Last year our Christmas in Acholiland was a huge success!!  We hope that 2011 is exactly the same.   Please share this link with everyone you know!

I tuned my radio to my favorite station today and they are playing Christmas music from now until the holiday is over.  It is the time of year when holiday music rings through car stereos and shopping experiences are full of jingle bells, decorations and lights bringing a warm atmosphere and new life to homes across America as families gather together.  We go on a mission for that perfect gift for our loved ones, and then overdo it just because we can.  This is the season of Love, resounding Joy and the season of family.

We reported this last year:   Last year the average American spent the following during the holiday:

Gift Recipients
Family members: $431
Themselves: $119.82
Friends: $94.52
Miscellaneous: $43.50
Co-workers: $26.70
Total: $750.68

These are only the gifts we gave. As we all know, there are houses and yards to light up; trees to decorate; cards to write or print, stamp and mail; flowers, food and candy to buy; travel plans to confirm…and on average each American family that traveled spent $2000 for the holiday last year!

As we watch our children open their gifts on Christmas, please remember the 147 million orphans worldwide who won’t receive a gift from a parent, or anyone.

What about the orphans?  The children with no family, in war affected areas, children orphaned by AIDS, children who have no idea about Christmas?

You can make Christmas possible for these children!

These are children who suffer daily just through their daily life.   As we celebrate this season with our families we must remember those who cannot and will not be celebrating.  But we have an opportunity to change that for a few children in Northern Uganda, and you can help!!!  This holiday season remember our Acholi children who live in survival mode each day.

Some of these children for the first time ever, will receive the love of God through new shoes, new mattresses and a family Christmas feast!!!

Would you consider giving if your gift didn’t include something that goes under a tree? What if your gift allowed children to rest above the ground cleanly and safely as they sleep on a new mattress replacing filthy rags over mattresses soaked with urine, mud and years of wear? What if your gift allowed children to walk for miles without their feet touching soil.  New shoes would bring new life to these precious souls.  What if your gift would allow the children to eat until full without worry that there will never be any more??

Only you can help us make this happen for our children!  You do not need to have a PayPal account to donate.  Simply select Pay by Credit Card Option after clicking the button.

Here is what we need to make this happen:

$250 for the bull (yes a bull) for the celebratory feast  They will also dry the left over meat for future meals

Donate a Bull or a Part of the Bull to the Children:

Bull Donation Options

Full Live Bull $250.00 Half of a Bull $125.00 Quarter of a Bull $60.00 Eighth of a Bull $30.00

In Honor or Memoriam

Donate a Live Chicken that the children can enjoy throughout the year, meat and eggs!

Chicken Donation Options

1 Chicken $5.00 USD 5 Chickens $25.00 USD 10 Chickens $50.00 USD 20 Chickens $100.00 USD

In Honor or Memoriam

$25 each sleeping mattress per child and caretaker (They need about 30)

Orphan Bedding Options

One Mattress and Sheet $25.00 2 Mattresss and Sheets $50.00 3 Mattresss and Sheets $75.00 4 Mattresss and Sheets $100.00

$30 for each child to have shoes, clothing and pay for their meals for the next month  (there are 35)

Shoes, Clothing and Food Donation

4 Children $120.00 3 Children $90.00 2 Children $60.00 1 Child $30.00

$50 for each caregiver that has worked without any pay whatsoever for every single day.  This will give them encouragement and allow them to buy necessary items they need for their own lives.   (there are 4 of these) Please ask yourself how can you help us make a difference this Holiday for these children?  How can we bless the adults that care for them selflessly without pay?

Love Offering for Caregiver

1 Caregiver $50.00 2 Caregivers $100.00 3 Caregivers $150.00 4 Caregivers $200.00

Donate Any Amount to the Christmas Celebration in Acholiland!!

We need to buy the following so any amount of donation can go towards that!:

• Bales of used clothing $300.00
• Entertainment (we hire a stereo system that will cost us $250.00
• Other Food:   1 sack of rice $150.00, cooking oil $45.00, sodas $150.00, potatoes $50.00

Make payable to “Little Miracles International” on the “for” identification line of the check, please write the project name “Christmas in Acholiland” and send to:

Christmas in Acholiland
Little Miracles International
PO BOX 19776
Amarillo, Texas 79114

What in that great list of gifts of American spending each year above, can you give up to give a needy at risk child this season?

The children deserve what we can afford, and we must show them the love of God on this holiday season.

A Christmas Story From Jeannie Lorin, President of Beauty Society, Inc.

Many, many children n Jamaica live in ‘blissful poverty’.  The country is not so ‘third world’ that they are cut off from the rest of us.  They are smart and keenly aware of how we live because of television, internet access and wealthy people from all over that come to their country to vacation. The sad part is they know that other children around the world have so much more than they do, including how we here in the US and other countries, have our annual visit from Santa.

A close friend of mine Stayce Smith, from San Antonio Texas who lives part-time in Jamaica was asked by some Jamaican children recently if she believes in Santa. She said, “Of course!”. She explained to them that everyone believes in Santa, the kids replied, “Why does Santa not come to Jamaica?” She was heartbroken, more children chimed in and one child told her that they tell the younger children are told Santa was killed by a helicopter in an attempt to make them feel better about being left out, each and every year. That conversation, the mere thought that there are kids who feel that they are not good enough for Santa’s sleigh and reindeer to make a stop during his Christmas night around the world, has speared this ONE LOVE – ONE SANTA Christmas drive.

Teaming up with Little Miracles International, Beauty Society, with the help of Stacye Smith, all of you have the ability to make this a reality for some of the children in Jamaica. This will be the first year some of the kids of Montego Bay will see Santa! His first stop is the Montego Bay Public Hospital, a local hospital /orphanage. The kids will get to visit with Santa, and receive a small gift. A gift that will bring them joy and hope.

The process has begun.  An initial donation has been sent to some wonderful friends in Jamaica, and we have even shipped Santa’s suit!  Arrangements have been made for inexpensive toys, food and essentials to be given to needy kids. The wonderful people of Jamaica are so excited about this that hundreds are asking to volunteer in any way they can.  There is even a family that is donating some of their livestock (their own food) from the family farm to be the main course at a Christmas Feast in Santa’s honor.

Small children believe in Santa Claus but very few Jamaican homes have chimneys. So the Jamaican Santa shrinks in size to fit through the keyhole of the front door to a home! We just know our Jamaican Santa will fit just perfectly!

Please donate what you can, just $3.00 will bring love, joy, dignity and self respect to a child in Jamaica. You will feel overjoyed by knowing  that such a small sacrifice from you will be an enormous gift of generosity to these children.   So very little on your part will mean so much this Christmas.   Help Santa make his way up the mountain from Montego Bay this year…it will be a long journey, but Santa always arrives just in time!

There are two ways to donate:

Donate by PayPal by clicking on stocking below: (tax deductible contribution)

I will update you on my travels as I go and I will cherish your prayers for my 6 week journey!

I tuned my radio to my favorite station today and they are playing Christmas music from now until the holiday is over.  It is the time of year when holiday music rings through car stereos and shopping experiences are full of jingle bells, decorations and lights bringing a warm atmosphere and new life to homes across America as families gather together.  We go on a mission for that perfect gift for our loved ones, and then overdo it just because we can.  This is the season of Love, resounding Joy and the season of family.

Last year the average American spent the following during the holiday:

Gift Recipients
Family members: $431
Themselves: $119.82
Friends: $94.52
Miscellaneous: $43.50
Co-workers: $26.70
Total: $750.68

These are only the gifts we gave.  As we all know, there are houses and yards to light up; trees to decorate; cards to write or print, stamp and mail; flowers, food and candy to buy; travel plans to confirm…and on average each American family that traveled spent $2000 for the holiday last year!

As we watch our children open their gifts on Christmas, please remember the 147 million orphans worldwide who won’t receive a gift from a parent, or anyone.

What about the orphans?  The children with no family, in war affected areas, children orphaned by AIDS, children who have no idea about Christmas?

You can make Christmas possible for these children!

These are children who suffer daily just through their daily life.   As we celebrate this season with our families we must remember those who cannot and will not be celebrating.  But we have an opportunity to change that for a few children in Northern Uganda, and you can help!!!  This holiday season remember our Acholi children who live in survival mode each day.

For the first time ever they will receive the love of God through new shoes, new mattresses and a family Christmas feast!!!

Would you consider giving if your gift didn’t include something that goes under a tree? What if your gift allowed children to rest above the ground cleanly and safely as they sleep on a new mattress replacing filthy rags over mattresses soaked with urine, mud and years of wear? What if your gift allowed children to walk for miles without their feet touching soil.  New shoes would bring new life to these precious souls.  What if your gift would allow the children to eat until full without worry that there will never be any more??

Only you can help us make this happen for our children!  You do not need to have a PayPal account to donate.  Simply select Pay by Credit Card Option after clicking the button.

Here is what we need to make this happen:

$250 for the bull (yes a bull) for the celebratory feast  They will also dry the left over meat for future meals

Donate a Bull or a Part of the Bull to the Children:

Bull Donation Options

Full Live Bull $250.00 Half of a Bull $125.00 Quarter of a Bull $60.00 Eighth of a Bull $30.00

$25 each sleeping mattress per child and caretaker (They need about 30)

Orphan Bedding Options

One Mattress and Sheet $25.00 2 Mattresss and Sheets $50.00 3 Mattresss and Sheets $75.00 4 Mattresss and Sheets $100.00

$30 for each child to have shoes and pay for their meals for the next month  (there are 30)

Shoes and Food Donation

4 Children $120.00 3 Children $90.00 2 Children $60.00 1 Child $30.00

$50 for each caregiver that has worked without any pay whatsoever for every single day.  This will give them encouragement and allow them to buy necessary items they need for their own lives.   (there are 4 of these) Please ask yourself how can you help us make a difference this Holiday for these children?  How can we bless the adults that care for them selflessly without pay?

Love Offering for Caregiver

1 Caregiver $50.00 2 Caregivers $100.00 3 Caregivers $150.00 4 Caregivers $200.00

Donate Any Amount to the Christmas Celebration in Acholiland!!

Make payable to “Little Miracles International” on the “for” identification line of the check, please write the project name “Christmas in Acholiland” and send to:

Christmas in Acholiland
Little Miracles International
PO BOX 19776
Amarillo, Texas 79114

What in that great list of gifts of American spending each year above, can you give up to give a needy at risk child this season?

The children deserve what we can afford, and we must show them the love of God on this holiday season.

Please pray for our Richard, Mary and James and other children we work with so they may forgive themselves for the atrocities that they may have been forced to commit, and pray that they will all become whole again. You can read about this film here.

You can find our group on Facebook, called “Strong Heart Child Sponsorship”.   We will try to give frequent updates on the children.   There we have the group private so you will have to request to join:    Facebook Group for Strong Heart Child Sponsorship.

———————————————————————

God called me and said “Go North.” I didn’t understand why but walked in faith when I arrived in Uganda. I had no fear. It was not an easy trip. I saw things I hope that no one has to ever see, yet I’m glad I saw them. In Northern Uganda I found the most precious children literally at the end of the earth, and at the ends of themselves, praying daily. I was shocked and deeply changed by what was revealed to me there in that war-torn zone of Northern Uganda.

This week I walked in faith again. I walked in faith that God would provide more, and hoped, the kind of hope that is Biblical. I had fervent belief that waiting will accomplish the impossible. It is so hard when I can’t just “fix things” for the children that I call family now. It is hard when you just can’t give them money and then that helps. It is hard when I hear Richard, their orphanage director say “Mama the food will end next Wednesday.” It is hard knowing that the kids need new shoes and clothes and medicine. It is hard when you can’t do a thing but get desperate with the children. You get down on your knees with them, and pray. You get down on your face. You go to that low place where only faith lives.

You beg God, the Lord of the Heaven and Earth to do what he only can do. ….and there I was in that place, and two Angels that heard my cry, sent a total of $200 to our program unexpectedly while I was talking to Richard on chat. We both got to celebrate and he promised to borrow a camera to take pictures for us.

The plan is to get all the kids new shoes and clothes! I pray there is enough, but you know what? God promised there would always be enough. So I have hope today, yet again for the multitude of tomorrows needs that the children have.

Thank you for the dear sweet souls who had their hearts touched enough to help. You are loved by all the children and they thank you too.

How can you help us help the children?

James dreams of helping others...

After we drove through Gulu, Uganda,  it should have been a very short journey to Kitgum by kilometer, but the roads were terrible and full of potholes and the heat beat down on our car, air-conditioner had stopped at the beginning of the journey.   We were sweaty and miserable, our bodies stuck to the car seats.  We had not stopped but once in 8 hours.   That last leg of the journey was as long as the 4 hours to Gulu.  I felt miserable, hungry, thirsty.   I remember thinking this is the longest road in the world.   The road to Kitgum showed beautiful terrain, landscape full of African wildlife and flora.  The  occasional Acacia tree hovering over the land, and the towering cashew trees made me realize I had truly made it to Africa, yet this trip was so tiresome, and we just could not stop until we got there, we didn’t want to be driving at night, it was too dangerous.  I felt excitement, and dread to see the conditions that lay before me.  I was being prepared for a tiny taste of life after war. A very small bite of that life, so bitter and not at all nourishing.  Yet what I found was food for my very soul.   My life was changed by the children I met.  They fed the empty place in my heart.

I  traveled on North into the former war zone of Uganda, and seeing the signs of the city finally welcoming us to Kitgum, knowing I had reached my final destination.   It was so peaceful when we entered, people waving at me, smiling, but the land mine warning signs said this was once otherwise.  This was the place that I knew God had sent me.   Why I had come here to Uganda.   I knew after this trip I would feel I had accomplished something in my life, fulfilled what God wanted me to fulfill.  I have now my destiny, my purpose:  help the children of the war, the children of Uganda.   The children that are called the invisible ones…the former night wanderers… orphans… and the child soldiers.

I met one such young man, orphaned during the time he needed his parents to guide him through his early life, puberty, graduation.   It wasn’t to be for my special son James, an orphan of the war.  He was articulate, handsome and smiling continuously.  I would have never known he  had suffered so during his short life. He came to say goodbye to me and told me his story before he left on the bus to go back home to Gulu.   He had come on the bus to meet me!   I could not imagine, all that way on those roads!!

I have adopted him under God and hope somehow that you can hear his plea as I did.   He is honest, and forthcoming with me, and still remains innocent to a life with loving family. I am giving him support as a guiding parent would, and I know that his story will be received by the world as I received it.  I pray that his story touches your heart in a deep place.   I pray that you are so moved that it moves you to step out to help.

I met James on the first day I arrived, and he came to me with his story one evening and asked if I might be able to help him get a sponsor.   And I am here on my knees praying for this to happen for this young man.

James spoke very frankly to me of his time as a captured boy under the control of the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) and the devastating effects that losing his parents had on him, orphaning him when he was only 12 years old. He spoke of his life after escaping and now during the peaceful (cease-fire) times after the war, that has left him stricken by the effects of war over poverty in Northern Uganda.

He wrote his story for me, which caused him to have nightmares afterward.   Please keep James in your prayers for emotional healing.   James wasn’t a child for long.   He lives amongst one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes and crises in the world, Northern Uganda.

“My name is James Ariama, a young man of God.  In my life I am a boy who has been wounded and has pains all over the course of his life. I suffered in the bush for three years at the hands of the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony.  This was the worst time that any person can imagine.

After my primary (elementary education) during my vacation is when we started having attacks from the rebels and and sleepless nights.  We were forced to stay awake every night to protect ourselves.   The attack threats were on and off I could not really tell whether it was the real rebels of the Lords Resistance Army,  or just threats.

One day the whole community was amazed and shocked when more than 53 people where missing in the society.  A terrible investigation began and not even three days later the rebels attacked my family too.  I was only 12 years old.   The rebels stormed my home.  They took my parents and my young brother, and I remained  alone because during the course of trying to run away from the rebels, I ran another direction than my family because the attacks were in the night when everyone was most vulnerable. I never saw my parents again.

Kony and his army who killed my parents, destroyed all the family properties and structures and brutally abducted me.

The remaining clan members of the village a few days later also were dead.   I began my new life, a hopeless life as a child soldier/slave in the bush with no parents or relatives. I was and am still alone.

After the rebels took dozens of abductees both boys and girls to the bush, all our minds could no longer focus on anything, which is human, but rather we were brainwashed and had destructive minds, and we became friendly to the inhabitants of the forest and the bush. I really encountered a lot of suffering in the bush, some which are still too hard to describe and continue to haunt me in the dark.

I served as a boy that carried excess guns and bullets for the rebels.  I carried everything that was of heavy weight.   I supplied and carried food to the rebels during the journey in the bush. We would sleep in open bush fields,  using grasses as our mattresses and blankets. All mosquitoes and other predators used their advantage on us.   This was no existence for a young boy, only survival.

We usually ate raw food, such as meat from dead animals and blood and meat from dead people under enforcement from the top officers. Failure to obey would be death. It was a miserable and terrible condition of life.

One day, when I attempted an escape, I almost died because a bullet came from nowhere.  God was with me that day, and because of God’s hand, it just grazed tip of my hair since I had much hair on the head. I bled but it stopped after some few minutes. I was very lucky not to have been killed.

We used medicines as forms of healing, and witchcraft was the final game for all the decision making that the rebels undertook. We always believed in the spirits of the dead. Every dead body would be buried under water possibly on the banks of the river or on streams of water and this would be done by us young soldiers immediately. We used to move long distances while carrying guns and bullets, but whenever somebody would complain of tiredness, the best answer from the rebel leaders was just to shoot them and eventually that child or person was left there to die.   So my time with the rebels was much worse than slavery.

My real break at life began one evening when there was serious fighting between the rebels and the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF).  It was a crucial and ferocious battle, which lasted for more than six hours. During the fighting it rained heavily and many people thought of escaping the clutch of the rebels, but you couldn’t see where to start from or where to go.

God’s favor was upon us. We were told to go and collect water tanks as it was our normal custom. So I took this advantage of this situation to run away in the neighborhood forest known as the Kichwamba, but again the conditions worsened as a dreadful fear developed inside of me.    I stayed and hid in the forest three days without eating any food. The only food of mine was to fruits from the forest and drinking stagnant water.

After three days,  I saw the government army patrolling the forest. I thought that they would kill me, but they questioned me and knew that I was ignorant. I was taken to the IDP camps (internally displaced persons) where I started catching up from the hardship I had just endured.

To this day I remain parent-less, hopeless and a miserable person, except for my faith in God.  He will never forsake me, never leave me.”

After I returned back to Texas, James wrote to me asking me to help him choose his career path, and we exchanged ideas much the way a parent and child would talk about college plans and the future.   James currently lives with other acquaintances in the slums in Gulu.  He is a brilliant and gifted young mind and I intend to see him through his education!!!  James wrote me this letter recently, and I was even more touched and wanted to help James in a very significant way.  A young man so hungry for one person to care about his future.

Dear Mum,

I shared my story with you so that with GOD’s will somebody will get up and help in this trouble and struggle of education I have.   There really is no hope here without.   I  really need your help, and I know that God is arranging this for me.

I really appreciate and thank you so so much for encouraging me and giving parental hope and good future.  I have always been scared by myself, because there is nobody that can give me comfort and hope.   I had really lost all hope.   I appreciate you a lot.

Love, your son,

James

We will see the future Dr. James Ariama walk as an Advance High School Graduate soon, and I hope that you will be a part of making this child’s future dreams come true!!!  If you can help his dream to become a village doctor and attend Medical School,  by sponsoring James, we will forever thank you.    We will provide quarterly updates and photos from James as he enters the university.   He will be so grateful if you can help!!!

I will set up specific paypal buttons for individual tuition/books needs in the near future but we are desperate to get the $150.00  he needs to graduate right away!!   Any overage that I receive on this first plea 7/12/10,  will go to his college fund for fall.

James will need in the future, books, tuition, internet services.  We are happy to also get this young man clothing and funds for food and lodging if someone desires to do this for him as well.

Sincerely,

Lori Scott

To assist James with his Advanced Level Educational Plans:

Donate by Paypal (all donations are tax-deductible):

OR

Set up a monthly sponsorship of James’ Educational Needs (books, tuition, school supplies, internet for research, food, clothing)

$20 Montly Sponsorship : $20.00USD – monthly $10 Monthly Sponsorship : $10.00USD – monthly $50 Monthly Sponsorship : $50.00USD – monthly $100 Monthly Sponsorship : $100.00USD – monthly

OR

You may pay by check: Make payable to “Little Miracles International” on the “for” identification line of the check, please write the “James Ariama, Educational Fund” and send to:

Humanitarian Projects
Little Miracles International
PO BOX 19776
Amarillo, Texas 79114

Acholi Orphans

I’ve just had the most amazing experience, meeting some of the poorest of the poor, the neediest of the needy and loving on children from the depths of Northern Uganda. I will never forget these little tribal children nor will I ever forsake them in their desperate need. We will immediately begin a sponsorship program with these children and I’ll let all of you know soon how you can help. Their faces will haunt me forever. I bought them 100 kilo sacks of rice, maize beans and posha, soap and salt. They get no meat protein.

I love these children now and I cannot imagine their life without our help. We must do more. They have qualified nurses but absolutely no medicines.  My heart has been changed, I’ve seen and I cannot forget.

These children do not go to school, sleep in mud/thatch roof huts, haul water on their heads for miles and yet they are joyful. This by far has been the most humbling trip I’ve ever been on. I want you to know these children and help me pray for them.  They are cared for by a community granny and two nurses who love them. This orphanage was founded and solely supported by a 24 year old former child soldier who cannot stand to see the children lost and without someone to care.

They sang and danced and drummed and told song stories to me. Although there was a language barrier the laughter filled the sweltering Ugandan air. They were joyful. Yet they had nothing. They were behaved. They were shy and lovely.

I had a disturbing mail regarding the orphans residing in Pader District. My children are sick.

When I arrived in Northern Uganda what I found there broke my heart. Children tragic victims of dozens of family members adults and children abducted and turned into soldiers, or brutally killed by the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) The AIDS epidemic has also orphaned hundreds of thousands of children there along with the desperate conditions that invite illness. The conditions for the orphans and in the IDP (Displacement Camps) are deplorable. Dirty water, walking for miles for food and water.   All are riddled with parasitic infections in their little intestinal systems.  No medical care. Everything is filthy. Only means of living is simply to survive to the next day. That is a huge task and almost impossibility each day. Before I arrived the children were maybe getting one meal a day. Yet they were so joyful. When I asked the children if they had questions for me, one raised her hand and jumped up and asked, “mama will you help us?”

Tearfully my resounding answer, yes!  I now have 20 children in Northern Uganda.

Little Miracles/Dream of a Child needs your help.

Twenty lovely orphaned children of the Acholi Tribe from 3 and up are in serious need. Total desperation. They have food only for 3 more weeks. (I’ve personally fed them for a month) They have no clothing but what is on their backs, and some of their little bottoms were out of the clothing due to the seams not holding up. Their clothing is ripped apart. They are riddled with various parasites, typhoid, cholera, HIV and filthy situations. Their conditions are worse than you can see on television commercials assisting children in Africa. There are two qualified nurses caring for these children but absolutely no medicine for them to use if the children get sick. They suffer in silence with no one to love them. I’m about to change all of that.

We now have children sick. This is a matter of life and death for them. If they become dehydrated or weak, the nurses must put them on their backs and walk 18 kilometers to help. These children are so very rural.

I will be purchasing first line medical kits to be put together in Kampala, Uganda and then shipped up by bus to the children this week. In these kits will be Typhoid and Cholera medication, Malaria treatment, antibiotics, anti-parasitic medication, anti-febrile medication, fungal cream for infections, first aid supplies antibiotic ointments and bandages and HIV first line medications. I will prepare the children for individual evaluations if I get enough donations.

I also plan on having a mobile ambulance built that they can put on a bicycle so they can get children to medical care quickly.  The other alternative we do not want to think about.   These children deserve someone’s love and care!  Please partner with me!

If you can only donate a couple of dollars this will help so very much. I appreciate anything you can do to help. God bless you all.

Please Donate Now!   Your donation will go directly to assist the children and will be tax-deductible.   Little Miracles International, Inc. is a nonprofit 501 (c) 3 organization.

You can send an instant payment by PayPal.

You may pay by check: Make payable to “Little Miracles International” on the “for” identification line of the check, please write the “Acholi Orphans” and send to:

Humanitarian Projects
Little Miracles International
PO BOX 19776
Amarillo, Texas 79114

I cannot thank this organization enough for surprising us with this blessing!

Please help them to help our special children by purchasing during the month of May!!