So this past week has been really crazy and fun, been doing lots of ministry things and building relationships. I want to tell you all about last night though. It was truly amazing, there was a screening of the new Invisible Children video “KONY 2012”. If you have not seen the video yet, I suggest you go and watch it. It’s an amazing piece of artwork that does an excellent job of showing who and what Joseph Kony has done and is doing to the people of Africa.
So, we heard about the screening through a friend of ours. When we got there, there were a couple hundred people who had wandered over. But, by the time the movie had started there were thousands of people there. It was incredible to see so many people who had been directly affected by the LRA gathered to watch the film that was about bringing down the man who had caused so much terror and pain in their lives. Just an incredible feeling that you get when you know you are a part of something bigger than yourself. Just so so so amazing to look out over the crowd and see so many captivated by the movie and what it was saying. Because they are the people who the movie is about. Awesome. Truly amazing. I’m super pumped to be a part of Invisible Children and I am praying that our team is here in Uganda when Joseph Kony is captured and the LRA is brought to an end.
But, while all that is happening and I fully support it and the work Invisible Children is doing. There are still a lot of hurt and broken people suffering here in Uganda. Being the remnants of the LRA’s attacks in Northern Uganda, they are trying to put their lives back together. There are street children who have no where to go because they have nothing to go back to in their village and women who were wives to the LRA and are trying to recover from that experience. Families are broken, Mothers and Fathers have lost children, Husbands and Wives have lost spouses, Brothers and Siblings have lost siblings and they are trying to recover from those losses. There are Organizations here in Uganda to help those people but there is always need for funding and hands to help.
So, I am going to you about a few organizations here in Lira specifically that you can contact about helping.
The first one is Child Restoration Outreach. They have 4 locations throughout Uganda. Mbale, Jinja, Masaka and Lira. They are a Christian NGO that helps children and their families on the street. They rehabilitate, educate and resettle children within their extended families. The centers house children daily on a voluntary basis in which they get involved with different activities that improve their lives. Such as rehabilitation class, psychological care and support, sports and games, formal and informal education, medical care, skills training, music and drama, agriculture, nutrition support, resettlement, follow up visits, saturday clubs, camping and youth exchange program. You can find out more about Child Restoration Outreach at www.croug.org. They would love your support. All 4 locations are nearly 100% funded by external sources.
You can also check out War Child International, which helps children in war torn countries such as Uganda. And, more specifically Northern Uganda.
http://www.warchildholland.org/index.php?paginaid=278&vorigepagina=undefined&contentid=800
So if you would like to help with either of these organizations you can visit those links and see how you can help!
Thanks! God bless!
Jordan
