Lam Dec 2017

Dear family and friends,

Our 2017 Christmas season started in late October when the Home Office staged an original art competition among ten Rafiki Villages, inviting all students, residents, and RICE (teacher training) students to submit 1-3 illustrations of Christmas in any medium e.g. crayon, watercolor, oil, African raw materials, etc.  We got to work right away and had a lovely and difficult time selecting only three artworks.  We had a total of 17 original artwork and they were all excellent! We finally sent up the best seven and two won the top two prizes!  Let met share them with you.

Molly is a Grade level 8 student who has lived at Rafiki Village Uganda since March 2004 when she was only one month old.  She was abandoned and found by the local police, then sent to Ssanyu Babies Home which subsequently requested Rafiki to provide for this little baby girl. Today Molly is 14 years old. She is learning much about Jesus and God’s Word. She plays volleyball, basketball, swims, is confident and eager to attain higher education so that she will be a useful Ugandan to serve God. God in his grace has provided for Molly through many sponsors and donors.  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

Peace will celebrate her 17^th birthday this month. She is a Grade Level 10 student.  She has two younger sisters, Tendo Nababi and Christina Nassola, here with her on Rafiki Village Uganda. They are total orphans until God brought them twelve years ago. Peace excels in art. She is also a prefect (student leader) and plays the flute. She earned a distinction for Grade 2 Flute in the June 2017 testing with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.  She is teaching the younger residents to learn how to play the flute also.  The three sisters’ only known living relative is an elderly grandmother whom they visit during the Rafiki school break. Peace enjoys watching movies and her two favorites are”God’s not dead “and “Faith like potatoes”.  She liked them because they discuss God’s goodness. When she grows up, Peace hopes to become a lawyer.

Guide us to Thy perfect light

As we raise and nurture Molly, Peace and 94 other youngsters, our constant cry to God is Guide them/us to Thy perfect light. The world is dark, evil and wicked. God has set up a Rafiki Village here in Wakiso, Uganda to shine for him.  On 23 December, the residents will present a Christmas cantata for our community to come listen to the Gospel sung in songs and Scripture read. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. 1 John 4:16 The love that compelled Christ to go to the Cross is the same love he has in his heart for you today. May you be blessed by knowing you are deeply, fully loved.   Blessed Christmas from Yeen-Lan, the 96 youngsters, and 51 national staff