Greg & Renee Plunkett of International Mission Support embarked on a 2 week mission to Uganda in October of 2006. They were ministering together with Bringing Hope to the Family, headed up by Faith Kunihira & Ev. Marvin Mutongole of Kampala, Uganda.
The first week consisted of open air crusades at the marketplace in the village of Kienjojo. They took place in the later afternoons & early evenings & reaped a harvest averaging 20-25 souls a day.
During the daytime, Greg, Renee, Marvin & others visited many schools & took turns sharing testimonies & preaching the gospel to very welcoming crowds of young people. One of the high schools was where Marvin had attended & his father was one of the founders. There were 600+ students present & all who eren’t saved accepted the Lord that day including every unsaved member of the faculty!
It truly was an amazing time! Immediately following this particular meeting, there was a torrential down- pour that lasted about 30 minutes joined with a chorus of thunder & lightning.
They were in Uganda during the rainy season & were very blessed that only one event, a crusade was delayed because of it. Fortunately, it was before the message was preached. All who ran for cover returned for the main event.
The orphanage that is run by Bringing Hope to the Family is called ‘Home Again’. There are around 17 kids living there, including John-12 & Eusther-14, 2 kids Greg & Renee have been supporting since January of 2004. Their mother died of aids several years ago & then the father died just before the Plunketts began their support. This trip was the first opportunity for them to meet each other. It took no time at all for all concerned to fall madly in love with each other.
There were times set aside to spend with all of the children. Kids were videotaped giving testimonies of what their lives were like leading up to their coming to ‘Home Again’. Some of the stories were absolutely heartbreaking. Truth is stranger than fiction.
When children lose their parents, they go to one of their relatives for care & often, because the relative lacks means for proper care, the kids are chased off & basically abandoned. Many are used by older siblings & relatives as domestics or for free farm labour & are denied the right to attend school.
We have support for 5 of the resident children so far & want to raise awareness to others about the needs of these kids so their future can be bright & full of hope. It only take $35-$40 a month to provide food, clothes, care & school fees. With just a little money, it can make all the difference in a child’s life.
Uganda’s Independence Day was used to pile 21 of us into a rented van & go to Queen Elizabeth National Park so the children could see the native wildlife. It was a day full of fun & laughs for the kids as they whooped & hollered as they observed a herd of elephants, water buffalo & many other indigenous animals in the park.
We had a picnic in a beautiful spot beside a lake. There was a small boat moored there & it had a baby alligator in it! None of us got too near the shore after that discovery.
One of the best parts of the mission was being around the children & being involved with them. The worst part was having to say good-bye.
Bringing Hope to the Family has had around 40 orphaned girls attending their vocational training school in tailoring & crafts. They have been living in residence in a small house with only a couple bunk beds, or deckers as they call them.
The first week consisted of open air crusades at the marketplace in the village of Kienjojo. They took place in the later afternoons & early evenings & reaped a harvest averaging 20-25 souls a day.During the daytime, Greg, Renee, Marvin & others visited many schools & took turns sharing testimonies & preaching the gospel to very welcoming crowds of young people. One of the high schools was where Marvin had attended & his father was one of the founders. There were 600+ students present & all who eren’t saved accepted the Lord that day including every unsaved member of the faculty!
It truly was an amazing time! Immediately following this particular meeting, there was a torrential down- pour that lasted about 30 minutes joined with a chorus of thunder & lightning.
They were in Uganda during the rainy season & were very blessed that only one event, a crusade was delayed because of it. Fortunately, it was before the message was preached. All who ran for cover returned for the main event.
The orphanage that is run by Bringing Hope to the Family is called ‘Home Again’. There are around 17 kids living there, including John-12 & Eusther-14, 2 kids Greg & Renee have been supporting since January of 2004. Their mother died of aids several years ago & then the father died just before the Plunketts began their support. This trip was the first opportunity for them to meet each other. It took no time at all for all concerned to fall madly in love with each other.There were times set aside to spend with all of the children. Kids were videotaped giving testimonies of what their lives were like leading up to their coming to ‘Home Again’. Some of the stories were absolutely heartbreaking. Truth is stranger than fiction.
When children lose their parents, they go to one of their relatives for care & often, because the relative lacks means for proper care, the kids are chased off & basically abandoned. Many are used by older siblings & relatives as domestics or for free farm labour & are denied the right to attend school.
We have support for 5 of the resident children so far & want to raise awareness to others about the needs of these kids so their future can be bright & full of hope. It only take $35-$40 a month to provide food, clothes, care & school fees. With just a little money, it can make all the difference in a child’s life.
Uganda’s Independence Day was used to pile 21 of us into a rented van & go to Queen Elizabeth National Park so the children could see the native wildlife. It was a day full of fun & laughs for the kids as they whooped & hollered as they observed a herd of elephants, water buffalo & many other indigenous animals in the park.We had a picnic in a beautiful spot beside a lake. There was a small boat moored there & it had a baby alligator in it! None of us got too near the shore after that discovery.
One of the best parts of the mission was being around the children & being involved with them. The worst part was having to say good-bye.
Bringing Hope to the Family has had around 40 orphaned girls attending their vocational training school in tailoring & crafts. They have been living in residence in a small house with only a couple bunk beds, or deckers as they call them.
As you can see by the picture, the mattresses are piled on the beds d
uring the day & strewn wall to wall on the floor during the night. This has been a hardship for obvious reasons.
IMS learned of these challenges & was able to raise funds to have a new facility built to house the girls.
Funds were released in the spring to begin the project & at the same time, a construction engineer, Julius applied to Bringing Hope as a volunteer. Could God’s timing be any better? He drew up proper plans & has been overseeing the project, encouraging young men in building trades.
The house consists of 6 large bedrooms with a matron’s quarters & a great room for the girls to gather in. Also, there are 5 stalls that will be used for ‘African style showers’ until such time as funds allow & they can convert the
m to western style toilets. A pit latrine has been dug a small distance from the building.
We put aside one session the last day of the conference, all attendees gathered outside of the new “Dorcus Dormitory” for a dedication service led by Greg Plunkett of IMS. Faith Kunihira of Bringing Hope spoke first, then the engineer Julius with Greg finishing up. It spoke loudly to everyone present about God fulfilling visions & dreams. It was tangible evidence of God’s abundant provision.
uring the day & strewn wall to wall on the floor during the night. This has been a hardship for obvious reasons.IMS learned of these challenges & was able to raise funds to have a new facility built to house the girls.
Funds were released in the spring to begin the project & at the same time, a construction engineer, Julius applied to Bringing Hope as a volunteer. Could God’s timing be any better? He drew up proper plans & has been overseeing the project, encouraging young men in building trades.
The house consists of 6 large bedrooms with a matron’s quarters & a great room for the girls to gather in. Also, there are 5 stalls that will be used for ‘African style showers’ until such time as funds allow & they can convert the
m to western style toilets. A pit latrine has been dug a small distance from the building.We put aside one session the last day of the conference, all attendees gathered outside of the new “Dorcus Dormitory” for a dedication service led by Greg Plunkett of IMS. Faith Kunihira of Bringing Hope spoke first, then the engineer Julius with Greg finishing up. It spoke loudly to everyone present about God fulfilling visions & dreams. It was tangible evidence of God’s abundant provision.
Renee spent the second week at the vocational school teaching new skills to
the teacher & her students.
Renee is a talented & qualified seamstress. She brought in patterns, material & sundries to help the girls advance their skills. There were challenges with language & broken sewing machines at times, but Renee persevered.
The resident teacher’s name is Eva (bottom right in photo) & she also oversees the orphanage as the house mother or matron.
Support is greatly appreciated in every area of the school. Some of the needs are in material, sundries, sewing machines, food, clothing & basic needs such as soap & sanitary napkins for the girls. There are so many practical ways to help out with this ministry. Volunteers from the west are always so welcome.
the teacher & her students.Renee is a talented & qualified seamstress. She brought in patterns, material & sundries to help the girls advance their skills. There were challenges with language & broken sewing machines at times, but Renee persevered.
The resident teacher’s name is Eva (bottom right in photo) & she also oversees the orphanage as the house mother or matron.
Support is greatly appreciated in every area of the school. Some of the needs are in material, sundries, sewing machines, food, clothing & basic needs such as soap & sanitary napkins for the girls. There are so many practical ways to help out with this ministry. Volunteers from the west are always so welcome.
The final week consisted of a 4 day leadership conference. The speakers included Greg Plunkett of IMS, Ev. Marvin Mutongole, Faith Kunihira, Pastors Amos & Jaxon from Kampala, the Police Chief, Enoch of Kienjojo, a team from Kenya including Pastors Steven, Andrew & Jack with a teacher, Bilhiah from BMC school as well. The theme of the conference was “Discipleship, being one & making them”. We had at least 4 sessions a day with so many gifted speakers
The local police chief Enoch from Kienjojo came to speak on behalf of Christian leadership in the police force. He spoke about the high crime rate & homicides in the area averaging 2 a week! He spoke of the huge impact Christians can have in all areas of society.
There was such an amazing move of God on the second day of the conference. A young man attended; if you saw him coming down the road, you’d cross to the other side to avoid him. His appearance was disturbing. The side of his head was caved in from a major bashing he’d had & his eye was bulging out. He was a nasty looking individual.
He came to the front to testify that he’d been involved in gangs, lots of criminal activity. He showed us where 3 bullets had entered his body & spoke of being poisoned twice. He had been contemplating suicide the past few days. When he awoke that morning, he told his grandma that he had to get saved & came to our meeting. We got to lead him to the Lord & gave him a bible to start his new life.
There were 3 nights of revival meetings that built each evening to a great climax for all attenees. The power of the Holy Spirit was so evident at the last meeting; people were jumping & praising & chanting the name of Jesus as pastors were beating the drums. All over the church, people were touched & moved & changed by the power of God. It’s times like this you wish would never end. There were remarks the next day by pastors who said they had read about such meetings & never thought they’d get to experience it for themselves.
We left with a great desire to return & continue the work of training up & networking with leaders & pastors & ministering to the orphans & reaching the lost.
Bringing Hope to the Family (http://www.bringinghope.org/) is a Christian organization headed up by Faith Kunihira. She has been fully committed to the ministry, living by faith for the past 5+ years. Her ministry provides support of all kinds to orphans & vulnerable children & widows, especially HIV/Aids affected families. Support is given by placing children with families that can help care for them spiritually & emotionally while implementing projects such as the “heifer” program which provides families with fresh milk & other products to meet daily needs & promote better health.
Bringing Hope is responsible for over 1200 orphans in the region & has a home called “Home Again” for the urgent needs children which have not been placed in a home, (17 at present). There is a 30 year old woman named Eva who is the house matron/mama, who oversees the day to day needs, discipline & chores of the resident children. They are currently housed in a 3 room house with many ‘decker’ or bunk beds, which has 2 children per single bed. The children are kept busy with responsibilities such as school, chores such as doing personal washing, tending vegetable gardens & home maintenance.
Faith is a visionary leader who has believed God & seen His provision in a myriad of ways. The ministry owns approximately 15 acres of land that has a church, the “home again” house, a small house for 40+ orphaned girls, a small 4 classroom vocational training school for the girls for sewing & other skills; and the large 6 bedroom dorm/home facility currently being built that is capable of housing up to 72 girls (funded through International Mission Support).
God provided a qualified man, Julius, a construction engineer (European trained) who drew up the plans & is overseeing the project. They are using the project to train up young men vocationally in construction skills.
In the village nearby is her rented office, home & medical clinic. The clinic has been opened for some 14 months & is staffed by a nurse, also named Faith Kunihira. Since their inception, they have tested 600+ adults & children for HIV with 1/3 testing positive. They are vigilant in educating people on prevention & treatment of HIV/Aids. They have also implemented programs to administer ARV’s to affected children & are subsidized for young children. They do all they can to help improve quality of life for affected people through care & counseling.
