Love "is" Honesty

"Honesty".... what a powerful word. 

I want to share with all of you about two situations that happened to Edwin this month. 

Four Pastors from 4 different districts in Kamuli travelled 200km south to visit with him and find out his theory of success in building our Home of Angels.  Edwin told them first of all, it was God.  Secondly, it was about being honest, because without honesty, there is no way to be successful in serving God.  Apparently we have not only inspired our own community but the districts around us. After some hours of hearing how Edwin and his crew had built this beautiful compound, mostly out of love, they left to travel home to report to their own district.  I see something big happening here.... a new trend maybe?  

 The next day there was a knock at our gate and a woman named Sarah was there to present Edwin with a chicken.  It is a high honor to receive a chicken.  She was there on behalf of our local community to give thanks for making their community a better place to live.  It can be difficult to understand for those of us living in such a different part of the world, but for them, they consider us the catalyst for others creating development in the area.  They were grateful for jobs for their men and children, the water we share with them daily and eventually having their own pumping station, being able to sell fruits daily to the workers on our property, helping the widows start micro-lending businesses and so much more.  And there are more things that we hope to do.  Edwin is working on street lights on the road leading to our compound and fixing the roads that were so damaged over the past 2 years with truckload after truckload of bricks and other heavy materials.  These people are our neighbors and even though the community is a large one, everyone is grateful for what we are doing there and it makes us smile.

July is rapidly approaching and it is almost time to house not 12 but 13 children...Yes, we have a new child and his name is Sam.  He is 11 years old, homeless and very attached to Edwin, Dr. Isaac and David.  A wonderful boy who will be an inspiration to the others.  We recently found Sam a sponsor (thanks Bennie) and even though he has been through some difficult times recently, he will do well living with us.  I see great hope in his future.

Enough rambling.... Here are some recent pictures to show you.  We never planned to make this project as large as it is and God only knows how we are ever going to feed everyone, but we did make a decision to bring in 45 more kids that have had their home taken away.  We also needed a new wall to build around our 2 acres of gardens and chickens for sustainability.   We are so thankful to the Heronbrook Foundation for providing funding to start the building of this wall.  It's people like you who really make a difference in this world and we are all so grateful for your big hearts in helping the less fortunate.  Thank you

Sarah is presenting Edwin with a chicken from the community in honour of all that he had done for them.  So many people have benefited by our Home of Angels and we feel good that we could have helped so many to provide the basics for their families.

Meet Sam...This is one special boy that will be an inspiration to the other children.  With love, hope and education, Sam will prove to be a productive citizen in Uganda..

This will be the new home for the children coming in later. In the future when our wall is built and we have a way to provide for them, they will live in this new home and call themselves brothers and sisters.  We are dreaming for this day to arrive.

A different view of the 2nd children's house.  The paving stones are almost made and installed and everything is complete except for the interior.  That will all come in time.

We had to make a new veranda.  When this home was built in 2010, we were still learning and through experience, we discovered a new and more efficient way for construction.  This will last for years to come.

A view of the main house.  The stone slate on the patio in front and the paving stones are all installed leading up to the main gate.  The grass is now flourishing and hedges following along behind.  

This is our Electrician Dennis and he is installing all the electrical fixtures in the homes, the main gate and the guardhouse.  He also will be working on the submersible pump where our water will be turned on with a switch in the house.  He is considered one of the top electricians in the entire area and has such a heart for the poor.

These three kids and their father painted our homes inside and out and what a beautiful job they did.  They made enough to support their family for a year.  In our country it's called child labour...in theirs, it's called survival. 

This is our cookhouse for the children.  The far left is where the cook will prepare the food with 100 vents installed for ventilation as to prevent smoke accumulating within the room.  The window in the front will be a pick up station the children to get their food as we don't want them going into the actual kitchen. The room on the right will be for the storage.

We want to help our community.  This is the garbage dump at the end of our road and we have people already cleaning it up.  Once this is gone, we can start working on the road going up to our home.  One step at a time but the most important thing is...everyone wants to make a difference here and they are willing to work to better their neighbourhood.

This is the road leading up to our home and the many trucks building in the area now have basically destroyed it.  Edwin is speaking with officials to bulldoze it and fill in the holes and make it a more easily travelled road for everyone.

The growth you see beyond our wall is the 2 acres recently purchased.  We will start building an extension of the main wall to enclose the gardens, fruit trees and animals  which will be our long term sustainability program.  Thanks to the Heronbrook Foundation, we are able to do this.  

Edwin and I speak every day and we try and think of the perfect words to say to make you understand how life is in Uganda.  It's not just Uganda, people are suffering throughout the world and we read about it every day.  Most people want to be more productive citizens but have little to work with to make that difference.  If we can just take a few kids with your help and change their lives to where they have hope, love and care, we have done our job.  


Thanks from all of us at our Home of Angels for listening and staying with us throughout this journey.  It means so much to us.

Surrounded by Love

Our Home of Angels began in June 2010 and in this very short time we have blossomed into a beautiful compound.  It started with the word "love" and almost 3 years later that love has grown so strong in many different ways.  All of you have demonstrated this with your donations, prayers and now wanting to be a part of our team through sponsorship.  Mother Teresa quoted "It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving".

We have had people all over the world wanting to help, from Hong Kong to Poland.  Fundraisers in London, England to raise money to build us a playground.  So many people with huge hearts wanting to do something to help someone.  Kids being encouraged to take a step and go overseas and volunteer, but the most important thing I am discovering is...people want to do something to make a difference but don't know how or where to do it.  Edwin and I are so happy that many of these same people are wanting to visit in teams to help us help the children, the widows and the community.

There is also the "love" that is growing daily in these kids. This is huge.  They are all becoming friends and the family bond is forming.  The 12 children coming to us in August have sponsors and the love that these people are pouring out to them has changed their lives.  We thank all of you so much and hope you will come to meet your child in the future. Yes, we still need to work on sponsoring the next 45 children and if any of you would like to be a part of our big family, just let me know and I will add you to the list.

Our project still has a long way to go.  The 2nd phase, which will be the long term sustainability program, will begin with the construction of the wall around the gardens and chickens.   We will also be starting a bakery to provide bread within the community.  The equipment and staff have been offered to us at a very low cost and this will definitely be a means to help with operating costs.  We still have no idea how we will feed this many but with God's help, we will figure a way.

We have decided to put a small clinic in one of the apartments and since this decision, we have received some donations of major equipment.  In addition, two wonderful people in Canada donate money monthly for medicine for Dr. Isaac who then provides free care to the impoverished.   Our dream is a separate building for a clinic on the 2 acres we recently had donated.  That would be ideal but definitely a future plan.  All we know for sure is that God's leading us to help the poorest of the poor and that is exactly what myself, Edwin, Dr. Isaac and David are going to do.

The framework for the roof of the 2nd children's home is almost completed.

The back stairs to the kitchen of each apartment are finished.  

The latrine has been painted.  This week the showers will be installed with the pipes extending
down to the sump pump.  We estimate this first latrine being completed in May but with 57 children
moving in now, we will need to build another at a future date.





Construction on the cook house has started.  One side will be a storage closet for the bags of rice, beans and porsho, the standard items prepared in their culture.  The other side will be where the cook will prepare meals.  We have asked the same woman that most of these kids had known in their prior home to continue cooking for them and she has said yes.  Our home is going to be a happy place to grow up in and we owe it all to God our Father who loves us so much.  I believe He picked all of us individually in order to make this home a special place and is helping us find the perfect people for the jobs to run it.

The paving stones are almost laid out to the main gate.  A few more to make and we will be done with this massive project.  The stones also have been painted on the patio and I see that the grass just planted is taking root.  It will be as plush as the rest in no time.

I wanted to show you the paving stones leading up to the children's home.  The veranda has been completed and the rooms are just waiting for 12 little bodies to be sleeping under the fluorescent stars that will be on the ceiling.   My stomach is fluttering as I write this.  What a day that's going to be.

Our well is open to these kids daily and Edwin and the men help them get as much as they need.
These little ones are very special and will eventually be coming to live with us.

And of course there are the boys....the boys who always make you laugh and seem to always be
having so much fun with so little.

Around the time when we first started our project, Edwin found Hope, Desire, Sammy and blind Grandma on the street selling charcoal.  With Grandma blind, these three kids had to help her to do everything.  They have now been sponsored by two wonderful women who expected to send all three to school.   Hope and Desire got to go but Grandma wouldn't let Sammy leave her because she had no one to be her eyes and she was scared.  Can't really blame her.  She has given permission for Hope and Desire to come and live with us but for Sammy, he must stay with her.  Life isn't always fair but Edwin and I are not giving up on Sammy.  We will find a way to help her and maybe she will release him to be a little boy again.

Hope and Desire came to the project to see their new bedroom.  They are so happy to really have a home and people around them to call family.  Of course Grandma and Sammy will always be welcome and I am sure we will find a way to help all of them.  Look at these two...they still have their Christmas dresses on.

Thanks again to all you for showing your "love" to all of us involved.  There is truly only God, Edwin and myself doing this with all of your help.  Thank you for buying so much banana bread and sending donations when you can.  We will never stop thanking Global TV and Save on Foods for starting all this and continuing to never give up on us. 

But most of all.....thank you Lord for your "love".  You are truly our strength to get through this.