Weekly Update 4: Restoring Dignity

I am sitting here and have been thinking about tortured women in Uganda the whole day, praying for them, praying for the fundraising I am doing that I will impact lives.

When I read Psalm 139 I read about how God thinks of us, that He created us before the beginning of the earth, He formed us in our mother's womb. His thoughts about us are good thoughts.
Yet mankind in search for power is destroying people from the inside and outside. This is the case in Uganda, where where little kids are abducted into the army, broken, destroyed and made dependent. We can honor those who managed to escape and applaud their bravery. What these kids go through is of no imagination for us. We cannot and will not ever be able to imagine or really deeply understand the pain they went through.
Many of the girls who are sheltered by Watoto Ministries suffer from facial disfigurement. Their ears, noses or lips have been cut off as a punishment for fleeing the army. Often times these tortures are performed by other kid soldiers.

But God still loves these girls even though their dignity has been destroyed.

I am so thankful for the life I have and where God placed me and blessed me with this amazing family, church, friends, there is nothing alike. Yet I do not want to keep it for myself. I want to give of my love, my community, my church, my blessing and my money and do anything possible to make something possible for people in the worst conditions.
I decided to take on a journey of fundraising in order to pay for a surgery for one of these disfigured girls. A surgery to change her life. I want to be part of restoring her dignity on the outside and inside again.
But I cannot do it on my own. I need you. I need us to join hands, to join hearts, to connect and reach out. I need your prayers and finances to make a surgery possible. I want to appeal to your heart and dearly ask you to consider giving for this very important cause. I am currently at 40% of funding and still have 9 days to go. I am convinced through faith that the whole amount of 2100 € will be donated and that I will be able to send a package to Uganda and restore dignity upon a beautiful girl. Beautiful because she was created by the Creator who saw her and who takes great delight in her with gladness. With His love he will calm all her fears. He will rejoice over her with joyful songs (Zeph. 3:17).

My heart reaches out to each and everyone reading this. If you feel compelled to give, please contact me so I can give you all the details.

Thank you very much.

I love you

xoxo

Ramona

Weekly Update 2: Facts about Uganda

Hello, good day,
yet another week has passed and I am super thankful for the funding which is already coming in. Thank you so much!
This week I want to share a few statistics about Africa and Uganda with you to give you an insight of the country, its needs and backgrounds.

Uganda was once a Britsh colony and through them setting boundaries many very different political systems and cultures were grouped together. This led to unstabilities and ultimately to war and the dying of approximately 300,000 people between 1971 and 1979 and another 100,000 people between 1980 and 1985.
Since the 1990s Uganda is a demoractic republic, yet problems have not been solved at all. Many guerilla groups were formed, one of them the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) under the control of Joseph Kony.
In raging against the government and civilians they have abducted more than 20,000 children for the last 23 years. Not only are these children forced into being soldiers, but they are made addicted to drugs, they are raped and treated the most brutal way imaginable.
They often force 7 year old girls into forced marriages, but you can also simply call it raping girls. They often also cut off parts of the solidier's bodies as punishment, like noses, lips, hands, ears.
In 2005 the UNO called the LRA the most brutal rebell group of the world yet the news of the brutal acts often do not even reach our press releases.

An international warrant against Joseph Kony has been issued, but it is really hard to find him as until 2000 nobody even knew how Joseph Kony looked like as there were no pictures. Because of the power he has Ugandan army is even afraid of him.

In the northafrican town Gulu dozens of humanitarian organisations are stationed such as Watoto trying to help those who are rescued. They are so very important because the war in Uganda has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today.

In addition to these problems come the problems of Aids and poverty in Uganda.
This is why we have to stand up and make a difference. This is why I chose to give dignity back to one of these girls rescued from the LRA. This is why we join our hands together and reach them out.

Be a part of something big, be a part of making a difference. If you are interested in giving, please contact me and I will send you all the necessary information.

xoxo

Ramona

More Information and links:
Hände und Köpfe abgehackt - article of the German newspaper Die Sueddeutsche (german only)
The World Factbook - facts and statistics about Uganda
UNICEF - information about Uganda
Invisible Children - The History of the War