watoto newsletter ca
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Watoto Newsletter - October 2014TRANSCRIPT
WWW.WATOTO.COM | OCTOBER 2014 | ISSUE NO.3
WHAT WE DO ORPHANED CHILDREN | VULNERABLE WOMEN | COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION
Watoto is thrilled to bring you
a brand new production, Oh What Love, beginning January
2015. Through this dynamic
worship experience, the Watoto
Children’s Choir, who were once
orphans, share their journeys to
redemption and demonstrate
that God desires to be a loving
father to all mankind.
“After losing my parents I
felt lonely, with no one to love
me. Now I know that God is
my father. He loves and cares
for me. In the choir, I am going
to show people that God loves
them too,” says six-year-old
Jackie Nakku.
Based on the bible verse, 1
John 3:1; “See what kind of love
the father has given us, that
we should be called children of
God, and so we are”, prepare for
a unique worship experience,
underscored with the sounds
and rhythms of Africa, that
blends traditional and modern
dance with original music. Oh What Love celebrates the urban
African landscape and brings
out the unique personalities of
the children.
Since 1994, Watoto children’s
choirs have traveled all over
the world sharing the plight
of Africa’s orphaned and
vulnerable, making an appeal to
help raise these children so that
they can rebuild their nation.
Each of the children in the choir
has suffered the loss of one or
both of their parents and they
have been rescued and now live
in a Watoto village.
Book the choir in your region
now. Email us at
Newsletter_Oct_CA.indd 1 10/27/14 3:04 PM
A FUTURE SO BRIGHTJuliet ran her fingers over the
wheel of her tailoring machine,
admiring its contours. She shifted
the weight of her feet over the
pedal and listened to them
falling into rhythm. The machine
was a gift from her husband’s
grandmother on the day she
gave birth to her first child. It
became one of her most valuable
possessions. She stared at the
machine with a faint ache in her
heart, wishing she had the skills
to use it.
When Juliet met her husband,
she was searching for a home. Her
father had stopped supporting
her and she was forced to drop
out of school. When she tried to
move in with her mother, she was
rejected. She saw marriage as an
escape.
Juliet was twenty-one when she
sat at a maternity ward holding
the results of her routine HIV test.
She was pregnant with her first
child. She was shocked when she
read that she was positive, but
her husband seemed unfazed.
Juliet wondered if he’d always
known, but she didn’t ask him any
ACT AWAREBECOME A WATOTO AMBASSADOR
We often say, “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child”, and that’s true not only within our Watoto villages, but also in our global village (that means you). We would like to invite you to be a Watoto Ambassador in Canada. As a Watoto Ambassador, you’ll have the opportunity to use your skills and creative ideas to raise awareness/support on behalf of the orphaned children and vulnerable women in Africa.
Act Aware by fundraising - As a Watoto ambassador, you will have an opportunity to do something to mark World AIDS Day and Christmas. Fancy organizing a movie night? We have a short film and material for you to host a movie night. This December, we will rely on your fantastic fundraising to raise vital funds on behalf of Watoto. For more information, suggestions and ideas, email:
If you have a desire to serve with Baby Watoto in Uganda, there is an opportunity to volunteer in our 3 Baby Watoto facilities. We will be taking a team comprised of Canadians from July 13th - 27th 2015. You will also have a chance to visit the many Watoto projects on the ground which include Living Hope, Watoto farms and the Watoto Villages. The team volunteer activities will
include baby care from feeding to changing diapers and most importantly to love our precious babies. At the end of your time in Uganda, you will have an optional 3 day/2 night safari where you will truly experience The Pearl of Africa! For more information: Email [email protected] or call our Visit Africa Coordinator at 1-250-920-8597
BABY WATOTO TEAM
CHANGING LIVES THROUGH SPONSORSHIP
When Maria Roth decided
to partner with Watoto by
sponsoring 2 children, she
had no idea that one day she
This past quarter, a number of our Baby Watoto Suubi toddlers graduated into our villages. Many of these abandoned babies joined the Watoto family severely malnourished, premature, abused, and/or neglected. They are now cherished, active, creative toddlers filled with hope and joy. It is amazing to watch their transformation and we celebrate this exciting milestone in their lives.
SPECIAL MOVE For a number of years, we have been praying about and discussing the best long term plans for our children with significant special needs.
Over the past few months, we established a partnership with a new Christian organization, The Gem Foundation, in Kampala. They specifically care for children with significant special needs, into their adulthood.
We are excited by what this organization is doing and believe that this is the best option for
questions. She couldn’t afford to
lose another home.
Seven years later, he abandoned
her and she was left to look after
their two children on her own.
She managed to support herself
by helping her sister braid hair,
would see firsthand the impact
that her monthly support would
have. Maria, a supporter of
Watoto for 6 years and sponsor
of Sharon Nanyobi (18) and Frank
Ssekubulwa (16), was excited to
sign up as a sponsor with the
intention of making a positive
difference. As the years have gone
by Maria has built relationships
with both Sharon and Frank
through letter writing. After
6 years of sponsorship, Maria
decided to pursue the possibility
of meeting her sponsor children in
person in Uganda. With the help
of some of Watoto staff members,
she was able travel to Uganda and
have a life changing meeting with
Sharon and Frank, “I actually think
that God has something really
big planned as a result of our
meeting” Maria stated after her
return from Uganda.
”Sharon and Frank are both
wonderful examples of the
benefits of child sponsorship.
Sharon wants to be a doctor
and Frank wants to be an
engineer and both are lovely
young people”. After seeing
and experiencing the impact
that her monthly support has
had on her sponsor children,
Maria wholeheartedly spreads
word of the value of the Watoto
sponsorship program. We
encourage you to prayerfully
consider sponsoring a Watoto
child today. For $38 per month,
you can become a Watoto
sponsor and contribute to
rebuilding the continent of Africa.
Each sponsorship has the ability
to transform lives and change
a continent for Christ. For more
information, please contact our
Watoto Canada office by phone
(toll free) 1.888.9.WATOTO or
by email [email protected]. If you are interested in joining
a sponsorship Visit Africa Team
that will travel to Uganda in 2015,
please contact our Visit Africa
coordinator at 250.920.8597 or
by email at [email protected].
Thank you to all of our past,
present and future Watoto
supporters, without your faithful
support we would not be able to
do what we do.
some of our children with special needs who have outgrown Baby Watoto. The first group of children were moved from Baby Watoto Kampala to The Gem Foundation in August. We believe that this is a great opportunity for our children and are excited to continue to watch them grow and develop.
Partner with us by sponsoring Baby Watoto at www.watoto.com/sponsorship today.
but work was irregular and she
never had enough. She worried
when a child showed any sign of
sickness because she couldn’t buy
medicine. She knew that soon her
eldest would be old enough to
start school, but she wouldn’t be
able to afford it.
Juliet heard of Living Hope
from other women in the
community. “I knew that if I was
given the chance, I could also
become an empowered woman,”
she said.
Last month Juliet and five other
women were called to be trained
in tailoring at our workshop in
Kampala. In just three weeks,
she went from learning to run
the machine and making basic
stitches, to learning how to
make a dress. “I hope to be
a tailor and to grow so that I
don’t need to depend on my
family,” she said.
Empower other women
like Juliet by partnering with
us. Email us at [email protected].
Newsletter_Oct_CA.indd 2-3 10/27/14 3:04 PM
A FUTURE SO BRIGHTJuliet ran her fingers over the
wheel of her tailoring machine,
admiring its contours. She shifted
the weight of her feet over the
pedal and listened to them
falling into rhythm. The machine
was a gift from her husband’s
grandmother on the day she
gave birth to her first child. It
became one of her most valuable
possessions. She stared at the
machine with a faint ache in her
heart, wishing she had the skills
to use it.
When Juliet met her husband,
she was searching for a home. Her
father had stopped supporting
her and she was forced to drop
out of school. When she tried to
move in with her mother, she was
rejected. She saw marriage as an
escape.
Juliet was twenty-one when she
sat at a maternity ward holding
the results of her routine HIV test.
She was pregnant with her first
child. She was shocked when she
read that she was positive, but
her husband seemed unfazed.
Juliet wondered if he’d always
known, but she didn’t ask him any
ACT AWAREBECOME A WATOTO AMBASSADOR
We often say, “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child”, and that’s true not only within our Watoto villages, but also in our global village (that means you). We would like to invite you to be a Watoto Ambassador in Canada. As a Watoto Ambassador, you’ll have the opportunity to use your skills and creative ideas to raise awareness/support on behalf of the orphaned children and vulnerable women in Africa.
Act Aware by fundraising - As a Watoto ambassador, you will have an opportunity to do something to mark World AIDS Day and Christmas. Fancy organizing a movie night? We have a short film and material for you to host a movie night. This December, we will rely on your fantastic fundraising to raise vital funds on behalf of Watoto. For more information, suggestions and ideas, email:
If you have a desire to serve with Baby Watoto in Uganda, there is an opportunity to volunteer in our 3 Baby Watoto facilities. We will be taking a team comprised of Canadians from July 13th - 27th 2015. You will also have a chance to visit the many Watoto projects on the ground which include Living Hope, Watoto farms and the Watoto Villages. The team volunteer activities will
include baby care from feeding to changing diapers and most importantly to love our precious babies. At the end of your time in Uganda, you will have an optional 3 day/2 night safari where you will truly experience The Pearl of Africa! For more information: Email [email protected] or call our Visit Africa Coordinator at 1-250-920-8597
BABY WATOTO TEAM
CHANGING LIVES THROUGH SPONSORSHIP
When Maria Roth decided
to partner with Watoto by
sponsoring 2 children, she
had no idea that one day she
This past quarter, a number of our Baby Watoto Suubi toddlers graduated into our villages. Many of these abandoned babies joined the Watoto family severely malnourished, premature, abused, and/or neglected. They are now cherished, active, creative toddlers filled with hope and joy. It is amazing to watch their transformation and we celebrate this exciting milestone in their lives.
SPECIAL MOVE For a number of years, we have been praying about and discussing the best long term plans for our children with significant special needs.
Over the past few months, we established a partnership with a new Christian organization, The Gem Foundation, in Kampala. They specifically care for children with significant special needs, into their adulthood.
We are excited by what this organization is doing and believe that this is the best option for
questions. She couldn’t afford to
lose another home.
Seven years later, he abandoned
her and she was left to look after
their two children on her own.
She managed to support herself
by helping her sister braid hair,
would see firsthand the impact
that her monthly support would
have. Maria, a supporter of
Watoto for 6 years and sponsor
of Sharon Nanyobi (18) and Frank
Ssekubulwa (16), was excited to
sign up as a sponsor with the
intention of making a positive
difference. As the years have gone
by Maria has built relationships
with both Sharon and Frank
through letter writing. After
6 years of sponsorship, Maria
decided to pursue the possibility
of meeting her sponsor children in
person in Uganda. With the help
of some of Watoto staff members,
she was able travel to Uganda and
have a life changing meeting with
Sharon and Frank, “I actually think
that God has something really
big planned as a result of our
meeting” Maria stated after her
return from Uganda.
”Sharon and Frank are both
wonderful examples of the
benefits of child sponsorship.
Sharon wants to be a doctor
and Frank wants to be an
engineer and both are lovely
young people”. After seeing
and experiencing the impact
that her monthly support has
had on her sponsor children,
Maria wholeheartedly spreads
word of the value of the Watoto
sponsorship program. We
encourage you to prayerfully
consider sponsoring a Watoto
child today. For $38 per month,
you can become a Watoto
sponsor and contribute to
rebuilding the continent of Africa.
Each sponsorship has the ability
to transform lives and change
a continent for Christ. For more
information, please contact our
Watoto Canada office by phone
(toll free) 1.888.9.WATOTO or
by email [email protected]. If you are interested in joining
a sponsorship Visit Africa Team
that will travel to Uganda in 2015,
please contact our Visit Africa
coordinator at 250.920.8597 or
by email at [email protected].
Thank you to all of our past,
present and future Watoto
supporters, without your faithful
support we would not be able to
do what we do.
some of our children with special needs who have outgrown Baby Watoto. The first group of children were moved from Baby Watoto Kampala to The Gem Foundation in August. We believe that this is a great opportunity for our children and are excited to continue to watch them grow and develop.
Partner with us by sponsoring Baby Watoto at www.watoto.com/sponsorship today.
but work was irregular and she
never had enough. She worried
when a child showed any sign of
sickness because she couldn’t buy
medicine. She knew that soon her
eldest would be old enough to
start school, but she wouldn’t be
able to afford it.
Juliet heard of Living Hope
from other women in the
community. “I knew that if I was
given the chance, I could also
become an empowered woman,”
she said.
Last month Juliet and five other
women were called to be trained
in tailoring at our workshop in
Kampala. In just three weeks,
she went from learning to run
the machine and making basic
stitches, to learning how to
make a dress. “I hope to be
a tailor and to grow so that I
don’t need to depend on my
family,” she said.
Empower other women
like Juliet by partnering with
us. Email us at [email protected].
Newsletter_Oct_CA.indd 2-3 10/27/14 3:04 PM
WATOTO CANADAPO BOX 98VICTORIA, BC V8W 2M1 1-888-9WATOTO [email protected]
CHRISTMAS GIFT FUND
Curled ribbons and shiny bows on top
of wrapped packages are what millions of
children will wake up to see at Christmas.
The anticipation of what’s waiting to be
unwrapped can be seen in the smiles on the
faces of every child. Giving a financial donation
to the gift fund or donating a gift allows you
to be a part of putting that same excitement
on thousands of faces in our Watoto villages.
Call (toll free) 1.888.9.WATOTO to make your
tax-deductible gift or you can mail your
donation to Watoto P.O. Box 98 Victoria, BC V8W 2M1 and simply write Gift Fund in the
memo.
Newsletter_Oct_CA.indd 4 10/27/14 3:04 PM