A big ‘THANK YOU’ to the people that make up the congregation at St. Mary’s Church, here in Ferndown. You have been the most committed and ardent supporters of our work with Our Father’s House Ministries (OFHM) in Uganda. They have been generous many ways – financially, with their time, support, products, encouragement and their prayers but we are still trying to widen the awareness of our need so if you are aware of anyone or any company who might be willing to help please send them in our direction, thanks

So what do we actually do with Martin Duhimbaze and OFHM in Uganda.

1 In the villages around Rukungiri in the Kigezi District there are now 150 vulnerable children who have been rescued from extreme poverty who now go to school locally, they board during term time so they have safe accommodation, are fed regularly and well, they receive clothing, a uniform and a mattress. Their families/guardians (if they have them) are invited into community help schemes and are also visited regularly by Martin and his team. at the moment we are trying to build a new house in a village far from a water supply which will rehouse a 5 children and 3 guardians whose previous mud house collapsed.

2 We have supplied tools and the finance to build a woodwork training centre which we call ‘Jim’s Shed’ because Jim’s daughters donated everything to set this up once their father died. This now serves as a workshop providing furniture for the school, is almost sufficient through selling furniture to local community and will take on apprentices to train youngsters in carpentry.

3 In Kisoro, which is further down towards SW of Uganda and very close to the borders with the DRC and Rwanda OFHM are building the Emily Collins School. The school actually opened the ground floor on the 10th January 2022 and admitted 80 needy children immediately even though the building is not finished by UK standards. There are toilets in the school building and an outside toilet block which looks like Noah’s ark. The water supply has been connected and water flows into the school water storage tanks roughly every two weeks. Although we are ready to receive it, electricity is still to be connected. Only 4 of the 80 children are sponsored at the moment. The school currently employs 7 teachers, a Matron for the nursery/infirmary, 2 cooks and a cleaner. We depend solely of charitable giving so we will continue to improve the facilities and build the next two floors when funds allow.

4 We remain committed to rescuing vulnerable children. Kisoro has the same issues as Rukungiri so the aim is to get sponsors for all the children who need support and hopefully be as successful here as OFHM has been in further north.

We are determined to carry on working with OFHM to rescue vulnerable children through all of the projects above and we thank you for your generosity on behalf of OFHM but most importantly on behalf of the children.