watoto newsletter - ca

WWW.WATOTO.COM | SPRING 2014 | ISSUE NO.1

One Amazing God

T H E F U T U R E I S N O W

YOU ARE INVITED

WHAT WE DO ORPHANED CHILDREN | VULNERABLE WOMEN | COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION

WATOTO BIG PARTYThis year, Watoto celebrates

30 years of God’s faithfulness in Uganda. From 1st to 8th June 2014, Gary and Marilyn Skinner will host a Big Party in Kampala to commemorate the occasion.

“We are having a big party because we want Jesus to be

famous for the good things He has done in Africa. I am so thankful for all of the individuals, teams, churches and other groups around the world that have been involved in so many ways, helping us make all of this happen. God bless you,”

comments Gary Skinner, Watoto Founder.

Currently, Watoto cares for almost 3,000 children in three self-contained villages and three Baby Watoto facilities across Kampala and Gulu, Uganda.

George Akankwasa, one of the first students of Hope Senior School in Watoto’s Bbira Village

says, “I have seen Watoto grow tremendously from 1 classroom block to over 10; from 4 clusters of 9 homes per cluster, to over 15 clusters; and from us doing only indoor games to outdoor facilities for various activities. We need to celebrate and thank God for all He has done for us, and what He is still doing.”

Newsletter_mar'14_CAN.indd 1 3/31/14 5:59 PM

In the lead up to the Big Party, we are running a campaign called ’Man Up’, where we are challenging people to do something extraordinary to increase awareness and funding for Watoto. Watoto friend, John Burns, from Relate Church Canada is pushing his physical and mental boundaries to run 200 holes of golf in 24 Hours. He hopes to raise US$5 million for Watoto. You too can join the

challenge. Either log on to www.

ManUp4Watoto.com and support John, or start a challenge of your own. Every effort helps to transform the lives of vulnerable women and children in Africa.

For more information on how to be involved in the Big Party, please log onto www.watotochurch.com/bigparty.

A HELPING HANDIn February, Living Hope

community workers began interviewing women who were isolated, and struggling, both financially and emotionally. We hope to enlist 380 new ladies in the program this year.

“When I hear their stories, I realise how much they need to be in the program,” says Hannah Atim, a community worker.

Living Hope graduates like Monica, who are now community leaders, are helping us identify and enlist new women. In 2005 when Monica was pregnant she discovered that she was HIV positive. She used to make money by selling liquor, but this was not enough to support her five children. “Living Hope found me when I was not doing well. I thought I was dumped and forgotten, but at Living Hope I found joy and hope. I found others who are like me, and people who love me,” she said.

Monica, who works in our jewelry department, is now one of Living Hope’s community leaders. She often visits other HIV positive

women to share her story, pray for them and remind them to look after themselves.

Living Hope empowers women so that they can walk alongside others who are in need of support. They learn that their stories have power to inspire others and to change lives. By helping women like Monica engage in their communities, we are able to infiltrate the most impoverished neighbourhoods and embrace others who are still in desperate need of help.

This year we have framed our program around three words that we feel capture our mission: Embrace, Empower and Engage. We embrace women by caring for their basic needs. We empower them by developing their life skills and we engage them with the community by helping them become successful businesswomen and pillars of influence.

Follow the progress at www.watoto.com/livinghope and encourage others to partner with us today.

Vocational Students Graduation

On 4th Dec 2013, 38 Watoto

students graduated from the

Vocational School at Watoto’s

Suubi Village. The ceremony

was filled with jubilation and

hope as the students celebrated

and couldn’t wait to start their

careers.

21-year-old Dodovico Nsereko,

who graduated as an electrical

installation engineer, believes that

choosing vocational studies was

the best decision he ever made.

“The practical lessons allowed

me to gain valuable skills that

helped me excel while I was a

student. I am excited about the

future,” says Dodovico.

He is currently working at one

of Watoto’s sustainability

projects as an electrical

installation engineer, where he is

convinced that he is gaining the

hands-on skills he needs to start

up his own business.

Watoto’s objective is to

rebuild the nation by raising

African leaders in every sector of

influence in society. We want to

celebrate empowered graduates

like Dodovico and thank all our

partners for their contribution to

this effort.

There are many children like

Dodovico, who need someone

to come alongside them to help

them pursue their dreams. Be

that support and encourage

others to do the same.

www.watoto.com/sponsorship.

We are so thankful for all those who choose to volunteer and partner with us as a member of a Visit Africa team. These teams volunteer by building structures, assisting at Baby Watoto or by providing medical care. This year we have 14 Canadian teams scheduled to make the journey to Uganda. Each individual who serves on a Visit Africa team is responsible for helping to raise

Thank You Visit Africa Volunteers

Suddenly, over 18,000 fans rose to their feet, and began to give a thunderous applause. This was every young Canadian’s dream come true! But how was it that 22 orphaned children from Uganda would find themselves singing in front of over 18,000 people? Wait, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s go back a little and set things up.

As staff members of Watoto Canada began to put together the 2014 Canadian tour for Watoto Children’s Choir 65, the thought of having them sing at a Vancouver Canuck’s National Hockey League game came to mind. The possibility of exposing the work of Watoto

The work of Watoto is greatly enabled by those who support children in our villages. Canadians were among the very first to sponsor a Watoto child some twenty years ago. Today we are thankful for the thousands of Canadian sponsors who find it in their heart to give for the sake of changing someone’s story.

Recently two of our sponsors were blessed to be able to meet the Watoto child that they

support. Calvin and Virginia Mitchell give us an inside look at how that happened and what took place.

“In 2013 our daughter who lives in Vancouver B.C. invited us to attend a Watoto Children’s Choir concert being held at her church. We then decided to sponsor a child. The child we sponsor is Jane who just turned 10 years on Feb 23rd. We have been her sponsors for the past year.

FACE-TO-FACE ENCOUNTER

CHOIR 65 SINGS NATIONAL ANTHEMS

funds for their trip and project. Ann Tardiff was a member of

a Baby Watoto national team that volunteered in Uganda at the begining of March. One of the ways in which Ann chose to raise funds was through

hosting her birthday party as a fundraiser. Ann was able to celebrate with her friends while telling them all about the work of Watoto and her upcoming trip. She was overwhelmed by the generosity of her friends who shared a common heartbeat towards helping children.

Perhaps you would be interested in joining a future Visit Africa team. To find out more information regarding this opportunity contact our Canadian Visit Africa Coordinator Amanda Rauh at [email protected]

www.watotomarket.com.

to thousands of fans was certainly worth looking into! Contact was made with the Canuck’s head office, and the seed was planted. The choir members learned both the Canadian and American national anthems, and a demo video was made. The result was an open invitation for Choir 65 to sing both national anthems at the Vancouver Canucks VS Phoenix Coyotes game, and perform during the first intermission!

The arena filled to capacity and the announcement came “Ladies and gentlemen please rise, remove your hats and join our very special guests, all the way from Uganda, the Watoto Children’s Choir”! Their pure young voices filled the arena,

and fans joined in singing the American and Canadian anthem. Following their performance Canuck staff members stated that the choir had received one of the loudest ovations that any guest vocalist had ever received.

The full result of having sung at the Canucks game is yet to be realized but we do know that thousands were made aware of Watoto, people were pointed to their website, donations were made, and strong connections for the future were formed. Oh, and let’s not forget that children and adults from Uganda were introduced to one of the greatest games on earth!

A while back we were pleased to receive a letter from Watoto Canada saying that Jane would be a member of Watoto Children’s Choir 65 scheduled to tour throughout Canada in 2014.

In February we were actually able to meet Jane twice as the choir performed in the Greater Vancouver area. She is such a sweet loving child and we could feel the love of God in her life. Even through the letters that she had previously sent to us, we could sense the joy in her heart. We feel very privileged to have her as our sponsored child and truly feel blessed to have met her. One of our sons and his wife came with us to meet her and they too felt very blessed.

If God has laid it on your heart to sponsor a child from Africa, We highly recommend sponsorship through Watoto, as they truly are making a difference in these children’s lives, by loving, caring and educating them to have an impact in the future of their country.”

Blessings,

Calvin & Virginia, Mitchellwww.watotomarket.com

Newsletter_mar'14_CAN.indd 2-3 3/31/14 5:59 PM