Uganda Update from 2022

This report highlights the accomplishment of EI Uganda during the 2022 fiscal year. Mike and Marianne Botting area based in Uganda, Mike serving as Country Director overseeing the activities and staff.

The Pader Restoration Resource Centre (PRRC) is a partnership between The Diocese of Kitgum and Emmanuel International Uganda, working in two districts (Pader and Agago) to bring community transformation through physical and spiritual outreach. The main activities of the PRRC in 2022 were the Acholi Girls’ Fairer Future (“Pads”) ministry, Child Discipleship ministry, Community Health Empowerment ministry, Jesus Film ministry, and the Uganda Mission Mobilization ministry.

The biggest change in 2022 was the relocation of the office of the Country Director of Emmanuel International Uganda from Pader to Gulu City. This was done to expand Emmanuel International Uganda’s future horizons in making new partnerships, exploring new locations for potential field offices, and allowing the Pader Restoration Resource Centre to grow in independence. 

Highlights from the ministries in 2022 included:

• In the Acholi Girls’ Fairer Future ministry, we successfully demonstrated the feasibility of girls to gain increased access to washable sanitary pads through the cooperation of school Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) in collecting money to engage local tailors to produce high-quality washable pads, which are included in the PTA fee for female students aged 12 years and above. Furthermore, we produced an expanded 6-hour curriculum for primary school girls to help them understand their self-worth, stay in school and manage their menstruation.
• In the Child Discipleship ministry, we developed new lesson plans and trained 3 new Child Protection Committees and 208 parents in child protection and basic child discipleship principles, who in turn extended the training to another 439 parents in rural communities. Churches we work with are prioritizing children’s ministry more than in previous years, and the number of children attending church is increasing rapidly. Many children are able to recite verses and accurately tell Bible stories, even in the general congregation.
• In the Jesus Film ministry, 11 communities demonstrated competency to continue Bible studies on their own without further follow-up. In new communities where the Jesus Film was not shown due to COVID-19 restrictions, door-to-door evangelism was carried out. We ended 2022 with training volunteers from 15 communities so that we could fit as many
  Jesus Film showings as possible in the dry season in early 2023.
• In the Uganda Missions Mobilization ministry, 153 church leaders and members have completed the Mission Mode course since 2021. More than half of these participants were trained by people we trained who are not directly on our ministry team, which shows good multiplication. We facilitated a Kairos course, taught by Global Link Afrika, which had 15
  participants (including 7 senior church leaders from Pader). After this course, an interdenominational lunch-hour fellowship was launched on the initiative of the church leaders with the express purpose of praying for cross-cultural missions. We helped raise funds for The Frontier Mission Team in Kaabong to complete a single-room couples’ accommodation for their missionary internship program, and to help in the construction of a dormitory that will enable them to expand their capacity to host exposure short-term teams and pastoral trainees.
• We also formalized a partnership with the Frontier Mission Team in Kaabong and embarked upon relationship-building with Global Link Afrika and church leaders from various denominations in Yumbe District.

We give all the glory to God for the ways He is using Emmanuel International Uganda to bring wholeness and peace to individuals and communities, and to help churches be better equipped to fulfill their God-given role, both locally and globally.