You can help a child in Northern Uganda go to School
By Michael Mawa
Unconditional Love – the way to go!
It is with utmost reluctance and somewhat heaviness that I am, finally, at the bidding of my good friend James, writing this piece about our impressions on the practical consequences of the northern war. There are two reasons for my reluctance:
First of all, while the debate rages on what has and has not been done, that debate is largely doing very little if any, in practically improving the day to day lives of these precious Ugandans who do not want to spend an extra day in such despicable conditions.
Secondly, there’s simply a feeling of resignation especially with the older generation whom we strongly believe could do a lot in extending tangible support and thus alleviate some of the pain; most especially those who wear the name tag of practicing Christians.
Instead they seem to either be completely insensitive, unbothered or just unwilling to respond appropriately to the plight of these people, and prefer to carry on with business as usual
Our conviction is that whatever the views one holds, there is one right, Christian response and that is to show unconditional love; after all love covers a multitude of sins (and there are certainly many sins that need to be covered) and also breaks down the dividing walls of hostility.
Moved by these and other convictions, we strongly felt that it was our Christian obligation not only to pray for our brothers and sisters but also offer practical help in whatever way possible.
Of course the million dollar question that has fed the epidemic dependency mindset in Africa is, but what do we have? For many of us, little indeed, but we found out that the Bible which is the basis of our faith did not seem to focus so much on how much we could give but rather the spirit with which we gave.
Spurred on by this assurance and as is always the case with things that are born of God, he gave us a word that has become the pillar of the Love Unconditional programme.
They are the words of Peter to the beggar in Acts 3:6, “SILVER AND GOLD I DONOT HAVE, BUT WHAT I HAVE I GIVE”. Clearly, while many people in these conditions are not explicitly begging, their squalid conditions are sufficient pleas to our conscience to help them.
We strongly felt that if we could only give what we have, we could make a significant difference. Specifically, we felt that if every secondary school student (Secondary schools being our core ministry ground) gave 1,000 Ug. Shs, yes 1,000 Ug. Shs per term; we would raise staggering sums of money that can sponsor thousands of orphans and less previllaged children.
The focus on secondary school students here rather than the working class and churches being because of the need to cultivate a giving culture at an early stage, a thing that is largely lacking in the latter group; so that they grow up with it.
The conviction is that they would then carry on this godly practice to higher institutions of learning and eventually to the market place when they have substantial and stable sources of income, and then you would have the largest sponsorship scheme in the world of all time; after all the greatest of them is LOVE…
Armed with this roadmap, the Nationwide Schools’ Prayer Network launched the Love Unconditional programme in Schools in 2003. We began writing about it in our termly Newsletter and sharing about it in schools, and students who were moved to give would sign a form.
The Response.
We were totally amazed, students began giving and by the end of 2003, over 1 million Shs had been raised. So at the beginning of 2004, we took up one orphan who had been identified by a S6 vaccist.
This girl, whose father was killed by LRA rebels had originally sat primary leaving examinations in 2000 but was unable to join secondary school because she didn’t have school fees.
So she sat home for two years during which she got pregnant and even gave birth. But clearly, the desire to study was not lost and so in 2003, when she would have been going to S3, she went back to P7.
Again, she managed to raise the grades to join a secondary school and was even admitted at Gulu High School, a boarding school. But just as during her previous attempt, school fees again stared her in the face and let her know that secondary school was only a thing she could only enjoy in her dreams.
Thank God that this time for her, Love Unconditional stepped in and it’s so refreshing that she’s now going to S3.
As we continued to share the Love Unconditional message in schools, so the giving grew. So in 2005, the Love Unconditional programme took up two more orphans to S1: one of them was a survivor of the horrendous Barlonyo massacre in February 2004 in Lira and then significantly for the bigger vision, the second one was taken up by a group of campusers from Makerere University who were pioneers of the programme while still in secondary school. These two boys are also now to S2, fully sponsored by Love Unconditional.
Other significant things worth mentioning here are that irked by the lack of contributions from Africa during the Tsunami disaster and especially given that many victims simply needed some very basic things like drinking water in the immediate after math (I assure you many Ugandans could have afforded a bottle of mineral water and that would make a difference) Love Unconditional programme mobilized 100 US$ that we sent through the Red Cross.
Certainly we were not one of the biggest contributors and were not even recognized (that has never been our intention) but if the parable of the widow who dropped a few coins is anything to go by, then heaven might have registered us as one of the greatest contributors.
But also significantly, we succeeded in setting a good precedent that we are not just a nation that is a receiving, dead end, but one that can also give. This precedent probably had a hand in moving the government months later to contribute towards the Katrina relief.
Again in 2005, Love Unconditional also set another important precedent by sending clothes, soap and shoes, that students contributed to Starch factory and Barr camps in Lira. And we’re due to send more things in 2006 once we reach our minimum threshold.
Now in 2006, Love Unconditional is due to take up 3 more orphans to S1 bringing the total number being sponsored to a staggering total of SIX.
The Future
Just in a bid to further enrich the sponsorship, we intend to start visiting our students during the official school visitation days every term, so that we can also contribute to their spiritual, emotional and social development as well. We also plan to bring them for ministry retreats where we can share with them the godly values we believe in.
It’s also our intention to step up the mobilization effort this year both in schools and higher institutions of learning with the intention of taking up 4 more orphans next year.
We also intend to stay engaged and conscious to physical needs around us that Love Unconditional can help meet. We’ll definitely be sending more clothes, soap, books and the like to IDP camps and other places that need them.
And as and when duty calls, we’re also ready to respond to international relief efforts, regardless of how much we’re able to give.
The Challenges
It’s so amazing that so much can be raised from so few schools. Our main challenge is in our limited capacity to mobilize.
First of all, one of our major tools of propagating this message is a termly Newsletter that we’ve produced every term since 2003 even if we’ve always done that with considerable financial difficulty.
However, the tangible fruits of these bulletins have always served as timely encouragements and worthwhile justification for the pain as we’ve purposed not to offer God what costs us nothing.
Our target is to produce 50,000 copies termly, up from the current 10,000 to simply flood schools with the message of Love Unconditional and also give them their other favourite themes that our bulletins address like prayer, worship, sexuality and testimonies.
Secondly, with no concrete financial base, all those who’re involved in the outreaches are largely left to scratch from their personal pockets to be able visit schools week in, week out, organize conferences, etc.
Being able to do that consistently for 4 years is no mean feat but it’s simply a hard act to sustain with majority of them being students. It’s no wonder then that many times contributions (seed) have often remained in schools longer than they should have because we didn’t even have the means to go and pick them.
Besides facilitating the present team, a financial base will significantly help us to draw more people on board especially from universities and vaccists, many of whom we’ve known from schools. That would have a huge, direct bearing on the response from schools and higher institutions of learning to the wider mobilization effort.
Conclusion
The 3years of the Love Unconditional programme have not been easy, but the fruits simply speak for themselves, they are extremely sweet.
The Nationwide Schools’ Prayer Network welcomes any offer of support from people who share our burden.
For more information about this and the other ministry programmes, you can contact us using the address below:
Nationwide Schools’ Prayer Network
P.O.Box 414,
Kampala, Uganda.
Email: n_spn@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: (256) 712 697250, 782 094336, 712 827244, 772 412439
Unconditional Love – the way to go!
It is with utmost reluctance and somewhat heaviness that I am, finally, at the bidding of my good friend James, writing this piece about our impressions on the practical consequences of the northern war. There are two reasons for my reluctance:
First of all, while the debate rages on what has and has not been done, that debate is largely doing very little if any, in practically improving the day to day lives of these precious Ugandans who do not want to spend an extra day in such despicable conditions.
Secondly, there’s simply a feeling of resignation especially with the older generation whom we strongly believe could do a lot in extending tangible support and thus alleviate some of the pain; most especially those who wear the name tag of practicing Christians.
Instead they seem to either be completely insensitive, unbothered or just unwilling to respond appropriately to the plight of these people, and prefer to carry on with business as usual
Our conviction is that whatever the views one holds, there is one right, Christian response and that is to show unconditional love; after all love covers a multitude of sins (and there are certainly many sins that need to be covered) and also breaks down the dividing walls of hostility.
Moved by these and other convictions, we strongly felt that it was our Christian obligation not only to pray for our brothers and sisters but also offer practical help in whatever way possible.
Of course the million dollar question that has fed the epidemic dependency mindset in Africa is, but what do we have? For many of us, little indeed, but we found out that the Bible which is the basis of our faith did not seem to focus so much on how much we could give but rather the spirit with which we gave.
Spurred on by this assurance and as is always the case with things that are born of God, he gave us a word that has become the pillar of the Love Unconditional programme.
They are the words of Peter to the beggar in Acts 3:6, “SILVER AND GOLD I DONOT HAVE, BUT WHAT I HAVE I GIVE”. Clearly, while many people in these conditions are not explicitly begging, their squalid conditions are sufficient pleas to our conscience to help them.
We strongly felt that if we could only give what we have, we could make a significant difference. Specifically, we felt that if every secondary school student (Secondary schools being our core ministry ground) gave 1,000 Ug. Shs, yes 1,000 Ug. Shs per term; we would raise staggering sums of money that can sponsor thousands of orphans and less previllaged children.
The focus on secondary school students here rather than the working class and churches being because of the need to cultivate a giving culture at an early stage, a thing that is largely lacking in the latter group; so that they grow up with it.
The conviction is that they would then carry on this godly practice to higher institutions of learning and eventually to the market place when they have substantial and stable sources of income, and then you would have the largest sponsorship scheme in the world of all time; after all the greatest of them is LOVE…
Armed with this roadmap, the Nationwide Schools’ Prayer Network launched the Love Unconditional programme in Schools in 2003. We began writing about it in our termly Newsletter and sharing about it in schools, and students who were moved to give would sign a form.
The Response.
We were totally amazed, students began giving and by the end of 2003, over 1 million Shs had been raised. So at the beginning of 2004, we took up one orphan who had been identified by a S6 vaccist.
This girl, whose father was killed by LRA rebels had originally sat primary leaving examinations in 2000 but was unable to join secondary school because she didn’t have school fees.
So she sat home for two years during which she got pregnant and even gave birth. But clearly, the desire to study was not lost and so in 2003, when she would have been going to S3, she went back to P7.
Again, she managed to raise the grades to join a secondary school and was even admitted at Gulu High School, a boarding school. But just as during her previous attempt, school fees again stared her in the face and let her know that secondary school was only a thing she could only enjoy in her dreams.
Thank God that this time for her, Love Unconditional stepped in and it’s so refreshing that she’s now going to S3.
As we continued to share the Love Unconditional message in schools, so the giving grew. So in 2005, the Love Unconditional programme took up two more orphans to S1: one of them was a survivor of the horrendous Barlonyo massacre in February 2004 in Lira and then significantly for the bigger vision, the second one was taken up by a group of campusers from Makerere University who were pioneers of the programme while still in secondary school. These two boys are also now to S2, fully sponsored by Love Unconditional.
Other significant things worth mentioning here are that irked by the lack of contributions from Africa during the Tsunami disaster and especially given that many victims simply needed some very basic things like drinking water in the immediate after math (I assure you many Ugandans could have afforded a bottle of mineral water and that would make a difference) Love Unconditional programme mobilized 100 US$ that we sent through the Red Cross.
Certainly we were not one of the biggest contributors and were not even recognized (that has never been our intention) but if the parable of the widow who dropped a few coins is anything to go by, then heaven might have registered us as one of the greatest contributors.
But also significantly, we succeeded in setting a good precedent that we are not just a nation that is a receiving, dead end, but one that can also give. This precedent probably had a hand in moving the government months later to contribute towards the Katrina relief.
Again in 2005, Love Unconditional also set another important precedent by sending clothes, soap and shoes, that students contributed to Starch factory and Barr camps in Lira. And we’re due to send more things in 2006 once we reach our minimum threshold.
Now in 2006, Love Unconditional is due to take up 3 more orphans to S1 bringing the total number being sponsored to a staggering total of SIX.
The Future
Just in a bid to further enrich the sponsorship, we intend to start visiting our students during the official school visitation days every term, so that we can also contribute to their spiritual, emotional and social development as well. We also plan to bring them for ministry retreats where we can share with them the godly values we believe in.
It’s also our intention to step up the mobilization effort this year both in schools and higher institutions of learning with the intention of taking up 4 more orphans next year.
We also intend to stay engaged and conscious to physical needs around us that Love Unconditional can help meet. We’ll definitely be sending more clothes, soap, books and the like to IDP camps and other places that need them.
And as and when duty calls, we’re also ready to respond to international relief efforts, regardless of how much we’re able to give.
The Challenges
It’s so amazing that so much can be raised from so few schools. Our main challenge is in our limited capacity to mobilize.
First of all, one of our major tools of propagating this message is a termly Newsletter that we’ve produced every term since 2003 even if we’ve always done that with considerable financial difficulty.
However, the tangible fruits of these bulletins have always served as timely encouragements and worthwhile justification for the pain as we’ve purposed not to offer God what costs us nothing.
Our target is to produce 50,000 copies termly, up from the current 10,000 to simply flood schools with the message of Love Unconditional and also give them their other favourite themes that our bulletins address like prayer, worship, sexuality and testimonies.
Secondly, with no concrete financial base, all those who’re involved in the outreaches are largely left to scratch from their personal pockets to be able visit schools week in, week out, organize conferences, etc.
Being able to do that consistently for 4 years is no mean feat but it’s simply a hard act to sustain with majority of them being students. It’s no wonder then that many times contributions (seed) have often remained in schools longer than they should have because we didn’t even have the means to go and pick them.
Besides facilitating the present team, a financial base will significantly help us to draw more people on board especially from universities and vaccists, many of whom we’ve known from schools. That would have a huge, direct bearing on the response from schools and higher institutions of learning to the wider mobilization effort.
Conclusion
The 3years of the Love Unconditional programme have not been easy, but the fruits simply speak for themselves, they are extremely sweet.
The Nationwide Schools’ Prayer Network welcomes any offer of support from people who share our burden.
For more information about this and the other ministry programmes, you can contact us using the address below:
Nationwide Schools’ Prayer Network
P.O.Box 414,
Kampala, Uganda.
Email: n_spn@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: (256) 712 697250, 782 094336, 712 827244, 772 412439
What an inspirational posting on the Love Unconditional program. I have heard of even primary school kids taking part in this type of philanthropic endeavour, I think Aga Khan primary organised car washes to raise money for classroom materials. So there is potential even lower down. I can imagine if all the totos were asked to bring one bar of soap, or litre of cooking oil or something, what an impact that would have.
ReplyDeleteI for one, would like to know more about the sort of support needed from those of us "big people" who are not in school. Can people write cheques, or are in-kind donations preferred? Is there a publicity piece for this program that someone can print off and give to friends at work, social gatherings, e.g. showing pics of life in the camps, personal stories, ways to give, budgets that have to met, etc. Can you approach workplaces?
You guys are awesome and I hope you are able to ensure the sustainability of these programs.
Sorry for my bad english. Thank you so much for your good post. Your post helped me in my college assignment, If you can provide me more details please email me.
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