Our whole mission and aim at HUM is to care for children of Kamonkoli and raise them up to be the future leaders of Uganda. We know that if we provide only for their physical needs of clothing, food, and education, we have not yet fully cared for them. It is their spiritual understanding that will shape and determine the whole course of their lives. That is why Katherine started using the AWANA program every Saturday morning: to teach the kids the ways of the Lord and help them to understand what a relationship with Him looks like.
Each week, an average of 250-300 children come to play games and learn and memorize verses from the Bible. It is so exciting to watch these kids hide God's Word in their hearts and know those verses will have a lasting impact on their lives!
Since we live and operate in a 3rd world country and in a different language, there are some distinct challenges to helping these children learn God's Word. The Bible has not yet been published in Lugwere, our local language, so we have chosen to help the children memorize in English. However, since so many of the kids want so much to learn English, they're also even more eager to come and practice speaking each week. Each of the teachers in most of the classes also take time to explain the verse's meaning in the local language (or English in the higher classes) to help the children understand what they are memorizing.
When a child successfully recites the verse for the week, they receive a piece of candy. Watching their eyes light up and dark faces grin is so satisfying! Knowing that they have had the double benefit of both candy and spiritual knowledge brings so much joy.
AWANA also provides a great place to identify children in need of the sponsorship program. As they come to AWANA, we can see which children from the community are struggling at home from their lack of decent clothes, evidence of malnutrition, and whether or not they've been attending the public school. According to our Sponsorship Administrator, approximately 60% of the new children we bring into the program are found from AWANA. This is just one example of all of the different programs at HUM working together to provide holistic care for each of our children.
|