And So It Begins

At 52, in so many ways, my life is just beginning. Two months ago while reading a prayer request in a Facebook group, I heard the Lord tell me to meet the need. This is unusual for me in several ways. Although I am a committed follower of Jesus, 'hearing' His Voice was not something I usually experienced. Second, I had been laid off from my job of seven years just weeks earlier. I knew that I had to obey the Lord. After sharing this with my husband, we agreed and contacted the Pastor who had placed the prayer request. With this simple act of obedience, my life will never be the same. The Pastor was Matthew Okello, a young man in Uganda who I am proud and honored to call my son.
Early in our conversations, Matthew began teaching me many things. He told me of the orphans that he cares for. My ignorance showed early on. Matthew was trying to tell me about the war and terror that he and his people have lived with his entire life. It was then that I first heard of Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army. As Matthew and I were chatting, I was searching Google for more information. What I read horrified me. The Lord's Resistance Army? For over two decades this group has terrorized Northern Uganda. This is the ultimate definition of using the Lord's Name in vain. The things that I read, I could barely even think about. My western mind just could not comprehend how anyone could do such things, especially to children and using the Lord's Name. Matthew has lived through so much in his young life, and yet the faith that he has in God is stronger than anyone I have ever known. He gives his life to serving God and the children. From Matthew's faith and love has grown Uganda Child Care Foundation. (UgandaCCF.org).
In Matthew's words: "Northern Uganda has been under Civil War for the last 22 years.

The lord’s resistance army (LRA) worked the face of the land, Killing anything that lived.
Children were forced to become Child Soldiers; their parents were massacred, slaughtered like animals and cooked in pots before their very face as they were forcefully led into the Jungles,
 a way to show them that there is no hope even if they would escape and come back home.

Right here in the Northern Uganda Land is my birth homeland, I love it, I love it’s People.

 Many Children are suffering the same that I went through. May GOD remember their Pain, their tears."

I will spend the rest of my life serving my son Matthew at UgandaCCF, and serving these beautiful children. Will you take this journey with me? Will you help us to help the children?