November (Already?!?!) Update

Hello friends and family,

What a blessing it has been to work for Amazima for the past three months. The month of October was focused primarily on developing the P3 curriculum (many long hours typing away on a my computer), but I've also had the opportunity to continue connecting with my coworkers and learn more about Ugandan culture. Amazima has also been trying to find ways to help staff from different departments connect and get to know each other. They've taken staff from all parts of the ministry and divided them into teams (Matthew, Mark, Luke John, James, and Peter) for a sports tournament. It's been a lot of fun to get to know people who teach at the secondary, family mentors, and social workers through these competitions (I even met someone on my team who went to Word of Life Uganda!). I work with some truly amazing people who love Jesus and others well. Also, so far my team - team Luke - is dominating the competition (yay!).

I've also joined a boot camp at a local gym on Saturdays. It can be hard to wake up at 6:30 on Saturday mornings, but it has been so much fun to meet people from my community that way. I have even found a fellow Steelers fan here! Treasure and I like to jog near each other during the warm up and discuss our favorite plays from the previous week. Who would have thought I'd find a Steelers fan in Jinja?

My friend Amy and I were invited to an introduction last month. An introduction is when the groom's family is introduced to the bride's family and they either accept or reject the groom. I still haven't mastered much Luganda, so I didn't understand quite a bit of what was happening, but it was still a fun experience. Our friend Joseph (a former Amazima kid who now works at Amazima) procured gomesis for us to wear and invited us over to his house before hand to be dressed by his grandma. 

The Tuesdays in October were dedicated to training Amazima employees in TBRI (Trust Based Relational Intervention).  TBRI was develop to meet the needs of “children who have experienced adversity, early harm, toxic stress, and/or trauma”. It is all about building trust and relationships with children and empowering them to meet their needs in healthy ways (several of them have had to learn unhealthy coping techniques to survive. This week I was able to go visit the homes of several Amazima students and see just how important the TBRI training is for our staff. 100% of our students are coming from homes where they face food insecurity (some eat once a day, but some don’t even eat that often) as well as several other forms of trauma (abuse, neglect, HIV…). It was sobering to visit these homes, but absolutely essential to understanding the students who will be coming to our school.

I came to Uganda thinking I would be working with children at Amazima, but I've been asked to help start an accelerated learning program for older students who are still in elementary school. In January, I'll be working with mainly 17-20 year old students (most of them are young men) who are in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. Some of them are able to read, and some will be learning how to read for the first time. Last week I started organizing and structuring the program. Right now I have a team of three people, but we're hoping to increase it to six so we can invite 28 students to participate in the program. The goal is to individualize the program to each student's needs, provide mentorship, and encourage the students to continue in school until they at least take their PLE (Primary Leaving Exam). The PLE will be something they carry with them for the rest of their lives to every single job interview and it is key to helping them find employment that pays a livable wage. 

Prayer Requests

• Please pray for the AEP (Accelerated Education Program) as we work to get it started. There is so much to do. Amazima campuses will be closed during the month of December (although CED - Amazima social workers - will continue to work during that time). I plan to travel a bit, but mostly I have so much I need to accomplish for AEP to be up and running by January. Please pray that we're able to find the right people to join our team and that we'll be ready to go in January.

• Amazima Primary School is still looking for a principal. The leadership team has done an excellent job in the interim, but we are praying to find the right person to lead our school next year.

• Please continue to pray for my work permit paperwork. I'm still waiting on the final official paperwork, but I should have it next week.

During this last month, both my FLCS family and Lifehouse family have experienced the loss of wonderful people. Please know that as you pray for me here, I am praying for you too! I love the way I have seen the body of Christ come around and support the Sullivan and Duncan families. My prayer is that you will continue to love and support these families well. I love my people back in the US, miss you, and am thankful for the way you have enabled me to serve here in Uganda. Thank you for your love and support!

💜 Jaci

*There has been so much going on and I feel like I am constantly overwhelmed trying to accomplish everything that I need to do. This song has been my prayer going through my mind as I go through each day. I hope it is encouraging to you too!