Report from BHW Uganda Partnership Facilitator

This is an edited version of a report received from James. He sent the first part of this report to me in the second week of June but has recently responded to some questions that I raised after receiving it. I find the report very impressive and am grateful that James is now fully retired from his school principalship and devoting full time to ministry. He is able to communicate better than he has been able to. This is a very good report and very helpful. 

The main objective of Christian Fellowship Centre is reaching the unreached with the Good News – the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the word of God.
Mission: Reaching the unreached with the living word, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Recent Events

Church Planting

After Covid 19, many churches were disorganized, disoriented and disempowered. The major task has been to reorganize, reorient and re-empower church leaders and local churches through general seminars, and conducting leadership training. Some church structures/buildings have been erected especially for areas that were sensitized and whose members were serious and determined. More effort is needed to strengthen 36 other churches. Renovations have been done in Mayombe, Izira, Kafufu and Bulende.

It has been absolutely fascinating to see the number of churches that James has been adding to the network. When we were in Busia in 2019, I asked James how many churches there were in his network and under his overall leadership umbrella. At that stage he indicated that there were 23. There are now 36! Clearly some of these churches are not functioning particularly well, but James is persisting, and it is an amazing amount of church growth. Unfortunately, leadership issues seem to be a price to be paid for building the body of Christ, as you will see below.

Leadership Training

They have conducted leadership training in Busoga sub-region and Busia in 2024. More trainings are scheduled for Mbale, Kween and the surrounding areas in this year. They still face the challenge of unstable leaders but have to persist and work through these. Some leaders, after completing trainings, either join other denominations or start their own ministries. For example, Pastor Emmanuel Mwanja, who was their former Pastor in Kimira, Tabakony and later Pangani, joined several denominations and subsequently, begun his own ministry. That is a setback, but they keep identifying new leaders, mentoring them and train them. When ready, they are released into ministry.

This seems to be a relatively normal issue in Uganda. We have previously met Pastor Emmanuel and to the best of my understanding James and Gorret still care for and educate his children. Certainly, the last time that we were there, that was still the case, even though Pastor Emmanuel had for some period of time left and gone to live in Kenya and had remarried. I do consider it is important that we assist James in developing good leadership. The leaders that he is training are often working in very difficult areas, such as the Karamoja area in northeastern Uganda. That is a very rugged and wild area. The people are uneducated, and it has a history of violence and great difficulties. It needs considerable resource and Christian commitment and seems like a very tough and challenging area. I have not been there, but it is not much further north of Kween where we have been on a number of occasions, and which has similar issues. 

Education Support

CFC-CCM has continued to offer support to students in tertiary, university, secondary and primary school. At present the figures stand as follows;
(a) Graduates of different disciplines - 15
(b) Undergraduates/high institutions – 35
(c) Secondary school both O AND A-levels – 42
(d) Primary – 20
(e) Special Needs – 03

James would like to increase the number of children supported to attend primary school and there is definitely a need for Bright Hope World to consider the extent of our support to this education programme which is vital and definitely meets a need. One of the things that I like about the programme is that it is not 100% support, and parents or caregivers are required to contribute as much as they are able to do. This means that there is a degree of ownership to the education process.

I will be having some further discussions with James about this part of the programme as he has put a budget through requesting quite a considerable amount of money to support this. I am not sure whether this is a particularly good idea to continue in the same form or whether we should be encouraging him to look at after school tuition programmes and similar types of activities, which appear to have quite good results and do not require a heavy administrative overhead. The budget requested is considerably in excess of what was approved last year and probably is not realistic in the current climate.  

Tree Planting

In an effort to protect the environment as well as mitigation of climate change, they are engaged in a campaign to plant more trees, especially indigenous ones. They are also engaging young people and encouraging them to be involved in conservation and protection of the environment. They currently process and nurse seedlings. I find it very encouraging that James seems aware of some of these global issues. He has mentioned this previously and is taking seriously the mandate to plant trees and ensure reforestation where possible. Obviously, in a country like Uganda there are some challenges in this area because of the high need for firewood. However, it is pleasing to see that he does this. He has a very modest financial request for this, and I think that it should be supported.

HIV/AIDS

Small microfinance support is provided to affected persons who are organized in their organizational umbrella “Nabakisa Malwaye.” There are 15 active members. They have access to the revolving fund and are guided on how to properly utilize the fund for their empowerment. We have previously met many people on this programme and have been very impressed with them and their diligence. One of the things that I really like about it is that it is very well lead by Stephen Sande. He has been a very consistent support to James.

Rice Growing

This is an ongoing project in Kween under the organized women and youths of Pangani CFC Church commonly known as Canaan Land. So far, 5 acres of land is dedicated to rice growing and it was pleasing to see that this is continuing. We gave some support to the establishment of the rice growing project in Kween (which is in Pangani District) in 2017 or 2018 but did not get an updated report so it is great to see that this is still continuing and would appear to be doing okay. I do not have details of the financial success of this operation but am guessing that rice growing can produce reasonable profits. I have asked for a bit more information about this as it seems to be a very positive part of what they are able to report on.

Mercy Ministry

The Mercy Ministry is going very well. This is a prison ministry whose mission is to minister hope to the inmates. They have a dedicated minister who is allowed access to the inmates every Sunday and delivers both the word of God and tangible support like sugar, soap, razor blades etc. The inmates have been supported to manage and run their own daily fellowship. Bright Hope World has previously provided some minimal support to this, but this is a great ministry. We visited Nyenge prison in Kween in 2018, and I was very impressed with the effect of this outreach. In any event, the visiting and support of people in prisons is a very biblical mandate. 

Foundations For Farming

There are a few farmers who have adopted these farming principles, and they are encouraging many to take it up. They are setting up more demonstration farms to encourage the community to adopt FFF for better yields. Gorret has always been practising Foundations for Farming and has also been teaching other people to do likewise for years. There is great potential for improvement and growth in this area and we should be looking at supporting this. James has made no specific proposal as to how this might happen.

Personal Stories

Emessa Joan

After completing her O-level (Uganda Certificate of Education) successfully, Joan's mother did not have money to support her advanced education or take her for tertiary education. Growing up in a family of a single parent is an absolute challenge. Like many ambitious children, her dream was to be a nurse. This seemed to be impossible given her mother’s financial condition. As fate would have its way, she was considered for tertiary education support by Child Care Ministry.

In 2021 Joan was admitted to the Lira school of Nursing and Midwifery. Tuition fees per semester were about 1,900,000 an equivalent of US$528. This is way too high for an average Ugandan to afford. Child Care Ministry through partnership with Bright Hope World made it possible for Joan to complete her certificate in nursing and now her future looks bright. 

In her own words she had this to say, “I want to thank God for making a way for me through Child Care Ministry and our sponsors who brought back my joy and made my dream of becoming a nurse true. I am grateful for Pastor James and Mama Gorret for their golden heart and also a big thank you to Bright Hope World for restoring my smile and hopes. God bless you”

Ideas for the Future

Vocational Training

There is still a need for upskilling in vocations like;
- Welding
- Manson
- Tailoring
- Hair dressing
- Cosmetology

James and two of his daughters-in-law had conversations with me about this when we were in Jinja in 2022. There has not been a specific proposal put forward for this, apart from the detail contained in this report, but I think that vocational training is a good idea. Bright Hope World has a very successful vocational training programme running in Jinja (UGA04c). One of the issues with vocational training programmes though is the degree of contribution or 'payback' that is expected from the students when they graduate. In our other programme we have endeavoured to treat the funding for individual students like a student loan to be repaid once they obtain employment. That has not worked particularly well, but our partner in Jinja is requiring an initial payment as a gesture of good faith, rather than providing 100% support. James commented that they would be looking at three people going into existing institutions. This is a lot better than his original proposal which was to start something himself. There are a number of issues that we would need to work through before we could consider assisting James to start some form of vocational training. 

Current Issues and Challenges

Borehole

In Kween, the borehole requires repair. When we visited in 2022 it was obvious that the borehole was not working. It does not appear to have been working for some time and at present I feel it is not appropriate for us to support this. My reason for saying that is that the borehole appears to be in somewhat of a “no man’s land”. It is hard to see who is taking responsibility for it, or who could take responsibility for it. Despite James’ inclusion of this in his report and the fact that Bright Hope World supported its installation and met the cost I think it appropriate to leave this out of consideration at present. It would be great to see an appropriate supply of freshwater to the village, but until such time as there is a committee or group formed to support and oversee it, I do not think it is a good idea for us to commit any further money.

Prayer and Praise Points

1) Give thanks for such faithful and wonderful partners.
2) That the ministries would continue to recover after the devastation of the Covid pandemic. We cannot underestimate the difficulties that are still faced by very poor people in such circumstances.
3) For wisdom regarding the educational support of children and young people who are very reliant on external funding to meet their education costs in a very inflationary environment.
4) For wisdom in developing tutoring programmes that work alongside schools.
5) For those in the HIV/AIDS programme, that they would be able to diligently progress, despite the significant health difficulties.
6) For good health for both James and Gorret who have both had significant sicknesses over the last year.