Joy of a Child

Dear friends of Joy of a child,

Hope this finds you all well. We are glad to report that our kids at St Agnes School have now made two weeks at school in their first term. The other kids at St Lawrence and St Aloysius Schools have made one week in School. We are so much thankful for the prayer and support you have given towards their education and the Joy of a Child ministry as a whole. We are in particular thankful to the Elgin Church, Illinois that has faithfully stood with us in ministry for the past two years. Special thanks go to Pastor Adam, Matt, Jen, and Daniela that have come to Uganda and witnessed the work on the ground at JOAC.

Our journey in ministry as JOAC is steady, exciting, but also very challenging. We are so excited to see our kids grow physically and spiritually, adopting goals for their lives and now pursuing them through hard work with their education. Our role has always been to guide them and provide the physical, emotional, social and spiritual support that they need to achieve their dreams and overcome the challenges that come with becoming who they want to be and what God wants them to be.

This time of the year is one of the most challenging to us at JOAC. Our kids have begun their first term of school this year on credit, without paying their school fees or school supplies. It was so hard to let them in. It involved so much bargaining with the school administrators. We thank God that the kids were given a grace period to have their fees and supplies cleared. In 10 days, the schools need the kids to have their school dues cleared. The schools are tightening their grip mostly because of the high inflation in Uganda which has seen prices of most utilities go high; hence running the schools needs money urgently.

Our kids are growing physically. The school uniforms and shoes we bought them two years ago no longer fit them. They are too small for their bodies now. As a result, their schools have complained about this and need them to acquire new uniforms. Recently, Patrick and Davin were sent home because of small unfitting uniforms. The kids need new uniforms.

Shiba our oldest beneficiary, now in tertiary doing a course in tailoring will be starting her second year and last year of school this term. Being in her last year means a little rise in school fees and school supplies, and also a need for more hard work. Please pray that God will provide for her and see her through all the challenges that she is facing with her family and education.

Keith is our kid who was involved in an accident on Christmas day. He is using crutches to move, but his situation is improving. He is already back to school, very positive about school and enthusiastic to start the new term. However, he is finding it challenging to walk to school.  He is missing the times he used to run so fast to school and back for lunch. He now can’t have lunch because he cannot beat the lunch break to run home for lunch and back to school for classes. He urgently needs to pay to always have his lunch from school.

Please pray with us as we are now financially finding it hard to run the ministry.  Our monthly budget to run the home has always been 1.200 US dollars but what we have at hand is almost half of that amount.

Our rent has also gone far higher than what we have previously been paying per year. We now have to pay 3.131 dollars from about 2.087 dollars. We currently have 725 dollars for rent.

As you pray, please remember JOAC. And we invite you to make some contributions towards our budget if you feel guided by God to do so.

Please send your contributions/donations/gifts by following this link: https://joyofachild.webconnex.com/donate

Blessings to you all as we partner in ministry!

 

David and Esther Kamanzi