Yesterday marked the 3 year anniversary of Sweet Sleep in
Uganda, can you believe it?! It’s hard to comprehend the immense
blessings that have spanned over our time there and how a team just so happens
to be there right now sharing the love of Jesus Christ!
Josephine, our national director of Uganda shared how special
her time serving with Sweet Sleep has been, especially with the joy of having
another team there on the 3 year birthday!
“It was on the 21st of July 2009 when our first Sweet Sleep team of 22
members came and changed the sleeping condition of 260 children in
Uganda. What a blessing! Since then, so many children have really been
blessed and have sweet safe nights. On the same date and month, God has yet
blessed us with another incredible Sweet Sleep team of 16 members to continue
blessing and changing the sleeping conditions of the so many children.”
Over this
time Sweet Sleep has sent 5 teams to Kampala and 5 more teams to Gulu.
During those journeys there have been over 3,500 beds distributed in Uganda,
and praise the Lord for that! Not only were beds distributed, but nearly
10,000 children and villagers have been ministered to along the way.
The benefits
are not only a good night’s sleep, but in the Kampala orphanages where
Sweet Sleep has provided beds and nets, malaria has decreased due to the
life-saving mosquito nets! One orphanage reports that with the money they save
in the treatment of malaria they are able to provide meat and fruit to their
children once a week. In Gulu, the provision of beds has
Currently Sweet Sleep is partnering with Health
Alert Uganda, an organization that provides anti-retroviral drugs to HIV+
children. The beds Sweet Sleep provides to these children protect them
from opportunistic diseases such as malaria and pneumonia. But not only
that, because of the desire to receive a bed, over 1000 children living in
secret with HIV have come out of hiding, to register with HAU. Those
children are now receiving the medial care and drugs they need. And since
early this year Sweet Sleep has provided a mosquito net to every new
registrant, so that they will be protected until we can return with their
complete bed!
Of
course these children also receive their own Bible! When asked, the
children often tell us the Bible is their favorite part of their gift.
"It tells me how to live" one girl once told me. Our
partners in HAU have told us "Before, the only escape these [HIV+]
children had from the disease was death. Now they know they have LIFE in
CHRIST."
Josephine had some more sweet words about Sweet Sleep’s
birthday in Uganda. “On this memorable Sweet Sleep UGANDA Birthday, we
extend our sincere appreciation and thanks to all our Sweet Sleep teams and
supporters who have continued to touch the hearts of our beloved children
through the provision of the beds, beddings, life-saving mosquito nets and
bibles. You have always made us feel proud and we will always remember you
all.”
As we celebrate today, with 3 years in Uganda, please keep
this team that is currently there in your thoughts and prayers. Pray for
safety, opportunities to form new relationships, for the love of Jesus Christ
to be what shines through this team, and for those children to feel His love as
they climb into their new Sweet Sleep beds.
Thank you again for making this possible, and be sure to
continue keeping up with the team through our facebook (linked) page and
through our blog. The team is now in Gulu and we’ll be sure to keep
you posted on what’s next for them!
Sweetly,
Jen
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