Watoto children’s mission presents breakfast fundraiser for the kids
Watoto Child Care Ministries will see a group of local people joining the construction of a new college in Uganda. In order to do so, they will present a breakfast fundraiser on Feb. 17 at Dayspring United Church in Berlin.
Have you ever paid close attention to the joy in a child’s eyes when they experience something wonderful for the first time or witnessed the sheer thrill of seeing a teenager participate in something awe-inspiring that they never felt would be within their grasp?
Those emotions of happiness and contentment abound all over Uganda today, thanks to the Watoto Child Care Ministries.
Watoto has been instrumental in creating growth opportunities for many villages in Africa, and an upcoming fundraiser breakfast will provide financial support for a group of 13 people from Holmes and Wayne counties to travel overseas to Africa to continue the ongoing effort to help people there.
The upcoming Watoto mission breakfast will take place at Dayspring United Church in Berlin on Feb. 17. A complete breakfast of sausage, pancakes, eggs and all of the fixings will be served from 7-11 a.m. The breakfast will be served on a donation basis.
As diners enjoy their breakfast, the members of the team will be on hand to chat about the mission project and share their hopes and dreams for the mission.
“We will probably have booths set up to show some of our past mission trips so people can gain some better understanding of what we are doing,” said Syl Nisley, who has been on three Watoto trips to Uganda in the past.
The Watoto mission is a ministry to orphans and widows in Uganda, Africa. The story of Watoto is one of hope, transformation and empowerment that began in 1994, and since then it has enabled thousands of disadvantaged children and adults to regain control of their lives and to realize their potential.
Watoto Child Care Ministries has cared for more than 4,000 orphaned and vulnerable children since it was established with more than 3,000 youngsters currently receiving care. Some are former child soldiers, and some were born to rebel leaders during the civil war.
The growth and empowerment Watoto has created in these children is immense, many of these children having gone on to become lawyers, teachers, computer scientists, journalists, farmers, doctors and many other useful professions. As a result of the care and education they have received, they are now impacting society in a positive way.
This particular mission will see the group of 13 missionary volunteers travel to Gulu Uganda in Africa, where they will join others in the building of student housing on a new college campus in Gulu.
The college is being designed to help students there learn about agriculture and how to create a self-sustaining agricultural system.
“This is a new project through Watoto’s ongoing effort in their children’s ministry,” Nisley said. “The goal is to create an agricultural college, and eventually they want students to run the college programs.”
Nisley said Watoto is teaming up with College of the Ozarks in Missouri. College of the Ozarks will send interns to Uganda to help work with students and staff there to help train in the art of business and agriculture.
“It’s about creating a culture, a way of life for them, rather than just going there and doing work for them,” Nisley said. “It’s an exciting and wonderful ministry to get involved with because it is very important to the nation of Uganda, and it is helping them establish a better system of agriculture.”
Over the past several trips the local mission group has helped construct a perimeter fence and built a playground, something that the Watoto children weren’t even sure what to do with until they were instructed that it was built specifically for them. However, not only will the group of mission workers build structures, but also they will build relationships, something Nisley said is every bit as important as the buildings themselves.
“It’s about working alongside our brothers and sisters, sharing the gospel and building relationships,” Nisley said. “To me that is just as exciting as the projects we work on.”
He said it is always exciting to see the first-time members of the team experience the joy that accompanies the trip.
“Every time we go over three we expect to help build and to be a blessing to the people there,” Nisley said. “Ultimately you come home feeling like you haven’t done all that much physical work, and we end up realizing that we are the ones who have been incredibly blessed too.”