California – The Rugumba's Updates

It’s been four months since we finally came home from California. Rille, the boys, and I returned home first, and Vena and Zoe joined us later. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support during that journey.

We found a lot of things changed, but we are thankful that we are finally settled in now. Rille started school and the other kids resumed school.

During the school break, we had a wonderful opportunity to go and stay at friend’s home. We were able to enjoy a short family vacation near a lake.

With the ministry’s standard operating procedures in place, our school has reopened and about 75% of our kids are at school. We now have 251 kids attending Mercy Christian Schools.

We have continued the construction on our learning center near Mercy Church. We have completed the ground floor, and the center includes a library, computer room, musical school, a science lab and several classrooms. Currently, we are working on finishing the classroom floors.

We are still continuing to rescue many children. One child we rescued, Little S (name not revealed for her privacy), a six year old little girl, is always on my mind. Her father went to work and left in her the community by herself. This is very common as many parents cannot afford baby sitters, so they will just leave the kids to play by themselves. Little S was found sexually assaulted by an unknown man, but we have rescued her and she is now living at our transition rehabilitation home (Mercy Village.) At the village home, she is able to receive care and protection. Little S started school and is meeting with Vena to receive counseling. When she first arrived, she would run away any time she would see a man. Nowadays, my heart fills with such joy as I see her playing joyfully like other kids.

Last week, we rescued 6 girls. One of the girls was baby Blessing. Blessing was found abandoned in a long drop, toilet hole. We are thanking God, that after being in there 2 days, she was found alive.

On the same day we found Blessing, we also rescued 5 girls with special needs. They were found staying in an illegal shelter that the government shut down.

Please pray for them to assimilate well in the new environment.

We have opened up a new home at our village to accommodate for the increased number of kids.

Last month, we hosted a team of professors and students from Corban University, in Oregon. They help provide formal training to 42 pastors at Mercy Church. They also participated in a medical outreach, and we were able to see over 80 patients, who are unable to afford medical bills. We were able to share the gospel and offered them free medical care.

We are currently looking for sponsorship for close to 50 children that are in our care, but are not sponsored. I am asking you to consider sharing this email/blog with friends and help us get these kids sponsored. Sponsorship for residential kids is $100 a month and $40 for our non-residential children.

You can also make a one time gift to our sponsorship fund to help us trace these children’s families and provide for these children. The link below will direct you to our sponsorship page.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

https://childrentolove.givingfuel.com/sponsor-a-child

It has been a while since I last wrote an update; a lot has been going on in our lives, so here is our latest update.

After being separated for about 6 months as a family, in late September, while the Ugandan airports were still closed because of Covid-19, we miraculously received a special pass that allowed us to travel out of the country. It was a 70 hour journey of faith to the United States. We had to drive through Kenya and hustle with immigration, but we finally made it. My plan is to stay until the end of January, when Vena will be done with her treatment.

It has been a joy for us to be together as a family. The first few weeks were difficult as we were adjusting to staying for a long time rather than a short visit. We are currently staying with Rille and Tom, in their home; they have taken us in as their kids.

Legacy Christian School, in Bakersfield, allowed our kids to join their school for free. Joshua was assessed and is in grade 3, Graham is in grade 4 and Zoe is in grade 1. They attend school two days a week, in person, and for the remaining days, the school gives me work and I homeschool them.

It has been a growing moment for me; I am more appreciative of teachers. The school provided us a tutor who comes and helps me learn and to teach the kids.

This week is Thanksgiving Break, and we took the kids to a cabin in Redding. The kids had an opportunity to see and play in the snow for the first time.

Vena has finished Chemo, and she is now starting two months of radiotherapy. The last time they checked her, the cancer had cleared, and we are thankful to God for that.

Pray for her, as of recently, she is tired of the medicine and the continued effects.

Back home ministry is going on; I have continued to work remotely. Our Senior Management team at Mercy has continued to oversee the day to day management of the ministry and Pastor Phillip, together with the church elders, are leading the church.

Our hearts are grieving the loss of Daniel (one of the kids.) At the beginning of this month, he was found abandoned a few days after his birth. He did not show any signs of sickness at the time of admission, and a few days later, we sent him to a family that wanted to start the journey of adopting him. Last weekend, he got suddenly sick, and was rushed to our national referral hospital, where he died of pneumonia. The doctors said that he had dirt in this lungs which could have been inhaled during the abandonment process, where he was dumped, and that bugs might have crawled in his nose and beyond. We are finalizing his burial process this week.

We are also grieving the loss of my Aunt. My Father’s sister died early this week due to Corona, she was buried on the 22nd.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated as we grieve these two losses.