REACH: Rescue African Children

From the Director’s Heart

       Am so glad to write to you in this upcoming Christmas Season. Hope you are all doing well in all that you do. It is our joy to let you know that things are fine here in Uganda and the ministry is going very great. Thank you for the continued support you give for the work in Uganda.  Your partnership with REACH has helped to touch many Ugandan children and their families.

The students at Omega School are now doing their end of school year Exams to be completed in two weeks time. They will be having their big holiday on December 2^nd 2011; we again thank you for enabling these kids to have an opportunity for an education as it would have been not possible for the majority of them.

Christmas party is coming up and the kids are so excited. They try to come to me and ask if we are going to have it again. So it is a blessing to see children celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our P.7 Candidates finished well their P.L.E. and are now waiting for the results which are expected back in mid January 2012.  Pray that they all pass well with an A.

We have been working hard on clearing our new farm land by removing stumps and cutting bushes in preparation for next year’s planting season.   The rains have been so much which has made so hard for the drill truck to reach the spot surveyed for the well.  We expect the rain to stop early December so we should have the well drilled in January 2012.  Am sorry for these unplanned challenges.  We do not always have a lot of rain at this time of the year but this has been so strange.

I would love to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012.

Fred Tumwebaze

 Project Update

       Omega School’s new latrines are nearing completion thanks to the generous gift of a friend of REACH.    This much needed project will help meet the needs of the ever growing student population at Omega School.

In the upcoming newsletters updates on each REACH project will be published.  The status of the campus improvements, chicken house construction, the Good Shepherd Farm, and the Omega School Ag Project will be included.   Please be encouraged to pray for each of these projects as they move towards completion.

Your partnership in prayer and financial support has helped to accomplish much in 2011.

Malaria Protection in Hand

     Expressions of joy and thanksgiving were evident on the faces of 530 students at Omega School in mid-October as they became recipients of mosquito nets.  These students were overjoyed to be numbered among the children to benefit from  this initial  distribution of mosquito nets by REACH. 

   These children were blessed by means of the generous and compassionate giving of REACH sponsors and supporters, including a single $3500 donation (designed to be provide for the initial distribution as more funds were received).   Five hundred (500) nets were purchased and the supplier gifted REACH with a 30 net bonus.  In December the remaining 58 students currently enrolled at Omega School will receive a mosquito net as more are purchased.  As funds continue to be received a quantity of nets will be purchased to have on hand as replacements for damaged or stolen nets and to meet the needs of the ever growing student population.

Mosquito nets were handed out with this reminder to the parents and guardians, “These nets are for the children, please do not take them for yourselves.”  Perhaps in the future enough funds will be provided for the purchase of nets for the entire household of the students and beyond.

As a reminder of this opportunity to help protect children from malaria, the “Mosquito Nets” line will remain in the Extra Giving section of the remittance portion of the newsletter.  Thank you for your participation in this much needed ministry to the children of Uganda.

Primary Leaving Examination

    The time has come for Primary 7 (P-7) students at Omega School to demonstrate their proficiency levels by means of the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE).  On November 2-3 a total of 52 PLE candidates from Omega will take part in this examination that will determine their readiness to move on to secondary school as they pursue their education at this next level.

The Omega candidates ask for your support through prayer as they take part in the PLE.  These students, like their counterparts here in the USA, tend to get nervous when these mandatory testing periods arrive.  Pray God’s peace on each candidate during  this stressful time.

 Christmas 2011

     November is the last month funds will be received and applied towards the 2011 Christmas Fund.  Once again, REACH will provide special gifts and an all-school meal in honor of Christ’s birth.  To date, $2643 has been received.  There is still time to exceed last year’s $4000 in gifts.  Thank you all who have given so far towards this special celebration at Omega School.

Truck Donations

     Gifts for the Omega School Ag Project truck are still being matched by a REACH supporter.  To date $2460 of the $9000 needed has been raised.  When the $9000 is raised that sum will be matched to meet the $18,000 purchase price of the needed truck.  Your prayers and gifts for this project are welcomed and appreciated.

Sponsorship: Love in Action

 My name is Namulinda Aisha Tibiri with REACH number UG/393, born on 3^rd/12/2001 and now in grade three (3). I stay with my grandmother known as Nangobi Topirista in the village called Buwolero. My father and mother died when I was four (4) years old.

My parents died in a fatal motor accident when I was young, I never got chance to stay with them. My young brother, Amuza Kitiibwa was left when he is not even a year old.  On the day they got an accident Amuza was with them but fortunate enough he escaped death. I thank God he survived.

It was hard time for us after the death of our parents, we moved from place to place seeking comfort and begging money from people. The reason was that we were seeking ways of survival, just because we had no immediate alternative. By then the only choice left was to beg.  Our grandmother was and she is old, she was not able to work for our survival.

During our days on streets God brought a Good Samaritan who picked us and started taking care of us, unfortunately he had not enough to prolong his help to us. It was in 2007, we went to church with him, message was preached and it moved my grandmother, brother Amuza, and me to take Christ as our personal savior.

Later, we were introduced to Rescue African Children (REACH) through Rev. Fred Tumwebaze. When I joined REACH, I got chance to start school at Omega School. When at School I was informed that, I got sponsors. I thank them for they have brought a lot of joy and peace to my heart. I now have hope for the future. I call them my parents because they have provided to me most of the necessities at school and some at home.

I bought a goat from some of the funds sent to me by my sponsors. The goats reproduced and were sold. After being sold a healthy calf was bought and it is growing very well. In the nearby future it will as well reproduce. We will be drinking some milk and sell some for a little income for our household.

May God bless my sponsors for all they have done to help, and may God bless all other sponsors who love children so much through REACH.

 Christmas 2011

     October and November are the last two months funds will be received and applied to the 2011 Christmas Fund.  Once again, REACH will

provide special gifts for each child at Omega School as well as provide a special meal to help celebrate the birth of Christ.

Last year’s celebration was a tremendous success due to the generous giving of REACH sponsors and supporters. Your extra gift will help bless the lives of our Ugandan children.

A Reminder or Two

•  An extra gift of $7 will provide a child with a mosquito net  which will provide protection from malaria

• Your gift for the Omega Ag Project truck and trailer are still being matched by a REACH supporter.