Report Time!

There is so much to be said this week, after receiving a report from Joshua regarding all the activities that happened whilst Mary Taylor was visiting Kids First last month. He is using a new computer now and has obviously mastered it well. If you have any questions about the report or want any more details on the activities that our kids were involved in, please just leave a comment. In other good news, we now have the details of our 3 new sponsored kids. We are so excited to welcome Elizabeth, Mariam, and Grace!

We are also really excited to let you know that our kids in high school have started back at a new school this year. Joshua realised that their old school didn't have many facilities up and running that you need in a secondary school, so our kids have started at Bethel High School. Photos are below. 

Joshua meeting with the Head Master

Getting ready to go to school (very different to NZ! The school is a boarding school. Our kids have to take everything with them)

All packed up and ready for a great start at school for 2013!

REPORT ON MARY TAYLOR’S VISIT TO UGANDA

BACKGROUND: Mary Taylor is a loving American married mother and grandmother who had been in Uganda two years ago when her daughter was adopting a child (Mary’s granddaughter now called Kirabo). During her visit, Mary fell in love with the Ugandan people, especially the kids and the mothers of Uganda. Since then Mary longed to come back to Uganda, which God enabled her to do early this year.

Mary got to know about Kids First through one of our mothers, Agnes. She is the mother of one of our sponsored kids, Martin Kitibo. Agnes and Mary meet at the babies home were Mary’s daughter adopted Kirabo. When Mary wanted to come back she did not know a specific project to visit until Agnes connected her to myself (Joshua), the project coordinator of Kids First. After Joshua and Mary got in touch, preparations for her visit were planned, and we thank God everything went the way it was planned .

MARY’S ACTIVITIES WITH KIDS FIRST: We as Kids First we were so blessed hosting Mary Taylor  and there are no words we can use to express our thanks for the time, love, and her sharing her life with our kids and mothers of Kids First. She spent ten days with us as a project, and she got involved in so many things that are explained below.

ORATION: On her first official day with Kids First, Mary meet with Joshua who passed on the official welcoming message from Sunny and Sarah, the international directors of Kids First. It was a good meeting at the end we felt connected and this made a smooth run of the activities that were planned.

MEETING THE MOTHERS: Mary was welcomed by the mothers who were so happy to meet her that they sang and danced with joy to welcome come her to Kids First. They prepared a huge meal which they shared with her, she introduced herself to them, and together Mary and the mothers shared their life stories.

Mary did some devotions with the mothers and she gave them a devotional book called Psalms Prayer of the Heart. The mothers were very happy and they promised to use the book on their Thursday meetings, and I am very sure this will help them on their spiritual growth.

On the second meeting with the mothers, the mothers got the opportunity to show Mary the crafts they make. The mothers were so blessed, because Mary liked their craft and bought some to take with her to the US. This is very important because at Kids First we do not encourage giving hand outs so through such sales we are able to help the mothers take care of their families on a long time basis. Mary did not only buy lots of crafts from our mothers but she also promised to look for a market for the crafts of our mothers which will benefit our mothers and their families.                  Mary promised to sell some of the crafts she took and she will send the profits to Kids First and we thank God for that.

On the last interaction with the mothers Mary donated some catering materials to the mothers and we really thank her for that. This is also very important because not only are the mothers going to be able to use the catering things to make meals like the ones they made for Marry Taylor, but they are going to be able to use them earn some money through hiring them out or even providing catering services to anyone who will need them hence improving on their standards of living.  Our mothers were very blessed meeting Mary and they gave her a gift of a yellow traditional Uganda dress called gomesi  as a sign of their appreciation, but also symbolizing that now she is part of them.

MEETING THE KIDS: The  kids were very happy to meet Mary. They also sung welcoming songs to her which she liked. Mary shared the story of her grandson, Jack, who has a big heart for the kids of     Uganda. Jack makes pumpkin bread every day before going to school, and after school he sells the bread and through the sales he sponsors five kids through school here in Uganda. Jack inspired Mary to come to Uganda but his story was also very inspirational to our kids some even wrote letters to Jack. We were all so blessed with  that story.

Mary also meet with the Sunday School kids of Pure Hearts Ministries. It was a wonderful time being with them, and she told them the story of Jack, gave them some gifts of pencils and dolls, and they were very happy. Mary also donated a Sunday School teaching book to the Sunday School teacher which will help him in teaching the kids, and we thank her for that.

PENPAL PROGRAMME: Mary came with some letters from the 9th grade children of her community that she works with. These children have a big loving heart for the children of Africa. Mary says that for a long time they have wanted to establish long term friendship with the kids of Africa but they had failed, so when Mary told me about this I said this time it will be able to work out because we also have kids who would want to make such friendship. Mary came with wonderful written letters from the children she works with that we gave to our kids who also wrote back. Through this exercise we had almost 80 kids who got involved and they loved it.

After some consultation from Sunny and Sarah plus Mary who is going to coordinate this project from the US, we shall draft a policy that we shall follow so that this penpal programme runs smoothly. I believe through this programme our kids will learn about new cultures and be encouraged. I believe through such friendship the project might gain sponsorship for more kids who cannot go to school.

The 9th grade kids that mary works with did not only send letters but I am happy to report that they also donated some money that was used to buy school materials for our sponsored kids. They bought things like school bags, books, dictionaries, and reams of paper. Both the kids and the mothers who had to buy these things for their kids were very happy for such generosity.

ART PROGRAMME: Mary also got involved in our art programme together with Andrew of Art at Heart. The kids drew wonderful drawings that Mary took with her to share with kids of her community who will also draw back to our kids here, and we are so happy for that.

To support our kids art project the 9th grade kids that Mary works with also donated some money that was used to purchase things like colored pencils, paper, and crayons. We thank them very much for their loving hearts and as the project coordinator of Kids First here in Uganda I will make sure that all these thing are used in the best way as much as possible.

HOME VISITS: The families of some of our sponsored kids were very honoured to host Mary to their homes and to share their family stories with her. They were also blessed with the food basket that Mary blessed them with and may God bless her for that loving heart.

I was also honoured to host Mary to my home and her meeting my mum and my girlfriend Marry. My mum and my girlfriend have been a huge blessing to me, but also to the project indirectly, because they have supported me both emotionally and spiritually by always praying for me and encouraging me while doing my Kids First work, so her meeting them was very important to me.

SPORTS PROGRAMME: Mary also visited our sports programme where she passed on the balls that were donated by the kids she works with. She also promised to solicit more support for the sports programme. Lameck our sports coach promised to manage the balls well and also find out the sports items that are needed and how much they cost so that that information is passed on to Mary to help in soliciting for a donation for that.

VISITING SCHOOL: Mary also visited Bunga Hill Primary School where she meet with the head teacher of the school who helped to explain to her how the primary school system works. She also passed on the school materials that were donated by the children and the teacher she works with.

All the above activities went on well so many kids and mothers turned up for the above activities and to us as a project it was the best way to start the year.

WAY FORWARD: At the end of Mary’s visit, Joshua on behalf of Kids First administration, together with Gertrude, Stella, and Agnes, on behalf of Kids First mothers sat in a meeting with Mary to pave away forward. Mary promised to work together with Kids First and also promised to come back with a team of some of the kids and their parents that she works with, so we shall continue to pray for her so that that comes to pass.

It should be noted that Kids First is not officially recognized by the government of Uganda, so for serious activities we need to be registered as a Christian non-profit non-government organization. So very soon I will be in touch with Sunny and Sarah for advise and input into this registration. I am happy to note that Mary has sat on so many organization boards so she is also more than willing to give us advice, and not only advice but also financial support need to make this happen.

Joshua is also working on opening up a post office address that will ease the smooth running of the penpal programme and as soon as this is done every one concerned will be informed about it.

SPECIAL THANKS: I would want to thank Sunny and Sarah who have always stood with the organization and provide advice to me on how best Kids First can be managed. If it was not for the good direction and the support they have given to the project we would never got wonderful people like Mary come to bless the people especially the kids and the mothers of Uganda. I would also want to thank them  for the computer that they  gave to me on behalf of the project. Without it I would not have managed to make this detailed report. May God richly bless them.

I would also want to thank Mary Taylor who did not know much about us but she believed in us and came to visit our project. We were so blessed with her visit, she encouraged us and loved us, shared her life with us, and now I am happy to report that she is not just a person we are partnering with but a sister, mother, and a friend to us. We cannot wait to have her again here in Uganda.

In a very special way I would want to thank the 9th grade kids and their teachers that Mary works with for the love they have for our kids and the people of Uganda. It was a huge blessing for our kids receiving letters from them and I believe through this friendships our kids will learn a lot from them and I know they will also learn a lot from our kids. I am happy to report that Mary talked a lot about them and she passed on the donation they sent to our kids. Our kids are looking forward on making long-time friendship with them.

I would want to thank Pete, Mary’s husband, the women’s group that Mary is a member of, and Mary’s church in the US, for supporting her and encouraging her to come to Uganda. She was really a great ambassador to all of you, and you should be very proud of her.

Special thanks also go to the Kids First family in Uganda, Agnes for taking good care of Mary when she was here, Gertrude and her family for allowing us meet on their premises and also giving us their car to help in Mary’s movements while in Uganda. To the mothers and kids for the great welcome to our guest, and also welcoming her to their homes and sharing their life stories with her. Not forgetting Lameck and Andrew for the great work and time they put in the project.

GLORY BE TO GOD FOR A GREAT TIME HE ENABLED US TO HAVE

Prepared by;

JOSHUA KIZITO

PROJECT CORDINATOR

KIDS FIRST UGANDA