Coming Together to Meet a Need Half a World Away

I have to say - I think it's so cool how God puts certain people in our path and how He works all things out for His glory. When I first started volunteering for Project Hope Worldwide (PHW) back in 2010, I would have never dreamed it would lead me to go to Uganda 3 times (as of today, that is - going back next year!), our family adopting from Uganda, and getting involved with several other amazing ministries and organizations in Uganda, as well. Taking that first big step of faith has opened up so many awesome opportunities that I would have never been involved with if I hadn't put my fears aside and said "Yes!"

But this post is not about me. It's about everyday people hearing about needs and getting involved - even though they are half a world away.

Shortly after I started volunteering for PHW, my husband joined in and my girls wanted to help out, as well. So they started a ministry (formerly "Girly Me Missions", but now called Project 1:27 - Hope 4 Uganda) with a few of their friends and decided they would make crafts and sell them at shows to raise $ to support a girl, Nelly, in Uganda through PHW.

Any money they raise after their yearly support, they donate to other orphan care ministries in UG. So, they worked hard and did lots of shows & raised $ for their cause - as well as brought about awareness of the plight of orphans in UG. In October of 2012, they won a large sum of money at the Owasso Chili Cook-Off for their amazing African Chili & for having a creative looking booth. So, they took that $ and purchased 9 baby cribs for Arise and Shine (AASU) Babies Home in Jinja, Uganda. What gives me goosebumps is that our adopted son actually slept in one of those cribs as we ended up adopting from AASU the following spring!

So fast forward to 2014. Of course our heart is with AASU because our son was adopted out of that home. I've become good friends with the director and we chat as often as we can and stay in touch. She has a huge heart for the children that live there as so many of them come to her abandoned, malnourished, and very sick. It has been her dream for a while now to have a baby incubator as she has lost several newborn babies and believes they would have had a better chance at life if they were able to keep warm in an incubator.

Here's a video of Sharon speaking about AASU and if you listen carefully, she mentions a precious little girl named Martina and how a baby incubator possibly could have help save her life. Sadly, Martina passed shortly after this video was made...

I told a sweet friend of mine about this need and she generously donated $1,000 to put towards the purchase of the incubator. So I made it my mission to learn about incubators and find the best one that could be easily used by the caretakers at the home. After a very long search, I recently found one that I believe will work out really well; however, we are short about $700 to purchase it and have it shipped to Uganda.

This is where the girls of Project 1:27 step back into the picture. My friend, Julie Duncan, sells Pampered Chef and approached me about doing a fundraiser for Project 1:27. It came at a great time because we had $700 to raise & the sooner we could raise it, the better! She did an initial meeting with the girls discussing how the fundraiser would work, then for fun she had them help her make some yummy pico de gallo & fresh lemonade using Pampered Chef products. Most of the girls love baking so they really enjoyed this time with Julie...

 

 

The following week, we hosted a Pampered Chef show at our house. Several friends came & this time Julie had us create salads that are traditionally eaten in Uganda, using Pampered Chef products - super fun and unique for a show! Everything tasted AmAzInG & we had yummy chocolate molten cake for dessert that was prepared and baked in the microwave within 15 minutes!

  

This recipe and the following two are from Harriet Ssanyu, head cook at Alirikos Bed and Breakfast in Kampala, Uganda. She also has a cookbook that you can purchase here full of more amazing recipes.

 

 

 

 

We also accepted online sales from a special link Julie set up for our fundraiser. In addition, people from around our community and even around the States heard about our fundraiser and donated directly towards the incubator. Some sweet friends of ours even had a lemonade & cookie stand in their neighborhood and raised funds that way, too! It's been so amazing to see friends and strangers come together to help with this one need.

And now, the moment we've been waiting for! Our goal was to raise $700 to put towards the purchase of a baby incubator for AASU and we actually raised...

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$704!!! Woo hoo! We are so excited and we thank all of you that helped spread the word, purchase Pampered Chef items, and those who gave directly towards the incubator! We hope to buy it within the next few days and it should get to the babies home within a month!

Sigh. All glory to God ;-)