There was a boy, the oldest of several children. His father was a harsh man, and the boy and his brother and sisters were often so hungry - daily going without food.
Seeing others with food and nice clothes, they would look for something to eat in other people’s garbage and endure taunting from kids dressed in nice clothing, their own dirty and full of holes.
It’s a level of poverty I cannot fathom - I mean, hunger that goes on for days, and throughout childhood...
I had a father, not unlike his father and it took me well into adulthood to see God’s good hand on my life and begin to serve others with confidence. I wore non-branded clothing and hand-me-downs, but I didn’t look too different from other kids. We always had breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I graduated high school.
Well, the young man I reference grew up and very early on in life had a desire to give the hope he knew for a brighter future, one full of destiny and purpose in Christ, to other children living in poverty.
He saw kids playing in the road, exposed to dangers and not in school. He was able to graduate and even made it to University. He was earning money and soon began to put plans in place for educating and caring for the most vulnerable children around him.
God didn’t allow any of the deep struggles he knew to be wasted. And he has used every ounce of creativity and resources he possesses to bring glory to God as he lovingly takes in the disabled and rejected, abandoned, and orphaned children.
Struggle is still very much a part of life for him - Struggling to find funding partners to sponsor the children and youth; working hard to feed the children even two meals a day; reaching out endlessly for help to repair the school after storms and to build a well for clean water; and to pay the rent so the children who had known homelessness will not sleep in the streets again.
It takes a lot to raise children!
And I still need to mention all the opportunities for skill development and opportunities to explore the arts and countless other things.. and most of this had been going on since 2010, several years before I met him.
So I want to introduce you to Nicholus Bbuule Ssenfuma, founder of Guardian’s Care Ministries.
He is the reason I am doing what I do. After meeting him, I was introduced to several others working so hard to give vulnerable children a chance for a different experience than they had - education, daily meals, opportunities for exploring God-given talents and interests.
Nicholus’s tears in childhood are being used by God to bring tears of joy to children around him. He wrote a song call “Tears of Joy,” and the children of Guardian’s Care Ministries we’re a part of the project. You can click on copy and paste the “Tears of Joy” link at the end of this post to hear his heart for vulnerable African children - "No more sorrow; no more pain; no more grief; let their tears be of joy..."
This picture of me (Sharlene) with Nicholus was taken in July 2018, during my second visit to Guardian’s Care Ministries. Not incidentally, he had already been suffering with a serious medical condition that causes much pain and weakness. He has just this month started long-awaited treatment.
https://youtu.be/_DhLaEPHQsg
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