December, 2018
More Blessings for 2018!

Hopefully by now you have received our end-of-year letter requesting your generous support for 2019.  If you have not, please send a note to info@amagara.org.   With that letter there is a page listing some of the Blessings for 2018.  Here are some more.  Your support has made a powerful ministry, one that changes lives of children, Ugandan staff and communities, and also the lives of sponsors and visitors.   Check out these snapshots and then we humbly ask you to pray about your 2018 donation to Juna Amagara.   
All amounts are welcome.
 
Saving Dorrie
Sweet Dorrie
In early 2017, a young girl named Dorrie was discovered by Juna Amagara social workers in a horrific home situation.  A double orphan, she was living with her grandmother in a Kampala slum, the house made up of four iron sheets with a plastic tarp overhead.  When it rained, everyone clung to their possessions so they would not wash away.  Without a sponsor from Juna Amagara, Dorrie wouldn't have a chance at life.  Now six years old, you would never know it was the same girl.  The frightened, reclusive, shy, thin little child has become a high-energy girl who loves school and, just recently has begun to offer a ready smile to her friends and teachers.  This is the miracle of being a resource in the community.  This is saving life in Uganda, one child at a time.    
 
Boys Dorm Taking Shape at Kayanja
The latest infrastructure building for Mary Cox Memorial Primary School - a dormitory for 150 boys - is under construction. Thanks to generous support received this year the project was able to start earlier than projected.  It is planned that the building can be ready for occupancy for t he new school year in February 2019 which will free up two more classrooms. 
 
Record Number of Young Adults at University 
College Students and Visitors at Mbarara, October 2018
 
We knew they would grow up some day.  More and more Juna Amagara kids are reaching college age.  Sponsors generously support 49 stellar students with no other means of paying tuition to fulfill their dreams of a college degree and another 22 to pursue vocational training. Other donors contribute to our College Scholarship Fund which helps fill some gaps.  A meeting with students at Bishop Stuart University recently evoked the common comment:  "We are so grateful to God and the people who support this ministry."
 
Many children graduated in October - pre-school students to primary, primary to secondary.  You can see some of them in the banner above.  
 
HEAL Medical Center Welcomes US Pediatrician 
Dr. Marian Olpinski, a Chicago area pediatrician was in his element at the Juna Amagara HEAL Medical Center last October, surrounded by children.  Practicing alongside Ugandan physicians, he was able to advise on two newborns, examine several ailing children and advise during vaccinations. He examined children wherever he went including Juna Amagara schools and in UN refugee camps.  "The problems being experienced by these children are the same as we see in the U.S., the same as I saw during my time in Vietnam and Guatemala," he said.  "All mothers need to be counseled before and after the birth of children.  And everybody needs to wash hands to reduce infection rates."  

So Proud of Marcelina
Can I take a moment to brag about my sponsored child, Marcelina?  This is Lee Mulder, founding board member of Juna Amagara.  Marcelina is my second sponsored child with the ministry.  I first met her when I visited Kayanja Village some years ago.  She was a small child with big, curious eyes and a magnetic smile.  During welcome ceremonies she was at the heart of the dance.  Some time later when the ministry decided to add Kayanja as a care point, I was the first to support a child, Marcelina. She is now 18 years old, thriving at Kishanje High School, loving chemistry and geography, a class leader who still loves to dance.  I am proud of the young woman she has become.  She has big dreams and the focus to achieve them and I can hardly wait to see her every time I go to Uganda.  Just thought you'd like to know this child sponsorship has truly enriched my life.

Dancing in Church
Most Christians in the U.S. can hardly imagine being in church for more than an hour on Sunday.  But if you go to Kagyera church in Kishanje Village on a celebration Sunday, you might spend three hours there and come out dancing.  It will be standing room only with little kids included for the whole time, many just looking for an empty lap.  Two choirs sing rousing, resonant hymns accompanied only by a drum.  Two offerings, one for the church and one for gratitude to God fill baskets with shillings or maybe the farmers donate stalks of sugar cane, some eggs, avocados, potatoes or maybe a chicken or goat.  Those things are converted to cash in an on-site auction.  Visitors are welcome to bid.  Many of us purchased produce and gave it to needy grandmas.  After three hours of steady worship, you bounce out of the church into a gleaming, crystal clear day in a hilly land surrounded by forests and the people dressed in vibrant splashes of color.  Everyone is smiling.  And you think to yourself, "Now, THIS is church."  Check out THIS VIDEO of what happened at the end of services on a Sunday in Mbarara at All Saints Church with Basia Olpinski.

This is a reminder to please return your check with the reply card sent in the mail.  Or you can send it to Juna Amagara Ministries, PO Box 2384, Glen Ellyn IL 60138.  Or you may donate on-line at www.amagara.org.  If you have appreciated stock you would like to donate, we have an easy way for you to do that. Email info@amagara.org.  All amounts are welcome.
 
Thank you so much. Your giving truly glorifies God as funds are used to build vulnerable children into beautiful disciples for Christ.
Gratefully,
 
 
 
Chairman of the Board
Juna Amagara USA

(special thanks to Dr. Marian Olpinski and Mr. Joseph Namanya for photography).