Truly, God goes before us and orders our steps when we are serving Him. After a separation with our original ministry partner, we were unsure of where God would have us go next. On our way out of Uganda during a February 2019 trip, we learned of a new ministry opportunity in a village called Lweteega (pronounced Ruh-tay-guh). The village school was close to crumbling. The church had only a dirt floor. There were many needs. The neat thing is, the people there loved God and were serving Him to the best of their ability and understanding. Many of them had participated in Bible school to deepen their understanding of scripture. Truly, Lweteega is a wonderful place with dear people who needed some help.

With the help of an American Bible teacher who was living in Lweteega, we began learning how we could best uplift these people and bringing those needs before our Heavenly Father. Many of the needs were for the village school. It had dirt floors and many of the children were habitually getting jiggers, which are parasitic fleas that cause a lot of pain. The roof had gaping holes in so the rain would pour in making it impossible to hold lessons in certain classrooms. Even greater than these issues was the caliber of teaching the children were under. The village could only afford to pay bottom-of-the-line teachers who really didn’t even know how to teach and were also abusive to the children. The headmaster held the same position at 2 other schools and, frankly, didn’t care about the Lweteega school or its children.

Our prayers for these people were answered in so many ways. Since 2019, we have been able to put a floor in the school, patched and repaired the leaking roof, as well as providing windows and doors. We also provided updated curriculum materials, desks, and chalkboards for the school. My favorite project in Lweteega was building a playground for the school. It is now truly a shining light in this part of rural Uganda, where children are welcome to learn and families can come for community and experiencing the love of God!

Another favorite of our partnership with the school was funding something the kids called Fat Friday! Every Friday when school was in session, we provided juice and pretty much every Ugandan kid’s favorite meal, kikamando (pronounced chick-a-man-doh). It’s basically a bean burrito in a plastic bag. The kids bite a hole in the corner and squeeze it into their mouths like yogurt. I know what you’re thinking, but don’t knock it ’till you try it! It was such a fun treat for the kids to look forward to each week! Don’t they look happy?