I finally made it to you Uganda late Thursday evening. Thank you for all who prayed for my travels, everything went smoothly.
I arrived back in Soroti Friday evening and had my first meeting today with Mike, Country Director of Saving Arms Foundation (the rescued street children program).
Mike reviewed with me the non-resident and resident boys that are currently either on the street or are in the SAF residential program. We talked about different areas and in my opinion, all areas of physical, environmental, and social aspects are generally being cared for with the resident children. What is missing is the mental piece, which includes substance abuse education, relapse prevention/recidivism and attending a psychologist/social worker/doctor on a weekly basis.
Some of the factors that lead these boys to the streets and into addiction include extreme poverty at home, domestic violence, being orphans, and/or conflict with the law. The reason these boys use substances in public, specifically the jet fuel, is because they are children and they know they can't get in trouble. Police cannot take them because there is nowhere to go like a juvenile detention. There are adults and females with addictions also, but, are more often hiding. With these non resident children, SAF and I will plan to continue to pour into them through weekly outreaches; feeding them, playing games and sports, and educating them on the dangers of addiction and use of jet fuel.
Children on the streets, the water bottle pictured is what they use to put the Jet Fuel in to huff
Next week, with the resident children, the SAF team and I will begin running Celebrate Recovery -The Landing. I will start with maybe two small groups of four to six children in each group, and go from there.
On Wednesday, I will lead an educational workshop (with SAF) on addiction, recovery, what is addiction, the models of, etc. Also, how Celebrate Recovery and the 12 steps work. More will come to mind as I plan out this workshop. We will run through one of the lessons in The Landing on Wednesday.
On Friday, we will be going to Gulu for the entire day to learn about the organization, Programme Awareness Counseling Treatment for Alcoholism and Addiction (PACTA). We will be learning and experiencing their facility, what they're doing, what works, what's not working, culture differences, etc.
God has big plans for children living on the streets in Uganda struggling with addiction, we just need to continue advocating for them, having compassion for them, and loving them like Jesus would. Please continue to pray for this ministry God has sent me to establish, the workshops I will be leading and for His wisdom as I continue on.
Pictured are two of the rescued street children in the SAF program
A lot of work ahead to be sure, but we are praying with confidence believing that our God has big plans for the ministry of Celebrate Recovery there in Soroti, Uganda and for the young people you are ministering to. His love for them is deep and our prayer is that each one would come to know His love for them through this ministry.