Susan was raised by a single mother who could hardly afford a daily meal at home, Buyamba started helping her since Primary three (Grade 3) class. She comes from one of our bush communities called Buwama (in southwestern Uganda). Susan has experienced a lot of hardships in her education journey to the point of giving up, given the fact they couldn’t afford a casual meal and the basics at home. But while at school, she was encouraged by the teachers and the environment at school, which gave her hope to keep pushing on. After her S6 class graduated in 2017, she had passed her national examinations well, but she thought that was the end of her education journey since there was no hope at home... But now, she is the family’s pride, for she is the first child (and a “girl” at that) in the entire family to go University. She is giving hope to the girls in her community that it is possible to make it as a girl! She is a living hope.

Stepping cautiously across a footbridge, I am careful not to slip into a small stream choked with discarded rags, empty water bottles, scraps of shredded plastic too small to be of use to anyone. Pungent, acrid smells seeping from black charcoal contrasting the fresh, bright sun-soaked weeds clinging to the river’s edge. Plump brown chickens scratching through the filth as fluffy chicks follow closely behind. Small shards of beige straw protruding from handmade bricks, fingerprints still evident, with bamboo lashed to the exterior of the hut for strength. These are some of the images seared into my mind as I returned to the slums of Busaka.

So much contrast. My eyes are drawn to the cramped shacks constructed out of scraps of corrugated steel scraps and discarded wood as I duck underneath turquoise and magenta shirts draped unceremoniously over a clothesline. I marvel at how clean the laundry appears after peering into the small blue tub used for washing.

So much poverty, yet beautiful, bright smiles welcome us joyfully with squeals of delight as news travels of our arrival. I’m braver this year. Gone are the tennis shoes I wore last summer as protection against disease. I consciously chose to wear open sandals beneath my long skirt, symbolic of my desire to break down barriers with the people I have grown to love. Also gone was my hesitation to engage strangers we met along the path. Although a curiosity, we are greeted with love and acceptance as children show off their ability to roll a bike tire over the rough terrain.

In the summer of 2017, I was given the opportunity to travel to God Gares School and Orphanage with the mission team at the Met Church and was equally blessed to be doing it with my mom by my side. Preparing for this trip was a tedious process that required lots of time, commitment, and money, but I knew, in the end, it would all be worth it because I was going to do the Lord’s work and change some lives…but little did I know that it would be me whose life would be changed instead. When we arrived at the orphanage on the first day, the squeals of the kids accurately reflected my feelings of excitement, as the trip of my dreams was finally beginning! During my time in Uganda, I met a handful of children and lifelong friends (no matter how far apart we may be) who left a lasting impact on my heart and my life. I prepared to show each of these people the unconditional love of

Jesus and teach them His righteous ways, but miraculously they managed to show me a side of Him I never knew. As the days evolved, I quickly realized that all some of these children had was Jesus and each other. That’s it. Some of them had deceased or terminally ill parents, nowhere to call home outside of the orphanage, or were abandoned because their parents couldn’t handle the burden of caring for a child. This broke my heart when I heard some of their stories and personal experiences, but in a strangely beautiful way, none of that seemed to matter to them because they had Jesus in their hearts and therefore they had everything they could ever need and from THAT is where their joy stemmed. The moment I realized that is when I knew that nothing would be the same when I returned home, where I had everything and more that I simply take for granted. My lifestyle would be shifted in such a way that I stopped putting my happiness in the hands of material objects or people and started putting it in the hands of my Creator, Jesus Christ, where I would find an everlasting joy I’ve never known before. Furthermore, God was calling us to sponsor a young lady, and He placed Waldah in our path.  This was our opportunity to continue His work and give back each month as a constant reminder of where our joy comes and to keep shining our light wherever we go.

Buyamba's mission is to offer love, hope, and a future through education and discipleship...one child at a time. This is not an easy task when the amount of children in need grows. One of the biggest challenges with this mandate of one child at a time is dealing with a child who has special needs or a medical condition. It is very difficult to give that extra help and time on a continual basis to one child when we have so many...BUT GOD always finds a way. Never has an example of this kind of divine intervention been so evident as with a student named Buruhan. Also known as Buru.

Burhuan was born with a physical limitation that comes with dwarfism. As he has grown, it has become more and more challenging walking up the many stairs at school and maneuvering quickly through the crowd of kids in the hall. Meanwhile, as his condition grew more physically challenging throughout the years, God was raising up advocates to help Buru with his individual journey at the same time. Like the Shepherd of the Bible who goes after the one sheep who was separated from the fold (Matthew 18:12) God moved on the hearts of a group of Buyamba sponsors to try and find medical help in the United States. After much planning and investigating, it was set for Buru to fly out to Texas and have surgery with a specialized doctor in the U.S. Unfortunately, Buruhan's VISA was denied. We feared that again, we were helpless to come alongside this little one and his individual

God Cares...and he cares about each of the students, wanting them to know that even if they don't have an earthly father, like Buruhan, God himself is their father, and he has the most creative ideas of how to meet the needs of each and every one of his children.