ALL SAINTS SAN LEANDRO REACHES OUT TO AIDS ORPHANS IN UGANDA
Amidst all the tension between the U.S. and African churches, it can seem like conflict is all we share. However, many parishes and organizations continue to partner in ministry and faith on a “grass roots” level. All Saints in San Leandro is one of them.
All Saints’ efforts began in 1994 when The Rt. Rev. Eustace Kamanyire visited All Saints. A 1970 graduate of CDSP, Kamanyire served the Diocese of Rwenzori. Surviving vicious attacks by Idi Amin, he was consecrated Bishop of Uganda in 1981. In 1993 Eustace retired, and he and his wife Irene began their mission to serve children orphaned by AIDS.
Eustace and Irene began by taking twelve children into their own home – which had neither running water nor electricity. In 2004 they succeeded in building a fifty-bed orphanage. They called it Sunrise House – the only orphanage for teenagers in the entire region of over 100,000 people.
After Bishop Kamanyire’s visit, the congregation of All Saints decided to join him on this amazing journey. Parish leadership encouraged monthly pledges of five dollars per month per family – a standard that continues today. Combined with the sale of Ugandan fair-trade coffee and handmade greeting cards during coffee hour (as well as at the Grace Cathedral Gift Shop), All Saints now wires approximately $200.00 each month to Sunrise House.
While this may seem a small amount to us here in the U.S., it is a huge sum in a country as economically poor as Uganda. These funds help to provide school tuition, uniforms and medication for youth.
Of course, the money is just the beginning. All Saints youth group mails and receives letters and drawings. The youth group also collects and ships badly needed shoes, pencils and writing paper. Prayers are offered during Sunday Services. Photographs of the children and the progress of Sunrise House are displayed in the parish hall.
All Saints just received a Sunrise House banner for use in processions, and the young people of the parish are preparing one as a gift to their Ugandan peers. It will be blessed during Bishop Marc’s visit on May 6. This loving and prayerful association with our brothers and sisters around the world has blessed All Saints congregation richly.
A Personal Note From Team Leader Anne Harris
I find most meaningful that these hopeful, deserving and faithful young people know that there are friends in San Leandro, CA who believe in them and wish to reach out to them. They are eager to learn, grow and achieve. May we continue to be eager to respond to their trust in the Lord and us.
For more information about our Uganda ministry, contact Anne Harris.
To visit their new website and learn more, click here