It's 2012 - are you sponsoring a child this year?

Ten Eighteen sponsors several dozen children, and we need your help! School fees have gone up this year (their school year is Jan-Dec) because of the incredible level of inflation in 2011. We are committed to continuing our support of the kids we've been able to help - but we really need YOUR help to do it. Won't you consider sending a child to school this year?

For the cost of 2 pizzas a month, you can sponsor a child.
For the cost of 3 movie tickets, you can sponsor a child.
For less than the cost of one tank of gas, you can sponsor a child.

Child sponsorship with Ten Eighteen isn't just about paying a little bit and an unknown child goes to school. We know these kids. All of them. And many of them get one meal a day - the one they get because they're in school. Your sponsorship isn't just about education, although that is vital for these children to be able to get out of the slums... It's really, honestly, about their life.

Life in Uganda. My descriptions are not melodramatic... because they're true. And you can, literally, save a child's life. Ensure a child's future. And show God's love.

Won't you help? They really, really need you.

2012 trip is booked!

With only one trip on the horizon for 2012, I'm happy to have it booked. This will be my longest interval, and it's good to know we'll be back on the lovely red Ugandan soil on May 6. It looks to be a different trip, but I'm resisting the urge to plan too much - the Lord always, always directs my steps once we're there, and other than logistical necessities, I do much better to leave day to day stuff to Him.

I do know we'll spend several days in Jinja before leaving, and since my trip there was unfortunately aborted last trip due to Zeke's hospitalization, I'm extra excited to spend time there. We're planning to spend a night out at the orphanage in Bukaleba, and I'm just so excited to spend good quality time with the kids out there. And the guest house is so lovely... AH! Very excited!

So please pray for our trip, for me to not over-organize, and for all our steps to be ordered. And for no one to get sick! We so appreciate your support and prayers, always.

Christmas in Uganda

We have entered the crazy season here in the States. Black Friday is now Black Thanksgiving, and shopping is the athletic event of choice. Honestly, since I hate crowds, it keeps me away from stores except Tuesdays at 10am, but retailers provide jobs, as do the manufactures of all the stuff people are buying, so whatever floats your boat...

But in Uganda, they aren't consumed by consumerism. It's kind of hard to be when Umeme (the power company) is having rolling black outs every day and even the nicest homes and businesses are without power a lot of the time. When you don't have money for beans for dinner, or rent for the month, much less a Christmas gift for your child. When your parents have died of HIV/Aids or cancer or TB. When you are running an orphanage on ever-dwindling donations, lucky to provide posho (corn meal mash) and beans once or twice a day.

No one can do everything. But everyone can do something. Will you? Will you make a donation this month to sponsor a child's school fees, or pay an elderly widow's rent, or pay for fuel for the hospice teams? Will you make a box for Operation Christmas Child at your local church or through the web? Will you donate shoes or children's clothes?

I know 2011 in the USA has been hard for a lot of people. And I'm just going to post some photos to give you a teeny tiny bit of perspective. Not to guilt you into anything...  Just to inform and educate. You are blessed beyond the wildest dreams of most of the world. If for absolutely nothing else than that you can have clean safe water to drink from any sink, hose,  or water fountain in the land...  Just something to think about.