Remember the Poor

Dear Friends of Remember The Poor,

It has been far too long since you have heard from us, and we apologize for that. The co-founders and heartbeat of Remember The Poor, Frank and Cindy May, have been battling with Cindy’s health for the past several years. Unfortunately, none of us stepped up to fill in the gap and fill her shoes (IMPOSSIBLE), and communication has suffered.

One of our amazing ministry partners in Uganda is Experito Bulamu. Experito and his lovely wife Justine minister in Northern Uganda–both in Gulu and in Koch Goma…and they have a vision!

From RTP: Koch Goma is in the bush. Two hours from the small city of Gulu, it is remote, without access to roads, clean water/running water, internet or electricity.

More than clean water, better food or decent homes, Koch Goma adults together cited their number one desire to be a school for their children. More than 2000 children have no school to attend. We plan to build a school from Kindergarten to High School, complete with clean water wells, boarding facilities for teachers and students, food-grown for students, construction vehicles, and construction of roads and other infrastructure. Estimated Cost is $1.6Million.  

From Experito: We have seen an opportunity to realize this dream with least effort. We would love to grow 50 acres of coffee on our land, whose total acreage is 100 acres. The cost of raising one acres of coffee is $1,000. If we are to raise 50 acres, we need only $50,000.

The return on investment is amazing. From one acre we can obtain $6,000 which can give us $300,000 from our 50 acres– per year. If we start this now, our dream can nearly be realized in only 8 years!!!!!! 

Many Blessings,

Justine and Experito

We do earnestly and heartily support Experito’s vision! We are undertaking the “Holy Grounds” project to see the Koch Goma school become a reality!

I want you to know that, other than bank fees, 100% of your donation goes directly to our ministry partners. All of us at Remember The Poor are volunteers.

Andrea Thiele
U.S. Director
R e m e m b e r  The  P o o r
PO Box 6002
Glendale, AZ 85312

Galatians 2:10 “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.”

The New Dawn Foundation hosted an Easter Party for their kids on Saturday.  All the kids were treated to a buffet lunch and a Passion for Christ Movie.  Each child was able to take home one kilogram (2.2 pounds) bags of beans, rice, maize flour, millet flour, sugar and a load of bread.  What a blessing to each of them!!

Easter Games

So many kids waiting patiently.

Enjoying Easter Dinner with Friends

Easter treats waiting for the kids.

shared by Cindy May

Thank You! The dream of Valentine Medical Clinic is becoming a reality. (It is named, by the way, after Frank’s mom, who went to be with the Lord 10 years ago.)

All that is left to do is to hold the grand opening, and Francis and team are ready to do just that. The build-out is complete, interviews are being held, signs are in place and they are looking really quite nice.

I feel like I should say the stockings are hung by the fireplace with care. But no, that’s not the right line…

Next is the grand opening, which is more than what one might think. As Francis told me, everyone who comes to the grand opening will not be “feeling fine”. So 10 nurses will be on hand that day to treat the sick for free. Free food will be served, which will attract many hungry people, since Uganda seems to always have those in abundance.  Francis and I have agreed to pray in advance that God will feed the 5000 with the loaves and fish that we have, and that we will have food leftover. Afterall, we serve a God who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

I look forward to reporting on that.

Not only will the nurses treat the sick, but Francis will be individually meeting with all the sick, laying hands on them and praying for them.  He will be a busy young man, but God has gifted him, and given him exceptional insight, and exceptional enthusiasm for evangelism.

I can’t wait to see what God does with this clinic.

Will you please support Francis by liking his Facebook page? It would mean the world to him!

We so appreciate your support of Francis and his dream of a medical clinic, which will support not just him, but many others. May Jesus alone be praised.

p.s. If anyone has an ipad they’d like to donate to Francis, please let me know. There is a team traveling in April. If you’re out of state, we can arrange for shipping to us.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A doctor. A pilot. A gospel preacher. These are the answers we commonly heard in Uganda.

Few get to fulfill their dreams, because education is still for the privileged. Yet despite that, a young man who didn’t grow up in a privileged home, who grew up without parents or a family who loved him, is beginning to fulfill his dream and God’s destiny for his life.

At 23, Francis is opening his own medical clinic. How does a young man who was once an orphan boy do that? God.

Francis looks forward not only to treating patient’s bodies, but also their souls. Employing a model known as Community Health Evangelism (CHE), Francis and his staff will be visiting the surrounding community, laying hands on the sick and praying for their recovery, and offering free health training classes at the clinic. In all of this his first priority is to lead people straight to the Christ who saved him, to the Father of the Fatherless who defended him.

In order for Francis to open the doors to his clinic, he is required by the Ministry of Health to hire two additional assistants. To prove he is a legitimate employer, he needs to have 2 to 3 months salary for these employees in an escrow account. At $175 a month, it’s not an amount that is out-of-reach in our western culture.

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Shared by Drea Thiele and Cindy May

Don’t forget to….Smile!

Our first check from Smile.Amazon.com was $5.21.

Right, we won’t spend it all in one place. But, as my former boss used to say, “It beats a sharp stick in the eye.” Certainly does.

If you haven’t signed up yet, will you do so now? It’s SO easy!

When you sign up to support Remember the Poor at smile.amazon.com, 1/2% of whatever you spend on amazon will be donated to RTP.  And it takes less than 2 minutes to sign up.

1. Go to smile.amazon.com

2. Pick your own charitable organization> Remember the Poor (bottom right of page). Your original account information–username, password, and order history all remain intact.

We’d love it if you’d share this on facebook, twitter, etc. The more the merrier.

It gives us profound joy and overwhelming gratitude to God for the way God has kept you through this Christmas season. In Gulu we as well are overwhelmingly grateful for the way God is peacefully making us to celebrate in a way it used not to be because of war and  consequently food un-availability. At least we have what we can put at table these days.

When I was a kid growing  up in the rural setting,  I thought Christmas meant the season where cobwebs were to be removed from dirty houses and bushes cleared of compounds which were overgrown. Its activities which attracted my attention hinged around that. Then came indulging in unusual eating and drinking.

As of now, my understanding of Christmas is of a much different meaning. I feel very grateful to God that my life means  something to this community where love had vanished through the windows of violence. God has restored peace, and we now are busy touching lives with Christ. Kids who grew up in the bush could not easily define Christmas. We have to make kids  love one another through the influence and impact of Christmas. We were happy, Justine and I, to celebrate Christmas with 150 kids in the church compound sharing what God had placed into our hands. This was rice, beans cabbages, meat and juice.

We brought some gospel artists and entertainers as we also cut a cake. The kids played games and enjoyed everything in the atmosphere of love. We were able to raise the funds  to put up this Christmas party for kids by asking members of the church who could sacrifice Christmas day and fast in order to feed the vulnerable. Our food which we were supposed to be eating on Mondays when we fast for Drea’s  baby situation was also added. The party was phenomenal.

Great Blessings,
Hugs and Love.
Justine and Experito

Justine with kiddos

Cutting the celebrated cake

Experito

Christmas is Joy.