I need to update this more

It has been a while since I've written something of substance.  I realized that I haven't talked at all about the new group of girls that is here at the Centre.  Last Monday we went out to a couple of the villages and picked up the girls for the program.  We have 25 women and 33 of their children, all under the age of 7.  It has become much more lively around the compound since they arrived.

All of the girls are considered child mothers and were either formerly abducted victims of LRA rebels, or are victims of gender based violence at home or orphans themselves.  Almost none have husbands who are still alive or haven't left them and a majority of the children are from rapes.

They are adjusting well to life at the Centre, it's great to see them from the first day when they are silent, won't look you in the eye and barely even talk to their children to just a week later when they are singing and dancing with each other (and begging me to join) and playing with their kids.  Simply giving them a small break from their home life brings so much relief to them.

Their classes started this week - literacy, English, agriculture, basic tailoring, cooking and business studies.  And the kids began their nursery classes as well.

Over the next two months they'll be taking these classes and doing almost daily counseling with the hope that at the end they will be able to return home and be active members in their villages and continue an income generating activity such as small farming or owning goats or chickens.


The scholarship program that I'm working on is also going really well; tomorrow I'll be traveling to the villages to visit various vocational schools so that we will be prepared to enroll more girls next term. So pray for guidance in our selection process of both the girls who receive the scholarships and the schools that we select.


More to come.