EBENEZER!! (please read the story after the photos!)

EBENEZER(THIS FAR THE LORD HAS BROUGHT US)!! THANKS FRIENDS!!

Ebenezer, for we have made two years since the Fortress opened!!I chose to say Ebenezer because surely this far, the Lord has brought us!! Ofcourse we could not have made it without you our friends!! From my heart, i say thanks and God bless you all our friends who have continually given us your love,prayers, financial support, connections and the rest!! In a special way all our friends in Sweden, America you are so special to the Fortress and Uganda.(i wish i could mention you one by one but surely you know your selves and God knows you!) I always tell my friends in Sweden that for all your hard work, commitment and love, we are so grateful...thanks is not enough but we continually send our love, prayers and blessings , that cannot be escaped!! now i can say it to all our friends, we send all that and soon the love, blessings and prayers will catch up with you,evidently!!
I cannot forget the love and encouragement from my church, WRCC, my Pastor has prayed and blessed us continously!!
Yes the people i work with and those who have contributed in different ways here and in our community outreach programmes, i may not mention all but allow me to mention just few....Gloria, Mega,Joan,Anne,Maureen,Mama Cook,varius Swed interns form the Sweet Pioneer group to today etc, the Lord bless you richly. 

In the two years, we have seen girls come in with broken lives, rejection, shame, lack and many more issue but the good news is that they have not left the Fortress the same. I wish i could share story by story but i have to respect their private lives!! Alot of restoration of joy has happened to them. Some have reconciled with their families.Some have already gone back to school and more are getting ready to, God willing early next year! Some have turned their lived to Jesus, i was sharing with a friend that  we simply love these girls!!

We have been able to feed, give medical care, counselling, life skill lessons, Bible studies, hand skills and above all; love to all the girls that came our way and we were blessed with 27 beautiful babies!!
Some of the mothers who were HIV positive, their babies were tested HIV negative!! We tried to do all the requirements of PMTCT( Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission) of HIV and i give God the Glory for making that possible!! Only one baby we lost after a few weeks of resettlement to her family.
All babies have been and some are still being breast fed and are flourishing.
I cannot forget to inform you that the girls are doing well, flourishing in many ways.Those who are at school are doing well and one of our girls started a small bussness in addition to jewelry making that most of them are actively involved in.
Out of the sales, many are able to support themselves basically and have been able to buy the basic needs like matresses,blanket,mosquitoe nets, baby requrements to add to what we can afford to give them as they are being ressetled. We have been able to help take care of some babies too.

There is so much joy at the Fortress and in the girls lives here! Interesting, endless stories!Allow me share just the smallest  stories...hhaha
Many times, when we are going to hospital, girls tell the 'ripe' one that its time to go bring your gift(baby) so rejoice and so we take her. This girl when in labor room, she was in so much pain that she began to call on the Name of Jesus and when she did, she had a quick safe delivery. People started asking what out secrete was, and what could she say but Jesus,whom she had called upon! Some started praying too and it worked hhaha.

Another girl, we were in labor war so the Doctor sadly gave us a report that she could not make it because of the medical issues she explained,but he was going to do s surgery to pull out the baby. This girl clung to my hand, didnt wanna let me go but i was asked to leave the room. Good enough her mother was around so we asked this girl to pray and we went out to pray too, her file was already in the operation room i theatre. We went out of the room and started praying and in afew minutes, we were called in, to see the baby....it was a normal delivery,both baby and mother were alive and well!

Recently the girls president was resettled so there was need for one!! We had about 4 potential girls to do that but there was this shy one, and all of them were asked to speak why they wanted to be the Fortress girls leader and she really had few words. Surprisingly, when voting time came, she had about 60% ofthe votes and the other 3 shared 40%, amazing but i know there was a reason for that, her esteem is coming up and more, she is very much loved by all!! Her history was not very good but i know this is a big step in her life.
 My friends and i make a joke of what one of the girls was saying, braging of all that was at the Fortress....."food is there, water is there, love is there"....but really thinking about what she said, we do not take for granted the food, love ,protection and all that we have. One of the most commonly  songs at the Fortress is Praise Him in the morning,noon time and when the sun goes down.....Praise Him indeed!
Finally i would love to share what one of the interns wrote,
 

"At The Fortress I got a chance to do much like counseling, cooking,home visits, conducting lessons and just being part of some wonderful girls everyday life. I held a new born baby, I saw her mother grow into a stronger more confident women.

 Not to long after I started my internship we were going to drive 4 girls back to school. At the morning meeting we sat and talked about how they felt about going back, I listened to their stories and I have to say it was hard to keep the tears away. It was just so hard to understand that these young, strong, excited, laughing girls hade once been ashamed, withdrawn and stigmatized. Those happy girls that have their whole lives ahead of them not having any hope.

I saw how much The Fortress means to people, when we went to pick up a girl in the slum were she was not welcome, brought her to a home, gave her food and love, saw what a difference it can do to a person when they get to be seen and heard, fed and clothed. I don’t even want to think about where these people would be today without The Fortress.

 When I told my parents I was going to Uganda they asked why? Why would I want to go and see all the misery and neglect and be sad for  months? I didn’t really know, all I knew was that I wanted to go. And it hasn’t been about seeing the misery and horrible situations people live under. There are different ways of life and its all bound to the context. What I have seen is how many people there are that wants to make things better for people, how much change people can accomplish by themselves and how much love there is.

I truly am grateful for having got the chance to be in Uganda and got to experience different ways of social work.

If you ever get the chance to go, take it!!'

And i can add, if you get a chance to pray or support in any way, do it!

Again, thanks and Blessings to all our friends, keep the love and

prayers !!
Faithfully,
Josephine.

2012- A FRUITFUL YEAR AT WOPI/FORTRESS

Blessed 2013 to all you our Friends!!!

What a beautiful year 2012 was! Thanks be to the Lord and to you our friends who have been such a big blessing to us through prayer,encouragement ,financial support,gifts and ofcourse your friendship.
We are delighted  to share our joy with you of all that’s happened here.

At the Fortress(the safe home for pregnant teenagers), its been joy throught the year.  I am speechless about the experience of seing  shame turn to glory and beauty, rejection turn to favour, the lonely embraced with arms of love, the weary and heavy ladden put to rest, and heads lift up in confidence. The smiles  and laughter are breath-taking.

17 Girls delivered their babies safely and got resettled with their families. Precious little Gift had a sudden death after we had resettled him and his mother and we grieved with the family for the family after the Loss. All the other children and their Mums are well resettled to their families apart from the 2 girls now live with two friends of the Fortress. Its been a mixture of joy and tears  as the girls left their close knit Fortress family back to their homes.  Girls with heavy bags,matresses, and cute babies, families exclaiming is a great sight, though we know that girls go away with much more… esteem, joy, skills and Jesus!

12 souls came to Jesus while at the Fortress and were restored. Many went through counselling over  many issues including struggles with rejection, anger, defilement  among others.

  We received teams of visitors  from Sweden and USA who were all a blessing and added a lot to the fortress. They brought baby cloths,sheets, baby lotions, pampers and spent time encouraging the girls. We also had social work interns and volunteers who did so much good work and am sure they learnt so much here.

Transportation of the girls to hospital,church and running some errands was made easy by the Van that our dear  friends provided.Also, by the grace of the Lord, you friends have provided food, medical expenses,money for rent and facilitation, you are all appreciated for your contributions. We are so thankful for that.

The sales of beads have also been helpful. By the time a girl leaves the Fortress, they have made enough money from the bead work to buy a matress, beddings, mosquito net, and other necessities and ofcourse some more money to use.

Joan, the first fruit of my ministry to is back to school studying a tailoring course, she is excited about it and thank God her health is getting better. Kemi  her lovely  5 year old daughter is doing well.

Other WOPI Projects
The community outreach programme has flourished. We were able to reach out to many pregant teens,counsel them and visit them at their homes and provided them with Mama Kits and baby clothes.
Girl At-Risk empowerment programme has been fruitful  with 5seminars in two communities. These girls at risk of HIV/AIDS, abuse, teenage preganacy among others ,between 12 and 18 years  of age, attended in big numbers between 30 to 75 in each of the seminars and were equiped with information about relevant topics like esteem, reproductive health and they also received gifts like sanitary towels,underwear and other essentives and also 13 girls came to Jesus.
The Masuliita women project also was blessed by some of our friends. 14 more piglets and one goat were given to these women as an income generationg project for their families. The first lot already have reproduced.About 4 visits were made and on one of the visits, about 35 souls came to Jesus led by our friends from the Rock church and their community Reverand was glad to witness and follow up on his new flock.While we were at his house after the vist, I cannot forget hearing him say,” Jesus has visited my home!Av been praying for this!”

To God be the Glory for all He has done!

       Hoping to receive more interns and volunteers to be apart of the Fortress. Incase you know any interested person, feel free to pass on the information. Its ok to share this newsletter with your friends and family.

Thank you all our friends for your love, generosity and encouragement. Looking forward to 2013!!

Love,gratitude and blessings,

Josephine Nambatya.

 

 

DIANAS EXPERIENCE

Diana,17years of age, was brought to the Fortress in her early stages of her pregancy from the slum community. She had run to her step mother's house after she had been abandoned by her Antie with whom she lived. She had dropped out of school too. At her step mother's house, it was a small one roomed house and did not have suffiecient care,did not hve basic needs and  had none of the essential items needed for delivery like Mama Kit,baby cloths etc. She was miserable,emotionally broken.

We took her into the Fortress, has been here all through her pregnancy. We accepted,loved Diana, took her for Antnatal checkups, Couselled her, provided shelter, food and all necessities during pregnancy too.

When it was time for labor,she could not deliver normally becuse her babby was big.Well,the surgeons did a ceserean section succesfully and saved both Diana and baby Jeremiah. She stayed here for another 5 weeks and just before we took her home,last week, this is what she said to us.(She is going to breast feed her baby for a year as we constantly followup on her and Jery and will take her to resume school,excited about it!)

Diana,"The two biggest things that  happened to me during my time at the Fortress were the birth  of my wonderful Jeremiah and secondly that I found Jesus and became a Born-Again Christian while here. I am very thankful that I have learnt to love and fear God, and now always put him first whatever I do.

I have also learned, during my time here, to live with different types of people and to handle my temper. When I came here I was veryangry and stubborn, and I could abuse or even beat people to get what I wanted. Now I have learned how to handle my emotions better. I have also learnt to think about why people behave as they do, I now think more about what is behind the way someone is acting. For example if someone is treating me bad I can think that the person herself has been mistreated before."

"The life with the other girls in the house has been good, I will always remember them. In the beginning there was some trouble with misunderstandings,but when we got to know each other and got used to one another,we got along very well. I will miss them all.

I will never forget my time at the Fortress because of all the things I have learned here. I have learnt  how to make jewelry, how to cook many types of food ,how to care for a big house and many people and how to share things with others. Whenever I do or think of any of those things I will be reminded of my time at the Fortress, and the good time I have had here. Have also learnt to take care of myself and my lovely baby. Am also excited to have an opportunity to go back to school after breastfeeding my Jeremiah. Am happy."

The Mama Club

The Young Mamas making jewerly and having fun at the Fortress. Learning and making paper jewelry. They also share meals, have a time to have fun too.

GIRL-AT RISK SEMINAR!

Girl-At risk project is one of the projects under WOPI, that reaches girls in the communities especially slums. Girls who are 12-18 years, who are at risk of teenae pregnancy, Hiv/aids,abuse and other challenges are reached through seminars, empowered in several ways. Now come with us see the girls....

                                   Gifts,ula!We give gifts to the girls eg sanitary towels,etc.

                                                          And yes some fun!!!

BABY ISAAC IS HERE!

Friends, Fortress is fruitful. Yesterday, one of the  girls at the Fortress delivered a wonderful baby boy,Isaac. Labor was normal..she and her baby are both alive and well. Thank you Lord, it was not easy,but it was worth it.