Watoto Newsletter - US

ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD This June, Watoto held a big party to celebrate 20 years of Watoto Child Care Ministries. The occasion drew in thousands of people including many of our global friends who joined in on the anniversary activities in Uganda. For the past 20 years, Watoto has rescued and raised more than 4,000 children in Africa (3,000 in current care). During the same week, Baby Watoto rescued its 1,000th baby. We arful to God for His never ending mercy.

The Watoto Children’s Choir opened up the

celebrations with an epic “Beautiful Africa“ performance, a song loved by many.

Restore Tour: Child Soldier No More, a production that depicted the plight of people in northern Uganda during the LRA war and mainly consisted of former child soldiers, left many in tears. The choir also had the honor of performing alongside Grammy Award-Winning artist Israel Houghton, the guest artist of the night.

During the same week, several people were able to visit Watoto’s Suubi Village and

other Watoto sustainability projects such as the poultry and vegetable farms. During the vision tour, founder Marilyn Skinner, recognized Watoto mums who have served for over 19 years, for their faithful service in helping raise and nurture Watoto children.

We were honored that many of our partners, friends and sponsors all over the world managed to come to Uganda for the celebrations. We give all the glory and honor to the one amazing God who has brought us this far.

WATOTO USA • PO BOX 1320 • LUTZ, FLORIDA • 33548-1320 (813) 948-4343 • USA@WATOTO.COM

HOPE REGAINED Pregnant with her fifth child,

Her siblings, who looked after

to save some of her earnings.

Mercy joined the queue of expectant mothers waiting to sign up for prenatal treatment at

her children while she was away, said they would kick out her children if she died. Mercy cried

Today Mercy works as a trainer in our Kampala workshop and she is a great teacher. She is able

the busy maternity unit.

After three hours of waiting for her HIV test results, she was led into a small room where she was told by a nurse that she was HIV positive. A wave of emotions broke over Mercy. She was shocked, afraid and angry.

She was told by the nurse that with treatment she would be fine and transmission of HIV to her child would be prevented.

Unfortunately, a year after their son’s birth, her husband died and Mercy’s health deteriorated. She had to spend some time in the hospital.

as she realized that she was the only person her children had left. If anything happened to her, there would be no one to care for them. This ignited something within her. She drew from inside her the strength to carry on. Life was hard but with her basic skills in tailoring, she managed to keep herself and her children alive.

The children had to drop out of school and the family sometimes could only afford one meal a day, but she never gave up.

Mercy came to Living Hope in 2008. Here she improved her tailoring skills and learned how

to send all her children to school too. Her desire to build a home for her children, to ensure that they have a place that belongs to them, a place from which no one can chase them away, continues to be her driving force. This year, she opened her second bank account. She is well on her way to saving the money she needs to buy a plot of land and build her own home.

Thank you for partnering with us and helping us empower women like Mercy. Encourage your friends to do the same. www.watoto.com/livinghope

A SOURCE OF JOY Watoto’s new gift pool policy was introduced in October 2012. It replaced a policy where beneficiaries directly received gifts from their sponsors.

Unfortunately, not every child would recieve a gift. This caused some children to feel unloved or not thought of by their sponsor.

As a result, It was decided that

parcels or gift items received from donors and sponsors would be inventoried and distributed to each Watoto village. These gifts are now given on special occasions such as birthdays.

The day of the gift distribution is a special day that all children and mothers look forward to.

The whole village is filled with

excitement as people look forward to receiving a gift.

“The gift pool policy is a great idea because it makes all the children and mothers feel loved and valued,” mum Sarah Nalweyiso says.

In the month of April, several children received their birthday gifts. “I love cooking, so this is a perfect gift. The book will help me learn new recipes and also help me improve on my cooking skills,” said 15-year-old Amelia.

Five-year-old David Musiime was excited about his drawing board.

“I will use it to draw cartoons,” he said.

Thank you to all our sponsors who have adhered to the new policy. www.watoto.com/sponsorship

AN INSTRUMENT OF HEALING Something spectacular happened.

We went as a choir to a food place to have lunch and as is our culture in Watoto, we sang a thank you to the people who had prepared the food. After singing, a man approached us and requested us to sing a song for one of his friends

IS GOD CALLING Y WATOTO? Every year, ten global teams meet in Uganda: one team helps with children’s camp, two teams assist with medical care, three help with a construction project and four are dedicated to Baby Watoto. The team is on the ground for two weeks and made up of individuals from around the world. If you feel God leading you to join in on one of our upcoming global team trips contact jason.davis@watoto.com

This powerful song, co-written by who had just lost her husband.

Brad, Rebekah and James Tealy (Christian song-writer for artists

We were pressed for time, but in

such as Kari Jobe) also features

that moment God spoke to me

the Watoto Children’s Choir.

clearly and said, “This is the reason you are here, to bring healing to

Watoto is so grateful for Brad and Rebekah’s desire to support

the hearts of men and bind the

Watoto’s work directly through

broken.”

the sales of this powerful single.

We sang, “Not Forgotten” and

Every song that’s purchased is a

shared the story of the children

donation that will impact a life.

who have lost one or both of their parents. After the song, the

THE HEART OF THE FATHER

It’s also an incredible song to simply worship to. We guarantee

teary-eyed lady was beaming.

In 2009, traveling worship duo Brad and Rebekah made a

2014 with 100% of the proceeds from downloads going directly

you won’t be able to keep from

The children hugged her and the adults encouraged her and

decision to give a portion of their

to Watoto. Thanks to many of

“In the heart of the father

the family. While on the bus, it

CD sales to Watoto to invest into

our Watoto friends, the song

There is love.

occured to me, the reason for the lunch gift, the drive to that town, the venue on that day was simply to put a smile on the face of a grieving widow. God can surely move the whole world for you.

Remain in Christ and God Bless you always.

Phillip Mugerwa Watoto Children’s Choir #64 Team Leader watotochoirs.wordpress.com

the lives of orphaned children

quickly made it on the top iTune

and vulnerable women. After visiting Watoto in 2011, the couple

Christian song chart and in a matter of just a few hours rose

He loves us.

He loves us.”

decided that they wanted to do more.

“We came back with a deeper passion and a deeper desire to continue pouring into the ministry, and the way we thought we could do that best was to tell the story of Watoto through a song. That’s where ‘The Heart of the Father’ came from,” said Brad. “The Heart Of The Father was released on iTunes May 14,

to number 67 out of hundreds of top songs.

“This single is the story of the Father’s rescuing-redeeming love for us, His children, but also the physical redemption of the orphaned children of Uganda,” explained Brad and Rebekah on a May 6th blog post. The song was recently reviewed by New Release Tuesday and described as having “soul-stirring lyrics.”

singing this chorus all day long.

If you haven’t downloaded “THE HEART OF THE FATHER”: go to iTunes and search “The Heart Of The Father Brad and Rebekah” or visit www.bradandrebekahmusic.com

to watch the video, download the song and read more about Brad and Rebekah’s Watoto journey.

be touring and a visit was scheduled.

“The moment we looked at each other we recognized each other,” said Jaqueline. Their visit was filled with laughter and reminiscing about the past ten years. Martha brought

YOU TO VISIT Upcoming Visit Watoto Trips August Build Team Friday 8th – Friday 22rd August August Medical Team Friday 8th – Friday 22rd August August/September Camp Team Friday 29th August –Friday Sept 12th September Baby WatotoTeam Friday 5th – Friday 19th September December Baby Watoto Team Friday 28th Nov.– Friday 12th December

A FRIENDSHIP MADE IN HEAVEN A shared prayer between a 71-year-old sponsor and her now grown-up 24-year-old former sponsor child was answered in a little church in Louisiana this past April. Ten years ago, Martha decided to sponsor a child after watching the Watoto Children’s Choir perform at her church.

“Why don’t you take this one?” someone at the table asked Martha and handed her the profile of 14-year-old Jacqueline.

Just like that God intersected their paths.

“Over the years I watched her

handwriting improve and could tell she was getting an education by the way her letters changed. I prayed for her schooling, spiritual growth and she would also pray for me. I once told her in a letter that if we don’t get to meet this side of heaven, it will happen someday,” said Martha.

This year, Jacqueline went on tour with Choir 64 which just happened to be traveling through Baton Rouge, only 45 minutes away from where Martha lived.

Martha was notified that her former sponsor child would

her scrapbook of photos of Jacqueline that she had kept over the years and they poured over the photos.

“I was surprised to hear how much Martha had gone through in her life. You have this perspective of what a sponsor must be like and you think they must be rich. Knowing she sponsored me despite all she’s been through was very humbling,” said Jacqueline.

If you are considering sponsoring a child, Martha has this to say about the experience, “Don’t miss the opportunity and the privilege to walk through that journey with someone. It’s so rewarding.” www.watoto.com/sponsorship

WATOTO USA PO BOX 1320 LUTZ, FLORIDA 33548-1320

SPONSOR BABY WATOTO TODAY Baby Watoto exists to provide quality care, love and stimulation to the most vulnerable babies and toddlers in Africa. This foundation is a vital part of the overall mission of Watoto, to rescue the most vulnerable, raise them, and help them to become Africa’s future leaders. Partner with us by sponsoring Baby Watoto at www.watoto.com/sponsorship