April 23, 2020
                                                                                         
Dear Sponsors and Supporters,

I bring you greetings during this season of worshipful wonder as we celebrate the miracle of our Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection. Like all of you, we feel our faith is being tested during this pandemic. We are thankful that the leadership of our country remains cautious with the lock-down now continuing until at least May 5th and that the Coronavirus numbers remain low.

Our office has received several inquiries from sponsored children and their families who are concerned about you, their supporters and sponsors. They are hearing about the large number of people in the U.S. who are battling this disease and the numbers who are dying. They love you and keep you in their prayers. We pray that God is protecting you from this virus. 

My last communication gave you a brief picture of the potential need for food assistance for families in the care of JAM. Since the nationwide lock-down has been extended from 2 weeks to 5 weeks, there are families in our program that will need extra help. We have identified approximately 100 families with that need. The majority of these JAM families live in cities of Kampala and Mbarara and are now out of work. Many of the families who live in rural villages of Kishanje, Rubanda, Joy, and Kayanja live on subsistence farming and have gardens to provide them food. Juna Amagara will continue to monitor their situation should needs arise.
 
Once the lock-down has been lifted, schools will reopen and we will make up the missed weeks. We anticipate higher transportation costs to bring the children back to school. It is also expected that there will be a rise in the cost of food and of other essential supplies which will be needed for our children. 
 
At this time, our HEAL Medical Center (HMC) in Rubanda has no COVID-19 patients and like other hospitals has seen fewer patients due to lack of transportation. However, our ambulance is being utilized to transport many in the community. We consider it a great privilege to offer ambulance services to all in the community.  We desire to provide free transport to the ambulatory patients during this time of COVID-19. In this way JAM can be a blessing to this impoverished community. The extra fuel costs for the ambulance are not a budgeted expense.

We prefer not to use our reserves for these additional expenses due to COVID-19 and would like to invite you to help us weather this storm with your financial support and with your prayers. 

We understand that this is a difficult time for many in the U.S. as well and we are lifting you up in prayer to our God who sees all our needs. Your contribution will provide food for the neediest of the needy in the Juna Amagara program, will help those in need of emergency ambulatory transportation, and will contribute to the extra costs in the ministry once schools reopen. 

We say thank you to those of you who have already reached out with financial support during this pandemic. We also thank you for your prayers. May God bless you richly.

Herbert Ainamani, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Godfrey is the Coordinator of Medical Services at our HEAL Clinic in Rubanda. Here he stands with our ambulance that was donated by a friend of JAM and has proven invaluable during this Coronavirus season since all forms of public transportation have been shut down by the government (and of course, very few people in this region do not have their own transportation).
Andrew (pictured), is a single dad with seven children - four of them are part of our program. Andrew is a laborer, but with the current Coronavirus lockdown, he is completely out of work. And in Uganda, there is not an “unemployment” safety net like we have here. Thus, he is struggling to provide for his seven children, all of whom are home since schools are closed down. He is one of the 100 families described above as needing assistance during this time. Thankfully, we were able to give him food so he and his wonderful boys can continue to thrive through this difficult season. They send their thanks to everyone who has donated to make their assistance possible. THANK YOU!