Last week, one of our former students called Evelyne, who had a life changing experience in St. Monica after fleeing from the rebels, walked into our Convent house with a lot of confidence and dignity.  Knowing who she was, I felt so happy to see how far she has come.

This time she came with two other women, Nancy and Night, one spent 12 years in captivity and the other 3.  The two timid and traumatized young women did not dare follow their friend into the house.  Mindful of her friends, Evelyn took courage to find out if they could be accepted to work in St Monica in order to get some income to support them and their children.

When people ask for work, I feel good because I think it’s the best way of restoring their dignity.  At the end of it all, they feel they are capable of doing something constructive for themselves.

One of my challenges is looking for jobs which can pay these women.  Yes there are many small things which are changing the lives of these young women. Paper beads, necklaces, bracelets, and purses made from pop tabs and beautiful fabrics.   Amazingly these are some of the small jobs we give women like Nancy and Night.

These two joined other women on the compound to work on these humble jobs.  At the end of the week they received payment for their.  Nancy who spent 12 years in captivity, remarked with tears of joy rolling from her eyes, “I think God has   directed me to come to this place and I will not go away because today I can see the fruit of my work.   I will be able to purchase food for my children today.”  Her friend remarked that she is physically weak and has just started taking her ARV (HIV medicine).  She was unable to do heavy work but now she can sit down and work at her own speed, knowing her payment depends on the quantity and quality of her work.

This is the second week these women are working.  I have seen they are so motivated to work and look happier still.  They have time to share their problems with their friends as they work.  Helping to ease the burden of years of trauma.  They now know they can walk with hope and dignity. The items produced by the women mean a lot to them.

I want to sincerely thank all the people who buy these items in order to support these young unfortunate women. When you want to match your outfits, you may get confused with all the different colors of the items made by these women, but I know you will always be unique because you have a reason to put them on.  If you cannot wear them, just display them where you can be reminded of the lives you are touching and transforming.

There are a lot of people who actively participate in the sale of these items and some just buy them to support a cause.  People change my life when I see the choice they make by  voluntarily giving their time to promote our women in Northern  Uganda.

Thank you for your pure intentions.

Sr. Rosemary

It has become hard for me and the coordinators of Tree of Wisdom to know how many children come to the feeding program–“Happy Sunday” as the children call it.

Atiak, the village in Northern Uganda where we have the TOW feeding program running every Sunday since July 2010, experiences a long period of draught every year.  The ones who suffer most as a result of this famine are the children and elderly people.   It  becomes more and more compelling to provide food for the children there.  The number of children who come every Sunday keeps increasing because very often, kids comes with their friends.

At first it was overwhelming to see so many kids coming to the “Happy Sunday”. My worry was that the food would not be enough to feed them all.  I was proven wrong as the children got the food and sat down, sharing  one plate of food between two of them.   This reminds me of the power of sharing.  Blessed Mother Theresa said, “the poor know how to share.”

Apart from love and care the children receive from all their friends and sponsors in Tree of Wisdom.  The biggest gift has been the feeding program for many of the children in Atiak.  Thanks to the generosity of everybody who has made this possible.  Its not going to be easy for us to get the exact number of children who come every week to Happy Sunday but the number fluctuates between 120 to 150 children.  It is hard to send away new faces of hungry children who report with their friends.  We decided from the beginning that we wouldn’t ever do that.  This program is making a huge impact on the lives of children in Atiak, and it can be seen that the children look a lot better.

My only fear is that we shall be getting more children coming with their friends.  On the other hand I have also learned to trust in the Divine Providence.  I just have to get past the thought that we shall not have enough to feed all the children who come on our way.

Again I thank you all for making this happen.  Your generosity makes the children live with hope.

God Bless you all,

Sr. Rosemary

Christmas is just around the corner.  I want to wish you all a happy celebration of the coming of Christ among us.

Once again this is a special christmas for all of us, but above all for the children who are finding a real meaning to the coming of Christ because you have brought a difference in their lives.

We have just started our celebration with the children and I wish all of you were here to share in the joy of these children.  I personally find this a special christmas because of the positive changes I see in our children and the ability to give gfts to the children because you made it possible.

All the children got new christmas outfits, shoes, and Tree of Wisdom T-Shirts.  The guardians were given rice for christmas.  It was a moment of great joy as we celebrated.

On Friday we shall be celebrating in Atiak where majority of our kids are and 25th we shall do the same in Gulu.

Thank you so much for making this tree grow in a healthy way.  It is becoming a big tree with green and strong branches.  Its amazing how this program is touching and changing the lives of so many people including mine.

This time we got a special gift of christmas during our celebration in Paidha.  We got a boy called Innocent Openjmungu.  This is a special name which tells all about this boy.  He is a boy who was born 6 years ago without arms.  His father decided to run away from the mother with a strong conviction that the boy is a sign of a great misfortune in the family.  The mother resisted and nursed him boy for a short time and decided to abandon him as well.  She ran away and got married to another man.  She never came back to look for this boy again and up to now the boy does not know the two run away parents.

The brother of the father  with his wife got this news of the unfortunate baby, took him with him and  have been taking care of  him.  They took him to a Kindergarten near their home run by our sisters.  This is how I got to know about this boy through one of the sisters who is for holidays with us.  As she heard I was going to meet the children for this great Christmas celebration, Sr. Margret pleaded that I should invite this boy to our party as well.

She went on and called the uncle of the boy to send him to the party in Paidha about 50 kilometers away.

Innocent arrives to the party with the aunty and all the children welcomed Innocent in their midst with happiness.  The challenge came when  children sat down to eat.  It was great to see how positive this little boy is, he assured me that he can eat by himself  using his right foot.  He sat near me eating.  I tried to make him happy but deep down I was suffering and could not eat.  Tears rolled down my cheeks but I tried to hide it.  He has no pity for himself, he plays and make fun for his friends.

When he noticed other children looking at him, he told them in a joking manner that it is God who created him like that.

Infact this is why his name is  Openjmungu which means, “Ask God “.

Isn’t this awesome?  He is great with a lot of sense of humor.  We included him in our program of distant adoption.

The next is to find a home for Innocent because the uncle said it is very hard for him to care for him and a lot of people keep stealing him away from home taking for a show to raise money.  This is the real problem facing this boy right now.  He is being exploited by people. We brought him along with us to St. Monica and will hopefully will send him to our orphanage.  He needs a lot of protection and care.  He has some deformities in the left foot which could hopefully be corrected by experts.

I am happy that the Tree can shelter special and beautiful children of God like Innocent.  He has a found a new home under the shade of the TREE OF WISDOM.

Sr. Rosemary

As I look back over the first year of Tree of Wisdom, I am amazed at how quickly we have grown! Because of your generosity, we now have approximately 150 children sponsored and living better lives.  This year for Christmas, all of the children will get to participate in a party including a Christmas meal.  They will each get a new Christmas outfit, new shoes and t-shirts with the Tree of Wisdom logo.  Each of the guardians will receive a kilo each of rice and beans.  The celebrations have begun and there are a lot of happy children having a wonderful Christmas for a change because of all of you.

This is truly the meaning of Christmas.  God bless you all in the coming year.

With sincere gratitude,

Monique

On October 13, we had our first annual TOW Appreciation and Information night.  The following is a letter to our sponsors and donors that gives a brief summary of the past year.

Dear Donors and Friends,

It is with great joy that we join with you to formally celebrate the first Tree of Wisdom appreciation night.  We are proud to inform you that the Tree of Wisdom is growing strong!

Since the inception of TOW in Oct 2009, with your support and prayer, this program is succeeding in its mission to provide the basic necessities of life to 130 needy children in Northern Uganda.  To date these children have entered a third term in school.  Most are doing quite well, and some are at the very top of their class.  These are children who, without your support, would have no hope of continuing education.  All have benefitted from regular nutrition, attention to hygiene and healthcare, and a sense of community that TOW has begun to provide.

From a financial standpoint, our organization is solvent.  With the assistance of our trusted friend, Michael Loughman, TOW received 501(c)3 status in June 2010, thus ensuring the tax-exempt status for all contributions made to TOW from its inception.  Our initial calculation of yearly cost of $150 per child per year was underestimated.  After retrospective calculation, the real cost has been adjusted to $175 per child per year.  Those founder sponsors who began sponsoring a child at the $150 level may continue to do so in the coming year.

We are pleased that with additional non-directed donation and with the successes of the Wisdom Bead sales, we have developed a contingency fund to be used for additional needs of the children.  For example, many children have required additional medical care.  Also, we have begun a Sunday feeding program“Happy Sunday”, for the children in Atiak, the poorest community in which our orphans reside.  Some of these children were identified to have an unsafe home environment and therefore were transferred to boarding schools where they can receive extra care and attention.  Other children were identified to require psychological counseling in order to help them overcome the very difficult circumstances in which they found themselves.  Other unforeseen needs include spare sets of clothing for those that have none, underclothes, and sanitary supplies for adolescent girls.  Our three trusted coordinators in Northern Uganda whom we identified and employed are helping us by following these children closely, identifying their special needs and mentoring them.

We hope that you may realize the changes that we have personally witnessed in these children during the first year of TOW.  Their health, happiness, and ability to study and succeed in school have improved dramatically in just 10 months.  An unexpected and beautiful side shoot of TOW is that the guardians of these orphans in Atiak have organized themselves to assist one another socially and financially in a cooperative.

The love and support that you have provided to the children is making a very large and positive difference in their lives.  May God bless you and keep you throughout the coming year!!

Afoyo,

Sr. Rosemary & Monique

We will be participating in several festivals in the Western Cleveland suburbs in the upcoming months.

Check out the Wisdom Beads page for details.“Love my anklets!!!”

Afoyo to all as I return from a most inspiring month in Uganda!  I spent July traveling around Northern Uganda with Sister Rosemary bearing witness to the amazing growth of the Tree of Wisdom.  Everywhere we went we were met with smiling faces of children.  They were singing, healthy and happy–thrilled to have the chance to go to school. The guardians were full of gratitude to all the sponsors in America, asking that I thank all of you for lifting some of their burden.

The many women making beads and bags are so grateful for the opportunity to earn a living and support their children.

After landing in Kampala we travelled to Gulu, the major town in Northern Uganda.  We were warmly welcomed by the Sisters and students at St. Monica’s Girls Tailoring Centre, a school run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that provides vocational training for young women in Northern Uganda.  St. Monica’s targets disadvantaged young women, many of whom were previously abducted in the war. This is the headquarters of the St. Monica’s Bead project.  Many women are participating in creating beautiful paper jewelry and cloth bags to help support themselves and their children.  Your purchases of these items are helping to sustain this income generating activity for these women.

Our first Tree of Wisdom event took place in the Village of Atiak, situated 2 hours north of Gulu.  The people of Atiak are struggling with starvation as they are in their third year of drought.  There are 60 TOW orphans in this area.  Our first Sunday gathering was spent with them.  The children were well dressed and clean and healthy.  Many were wearing their school uniforms.   They sang for us and waited patiently as the meeting began.  The guardians have formed a co-op and are banding together to help support each other.  This was very much an unexpected fruit of the project.

The children were excused from the meeting and were so excited to play with the great balls, jumpropes, frisbees and other toys purchased by many of you! We had a beautiful meal and then they wrote letters and drew pictures for all of you back home who are sending them love.  Thank you from all!

In Moyo we have 4 children who are living in an orphanage run by the same sisters.  I suppose most of you, as I, think that an orphanage would be a depressing place, a la “Annie” .  I must say, although parents and home life can never be replaced, this is a happy place.  The children are singing and happy and well fed.  The nuns love them very much.  We all need to keep praying for them though, because there are many of them, and not many nuns, so send them as much love as you can in your prayers!  They are really beautiful children.

Moving on to Paidha, we were in the true African village where Sr. Rosemary grew up, with no water or electricity.  What a  wonderful place!  The people are poor but not starving. Life is very simple–mud huts and grass roofs.  There is a tangible sense of connectedness and community here that I have never felt anyplace else before.

They realize how much they need each other, and they take care of one another.  We can all learn something from this way of life.  Our celebration with the 40 Tree of Wisdom children in Paidha was equally wonderful with much singing and joy.

On return to Gulu, our last gathering was with our few 6 students who are in secondary school.  At the inception of Tree of Wisdom we intended to support primary students only.  After learning about these students and reflecting further, we decided it was important to continue to support these children through secondary school if they continued to do well.  I must admit that our time with these young people was the most inspiring.

While I was in Gulu, we received report cards from 3 of the TOW teenagers who had been brought from the village and started in boarding school.  They are 1st, 3rd, and 5th in their class of 85 children.  These are teenagers, who were destitute in the village, and really didn’t have a chance to continue on in their education.  Janet wants to be a lawyer, Edmon wants to be a doctor &  Diana wants to be a teacher. ( I told  Janet she could only be a lawyer if she promised not to sue doctors!)  It is amazing to see the hope and ambition that these young people exude.  Please pray for their continued success.

Tree of Wisdom is growing strong and tall!  Great thanks to all of you for your support!

For more stories, the travel blog from my trip can be found at docsgogulu.blogspot.com.

God bless you,

Monique

Happy Mothers’ Day!

As nature is springing to life across Northeastern Ohio, I can’t help but think of the Tree of Wisdom children who have just finished their first term in school.  Many of these children had never been in school before this February.  The children in Gulu arrived at St. Monica’s to look for Sr. Rosemary so they could show her their reports.  They all worked very hard and got very good marks.  How proud and happy they were to have a chance to learn and show their abilities.  Sr Rosemary also received reports from Atiak and Paidha about the excellent performance of the Tree of Wisdom children.

The stories of the individual children have been amazing.  Some of them we know more about than others.  As we get more information we will add it to the website.

Let me share with you the Story of James R.

James is a 12 year old boy from Atiak, a very poor village about 2 hours north of Gulu which was devastated by the war about ten years ago.  Several years ago James was orphaned as a result of his father killing his mother.  He was living with an uncle who is very poor and unable to send him to school.  In November James was invited to be a part of  the Tree of Wisdom family.

Sr. Rosemary conducted the first Tree of Wisdom meeting in Atiak in November with about 40 orphans and their guardians.  She explained that we would be providing school fees, uniforms, and other basic necessities to the children in the program.  When she was finished, she asked if there were any questions.  Young James stood up and said to her, “Sister, I know that I have worms living in my belly.  What good is an education going to do for me if I die?  I need healthcare.”  He was right–what a wise young man.

On that day James and two other children who were identified to be at health risk were taken to the hospital in Gulu for testing and medical care.   The doctors confirmed James’ suspicions.  He did indeed have worms in his belly. He has since been treated, is healthy and thriving.

Through this experience, Sr Rosemary discovered that James had an amazing aptitude for learning.  Despite his limited education, he spoke English very well.  The decision was made to keep James in Gulu so he could attend a higher quality school.  A few weeks later, an American Jesuit priest arrived at St Monica’s asking Sister if she knew of any children who might benefit from a Jesuit education.  She immediately thought of James.  He met with the priest and explained that he would someday like to be a teacher.  James will be attending the Jesuit school being built in Gulu once they are able to receive students.

Some months later, Sister Rosemary met with James again.  She found him to be excelling in school and adapting very well to his new environment.  He said to her, ” Sister, I think I want to be a priest.  The word of God is sweet to me and I want to share it with other people.”  Needless to say, James is an inspiring young man.  I am humbled to think of the blessings he will share with the people in his future as a result of the opportunity he has been given by Tree of Wisdom.

The generosity of our sponsors will continue to have far reaching benefits for many.  Because of James’ statement about the need for healthcare, TOW has created a contingency fund for children like James who have additional needs that cannot be paid for with the basic sponsorship funds.   The fund is being supported by individual donors and some of the proceeds from the St Monica’s Bead project.  It will allow us to meet the special needs of some of the orphans including healthcare, hospitalization, secondary school tuition, special formulas for malnourished babies, etc.  This allows Tree of Wisdom to  continue to support the children even if they go beyond the funds provided by basic sponsorship.  Thanks to all of you, once again, for your generosity and support.

We can change the world, one child at a time.

God bless you all!

A BEAUTIFUL BEGININING OF LENT.  I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST DURING THIS IMPORTANT SEASON.

I would like to share  a story of a few days ago…

Tree of Wisdom is eventually not only for sponsorship for kids but is becoming life saving as well.  We have gone well beyond the education only, but more in welfare of kids and their growth.

A woman named Grace who is HIV+ and a widow, was sent by God yesterday evening to our house as two us missed to go in for prayer because we did not hear the bell ring. To me she had the face of Jesus, hungry and sick.  She was carrying her baby  and they walked in the the first heavy rain after the dry spell we experienced for long, looking for something to eat after staying hungry for three days with her children.  She arrived all washed by rain and was shivering with a hungry baby.  She  looked for some employment like washing people’s clothes the whole day, and did not find anybody who could give her work for even less than ten dollars to buy food for her 3 kids.  No one wanted to hire her because she was HIV+.

I thought the kid was very small, but when Sr. Pauline and I came to the mother with some left over food from our house, the kid stretched out his little hands to receive the food.  This action put me off and I realized the kid is one year old but looks like only six months because he is under fed.  This was a sight impossible to ignore.  I thank God because we had some food left in the house enough to feed this woman and her 3 kids.

I told the woman to return the next day.  She is going to join other women making necklaces in order to get some money with dignity to look after her children, while the baby can be fed in our Day Care Centre.

The Tree of Wisdom is making us go an extra mile to develop the dignity of the most vulnerable people as well.  I am impressed at the how my sisters from time to time come back from their different places of work to tell me the needs of children and poor mothers they meet.  Without the gift of the Tree of Wisdom,  we would have closed our eyes and ignored some of these urgent needs, or we would respond in a way which might make people recall  some negative things nuns did to them while they were in schools.  I am now realizing that, in the past, some negative situations could have been created when the nuns felt there was no way to respond to such situations as these ones.  I am trying to read the past in the present and, “At Such A Time As This”,  thank you for making us understand that our vocation is clearly seen in the faces of the poor, hungry, and malnourished Jesus.

We did not know this project would lead us as far as this.  Thanks to those who have managed to decorate the Tree of Wisdom with the beautiful necklaces made by the guardians, poor women and grand parents of TOW children.

I am always wondering about what God is doing to this Tree but with time the leaves are growing and the branches are expanding in God’s direction.  Maybe it is too early to clearly say, these are our objectives as well.  God seems to be spelling out the objectives and mission statement too.  God is writing the Strategic Plan for the Tree of Wisdom.  Let us be quiet and thank him.

God bless our Tree and its fruits.

Sr. Rosemary Nyirumbe

What an exciting time it has been preparing for the Tree of Wisdom children to begin school!  Sr Rosemary, Mr Komakec and many others have been busily gathering supplies.  With 87 children now adopted into the program the lists are long.  The items include uniforms, shoes, book bags, notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, etc.  Remember how excited we all were preparing for our first day of school?  Imagine how happy and hopeful these children are with their new supplies that represent hope for a future.

Some of the things we in America don’t think about when returning to school are also included.  A new plate and cup will be provided so that the children can take part in the food provided at the school.  We are also providing bars of soap for the children–one for bathing and one for laundry.  Good hygiene is the first step toward good health.  Finally, mosquito nets will be provided to each of the children to reduce their exposure to the mosquitoes that cause malaria–a disease that takes more lives every year in Africa than HIV.

Allow me to take this opportunity to share with you the story of Rosemary, a lovely young woman we had the pleasure of meeting on our last trip to Uganda.  When Rosemary was born, she was abandoned by her father,  and her mother was unable to care for her. The mother asked the Sisters at St Monica to care for her child.  They willingly accepted, along with Catherine, the biological sister of Sister Rosemary.  Young Rosemary grew up beautifully and last weekend graduated with high honors from the University.  She is now volunteering a lot of her time helping with the Tree of Wisdom project.  She says, ” I am one of them.  Without the help of the Sisters, I never could have come to this place in my life. This is my opportunity to share my gifts with them.”  She has provided tremendous inspiration to these children, as she travels from place to place telling them her story.  Her example shows us all the difference that love and support can make in the life of a child.  Congratulations to Rosemary for her hard work and dedication, and for being a beacon of light!!  Our hope is that the Tree of Wisdom children will follow in her footsteps.

The first day of school is February 1.  Please say a special prayer for the children on this day.

With gratitude,

Monique

TOW children dressed in Christmas clothes for school