WWW.WATOTO.COM | JUNE 2013 | ISSUE NO. 2
RETURN TO DIGNITY: THE TOUR
Watoto is excited to launch a brand new initiative of Living Hope. Marilyn Skinner, co-founder of Watoto, will be travelling across the world in the Return To Dignity Tour, mobilising women so they can make a tangible difference in the lives of their sisters in Africa. continued on pg. 2
WHAT WE DO ORPHANED CHILDREN | VULNERABLE WOMEN | COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION
THE SOUND OF HOPE
continued from pg. 1 If you have read Marilyn’s book Return To Dignity, you will know the women, whose stories are featured in this book, represent the powerful miracles that are possible if women are given a hand up in life, and shown the love of Jesus. Living Hope founder Marilyn Skinner declares, “God is doing something incredible in Africa. He is mobilising a generation of wounded women and raising them up to transform their communities. Where you and I might see oppression, God sees an opportunity to make evident His love for those who are in pain.” More than 2,100 women in Uganda have already experienced this love. This past January, Living Hope enrolled an additional 540 precious women into the program. The group has already gone through discipleship training, and some of the ladies have given their lives to Christ. The next step is personal trauma counselling to empower each of the ladies to confront and overcome past hurt and affliction. “I have learnt about forgiveness and have come to appreciate its value. The HIV/AIDS counselling has helped me a great deal, and I’m now able to help counsel my friends too,” says Beatrice Namuwemba. Living Hope also provides busi-
ness training, character classes and an adult literacy program for those who have challenges with the English language. After the business training, the ladies are encouraged to come up with basic business ideas and plans. Start up capital is provided for approved plans. “The business training has been extremely beneficial and I’ve also learnt how to save,” says Gertrude Kamuli. “We know not everyone can visit Africa, so I would like to bring the experiences of the ladies at Living Hope to you. If you have a ministry for women or you think your church or organisation could benefit from the ministry of Living Hope, I invite you to host a Living Hope party,” says Marilyn. During the tour, Marilyn will be sharing the incredible victories of the women, the exciting Living Hope projects and ways in which you can be part of this movement. For more information on bookings, visit www.watoto.com/ returntodignity or contact Ruth Mitchell on 07 3208 3500 or email mediaau@watoto.com.
We are elated to celebrate a huge milestone in the history of our children’s choirs since they began travelling internationally in 1994. Choir 57 just returned from Brazil and is the second choir to tour in South America. We are honoured and grateful to God for over 1,400 new sponsors from this tour in the Americas. The team had an amazing time interacting with the social and hospitable people of South America, who supported them every step of the way. “The highlight of our tour is definitely the incredible response we witnessed to the message of Christ in our presentation. We saw many people give their lives to Him during the concerts. It was an incredibly moving experience and I loved being a part of it,” says Gideon Kizito, Team Leader for Choir 57. The group had the opportunity to spread and share the love of Christ at several new churches, hospitals, schools and retirement homes. There were also challenges along the way. Following the deadly and destructive Hurricane Sandy that destroyed bridges and cut off power supplies in the northeast USA, this choir was forced to cancel some of their concerts, as mobility was quite impossible. However, God was faithful and the choir was able to bring hope and healing to hurting people. The language barrier could have been another challenge, but our Watoto kids chose to see it as an opportunity to expand their vocabulary. Many of them were inspired to learn some basic Portuguese, and some of the children even presented their stories in Portuguese. Needless to say, the locals were thrilled and overjoyed with the team. Four other Watoto Children’s Choirs are currently on tour. Watoto is passionate about rais Choir 58 is touring the UK and transformational leaders. We pur Netherlands, Choir 59 is in the to set our kids up to pursue exce USA, Choir 60 in Canada and in all they do, and disciple them o Choir 61 in Australia. integrity and other moral values s Follow the activities of the each one of them becomes a resp choirs on the road at www. ble Christian and a productive me watotochoirs.wordpress.com of society who will contribute to and find out when they are in an transformation of their nation. area near you. You can also see We are thrilled that many of th the choir at www.watoto.com/ already making a difference in th the-choir/see-the-choir munity. A couple of years ago, so our High School students joined h to sponsor a child. They’re still sp ing today and have inspired many ers to do the same. Others partic in various community projects su as the refurbishing of schools, ho tals and homes for the disadvant around them. A particular group of Watoto s dents participated in the 2012 Int tional Day of the African Child (D celebrations – a day that is set as globally to raise awareness for th tinuing need to improve the stand education provided to African ch As part of Kampala Internation University (KIU), our Watoto stud started a community outreach pr
Watoto Students Transforming Community
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gram, directing their efforts to Bushenyi Primary School – a school for disabled children about 280 kilometers from Kampala. They raised support from fellow students, university staff and the community in Kampala in the form of cash contributions, scholastic material, clothes and shoes, among others. They also established a children’s church in the school, which has been operational since July 2012. During this year’s DAC celebrations, these young leaders set up a small computer laboratory for the school and also equipped the children’s church. “We were once rescued from a life of desperation and given a chance to do something with our lives. All we want to do is help others get a similar chance,” says Francis Mubiru, a Watoto Student.
The concept of a trip to Uganda with Watoto was always on the cards - particularly being related to Luke and Rachael Willey (Luke is the Watoto Australia Country Director). The difficulty though was turning a nice thought into reality. However, it was during a family reunion last year that the idea of a build trip gained legs. It wasn’t long after this that a departure date was chosen and the job of convincing as many family and friends to join us began. Our build team consisted of 27 people - of whom 7 are related - and we raised $39,000 to build a Watoto home with the assistance of the communities of St George, The Lockyer Valley, Toowoomba and Brisbane. Luke has often shared with his farming relatives about the Watoto self-sustainability project. Being a farmer myself, I really connected with this project, but was still encouraged to be part of a build team. Whilst preparing for our trip, some of us had the opportunity to meet Gary Skinner (Watoto Founder), Randy Sohnchen (Selfsustainability and Construction Coordinator), Steven Kisingiri (CEO) and our own Ian Handy (Watoto supporter). It was not until we had met these men that we really caught the vision of what Watoto was seeking to achieve with the self-sustainability project. The vision, firstly, has a Christ-centred approach – to glorify Christ in all that they do and that, through this, culture will be transformed. Another significant part of any initiative is that it is financially viable, and this is definitely the case with the Watoto farming operations. Another key part of the Watoto sustainability vision is
training to create a skilled workforce and employment opportunities, as well as raising leaders. There were a number of farmers participating in the build and we looked forward to spending time with the Watoto sustainability team in order to learn what they are doing and how they are going about it, as well as, to share some of our farming experience and expertise. It is easy to stand back and tell someone what to do, but to get in there and help them do it speaks volumes! Some of the team members spent time with Baby Watoto and in other areas of the community. For more information about visiting Watoto in Uganda contact Dennis Brown on 07 3208 3500 or email australia@ watoto.com.
Have you considered meeting your sponsor child, mother or teacher? Seeing the precious babies and toddlers at Baby Watoto? Hearing firsthand stories from Living Hope? Watoto Australia is organising a two week trip to visit Watoto in April 2014 for current sponsors! With a key member of our staff leading the tour, we will be visiting Watoto villages, projects and sponsored individuals, as well as the option of a safari, white water rafting or cruise on the Nile! For more information or to express interest, please contact our Visit Watoto Coordinator at australia@ watoto.com or 07 3208 3500.
LIVING HOPE FOUNDER
Marilyn Skinner shares
STORIES OF HOPE, FAITH, COURAGE AND TRANSFORMATION “I thought that I was a nobody. I had no identity. But through Living Hope, I discovered that I do have value and God loves me.” FLORENCE NANFUKA
WATOTO AUSTRALIA PO BOX 782 SPRINGWOOD, QLD 4127 (07) 3208 3500 AUSTRALIA@WATOTO.COM
Watoto Child Care Ministries (Australia) is proud to be a partner for Projects J210, J329, J416 with Global Development Group, the AusAID approved NGO responsible for the aid & development projects according to AusAID guidelines.