Grace's Plight A Microcosm Of Uganda Orphan Crisis

29 January 2011

EDITOR'S NOTE: Five volunteers and one staffer from Parental Care Ministries visited Mbarara, Uganda, this week. Representatives with the organization visited one of its orphanages there and conducted a pastors conference. They also sought to update information for Parental Care's child sponsorship program and encourage the children. They filed this dispatch from the country on Wednesday.

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Grace was placed at Parental Care School Mbarara Uganda in December. She is among the more than 2.3 million orphans in the sub-Saharan African country, according to U.N. Data.
                        Courtesy PhotoMBARARA, Uganda — Grace is 5 years old.  She doesn’t know exactly what happened to her mother and father; she only knows they are no longer with her. On the day they went away, all of her security, love, provision and protection left as well.

Grace's story is not unusual in this sub-Saharan African country. More than 2.3 million, or 14 percent, of the nation's children are orphaned here, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. Nearly half of those orphans lost their caregivers to complications from the AIDS virus, according to U.N. data.

In December, Grace's relatives placed her in an orphanage run by Parental Care Ministries —a Tyler, Texas-based organization whose mission is to assist displaced children. Mbarara has been the primary focus of the ministry's attention since it was launched in 2008.

Parental Care's founders, Mark and Monica Barret, say the organization's purpose is to meet the physical and educational needs of Ugandans and introduce them to the Gospel, which they hope will transform the impoverished culture. Not only are teachers at Parental Care campuses trained in spiritual instruction, but the organization also equips and supports more than 40 pastors in churches throughout the Ugandan countryside. The Barrets say these men take the Bible message to their communities daily.

At Parental Care School Mbarara Uganda, organizers say children such as Grace will be given the kind of love, shelter, clothing and guidance that is emblematic of the kindness of Jesus Christ. They say Grace already has responded positively to the nurturing she's received at the orphanage.

Her teachers say she's learning the alphabet and expect her to be able to read and write soon. They say she is not frightened for her safety — as she was when she first arrived here —although she is among the smallest of the school's 250 orphans.

Students at the orphanage — one of two Parental Care campuses in southwestern Uganda where underprivileged children and orphans are fed, clothed, sheltered and educated — depend on sponsors whose financial contributions allow the school to fund the children's care. The ministry also runs a day school. Parental Care representatives on Monday visited the Mbarara campus bearing letters from the children's sponsors.

Grace was approached by one of those representatives during their visit —an East Texan who has decided to sponsor her. He picked her up, cradled her in his arms and sought to comfort her. Grace burrowed her head into his chest, holding on tightly.

“I will provide for you, and I will visit you as much as I can. We love you,” the sponsor said.