Agape Children’s Village
My boss, Steve, and I landed in Uganda at 7:40am Wednesday (that is 11:40pm Tuesday back home) and when you do that after 30 hours of travel the only real rational thing to do is to hit the ground running. We grabbed some lunch and then some of our Compassion Uganda team took us outside Kampala to see the Agape Children’s Village. I am warning you that I am tired and jet lag so this description may not do justice to the work of Agape.
Several years ago a local church just outside of Kampala began working with Compassion International to care for children who had been orphaned, mostly by HIV/AIDS. Compassion works with families on a daily basis dealing with death through AIDS but a large part of that work is helping the remaining family stay together. However, there are always cases where a child has absolutely no family remaining and this is where the church and Compassion stepped in to serve those children. Through Compassion Complementary Intervention Funds several homes were built to serve these children. Each home has 10-12 kids living there with a house mother and it is not a temporary solution, it is a family. Today there are 7 homes with a total of 86 children. These homes are called the Agape Children’s Village. Compassion has some similar initiatives in a few countries but this is the first one I have seen. The Village is now working to become a self-sustaining organization and Compassion will move to a different need in this great country.
Today, the Agape Children’s Village also has a school, the Agape Baptist Church, and a Compassion project where all 86 of the children from the village attend plus 200 children living in the nearby village.
I am too tired to make some deep connections here but looking into the eyes of children that have no biological family left it is inspiring to know there are people here in Uganda who are not willing to let these children live that way.
(the picture above is not a good one because I was planning on snapping a few more before we left the Village but the rain came puring down at that point and I was left with this simple one – but you need to know this village sits on a hill with an amazing view)
this is awesome to hear about!!!
I want to be there! H
My mother was raised in an orphanage during the depression here in the U.S. While not comparing at all to the poverty in Uganda, the fact that she had NO ONE else to care for her was the same. This home was run by the NC Baptist Association. She lived there 13 years and cried when she left. They were a HUGE part of who she went on to be.
I wish I could be in Uganda too. My heart is stubborn and needs to be reminded often to truly break for “the least of these.”
Beth
Every time you go there and post these blogs, I want to be there with you- seeing the same things and feeling the same things. It is all so amazing and such a beautiful picture of grace and mercy.
love you,
mom
I smell hope. Thank you.
Beautiful place for renewing lives – thank you for letting us see where our hearts and prayers support.