and only listen in on our discussions! We like to keep it light and informal as we have casual conversations about the various chapters we read throughout the Bible! We are currently reading 1 Samuel.
Peace and blessings,
Michael, Gordon, and Hunter
