Faithfully Nurturing Children Academy
The hopes of the righteous bring joy… Proverbs 10:28
When I last wrote, we had been in a season of waiting, and honestly, not much has changed. For now, the border remains closed except to the current repatriation of citizens of Uganda, via the Ugandan Embassy, who had been stuck elsewhere. Only a few have made it back, but I am thankful that at least some families are being reunited. The president is adamant that schools remain closed, which is a huge blow to the population of people we serve. Through it all, we continue to employ all of our staff, carry the mission forward, and wait out the crisis together. In the midst of the media storm of bad news, I hope the following will brighten your spirits to know light always dispels the dark, and good always wins in the end.
Sweet baby and his words… can you even take it?
"Arise and shine. For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people, but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1-2
Once the restrictions were lifted a bit, so that a little more movement was allowed, the teachers were invited to serve their students and those in the community near their homes in every way they felt inspired. Some ideas were to read, color, sing, dance, tell stories, and just be present. So many people in this community suffer, yet our teachers are bright with the heart of our King, driving away doubts and fears every time they reach a home. Just think about how momentous it is to have your teacher come to your house in this dark season! I imagine there are many anxious hearts at every turn, but just having the comfort and nurture of one of our FNC staff is enough to keep one going! We NEED one another! We want each student to know they are being remembered, prayed for, loved from a distance and that their teachers want to help in any way possible. The testimonies have poured in, and children and family members have been loved, encouraged, taught and served in creative ways. This is where sonship starts, and I believe God will be faithful to finish what He began. Philippians 1:6
“My student requested me to come another day to read for her more book, this was fun, thank you for that program.” FNC teacher
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents"…and Teacher Irene.
Then, prayer. There is no way to know how much our prayers have meant for the young to the old in Uganda. We still have no cases of the virus in our school family. Our nurse is tending to booboos once again, and all other ailments. I think her presence just makes everyone feel better, so for that reason alone, I am glad we are able to support her work. Please pray for her continued health and safety.
Teachers have spent so much time visiting and praying for our students and their families as well. Every time they do a home visit, they share bible stories, pray and take requests from all who are present. It is powerful to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We are so proud of our teachers who have accepted the mission to continue to serve, make sacrifices, and encourage the FNC family.
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted..” Isa. 61:1
“I smiled that morning when I was handed the paper containing the work I was to carry out as a teacher and I said, GOD TOLD ME TO DO THIS”!!!! Thanks for accepting God to use you mightly and I thank him for the devine conection.” FNC Teacher
It has also been wonderful to pray and read the word together as a staff. We do this on What’s App. One of our teachers made a decision to ask Jesus to be king of his life a couple of weeks… WOOHOO!!! A girl in our girl’s home ALSO made this decision last week, (the first of the Busiika boarding students that were not a part of the whole school salvation moment in our Kamwokya elementary school). AMAZING!!! I believe she is the first among ALL.
“Thank you for your graceful chase after the hearts of these our children, and us too.” FNC Teacher
I think they are BOTH enjoying the story!
In addition to spending time with students and their families, the teachers are growing by leaps and bounds. We are so grateful that the current restrictions are broad enough that teachers can go to school in grade level teams. This has afforded them opportunities that will have lasting impact.
Our computer teacher Eddie has been tirelessly serving the teachers, training them in every computer skill one needs, including typing! Since some of our teachers have never interacted with computers, and some have more experience, he is teaching multiple classes to help them all attain a solid computer skill set. This is thrilling!
“Thanks for investing in us to see us improve, this is a good program and I will get started on it right away.” FNC Teacher
We have five classes in Google Classroom where the teachers are receiving instruction as well. The lessons they are doing involve literacy skills both for themselves and for becoming skilled teachers, which is all an extension of what we began in January of last year. This literacy initiative has powerful possibilities. One of my favourite aspects of these classes is getting to hear daily from our teachers about their joys and trials as they resolutely take on their assignments and work together. They are also reading the books that many of us read in our childhood, which is a huge deal considering most of our teachers report having read less than 3 books in their entire lives. Hearing how much they love the stories and also reading their assignments has been wonderful fun. So, as you can see, reading, writing, and even some handmade math games (think rocks and sticks) are the daily meal at FNC right now. In the end, besides their own personal growth, our teachers are continuing to learn what they are meant to know in order to teach our students, and I know you will agree, our students deserve this. Below are just a few of the comments I have received which I hope will reveal the huge impact FNC is having in the lives of all, despite it all. Make no mistake, without our leaders on the ground, which are many, FNC would be in trouble. It is incredible to be able to work together despite the fact that we are on different continents! God is faithful.
We are planning as a team to visit our students together this week and get to play the math game we planned
Am so much excited about the lessons am getting,God bless you dear.
I 'm ok its good that we are together again. Thanks to our professors that even in this crisis, they have made it possible for us to learn something.
Am excited for more!! I have learnt a lot of skill these last few weeks and am so grateful Tr. Haley for you endeavor to help us learn these skills. Thank you so much!!
We are learning a great deal! And we love it!
thanks am OK have Enjoy and have learn a lot from you Haley thank you so much.
It is a challenging moment where we are really putting heads together to make things happen. I'm glad for this time.
As for our students, teachers are not just making personal connections, but attempting to fortify the reading and math skills they have through review. They have reached out with work that the children can do, and then later they check in on them to help them where needed, and to encourage them to keep practicing. We hope this effort will boost everyone’s spirit and hopes that things will return to normalcy one day, so our children can return to school and carry on. This is truly the most heart wrenching part… our children thrive when they are in the safety of the walls of FNC, a predictable, and supportive environment, so being away is really hard. Please pray for anxious hearts of our students and staff as they live out the daily wait and see.
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Have you ever eaten fried worms??? I like his adventurous spirit, eating grasshoppers with his meal. Don’t let him fool you though, Dickie will eat anything. He is one brave soul.
Seriously, the happiest child you will ever ever meet, Trevor.
Looks cozy!
Teaching even still.
“Am so thankful for the Journals cause they are making me to reach out to my students and it allows me to know how they are doing.” FNC teacher
“Reading is a conversation. All books talk. But a good book listens well.” Mark Hadden
These little ones are so blessed to have Teacher Margaret on their team.
Oh Nelly! You love to snuggle, and Teacher Christine is the perfect snuggle buddy. Looks like it’s TIME to learn. (hehehehehhe!)
And we still have one more happy report to boost your spirits today! We have a second food initiative completed. It makes my heart feel so happy! We continue to hear reports of parents and guardians not able to work, and the dire circumstances they face, but I know their Father knows… and is able.
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat…” Matthew 25:35
“Thank you so much for feeding my family, as I was in despair.” FNC Parent
Lastly for now, we are also working on projects that involve teams of teachers helping to build handless washing stations for our school. We will need plenty of these once school starts. I hope there will be many more such projects. It will be a real blessing to our students to find out how hard their teachers were working while school was out.
So you can see we’ve been busy. It is humbling to see how God is helping everyone work together to ensure we remain present and focused as an organisation, all for our students and their families. I just want to thank you for your part in this. We are doing all we can possibly do to support our students and our staff in this really challenging time… and love never fails.
By far the best thing I have heard is that students are smiling and feeling happy that our teachers are making so many efforts, sacrifices and connections. In the end, we simply want our children to be safe, fed, healthy and fearless because they belong to the Father of all Fathers, our King.
Please keep praying for these children. Protection, health, emotional security, encounters with Jesus, Godly relationships, revelation as sons and daughters of their inheritance, boldness, authority, hope and joy… well, I know you know. For me, continuing to link arms together with you all is the way that we will see mountains being cast into the sea. Let us dream and pray BIG prayers for our families, indeed for Uganda.
With Gratitude,
Haley
“That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” Isa. 61:3 This is our hope and our prayer. May it be.
