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.