Author: rowan

As 2021 draws to a close, members of our ROWAN community in Uganda have been reflecting on what the last year has looked and felt like to them.  This week, I wanted to share some of their stories with you.  

Namulawa K. shared that one of the hardest things about this past year was her father’s death.  When her father passed away, Namulawa was unable to attend his burial due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions put in place by the Ugandan government.  Being unable to attend her father’s burial service has been a very hard and painful thing for Namulawa and she struggles with it every day.

Beatrice K. told us that the restriction of movement and school closures have been the hardest things for her.  Before the pandemic, Beatrice sold ripe bananas to the schools, but this income source went away when schools shut down.  Beatrice said that her family has struggled with the increased poverty and a lack of food and other basic necessities. “Life,” she says, “has been very hard.”

Florence Y. shared that for her, the increased levels of poverty and fear and the significant number of deaths have been very hard to deal with this year.  She worries about the children who were sent home due to school closures and fears that they may never return.  

2021 has been a challenging year.  There is no denying that.  But amid the hardships of 2021, there has also been hope.  Namulawa, Beatrice, and Florence all shared that ROWAN has been there for them and their families throughout their hardships. Each of them expressed gratitude for the much-needed safety items, basic necessities, and food supplies that ROWAN provided them with over the last year.  These provisions helped them know they were not forgotten amid their struggles.  

We at ROWAN are so thankful to each of you who have sponsored, donated, and prayed this year.  Your donations, prayers, and love make a difference in the lives of many!

If you are looking for more ways to help spread love and hope this year, our 2021 Christmas Blessing Baskets campaign is now live.  Each Blessing Basket contains 40 pounds of food, educational supplies, basic necessities, and seeds for the families to plant to help them get a more solid footing in 2022.  We have set a goal of earning enough for 400 Blessing Baskets by the 20th of December, and with your help, we can reach this goal!  To learn more or to purchase a Blessing Basket, please click here.  

Thank you for standing with ROWAN and the people of Uganda!

“If you can’t feed 100 people, then just feed one.” – Mother Teresa

The need for food is something all of us share. For some, however, this basic need is often in short supply. This is why, for our Christmas campaign this year, ROWAN has selected Blessing Baskets as our focus.  

Each Blessing Basket contains:

• 40 pounds of food
• A Frying pan
• Sweet treats
• Seeds to plant
• Educational materials for children

These items will help our Ugandan ROWAN families meet basic needs and give them a solid start to 2022.  

By donating $85 for a Blessing Basket, you are helping sustain an entire Ugandan family through lockdowns, weather catastrophes, uncertainty brought by a global pandemic, and the political chaos that continues to plague the region.

Our goal for the Blessing Basket campaign is $34,000, which, if reached, will allow us to provide 400 families in Uganda with a basket of much need supplies along with a huge dose of hope.  To purchase a Blessing Basket for a ROWAN family, click here.  With your help, we can reach our goal of helping 400 families by December 20th. 

Let’s make this Christmas one of abundant blessings – one act of hope at a time.  

“Education is a powerful driver of development and one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability. “- Worldbank

The benefits of education on individuals and society as a whole are well-documented and many.  According to the University of the People, some of the benefits of an education are:

• It promotes a greater sense of empowerment and equality
• It improves economic growth
• It allows for the development of needed life skills
• It reduces crime rates
• It helps lower gender-based violence
• It reduces the rate and likelihood of child marriage

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted learning worldwide.  While schools in some areas of the world have reopened, schools in Uganda have been closed for over 77 weeks – the longest closure of anywhere in the world according to the U.N. cultural agency.  Without resources for remote learning, the school closures mean that most students in Uganda have been without educational training of any kind for the last year and a half.  Save the Children called the prolonged school closures the “biggest global education emergency of our time” and they have identified Uganda as one of the countries at high risk for school system collapse. 

 The lack of access to education has negatively impacted students, their families, and the Ugandan economy.  According to a recent AP News report, unwanted pregnancies, child marriages, dropout rates, and the number of people living in poverty has increased.  Older children are leaving home looking for work wherever they can find it, and hope for the future is dwindling.  In an interview with AP News, Francis Adungosi, a former Ugandan teacher currently working at a mine, said that students “are traumatized. Remember they are having a lot of challenges.”  

But there is hope on the horizon.  Earlier this month, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said that schools would reopen in January.  We at ROWAN stand with the children and families in Uganda. We will be praying that this reopening timeframe sticks and that children across Uganda will be able to return to the safety and structure of their classrooms.  Will you join us in this prayer?

Photo by the Associated Press

We are nearing the end of October and, here in the US, that means one thing – the holiday season is fast approaching.  We at ROWAN have been busy putting things together for this year’s Christmas campaign, and we can’t wait to share it with you over the week of Thanksgiving!

Your generous donations during our annual Christmas campaigns have made a difference in the lives of so many.  When Uganda shuttered schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic,  your contributions to our 2019 campaign – Education Opens Doors, allowed Rowan to continue our children’s educations through the learning center.   And when Uganda went under lockdown due to the pandemic, ROWAN was able to get much-needed food and supplies to our members with the bus your donations funded during last year’s Christmas campaign. 

With the lockdown in Uganda in effect through the end of January, this Christmas will look a little different for our ROWAN members.  While they may not be able to gather together to celebrate, we are hoping that with your help, we will be able to deliver baskets of joy to each of them.

We at ROWAN believe hope, faith, and love can prevail – even in chaotic times.  Helen Keller once said, “Alone, we can do so little; together we can do so much.”  We are so grateful for the love shown by our sponsors and supporters.  It is because of you that we have had the privilege of witnessing the power of love in action – a truly wonderous sight to behold.

All photos by Bob Ditty

In Wednesday’s blog post, we featured two caregivers (Katherine Nabirye and Badiri Mukose) in need of sponsorship.  Today we are turning the spotlight on two of ROWAN’s sweet primary children who are waiting for their sponsors.  

Elisa Mugoya is a little boy with a big heart.  He is one of 8 siblings! Elisa dreams of one day becoming a police officer so that he “can help keep people safe.”  With your help, we can support Elisa as he grows up and works toward accomplishing that dream.

Wahabu Kafero is one of two siblings who live with their mother.  He is a kind little boy who dreams of becoming a lawyer one day to help “protect and defend” others.  Wahabu knows that this dream will require a lot of work, but he’s willing and ready to put the work in to make his dream a reality.  By sponsoring Wahabu today, you are showing this determined little boy that he won’t be alone on the journey toward his goal.

A ROWAN sponsorship costs as little as $38 a month.  Your sponsorship dollars help ROWAN cover the cost of:

• Medical Care
• Education and Literacy costs
• Business training
• Nutritious meals

In addition to meeting the physical needs of our ROWAN members, sponsorship builds relationships.  Once you sponsor a ROWAN member, you can write to the individual you sponsored – and have them write back.  You become a treasured part of their lives, and they will quickly become a precious part of yours.

To sponsor Elisa or Wahabu, simply click on their names anywhere in this post to be taken to their individual sponsorship pages.  

When you sponsor a ROWAN member, you are changing lives and lifting hearts.  We are so grateful for each of our ROWAN sponsors!  Your generosity helps ROWAN stand in the gap for our members, and we couldn’t do that without you.

This week we will be spotlighting a few of our ROWAN members in need of sponsorship.  Today we are shining the light on Katherine Nabirye and Badiri Mukose – two of ROWAN’s incredible caregivers.  The caregivers that ROWAN serves genuinely understand the scriptural passage found in Matthew 25:40, which teaches, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” 

Katherine Nabirye is a woman who knows the meaning of christ-like service.  She takes in orphans and lovingly raises them until they are old enough to be independent. She serves those in her community selflessly and without hesitation. Katherine is love in action, and she has touched the hearts of many in the ROWAN family.

While raising his ten children, Badiri Mukose has also taken in his nieces and nephews, who lost both of their parents to HIV/AIDS. Badiri is a peasant farmer by trade with a full house and a full plate, but he doesn’t allow the stresses of daily life to stop him from being there for those who need him. He is a man with a huge heart who shows, by example, the power of choosing love.

We would love to see both Katherine and Badiri get fully sponsored this week! Will you help us meet that goal?  Together, we can show Katherine and Badiri that they are not alone on their journey as caregivers. 

If you are interested in sponsoring Katherine or Badiri, please click here to be taken to ROWAN’s sponsorship page or click on either of their names anywhere in this post to be taken directly to their individual sponsorship pages. Thank you for standing with us in the gap!

“And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.” – Oscar Wilde

Happy first day of  Autumn!  Crisp mornings, colorful leaves, and pumpkins on porches – all sure signs that Fall has arrived.  What better way to celebrate the arrival of a new season than by making a purchase that helps lift someone else?  The new ROWAN merchandise gives you a chance to do just that.  All proceeds from our Fall merchandise go to feeding our ROWAN families during the continuing COVID-19 lockdown in Uganda.  

To see all of the merchandise available or to make a purchase, click the link below:

If you are interested in learning more about the situation in Uganda, click here.  Please continue to pray for the people of Uganda and our ROWAN families, and if you can, please consider purchasing a shirt or a mug to help keep food on the tables of our Ugandan families.  

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” – Proverbs 3: 5-6

Recently pastor Paul said, “The world is in total confusion, but Uganda is confused more.”  Like so many places in the world right now, there is a lot of uncertainty in Uganda right now.  People are not sure where to turn or what to do.  Children long to be back in school and their caregivers don’t have any clear answers as to when that will happen.  The Ugandan government is saying that schools are reopening and is now demanding school fees be paid in order for children to return to in-person learning, but there is a general feeling of mistrust surrounding this.  Ugandans are worried that they will pay these fees and then schools will close once again.  For many these fees take up a large amount of their income, ROWAN would have to pay $6,000 (USD) in fees to have all of its children return to school right now. 

Pastor Paul is meeting with ROWAN staff to brainstorm ways in which the Learning Center can be used for help in continuing the education of ROWAN’s children.  You may remember that thanks to last year’s Christmas campaign, we were able to purchase an educational curriculum and now have a staff of 4 teachers in our Learning Center.  So, thanks to the generosity of so many of you, our ROWAN children will have access to education during this time of uncertainty.

As Pastor Paul says, “Gratitude is our foundation.  COVID has pushed ROWAN outside of its walls, outside of its programs.  What does ROWAN look like when we are outside our walls?  We rely on God’s daily bread for our direction, inspiration, and provision.  Our courage is expressed in surrender.”

We at ROWAN have so much to be grateful for – even in these uncertain times.  We have not had a single member of the Ugandan ROWAN community test positive for COVID.  We have supporters whose generosity and kindness have allowed us to meet the needs of our members throughout this pandemic.  We have been on the receiving end of miracles and had so many answered prayers during this season of hardship.  And we have seen the power of love in action.  God is great.  Prayers are heard.  Hope is real.

All photos by Bob Ditty

“Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to spread, people worldwide facing floods, famines, and political unrest, the world can feel very heavy.  But we at ROWAN think there is also a tremendous amount of good in the world, and we are choosing to look for and see hope.  We believe now is the time to gather together and to pray.  To this end, we put together a prayer prompt campaign for September.  Each day this month, we will be sharing a scripture and prayer prompt, and we would love to have you join us in prayer.

We have seen the power of prayer in action, and it is a beautiful sight to behold.  Just this week, ROWAN’s co-founder, Kelsey, had a powerful experience with prayer.  During a conversation with Pastor Paul, he shared a need for funds for tires, land titles, and other backend costs for the ROWAN land in Uganda.  These needs totaled up to $2000 (USD).  These items weren’t in the budget, but they were necessary, so Kelsey sent the money to cover them, and then she prayed.  In relating this experience, Kelsey said, “I remember praying out loud and saying, ‘Lord, I just trust you, and I pray that you somehow bring this money in today’.” and then she went about her day.  While running errands, Kelsey ran into a woman she hadn’t seen in a while.  As they were talking, this woman asked Kelsey about ROWAN, and after hearing about some of the struggles our Ugandan members were facing, she said, “I’ll just cut you a check right now.”  This kind and generous woman then wrote a check to ROWAN for the exact amount needed to cover the expenses Kelsey had prayed about that morning.  

What an incredible example of the power of prayer and of the way God provides exactly what is needed!  

We would love to have you join us this month as we pray.  Our prayer prompts are shared daily on ROWAN’s social media stories or, if you prefer to see a week’s worth at a time, we share them weekly via a post on our social media accounts.  We are grateful for all of those who pray with us and know, as Mark Batterson says, “Prayer is the difference between the best we can do and the best God can do.”