HAPPY EASTER! We’re experiencing a burst of new life in Uganda as the rains have started to come and everything is turning green and lush again. People and cows with plows are busy tilling up gardens and preparing to plant. The hope for a fruitful season is evident. Diligent work during this season combined with heaven’s rains is what produces the harvest that will sustain the people until the end of the year. It’s a busy time of work and of hope.
Construction is in full swing at Calo Me Lare. The Center Shelter is now completed and is a great meeting space and really a beautiful building. Andy now has several other buildings well under way or nearing completion… the administration building, a storehouse for food and supplies, a front gate and guard post, and a drying station for composting the human and vegetable waste. These should all be completed within a few weeks’ time.
After assessing the kids’ current scholastic abilities we’ve begun Calo Me Lare Nursery & Primary School with a Baby Class (nursery) and a P1 Class (first grade). Our children are really eager to learn and love to go to school. We have 1 teacher for each class, and are using the Center Shelter as our temporary school and church building for now.
Our first Easter at Calo Me Lare was a super fun all-day-and-into-the-night celebration of Jesus’s life. We showed the Jesus Film in Lange (the local language) on Good Friday and planted our first seedlings in the courtyard of the circle. Each child chose a seedling and planted their own, which they’re now responsible for watering and nurturing. They were very excited about this project; it felt like they were really taking ownership of their new home. Sunday after service we shared a great meal together of chicken, posho, and sodas all around (a special request from the kids, as many had never had a soda before!). Then music, dancing, face painting, musical chairs, 3 legged races, water balloon tosses/fights, and a movie to wrap it all up. We all knew we had celebrated by the time evening came! Great fun!
“Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people!” Psalm 66:5 There are so many things…
Kwero, Project Hope’s annual fundraiser, was a huge success, bringing in over $100,000 in building funds for Calo Me Lare! This means we’ll be able to build 5 more houses this year, completing Circle 1, which will allow us to bring in 40 more orphans and employ 5 more house moms. Thank you donors for your open hands and giving hearts, and also to all the volunteers who worked so hard to put together this event!
We received the NGO certificate we’ve long been praying for, and have also seen God’s hand in the issuance of special passes (visas) despite the recent changes of legislation that could have prevented us from getting them. The next step is our work permits, which are now in progress, we’re praying they’ll be completed and granted before August when we make a trip home.
Two weeks ago someone broke into our home; we were devastated to lose all 3 of our computers (our lifeline to you all), and several thousand dollars of solar well pump equipment in the robbery. We had little hope of ever recovering our things, but did bring in the police, who responded with a K9. In a truly miraculous turn of events, they tracked the robber, set up a sting, and by midnight they’d found all of our belongings and had the thief in custody. Unbelievable! God is so good!
We were robbed again this week in Kampala, as we were sitting in a traffic jam after dark. The thief reached in the car and grabbed Andy’s phone from out of his lap; this one we could not recover because it would’ve been too dangerous to go after him in the dark. But still we were left with a real feeling of relief that there was no assault or stabbing involved and no one was hurt. It feels like God is really watching over us when bad things happen.
Keely got amazing news regarding her college financial aid package…scholarships, grants, work study and minimal student loans will allow her to attend WWU in the fall with very little out of pocket cost for her or us! This is a tremendous answer to our prayers and an awesome response from God to the leap of faith we took in dropping her out of school a year and a half ago so we could move to Africa. We’re so proud of her and thankful for this!
Thanks to each one of you who’s been keeping us in your prayers and supporting the cause of the orphans over here, and allowing us to be part of it. We think of and pray for you too, that your souls prosper! May this Easter season bring with it a new burst of color and life to your lives! Love, the Fleges
Andy, Cami & Keely Flege • Project Hope Worldwide/Calo Me Lare—Village of Redemption • Lira, Uganda Donations through: Project Hope PO Box 2318 Owasso, OK 74055 -- please designate for ‘missionary’--
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