January News!

I'd like to wish all of our friends and family and supporters a Happy New Year from the Dollgener Family and all of the children here at Restoration Children's Home.

We had a wonderful time with the children this Christmas! Thanks to our supporters and friends we were able to give the children gifts and food and many other great things!Sadly, for some, this was the first Christmas that was filled with joy and hope for the future. We shared about the Christmas story, we talked about Mary and Joseph, and baby Jesus, the wise men and the shepherds. The main focus of the message was that we give gifts on Christmas because God gave us the best gift of all, Jesus Christ. God loved us so much that he gave us Jesus and through his sacrifice we are able to have a relationship with God.

The faces of happiness and joy were overwhelming as the children opened their gifts. There were tea sets and building blocks, cars and many other wonderful toys! After all of the presents were opened each child went to the window sill (there are no fireplaces in Uganda) to look for their stocking. Although traditional stockings are a rarity here in Uganda, we found one and had a tailor duplicate 20 more. We put each child's name on a stocking and filled it with candy, apples, biscuits (cookies) and small toys.Shouts of joy were heard from outside the home when the children realized these things were their very own! We had also purchase a swing set and a basketball goal for the orphanage. We put the swing set in place and they had a blast! The basketball goal and the soccer goal were also a big hit! For Christmas dinner we had purchased 3 hams, we also had chicken, mashed potatoes, okra, eggplant, deviled eggs and juice to drink. We also had a baker in town make us a Christmas cake for dessert. These things may seem ordinary to the average American but to these kids meat and bread makes it a very special meal! The rest of the day was spent playing with their new toys and eating candy! In short, a good time was had by all and this will surely be a Christmas that will not be forgotten in the minds of the children here at the home!

We are making progress with getting the home registered here in the new district. We have already received 3 new chilren, Rose, Anette and Leticia. All of the children gave these 3 girls a very warm welcome and they are beginning to settle in. Rose lost both her mother and father in 2005. She is 11 years old and has not been to school in 3 years.We are so excited to be able to send her back to school and give her the security of knowing that this time she will stay in school. The next school term starts in February and if you are interested in helping with Rose's education please let us know. Anette is Rose's cousin and she was also orphaned. She is 5 years old. They were both staying with some relatives in a single room house. Leticia is 3 or 4 years old and was staying with a nurse at a local health clinic. Her mother died a few years ago and her father had abused her and ultimately abandoned her at the health clinic. Rose and Leticia have tested positive for HIV and we will be taking them to begin treatment this week. We have yet to get Anette tested. We are so blessed to be used in giving these children a chance at life. For Rose and Leticia we may have been their only hope.

Meet the children!

Joseph Kigundu is 7 years old and came from Lowero village. He has lost both parents and his teenage sister was taking care of him. He has been at the home since March and has quickly become one of our favorites. He is always making others laugh and he absolutely loves our son, Jordan. He's a very quick learner and loves to help with chores around the house. He enjoys playing soccer (football here in Uganda) with his good friend Aran. He is often found outside with a makeshift slingshot (made out of bamboo sticks). Joseph is a joy to be around and his smile warms your heart! He will be going into P1 class in February and still needs a sponsor. If you would like to help send Joseph to school please let us know!

Just a reminder to all of our school sponsors, the next school term is starting at the beginning of Feb. and we have an additional 5 children going to school this term. While most kids in America, at some point, dream of staying home from school, here the children dream of being able to go to school. School to them represents a chance that their parents or grandparents may not have had, to rise above the poverty. It brings with it the opportunity to go beyond sustenance living and to be able to provide for themselves and for their families. Can you help make that dream a reality?

Featured Child of the Month!

Joshua Wasswa

Featured Child of the Month!

Daniel Cato

November News

As we begin this month of November, the month of thankfulness, we look around at all of the things we have to be thankful for. We praise the Lord for our supporters and we are thankful for your faithfulness. We are blessed to have this opportunity to serve the Lord by serving these children, by loving and taking care of them. The children are blessed because they now have a place to lay their heads at night. They have food to eat and clean, safe water to drink. They have people surrounding them that love them and they are learning that Jesus loves them. I encourage you to take a look around at your surroundings this month and find the things that you are thankful for.

We are settling in to the new place, the children really love it here! It is a great environment and we have really enjoyed being able to spread out. As with any home there are things that need to be repaired. When we first arrived we had the plumbing and electrical outlets updated and repaired. We still need a carpenter to come out and fix the screens on the windows. This will keep the mosquitoes out. We need a chicken structure to house our chickens. We also need blankets for the children. It gets much colder here at night than it did in Kyengera because we are right off of Lake Victoria. If you are interested in helping with any of these things please let us know.

We are getting registered with the Social & Welfare office in this new district which will allow us to be able to take in abandoned children. Children and/or babies that have been left in pit latrines that have no one. Children that are found wandering the streets scavenging for food. The welfare officer picks up these children but many times there is no where for the officer to take the child. We want to be set up so that when a child is found the officer can call us and we can take the child in.

Last month we introduced you to a ministry “Filling His Nets” that we were going to partner with. Unfortunately they decided they were not ready for this commitment yet. Originally God had put it on their hearts to open an orphanage in the future. When we had our initial meetings they thought our orphanage was an answer to that vision. Several weeks ago the director of Filling His Nets, Richard, came to us and shared with us struggles within his ministry that we had not previously known. He apologized and said he felt they had jumped the gun and didn’t feel that their ministry was ready for the commitment.



MEET THE CHILDREN!!


Joshua Wasswa and Daniel Cato are 4 yr old twins. They came to us in March from Lowero and wouldn’t speak a word to anyone. If we asked them a question all we could get out of them was a grunt. We could tell when they first came that there were some developmental delays but we didn’t know the extent of it. There was no one to ask who knew enough of their history. For months we worked with them and helped them learn how to pronounce words. The first 4 months Joshua was here he pronounced his name “Jaca” finally he was able to say it correctly, we were so excited when he finally said “Josh-u-a” Daniel had a similar speech problem, when we finally got him to tell us his name he said his name was “taco” but he was trying to say “Cato”. Now they are talking, laughing and playing with the other children. They know how to say their names, the ABC’s and they can both count to 10. When we have visitors and they ask the twins how they are, they will answer “I am fine.” , it’s such a small thing but such a big step for them! We are monitoring their progress to determine if we need to hire a special teacher for them once they are old enough to start Primary School. Joshua and Daniel both continue to have problems with swollen bellies. We have yet to get a good diagnosis on what we can do to alleviate the problem. Most commonly this is a sign of malnourishment and a lack of protein. If anyone has any suggestions on innovative ways we can help them advance and learn please let us know.


The holidays are coming up fast! We are going to be teaching the children about thankfulness and the true meaning of Christmas. Sadly, as Americans, we tend to take for granted the holiday dinners, decorations and gifts. We would love nothing more than to give these children, perhaps for the 1st time, gifts to open on Christmas morning. We are asking our partners to help any way they can to make this possible. We want to get a Christmas tree for the home and a present for each child. We want to prepare a Christmas dinner for the children with ham and potatoes. We also want to purchase some decorations for the orphanage. Our estimated budget for everything is $1000.00. If you are interested in helping with our Christmas fund, please email us. If you want to give online please go to bridgegiving.com and make sure to notate that it is for Christmas.

October News

OCTOBER NEWS


WE HAVE MOVED!

October marks the beginning of a new phase of our ministry here. For the past few months God has used difficult and trying situations for His glory and has guided us to the place he wants this ministry. We knew we had to leave our last location for several reasons. The landlord at the old facility was trying to raise the rent and we had lost the support of the local church in Kyengera. We were also concerned because we knew we had to put someone in place to take over the home when we come back to the U.S next year. We had been praying for God to send someone that we could trust to leave the children with. About 3 months ago I met a missionary husband and wife team from Kentucky. They had been in Uganda since 2001 and have established 5 churches and 4 Primary schools in villages near Jinja. As I talked with them they shared their vision for orphan ministry. We both felt that God had orchestrated our meeting and was doing something great! Several meetings and phone calls later, and under the direction of the Holy Spirit, we decided to move the orphanage to Jinja and come underneath their ministry. Their ministry is called “Filling His Nets” and we are excited about the future and see great things happening! God provided a great new facility at just the right time and we moved in last week. It is a blessing for these children! We have much more room and inside flushing toilets! The environment in this village is much safer for the children and we are looking forward to working with Filling His Nets to provide for these orphans. If you would like some additional information on Filling His Nets please visit their website at fillinghisnets.com

We enrolled the girls in a new school that is just a short walk down the road. The girls all have uniforms but still need black shoes. They all seem to really enjoy the new school and look forward to learning. If you are sponsoring one of the school children be looking for an email update this week. Next term, in January, we will have 6 more children that will be ready to start primary school. For more information on how to sponsor a child for school, please contact us.



MEET THE CHILDREN!!

Angela Namugosa is our youngest orphan. She is 2 yrs old and she came from a village called Lowero. Lowero is an impoverished, war torn village that has suffered greatly in the last 20 years. Angela’s father died in 2005 and her mother died in 2006 leaving her with no one left that was able to take care of her. When we first met Angela we knew there was something special about her. She came into our home in March and was very shy and reserved. She barely spoke a word to anyone. In the months that followed we witnessed something amazing. Angela began to open up to us and we found ourselves falling in love with her. We began praying and asking God if we should bring this little girl into our family as our own child. After a long and difficult journey we are happy to announce that on Sept 25th we were named her legal guardians. This is the 1st of many steps to adopt her. She will be coming home with us next year and you will all get a chance to meet her and see what a special gift she is. Angela is picking up English quickly and is always making us laugh, whether she is making faces at us or imitating what we say. For more information on Angela or for pictures please visit our myspace page at myspace/thedollgeners.com


The holidays are right around the corner and we are going to be teaching the children about thankfulness and the true meaning of Christmas. Sadly, as Americans, we tend to take for granted the holiday dinners, decorations and gifts. We would love nothing more than to give these children, perhaps for the 1st time, gifts to open on Christmas morning. If you are interested in helping with our Christmas fund, please email us.