Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' Matthew 25:45
I am at the end of my second to last semester and am excited that I’m only one semester away until acquiring my bachelors in Human Development and Family studies with a concentration in Abnormal Child Development. With my degree, it is my heart’s desire to serve children who are still stigmatized and treated as worthless as a result of their disability. For the past few months, I have been praying that God would lead me to the place that He wanted me to serve Him with my passions and skills this summer.
As I sought His guidance, He was so faithful to bring into my life an organization called the Spring of Hope in Uganda through a miraculous series of events which only He could have ordained. I have spent years searching for an organization which works with special needs children which truly is a non-profit, and does not scam its volunteers for hundreds of hidden, overpriced and unnecessary office or housing fees which does not go to benefit the children, but rather to administrators. If you are interested in hearing the whole story of how God brought Spring of Hope into my life, as well as the blessing of 3 other amazing Christian girls from the Midwest to travel to Uganda with, please read the post on my new blog for this trip entitled “How God brought Spring of Hope into my life” at OneLoveOneHeartAfrica.blogspot.com.
Spring of Hope is a community-based rehabilitation (truly 100%) non- profit organization for children with disabilities in the most rural areas of Uganda. They currently work with 500 children and their families in the areas of education, physiotherapy, awareness raising and income generating projects. Before the work of Spring of Hope began disabled children were being abused, locked away and tied up due to the stigma of disability. The current lie many believe before educated by Spring of Hope is that a disabled child has an evil spirit and this often leads to abuse and neglect of the child. Sometimes disabled children are tied up in dark closets, left alone, beaten, and/ or taken advantage of sexually. The hope of Spring of Hope is to see these children with disabilities fully accepted into all areas of community and family life in Uganda and their aim is to see that these children are able to reach their true potential. You can check out Spring of Hope’s website at http://www.springofhope.org.uk/
To share with you what my duties at Spring of Hope will be, I received the following information from a current volunteer at Spring of Hope whose position I will be taking over. As a volunteer, I will be going along on home visits, traveling out into more rural areas to give children physical therapy, and also help teach them activities of daily living skills. This is done in the home environment for three reasons. First of all, so that the child feels familiar and comfortable, secondly to educate the parents and teach them these exercises to do themselves, and lastly to be an example to the parents and siblings of how to love on their child. My main mission as a volunteer will be to help change the perspective of these precious children in their community. This is done by being vessels of Jesus’s love and having His attitude towards the children. When the parents see us having fun and interacting with their child, they will many times begin to duplicate these actions and attitudes.
Along with home visits, I will help out when there is any sort of clinic. There are 3 kinds of clinics. 1.) Drop-in clinics: Held at the main office. Parents travel with their child to receive both medication and physical therapy, and also to get tips on activities of daily living (ADL) training. 2.) Wobwoko clinics: A larger scale drop in clinic which is held in a different location, about an hour from the office. They set up camp there in a public health clinic building as people from the surrounding areas come by the hundreds to receive medication and therapy for their children. 3.) Parish clinics: A Parish clinic is an awareness clinic. This time is used mainly to focus on the perspectives of the children with disabilities changing. Games are played with the children, Bible stories taught, and parents are talked to about how special their children are, and how they really CAN be a blessing if they choose to view it as such.
The plan is to leave early June 4th and return August 23, putting me in Uganda for 2½ - 3 months. I need to develop a team of ministry partners, a group of people like you, who can help make this trip a reality! First and most importantly, would you be willing to be a part of my prayer team/a ministry partner to join with me and pray for me while I am on my trip? If you would like to be a ministry partner for this trip and stay up to date on what God is doing during my time in Uganda, please let me know along with your current e-mail and I will keep you updated thru videos and blog postings while I am in Uganda, along with up to date prayer requests! Please begin to pray now that I would rely fully on God to be my strength while I am in Uganda, and that He would be my only reason for serving the most vulnerable and hurting children who are looked at as worthless or possessed and abused many times by their own parents. Please pray that I would serve these children as if I was serving Jesus directly, just as Matthew 25:45 which says: "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
In addition to prayer, I would greatly appreciate any financial support you could provide. I do understand that not everyone reading this will be able to contribute financially and that times are difficult. However, I am certain and trusting God that He will provide the finances for this trip and will call those who are meant to support to do so. The cost for travel, lodging, and other necessary expenses will amount to approximately $3800. If you feel God is calling you to help support the work I will be doing at Spring of Hope, you can donate here: http://www.gofundme.com/springofhope Please remember, even just 5 or 10 dollars would help, and I would greatly appreciate it!
You can e-mail me at caseyka@my.uwstout.edu for "hard copy" of this support letter along with a donation slip, or you can Although I would ideally like to raise my support money by May 25th, you are free to support me throughout the period of my trip. Thank you so much as you consider and pray how you can partner with me for the children’s sake! I look forward to being an extension of your generosity and service to bring the love of Christ to the neediest children of Uganda.
Thank you so very much for taking the time to read this letter and sharing with me in this exciting journey!
In, by and thru Christ,
Katelynn
Quick, easy and secure way to donate online to my flight and stay in Uganda here: http://www.gofundme.com/springofhope
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