A Letter from Rick Rogers, U.S. Director

Another Trip to See Lasting Change in Uganda

Hello All,

On Saturday, January 13, I traveled to Uganda for a two week trip.  During this time I plan to participate in the Divine Care annual youth rally at Divine Grace School.  This rally is planned for the students in secondary school, but will include some of the younger students at Divine Grace as well.  I was there for the rally last year and it was a good time to connect with some of our sponsored children.  I am hoping that again this year I will again be able to deepen relationships with these adolescents who face many challenges at this time of life.  It seems that on most trips I am with the primary age students at our schools, but the secondary students who board at several different schools don’t get nearly the attention.

I will be attending the graduation of David, the first of our sponsored children to graduate from medical school.  I look forward to a good visit with him around the time of the ceremony.  Also, during this trip I plan to attend the wedding ceremony of Evans, an evangelist who works very closely with Divine Care in our efforts in Karamoja.

We plan to travel to Kaliro and Mayuge for planned meetings with hosts and trainers of Discovery Bible Studies there.  This program started last year in partnership with Life Water Ministries and by the fall we had over 237 Bible studies happening in homes and many baptisms have occurred in Kaliro.  Mayuge is an area new to me and we are just starting the Discovery Bible studies there. 

The school year does not begin in Uganda until around the beginning of February.  Many of our children are staying with families or guardians during the holidays.  I will spend some time at Divine Farm where the children who have no place else to stay are spending their holidays.  This is an opportunity to encourage and strengthen some of our most needy students.  Then, toward the end of the trip I may get to see most of the children as we organize their return to school.  I may also be helping to give the Christmas gifts of blankets and bed sheets to the students.

If time allows we may travel to Karamoja.  We feel that we need to encourage leaders there and to continue to develop our strategies for development in the desperately impoverished communities of Duol and Morulem.

I will be spending some time with our office staff, particularly those who oversee the sponsored children.  We have some good social workers who joined the ministry last year and we need to work on standardizing reporting and communication with sponsors.

I appreciate your prayers during the time I will be gone.  Only the power of God can bring sufficient hope and healing.