This month had joy, happiness, faith and patience. With all of this we have seen God’s love for us and for the people He trusted us to care for.RUHU children just finished their fall break from school. The activities we did with the kids during the break were designed to equip them with basic life skills. There was soap making and bag making with beads. This class lasted for a week and by the end they had gained the knowledge of making soap and a variety of bags. Both of these activities will help the children to startup their own business if they wish, as neither needs much capital to start and they are in demand in the community. We plan to start sending these hand-made crafts to the States for donors to purchase!
Also during the break, an examiner was brought in to work with our students who are in high school on how to answer questions and question approach in preparation for their national exams. This helped the students’ understanding on how to deal with questions during these very important exams.
The month of September we also faced the challenge of a lot of sickness among the kids. Many were sick with malaria, typhoid, and blood infections. We thank God that by the time they went back to school they were fine! However, this left us with a big debt at the hospital. With prayer we know God will provide!
School resumed for the 3rd term on September 11th. Paying tuition remains a challenge as school becomes more expensive in high school. We pray and thank God for the donors to Beautiful Response who help make it possible.
Love, Patrick
Roots & Fruits – A Sponsor’s Story
I first met Rama in the summer of 2013 while I was in Kampala doing research for my senior thesis. I spent my downtime at RUHU just hanging out, talking, and playing soccer with the boys at the House of Hope. Rama, originally from the Katwe slum in Kampala, was among a dozen or so boys who moved off the street and into the safe house. He was one of the youngest and smallest of the boys, but also one of the loudest and most charismatic. That summer, we bonded over our love of sports (although he is the far superior athlete) and our shared desire to be the center of attention.
When I returned to Kampala in 2015, Rama was back in school. Thanks to the generous support of RUHU and Beautiful Response, he was able to re-enroll in primary school after his years’ long absence and was absolutely thriving. In his first year, Rama had risen to the top of his class and was active in student government. It wasn’t an easy transition; having been out of the classroom for so long meant that he was placed in a class with students much younger than him and he had to work hard to catch up academically. “It’s okay; it’s worth it,” he told me when I visited him. “Life is about roots and fruits. The harder you work at building strong roots, the sweeter your fruits will be later in life.” Sage wisdom from a 13-year-old.
I had just graduated college, but after seeing Rama shine like that, I knew that I had to do what little I could to help him on his journey to success. So, I signed up to sponsor him through Beautiful Response, and for $40 a month I help pay for his school fees to make sure that he has access to opportunity; what he does with that opportunity is up to him. At this point, I am certain that Rama has given me as much, if not more, than I will ever be able to give him. I aspire to have a fraction of his tenacity, his determination, his courage.
Rama is currently in Primary 6 and excelling in the classroom. He is well on his way to high school – and to enjoying the sweetest of fruits.
Submitted by,
Py (Alexander)
