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Teaching Richard to Fishby: D. Phillips |
When my wife and I were first married in 1991 we went to work at the God Loves Kids office in Rockwall, Texas. We wrote newsletters and organized the information about all of the sponsored and unsponsored children. We chose a boy to sponsor, Moses, because he wrote wonderful letters and was older than a lot of the other kids. He wasn’t cute and small so we figured he might have trouble getting a sponsor, so we sponsored him. We found a sponsor for his older brother, Richard, as well.
Moses and Richard survived the civil war and ethnic cleansing that raged in Uganda in the wake of Idi Amin’s dictatorship and defeat. The chances of survival in a small country where an estimated 800,000 to 1 million people have been killed in ongoing conflict is remarkable. Moses and Richard’s family lived in what is now know as the Luwero Triangle, a killing field where an estimated 300,000 people were killed between 1981 and 1985. Rebel guerilla forces faced off against government forces using civilians as agents and tools of war. Thus all civilians became suspect of being allied with the opposition and were fair game for slaughter. Young boys were often drafted into these armies and instructed to kill or be killed.
Moses and Richard were the only ones of their family who survived this mayhem and found their way to our orphanage, Uganda Gospel Rehabilitation Centre, near the center of the Luwero Triangle. Uganda Gospel Rehabilitation Centre (UGRC) was established to help the young survivors of the horrific conflict.
Many of the original 13 children we started caring for at UGRC are now working with God Loves Kids as teachers, orphanage home directors, ministers, and community leaders. Richard and Moses work together, Richard directs the New Eden school and orphanage home and Moses teaches music and assists his brother with administrative functions. They pastor a church together as well. They were rescued from the ravages of war, now they rescue children from the ravages of AIDS and poverty.
Richard and Moses are a constant presence in my life. We were reunited via email last year and I communicate with them on a regular basis now. Moses had dropped out of college because he could not afford tuition so we sent him back to school. After years of sending our sponsorship donations when Moses was a school boy, it feels really very good to be a part of Moses’ adulthood. Richard and Moses both express profound thanks for the good they have received from God Loves Kids ministry and refer to Laura and I as their “mum and daddy.” They count us as family.
Being the little brother Moses tends to be shy and more reserved. Richard is more expressive and has big dreams and is quick to share them. We often get requests for funds for projects from our school and orphanage directors, Richard is no exception. It is our job to assess the need for such funds and communicate the need to you, the sponsor, if we deem the request to be of merit.
Last month, Richard wrote to me and my mother, Lovie Phillips, the director of God Loves Kids. He was moved by the death of another child in his care from Malaria. A five year old boy died of Malaria, we do not know the details of his death yet, because Richard was very concerned about the large number of children in his care who are presently ill and he fears for them. His email was direct and to the point. He needs $4,500 to build a medical facility. A few days later Richard sent another email asking that we help him build a trade school for the less academically gifted children in his care. He wants to give his children every chance to live healthy and stable lives. He sent a photo of the children making bricks in anticipation of building, offering their “sweat equity” as proof of their motivation.
The trade school will cost another $17,500. He, the staff, and the children made additonal bricks and sold them to the community to earn money to purchase six acres for the technical school. So they have the land, but they need a building. The $17,500 he asked for covers only the building, not the equipment needed. We were very impressed with him. Rather than ask for funds to build a big church building for his congregation, his focus was on his children’s well-being.
His letter was unusual in that he plead with us to help him figure out how to not need our help so much. He pointed out that all of his income to run his school and orphanage comes from our organization. He worried about what would happen to his children should we not be able to send funds at some point. This is something we are very concerned about as well. We want all of our schools and orphanages to be self-sufficient should some political event or natural disaster prevent us from sending funds to them. Richard mangled the saying “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” but we clearly understood that, though he was asking us for money for his projects, he really wanted us to teach him how to be self-sufficient.
Richard accepted my invitation to allow me to coach him in his entrepreneurial pursuits to obtain self-sufficiency via email. We are covering the basics of what it means to run a small business. He is already experimenting with growing coffee, making bricks, raising cattle, and even raising fish. His efforts are enthusiastic, but lack of advisors and teachers means Richard and his staff have suffered from a long cycle of trial and error. Richard wants to be successfully self-sufficient and knows he is lacking know-how even more than finances.
Richard has a dream of providing his children in our God Loves Kids sponsorship program with clean water, good health care, a high quality college level or trade-school education, and a solid spiritual grounding in Christ. He wants to establish a working ranch and farm so the children can learn how to grow crops and raise animals. He wants every child to graduate from high school with a cow of their own and the ability to homestead. He wants them to be able to stand on their own two feet and we want to help him learn to do this.
You can help us help Richard, and our other former orphans who have started orphanages and schools of their own. We are building a fund to help our schools become self-sufficient. We will always support our schools, we plan to be around forever, but, like good parents, we need to help our kids learn how to survive without us. With this Self -Sufficient Fund we can ensure the long-term health and success of our schools and orphanages.
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