Fountain of Life

I met Moses on a mission trip to UGANDA two years ago and I was excited to see the progress of his vision 'Fountain of Life Ministries' since then. He oversees 15 churches in UGANDA and works with 10-15 (plus) schools. He invited me to stay in Hoima and to speak at a couple of churches and a number of schools. Hoima is just slightly off the muddy beaten path and is a remote village outside of Kampala, Uganda, the capital city containing a few shops, small marketplace for the buying and selling of groceries, and plenty of mud huts and shacks where the inhabitants live. Needless to say this place is poverty stricken. I stayed with Moses for the week in his apartment with electricity but no running water. Each day I was served a wonderful traditional spread for both breakfast and dinner, a testament to the famous Ugandan hospitality. I enjoyed getting to know Moses' roommate, Immanuel, his sister Grace, and several of the church people. We spent our days visiting schools in the surrounding areas and loved to meet and play with the schoolchildren and was honored to have the opportunity to speak to them, sing with them, and play with them. So many of them are in so much need. Living hand to mouth day to day oftentimes they are forced to stay home and work to help support the family. Other times there is simply not enough money to pay for school fees, books, and uniforms. During my time in Hoima one of the local high schools was forced to shut down from lack of sustainable finances and the kids were left with inadequate direction and standardized test preparation, and were uncertain about their educational futures. We constantly hear the proverbial slogan, "Education is the Key", but there can be so many obstacles for these kids in the pursuit in obtaining the key. The few who are able to get their education are then faced with the lack of open doors in a nearly non-existant job market. These are problems that have existed for the ages, and while there has been some progress made, there are still many mountains to be moved. There needs to be strong corruption-free leadership in place and more creative thinking applied to help solve these problems along with a paradigm shift in the mentality of the people - a true belief that their dreams can be realized and that where there is a will there is truly a way.