Masaka in the Lwengo district of Uganda was the scene of a terrible abduction of a preschool age girl for purposes of child sacrifice. (See Resty’s story.) When ECM learned of the plight of young Resty Nakijiira, we came in to help her and to develop a program that would lessen the vulnerability of other children around the area. The Masaka Child Sponsorship Project resulted. Children receive scholarship assistance and meet weekly for Bible stories, games and training in practical skills.
They are the most hated children in Uganda–the Karamojong beggar children in Kampala. Some were brought to the city by adults in search of a better life. Many were trafficked and put on the streets to beg for the benefit of a master. From proud families, experts from time immemorial in all things relating to cattle, they have ended up homeless, hungry, abused, outcast, and hated. Unschooled, unskilled, and with no future. If they don’t beg, they will starve. If they don’t bring in enough cash, they will be beaten. If they do beg they may be rounded up by police and sent away from their families. Caught in the middle of forces beyond their understanding, it’s hard for them to win no matter what they do. No wonder the Lord has laid the Karamojong beggar children on our hearts at ECM!
In the Katwe & Kisenyi slums of Kampala, through partnership with child sponsors, ECM has taken Karamojong beggar children off the streets and enrolled them in boarding school, where they are all making excellent progress, despite the fact that they had no previous schooling to prepare them for their entry into school. A weekly club continues with their mothers and other mothers of the communities to teach basic hygiene, family living skills, and to give spiritual counsel. After determining that it was not safe for the Karamojong children to return home during holidays, ECM began to provide the means for them to remain in boarding school during that time.
Our plan is to continue taking beggar children off the streets through child sponsorship while we also develop programs in Karamoja, Northern Uganda (see Karamoja Homeland). While the situation of the children in Kampala is very difficult, at least at boarding school they will be safe, be learning, and be able to receive visits from family.
The Karamoja Homeland Project is an direct result of ECM’s goal to stop trafficking where it starts. Recognizing that it is more effective to stop the flow of trafficking at the source than it is to only help the children who have already been trafficked, ECM began the Karamoja Homeland Project. As our workers address the root causes of child trafficking in the area, we hope to also show each child and family the personal love of Jesus Christ.
Kamwokya (pronounced kuh-moh-chuh) is a downtown slum area in Kampala, Uganda, and is home to many ethnic populations including refugees who moved from the north when Joseph Kony’s LRA bands were terrifying the countryside. In Kamwokya, ECM helps vulnerable children, including those with albinism, stay in school or receive vocational training through child sponsorship, seeking to reach these children and youth with the Gospel and to help provide developmental opportunities for them. Some families have been helped with assistance to start family businesses.
Resty’s story–
When the coordinator of ECM’s Gayaza Sponsorship Project in Uganda visited her sister near Masaka, she had ECM’s training on child trafficking fresh on her mind. So when she learned that a village woman had just rescued a three-year-old child named Resty who was discarded in a sack, she was immediately interested. As she learned to do in her training, she began to ask more questions, to look deeper.
When she learned what had happened to the little girl, she knew she had to get involved. The baby had suffered horrific ritual abuse in a traditional shrine, including having her undeveloped canine teeth cut out of her jaw, undoubtedly for ritual purposes. Her head hung to one side and her neck looked rotten, signs that she had probably been tied up around the neck. Then she had nearly suffocated when stuffed alive into a bag and discarded. She was found nearly drowning in her own feces, and seemingly near death.
In God’s mercy, a kindly lady found the little girl and did everything possible to rescue her, cleaning her up and seeking medical treatment at a hospital in spite of the fact that the child seemed not to see, hear or make any sound, and that all her joints had stiffened, including her backbone. The foster mother named the little girl Hope Tereza, and cared for her valiantly in spite of the fact that she had two other children to care for, one of them also unable to speak, and that her hut leaked badly.
As the police began to search for the parents, two men showed up threatening the foster mother. It turned out that these men had kidnapped the child eighteen months previously and had used her as a sacrifice for rituals in a traditional shrine. The police then were able to locate the parents, who had nearly exhausted all their resources, even selling their land in their search for their missing child.
Resty’s joints are becoming less stiff with therapeutic massage, she seems to be seeing and hearing, and she is now able to smile. Please continue praying for her healing & development.
Resty may never again be normal (although we acknowledge God’s ability to heal). But even if she is never normal, God must have very special plans for her life. Who else could have sent a woman who had such a heart to help her, just when she was at the point of death?
Every Child Ministries is also helping other child victims of ritual abuse, some who have suffered such horrific abuse that out of respect for their privacy, we cannot mention the specifics of their case. Please pray for them!
Your gift today allows ECM to continue to bring hope to children through programs like the Initiative gainst Ritural Abuse and Murder.
Haven of Hope Children’s Home is the boarding section of Haven of Hope Academy. The Home offers students a loving, homelike atmosphere for more than forty children. The Hope Center began in 2002 when ECM reached out to dozens of orphans and vulnerable children near the capital city of Accra, Ghana. As the children grew in age, a need to start a school arose, and eventually the children’s home became part of the Haven of Hope boarding school. (see Haven of Hope Academy). Scholarship assistance is available to children in crisis situations through child sponsorship.
The Gayaza Hope Center helps many children whose families are in crisis situations for various reasons. The children receive scholarship assistance, and help with vocational training as appropriate. They meet weekly for Bible teaching, fun and exercise, and help with schoolwork. The children have learned a variety of other skills too, including gardening and then cooking the food they raised, cakemaking, beadmaking, choreographed singing, and various art projects. Several children with albinism are also being helped by the project.
The Volta Region in southeastern Ghana, like many rural areas in Africa, is full of schools willing and even anxious to allow gospel presentations. ECM’s Community Evangelism program reaches out to these schools and the communities they serve with the gospel message, presented via film media as well as personal evangelism. Our staff makes frequent visits to local schools and churches, and conducts follow up discipleship as needed.
Your gift today allows ECM to continue to bring hope to children through programs like Community Evangelism.
In many African countries, children with albinism, or “albino” children, are often considered to be a curse. At ECM, we understand that children with albinism are valued and loved by God. Like EVERY CHILD, they are valued because they are created in the image of God.
A Life of Severe Rejection
These children are often ostracized, neglected, despised, and at times, even physically abused. Parents, especially fathers, often desert their families when albino children are born, or later, when they face ridicule by the community. Children with albinism are not only subject to taunting at school, but are often beaten up if they accidentally touch anyone. Often, teachers do not understand them, and in some places even health care workers are afraid to touch them. In extreme situations, the children’s safety is at risk, since in some areas the body parts of people with albinism are considered to have “magical” powers. ECM workers have even found that some albino children are hidden indoors and denied interaction with others because of the ridicule the family faces. This all makes for a life of severe rejection. But ECM was established for “the forgotten children of Africa.” That’s why our workers are seeking to reach out to these children.
Showing God’s Love
ECM is showing them God’s love in very practical ways –for example, by giving them the gift of a pair of sunglasses, a hat, and some sunscreen. As we distribute these items we share the Gospel story of God’s amazing love with the children, give them hugs to demonstrate our acceptance, and gather information so we can keep in touch with them. Many children with albinism have become a part of our regular sponsorship projects, attending Saturday Bible Clubs and participating in events. ECM also works to educate the public about the truths of albinism through trainings in schools and participation in local radio programming.
Click here to sponsor one of these precious children!
Your gift today allows ECM to continue to bring hope to children through programs like our ministry to Children with Albinism.
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