Uganda Child Care Outreach, Christmas 2002
I would like to wish all of my family, friends and supporters a wonderful Christmas and a New Year of peace and joy.
I am writing my annual Christmas letter with a brief account of events of the past year. I praise God for all that He has done in these last 12 months. It has been a time of growth and many changes for the Child Care Outreach. I am very grateful to Calo and Friemut Stauss who gave me the gift of round trip tickets to attend their wedding in Germany. I had a very restful and wonderful time from June 14 to July 7 when I traveled to Germany for the marriage of Calo and Friemut. Calo had become a good friend when she was staying at the Babies home here in Fort Portal. After the first weeks with Calo and her family I spent a week in France with the Bonsel family on Lake Geneva. The whole time was a dream vacation with traveling, boating, swimming and just wonderful fellowships with many Christians. I arrived back refreshed and ready for the ongoing challenges.
We have grown tremendously with many more families being sponsored and over 120 students being helped on a scholarship scheme. We are trying to initiate many small income generating home based projects and also develop increased crop production for self sufficiency. With this growth I have needed more assistance both in the office and field. I have a full time field worker now and an office assistant who helps with translations and entering the expenditures in the books along with other secretarial duties.
We are very sad to report the loss of two children this year. One was an 8-year-old girl who died of malaria and the other was a 15-year-old boy who was head of his family. He died a horrible death with rabies. I stayed with him for 4 days and three nights at the government hospital.
There have been several visitors to the program from different countries. Ruth, Janette and Deirdre from Ireland were all visitors of the Jackson Family who helped in many ways and Chiara from Italy who is a doctor, worked with our orphans with many medical problems. The rains have been heavy from the El Nino weather pattern and with the extra rains disease has been epidemic with malaria, flu and other diseases. We are so grateful for the large donation from Ireland that we used to buy many blankets and beds and to repair roofs.
Another very wonderful announcement is that from contributions from Rotary and other generous individuals we were able to send a 4-year-old orphan, Shamim, to India for open-heart surgery to close a hole in her heart. She returned on Easter Sunday to Uganda and is doing well and getting stronger every day.
The poor people here who do not get enough protein have had a treat these last weeks with a large number of grasshoppers that come about twice a year. They fry them with salt. It is like a huge holiday with everyone running around and catching them.
We are very proud of the students who have been returning the third term results. They are doing well and many are finishing in the top percentages in the schools. The very generous contributions of very many people are responsible for so many kids having this chance in life.
I will close with the prayer that each of you will have a special and blessed Christmas season and a New Year that is filled with your every desire.
Love and gratitude to all,
Carol Adams
