April 2021

Uganda Newsletter Mutual relationships are at the heart of our journey together

elcome to our April news- letter. In this edition we share with you some Wnews from our community since our last newsletter in January.

Although the last few months have been relatively quiet, we have begun the important process of developing the community mandate for the next four years and also thinking what type of leader we want to lead the community when Brian leave us later in the year. You will find more infor- mation about this discernment pro- cess on page 2.

Covid-19 continues to have an impact on our shared lives. We have tried hard to follow all the Standard Mass on Palm Sunday Operation Procedures required by the government including regular hand washing, temperature taking, wearing masks and limiting who visits us but it is challenging and we don’t always remember to follow all the rules perfectly. We continue to miss Monica, Maimuna, Omur, Paul and Washing of the feet on Holy Thursaday William. We welcomed Fr Joseph from the Although we have not been able to These relationships and partnerships are extremely important to us as Apostles of Jesus to celebrate Good welcome too many visitors, we wel- Friday with us, Rev. David Kisakye comed Mildred Katusabe who has a community. We have many people to thank for continuing to remember from All Saints and a founded Rowan’s Down Syndrome former board member led a Lent- Centre in Hoima, Western us with many gifts of food and other donations including Helen and Fam- en service and Fr Alex from Rubaga and also from Rebecca Mallinson Cathedral celebrated mass with us from Nimule in South Sudan. ily; Maria, Angela and Robert from Kyengera; Susan Nagadya and Rob- on Palm Sunday. On Holy Thursday, like many L’Arche communities, we Our relationship with CoRSU Hos- inah Nansubuga; Uganda Martyr’s Church; Ronnie Nsubuga and Derrick shared a meal and had the Washing pital in continues to develop of the Feet. On Good Friday, ten of us with Kironde being offered intensive Luyamuzi; Senao Group from St Ag- nes’ Church in Makindye; Rubaga Ca- joined the community of All Saints in speech therapy and Joseph Jonathan Kisozi Buddo for the day and some of from our outreach project receiving thedral; Olive, Maria and Adam; Ro- tary Club of . From Germany us joined the community of Our Lady a heavily subsidised wheelchair. We Of Mount Carmel to celebrate Easter have also benefitted from the Mukisa we have received generous donations from Maria Schuster (former Eirene Sunday. Foundation supporting us by under- To all of you, we wish you a Joyful and taking assessments of some people. volunteer) from Garser Firminge and the Wolff Family. Peaceful Easter season. 1 Outreach in our own particular context. Once been inundated with orders from the the community mandate is agreed, UK, Ireland, Canada and US. We will the work of discerning and select- soon have more aprons available ing a new Community Leader will through our friend Gillian in the UK, begin. We ask you to keep us all in so if you want to order an apron con- your prayers and during the next few tact Gillian by email and she will ar- months. range payment and delivery. [email protected] You may wish to make the discern- ment prayer, your prayer during this time. Our New Income Generating Project Loving God, We have from time to time been in- volved in generating income from We thank you for the gift of poultry. For a variety of reasons, we L’Arche entrusted to us, And we have had to stop the project. But in There has been a long history of out- 2020, we had the ambition to start desire to be open to your guiding reach in our community especially a new poultry project based on egg to the families of the core members. spirit production. Through the fundrais- At the end of last year, Beatrice and ing efforts of our friends in L’Arche Throughout this discernment/lis- Leo, as part of their training in rela- in Germany and Austria they raised tionship-based caregiving, developed tening process. the money that has enabled us to a small outreach project through con- As companions on the journey, renovate our poultry house, buy the tacting four local families who have equipment, install solar panels and children with intellectual disabilities. May we listen deeply to one an- buy our first chicks. This work is continuing with two of other; these children, Eve and Joseph. There are any skills necessary to look As we read our story together, after poultry so from the beginning Through our relationship with CoRSU May we honour the mystery of it was important to find someone to Hospital Joseph has now been provid- help us to gain all the skills necessary our shared life. ed with his own wheelchair. There is a to make a successful project. With great need locally for the type of out- As we recognize the heart of unity the help of Emmanuel, we started reach work we would like to develop, within our great diversity, to learn and plan and work togeth- if you would like to support this proj- er towards our goal of developing a ect please let us know. May we grow in confidence, trust project that would involve us all and and joy. Amen at same time generate much needed income for the community. Community Mandate and Discernment of Community Our Bespoke Aprons On 23rd January, we welcomed 300- Leader day old layer chicks from Kenya. It has been amazing to watch how these small vulnerable birds have The work of developing a mandate grown over the last ten weeks. They for the community for next four years have needed a lot or care and support has begun. In early March, the dis- especially in the first month as they cernment team started its important grew feathers and put on weight. work through a series of consultation meetings in groups and with individ- They have been vaccinated on a regu- uals. The team is led by Baska Pest- lar basis, their food has been adapted ka, International Envoy for Uganda, to their needs and lots of work has with Ruth, George and Juliet from been done to ensure there has been the community, Maurice from L’Arche no infections that could have killed Kenya and Christina and Wilbur from them all. Thanks to everyone’s sup- the Board. This is an important time Our friends at Holy Hill Monastery in port, the late night and early morning as we look to setting our priorities Sligo, Sister Pat and Brother Thomas, commitment. We are getting near the and facing the challenges of living received a gift of our aprons. Since stage that the birds will lay their first the Identity and Mission of L’Arche they shared this photograph, we have eggs. 2 “A seed well planted and watered”

We did our best to make sure that Rotary Club of Nateete and L’Arche Uganda electricity got connected to the new L’Arche shops whch was no easy task given the current pandemic. As our custom dictates, we normally visit L’Arche at Christmas and Easter to try to put a smile on the faces of every- one in the community. COVID -19 cur- tailed our normal procedure, so we started visiting in smaller numbers.

We look forward to be able to resume our normal activities later this year but, in the meantime, we do what we can to support those in need.

Fundraising Appeal

We desperately need to replace our minibus as it is now costing us a lot of money to repair it. The cost of a replacement vehicle will be around UGX70,000,000 (£14,000 or 16,500 One of our long-term friends is the We had planned to collaborate with euros). Rotary Club of Nateete. They have other Rotary Clubs to carry out Rota- supported the community for many ry Family Health Days and a Fashion If you can help us by making a dona- years especially at Christmas and Show, where money raised would be tion via the L’Arche International web- Easter but also recently sponsored used to support a project in a specific site: https://www.larche.org/donate the electricity supply to the shops we community have in . Here Ssebunya, a Ro- Please state that you wish your dona- tary member and a good friend to the At the beginning of the year, we con- tion to be designated for L’Arche Ugan- community, reflects on the impact of tinued our Fellowship meetings- ev da’s replacement minibus Appeal or Covid-19 on their activities. ery Thursday. When the COVID -19 if you are in Uganda, contact us on pandemic stiffened its grip, our Ro- +256701603746 or +256414270234 The year 2020 started with big hopes, tary club switched to holding virtual or [email protected] and we we wanted to achieve a lot during Fellowships three times a month and can give you information on how to the year specially to support commu- one physical Fellowship at the end of make a secure donation. nities to address some of their most the month. challenging needs such as, water and Thank you to those who have already sanitation and bridging the education Although the situation became very supported this appeal. gap in schools. challenging, we stayed committed to fulfill our obligations to our partners. 3 Community is Togetherness Regina’s Art

“I love drawing pictures because it makes me feel happy and calm”

Regina has been a long-term member of our community. She spends most days in our craft and candle workshop and loves putting the wick in the molds, and making other craft Items. Regina says ‘my pictures show togetherness in our community and people playing’. Regina loves people to visit our community especially the workshop. From The Archives Contact us

L’Arche Uganda P.O. Box 14095 Mengo, , Uganda. Plot 65, Road, Busega, Kampala, Uganda. When we celebrated the 30th Anniversary, we received many photographs from people who had been in the community over the years. Email: larcheuganda@ larche.org These five photos are from James Beecher who had been Finance Delegate between 2007 and 2012. He last visited Uganda in 2013. The photographs of Tom and Lamula, founder members of our community, are from September 2012. We will share more photos in the next edition of our newsletter. Tel:+256 701603746/ +256414270234 or

Facebook: https://www. facebook.com/larcheug/ Twitter: @L’ArcheUganda Website@ www.larcheu- ganda.org (coming soon!)

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