A word from Rev. Dr. Ben Tumuheirwe, Founder of Juna amagara Ministries
Since 2004, when we took in the first 12 children in the Juna Amagara Children’s Home or Orphanage, the communities that they came from have been tremendously transformed because the children who we took in are graduates of universities and colleges. They are holders of bachelor’s degrees in teaching, working as medical doctors and so much more.
In our setting up of schools and medical centers, communities were economically powerfully impacted because the construction of those buildings that are the operations centers of Juna Amagara Ministries created employment opportunities where construction project workers were able to earn money, some of them for the first time in their lives and they were able to build their own moderate houses, improving their standard of living and some of them were able to pay for their children to go to school with those earnings. There was also a creation of market for the local products like building construction materials and the food that the children were eating in schools.
And because we did not desire to create schools or homes for only orphans that could potentially further marginalization, we took the wise step of encouraging and inviting other children from the community to attend our schools. Due to the high quality education we were offering in the community, we had got some of the best teachers and we were able to teach them the word of God and mentor them with loving care and great inspiration.
We praise the Lord because the vision and the mission continues. And I want to say with the kindness and commitment of you gentlemen and your wives, my heart is thrilled and my energy therefore has gone up because of the assurance that we are going to be getting new sponsors joining us and new friends running around us to get more support for the children that are looking to us and are waiting to get sponsorship to move forward to the next level of education. We can’t wait, we can’t wait to see the next 10 and 20 years what the Lord is going to do through us.
You know, in my village for instance, I had been the first person to go beyond high school and get a university degree, but because of the support that the community got through Juna Amagara Ministries, there are more than 30 young people who are now degree holders and they are married and serving in the community in the various fields of education, health care provision, social work, business, even some have joined the police force. There are some who are in the church who are serving as ordained clergy and ministers.
And so I tell you the story of Juna Amagara Ministries for those who come to Uganda and meet the beneficiaries of Juna Amagara Ministries and the generosity of our partners and sponsors. The story is inspiring.
Some of the children in the program really had no expectation of surviving in a hostile environment, who had no hope of escaping the vicious cycle of poverty and losing relatives, knowing that theirs was a destiny of destitution, they tell the story of God’s goodness and God’s grace because they are living examples, having encountered grace through us, having been made to smile and to embrace a life that was beyond their imagination or dreaming about.
The COVID-19 season and the aftermath had a very, very tough negative impact upon our operations and ability to support children. But now we have hope. We have faith. Our faith is rising higher and higher from the mustard seed level of keeping going to, you know, the great mountain moving faith that Jesus Christ talked about.
It is not only us, but the young people are excited because they see hope. They see the future becoming brighter and brighter. And they are convinced that they will get there to attaining their dreams.
You know, Jesus said that if we have faith, we will say to mountains to be moved out of our way and go into the ocean. I pray that the mountains that stand between the way of supporting and helping orphans and vulnerable children, I pray that the mountains of despair, the mountains of destitution, those mountains, I pray that we will stand together and we’ll lift our heads and look into the future with great expectation and command those mountains and obstacles to be moved, to be gone in Jesus’ name, AMEN.