Uganda 2024 Day 3

Today I woke up before the sun and went to the kitchen to work on my message for youth group Sunday school the next morning. I really struggled with it so I stopped working on it so I could watch the sunrise. It was a gorgeous sunrise! For awhile I thought it was not going to be better until I could actually see the sun. Then it was fantastic! During breakfast I was able to talk to Yoan until our morning meeting. It was good to catch up with him and to hear that he talks to John Basco as much as I do. They made an amazing connection last year and both do similar work with children. Because of this they are able to encourage each other and give each other ideas. Both of them are doing amazing things and sewing the love of Christ into the lives of these children. 

We left around 9am for the 10 year anniversary of freedom projectz. They did a thanksgiving and celebration. For this they invited anyone who was a part or helped in any way with freedom projectz. They even invited the guy who let Moses (see below for his info) use his car to drive students around when it first started up. It was amazing to see how much honor they gave him for that. The car showed the students how much more important and honored they were because many people where they are from don’t have cars. To back track… freedom projectz started in 2014. A group of 7 people wanted to help the kids at Destiny orphanage and school. They decided that sponsoring them for school and university so they were able to achieve their dreams was what they wanted to do. They made a trip in 2014 to interview all 100 kids that were there and I believe they picked 10 to sponsor. Joanne said it was such a hard decision, but they knew God was in it. There were so many students there that had already gone through and were now working in the fields they studied and the students being sponsored at this time. It was so good to see them all again. The world changer who are in the program were there, John Basco, David, John Basco (sponsored by Jodie), Nathan (Ben sponsored recently), Stella (Ben sponsored early on in the program), and so many more I knew. Family members were invited, but not many were able to make it. When the three boys from Karamoja showed up there were many hugs and smiling faces! David gave me a hug first. It was so good to see him again! I am excited to connect with him better this year. He was quiet last year, but we have texted almost every day since and will be less shy with me this year. Then I got to hug John Basco. I missed him so much! The hug brought me back to last year when I told him I was his sponsor. It was so big and long.

We had worship to start the celebration. Then Nathan’s dad spoke and one other guy. Moses was next to speak. He is the one who American side of freedom projects chose to lead everything on the Uganda side. He helps find the students, teaches them responsibility in general and financially, he makes sure they get their money, he meets with each of them often and helps counsel them and so much more. Moses is like a father to them. After he spoke he brought the students up and had them line up by year they started in the program. They introduced themselves, the job they do or where they are in school, and almost everyone thanked JoAnne and Moses for all they have done. Many mentioned that Moses is their father… even if they already have one. It was such a sweet time to know what they are doing and plan to do. JoAnne also gave a talk and had all of the team introduce ourselves and what we do. I accidentally forgot to say my occupation. 

Fahad talked about the new young kids that were joining freedom projectz.They call the group Dreams Alive. Because they want the kid’s dreams to come to reality. Fahad was requesting the older members of freedom projectz, who now have jobs, to donate to help them so JoAnn and others do not need to help. This was the biggest and most inspiring moment of the day for me. Later in the day, JoAnne asked what my favorite part of the day was. I said, “well…”. Then she said, “oh, seeing John Basco.” I said, “actually, yes, but no, it was what Fahad said.” After Fahad talked, they did a cake cutting and lunch. At the end of lunch, we had a mini dance party with the world changers in the back of the group. It was so fun! They are some of the best kids! I laughed at George as he would nudge someone out of the way so he could get in the middle and do the next dance move. He cracks me up! They brought us back together for a little more talking and to wrap up the ceremony and then we had to leave. 

When we got to the guest house my group to teach youth Sunday school met up. It was Benjamin, Abby, and I. I explained kinda what Sunday school looked like. Then I asked them if they had a topic they wanted to talk about. They both had plans to talk about God being our father. This is a topic that I thought about talking on a few months ago, but never completely followed through on preparing. The three of us mentioned the general idea of what we would talk about and it has a perfect beginning, middle and end. We were all encouraged and set off to prepare our messages. Then we packed medication the rest of the night.