Weekly Update 3: The Story of Watoto

Hello, good day,

this is already my third update concerning my fundraising for my birthday gift to Watoto Ministries.
I am super excited to announce today that 25% of funding has already come in. So, thank you to everybody who already gave.
If you're interested in giving or want to know more about my cause, please visit my posts:
Be Her Dignity
Weekly Update 1: Nancy's Story
Weekly Update 2: Facts about Uganda

For in depth information and ways of giving please leave a comment with your email adress and I will send you the things needed.

For this week I chose to share a video with you which shows Watoto's story, how they minister and gives you some really good background information.

Enjoy!

xoxo
Ramona

If I were...

As most of you know I love watching So you think you can dance. I love how dance is such a great artform to transport emotions, statements, stories and can bring you to other places.
This is why I want to use one of the routines to make a statement. This routine represents or shows how many women/men live in abusive relationships. Yet the people around them might not know. I want you to watch this video and encourage you to keep your eyes open. Where can you help?
Also with this I want to make you aware of the thousands of slaves traded in the world for sexual services at the moment. Human trafficking is the 2nd largest crime in the world today. The A21 Campaign, situated in Greece are trying to reach out and make a difference. Please start being aware of what is going on around and about you. Inform and educate yourself, keep your eyes open, pray and then through campaigns like that one life after another will be rescued and changed.

With these words... enjoy the video:

Lauren 10 @ Yahoo! Video

Also stay tuned for my update about the fundraising for Be her dignity which will be released tomorrow.

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

Burn us up

Hello, hello,

it is a beautiful Friday morning and the sun is shining into my room. I love early mornings in the summer! Simply amazing!
About a year ago a I did a series on my blog about Heroes and I did one post about the three men in the furnace, called "Brave people of influence".
Today I want to share the lyrics of a song by Shane & Shane with you called "Burn us up".
I just want to encourage you to be brave, to fear the Lord because when we fear God we do not have to be afraid of anything!

There were three
Before the king
There were three who wouldn’t bow
to him
For when you heard
The music play
And you were standing you
would burn.
They looked at him and said…

Burn us up! Burn us up!
Burn us up!
Oh king won’t you burn us in the furnace of
Your desire
We give up! We give up! We give up!
Oh king won’t you burn us in the
furnace of
Your desire!
Won’t you throw us in the fire!

The king
enraged
At what they said
Sent the three away to find their death
The palace stopped in unbelief
When the guilty raised their hands to
sing
They looked to him and said…

Burn us up! Burn us up! Burn us
up!
Oh king won’t you burn us in the furnace of
Your desire
We give
up! We give up! We give up!
Oh king won’t you burn us in the furnace of
Your desire!
Won’t you throw us in the fire!

You are able to
deliver from the fire of affliction
It’s the declaration of my Lord
You’re not an image of gold
You’re the God of old
You have made us
Come and save us
We are Yours
But even if You don’t,

Burn us
up! Burn us up! Burn us up!
Oh king won’t you burn us in the furnace of
Your desire
We give up! We give up! We give up!
Oh king won’t you
burn us in the furnace of
Your desire!
Won’t you throw us in the
fire

xoxo

Ramona

Weekly Update 1: Nancy's Story

As most of you know I am doing a fundraiser for my birthday.
I want to make a difference in somebody else's life. I want to give from my overflowing life and change somebody else's.
That is why I decided to join up with Watoto's Be Her Dignity project to fundraise a surgery for disfigured girls in Uganda.
For my weekly update I decided to post a video of Nancy who was the first to have surgery. Watch this video and follow her story.

Nancy's Story from Hillsong Church on Vimeo.

If you would like to find out more about the project, please read my blogpost "Be her Dignity". You can also request a fundraising letter by leaving a comment with your email adress or contact me through facebook.

I would love to see our arms be linked and our hearts as one!

xoxo

Ramona

A place of no control

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." 1 Peter 5:7

How often do we quote this verse and tell it as an encouragement to others? But do we really understand what it means? Do we really get the core of this verse?

Currently I am finding myself at a place where there are so many uncertainties, so many things I have no idea how the outcome will be, what will happen in the future, where I will be or with who I will be.
But just the last couple of days my prayer has really been towards giving God ALL control. I mean, yes we do that all the time and I do think that each and every one of us has prayed that God would take over control in a certain situation. But this time it was different with me. I feel like I really had a revelation about what it really means to give all control to the Lord. Just think about it. We often see a situation in the future, a place where we might be or maybe would like to be. There are a lot of things that we like about it, but then there are also concerns, uncertainties, unresolved things.
This week when I thought about that all of a sudden I understood: When God puts you at the place He wants you to be, where His calling for your life is, then all the uncertainties, worries, concerns have already been taken care of. That does not mean that it won't be hard at times or that we do not have to work through certain things, but he already has the solutions and he already has solved everything.
This leaves us with one thing: Giving up control, letting go, letting Him GO and knowing that He really does care.

I am honestly so thrilled about that, I all of a sudden feel this new freedom, I feel released. I can enjoy my life right NOW and I do not have to worry. Wow... when He says in 1 Peter 5:7 to give all our worries to Him for He cares, He really means it and it will set us free!!!

Today I want to pray for you and reach out to you that you will really get an understanding of this. Let go of all control and let him GO and do the impossible for you.

xoxo

Ramona

Be Her Dignity

"Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine and in justice in the world, when He could do something about it... But I'm afraid He might ask me the same question." ~ Anonymous

On July 23 I am turning 26 years old. Every year I try to think of something special for my birthday.
This year I have planned something completely different, something that has been on my heart for over a year now.

I have decided to forgo all my presents this year and instead fundraise money for a cause in Ugauda. The before-mentioned quote touches me everytime I read it and this year on my birthday I want to do a small part contributing to a bigger whole.

The project I am raising money for is part of Watoto Ministries. They have a project called Living Hope .

Women in Africa are the most marginalised group. Many of them are HIV+; many are teenage mothers having to fear that their babies will soon join the ranks of the countless orphans of Africa as they cannot nurture them.

Within the last two years it has been discovered that many of these girls who had been able to escape the LRA and were abducted a second time have been disfigured terribly. Their noses, lips and ears have been cut off. Because of the disfigurements they are abandoned from society often living a life of loneliness feeling completely unworthy.
The good news is that there is hope for these girls and young women. Partnering with Hillsong’s COLOUR SISTERHOOD and international teams of surgeons Watoto has made it their goal to restore the faces of these girls by repairing their noses, lips and ears. One surgery costs 3,000 AUD, which are approximately 2,534 $, fairly little compared with what will be restored through one surgery.

You know, I think about my own life and how blessed I am. I actually do not lack anything. I am one of the few people on this earth being privileged to live like this. We forget about this too often. So often we are so consumed by our own problems and challenges we forget that there are a lot of bigger things to reach out for.
Isaiah 60:1 states

“Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the
LORD rises to shine on you. Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of
the earth, but the glory of the LORD rises and appears over you.“

I want God to say these words about me. I want him to say, “Ramona has stood up and she runs and shines and changes her world, she does her part”. I am convinced that if we all did our part this world would look completely different as each small part contributes to the bigger.

Therefore I have made it my goal to raise money for one surgery until my birthday. I am beyond excited about stepping out and making a difference.

If you are interested in giving or praying, please do not hestitate to contact me through the blog by leaving your email adress for example (I will send all the information to you then) or through facebook.

I will write weekly updates on how things are progressing or giving you more information about Uganda, projects, videos etc.

People. let's do this together. Let us change the world!

xoxo

Ramona