March 2020 - Field Trip

Dear Sports Outreach Friends,

I’m Ben Moomaw. I’ve been associated with Sports Outreach for 15 years having been a trip taker and a Board Member and have recently joined the SOI team. I’m excited to help SOI tell stories of Gospel transformation in the lives of people we have the privilege of serving.

In October 2019 I was in Northern Uganda and got to go on a “field trip” with about 25 young Ugandan women. The purpose of the trip was to give these women training in the basics of agriculture. During our few hours together, I learned much about what Sports Outreach Ministry Uganda (SOM) and New Foundation Community Ministry (NFCM) are doing to help pull people up from the pit of suffering and poverty in the name of Christ.

On our field trip, I saw how young women are being rescued and empowered, how churches are being planted in unreached villages, and how farmers are being lifted out of the poverty of subsistence farming through agriculture training and microloans. Wow! Here is some of what I learned:

Sadly, many of the girls had been raped in late 2018 and had spent ten months at SOM’s Christine’s House (in the Gulu area and in partnership with Freedom 424.) They were counseled, loved, trained to be mothers, and prepared to return to their families. Girls who ten months earlier were traumatized and terrified were now encouraged and looking forward to returning to their homes, many with new babies.

Other girls were single mothers who had spent 2019 in SOM’s Koro Vocational School learning sewing and hair care. They were about to graduate—with new skills to enable them to become businesswomen— running their own small business. They were intent on learning, but at the same time smiled, and talked happily with one another

We went to the village of Paibona, where only six months ago 70 people accepted Christ and NFCM planted a church. At the primitive church building is a demonstration farm plot, where NFCM staff regularly meet with local farmers helping them learn integrated agriculture techniques. The people in Paibona were so proud of that small church and farm garden!

I also met the man who had given the land for the church and garden. He had been converted during the gospel mission when the church was planted and was delighted that he had a chance to help provide this resource for empowerment in his community.

I learned of a group of 30 farmers who meet weekly at the church at Paibona — a “Christian development fellowship” group. They receive training from NFCM staff on commercial farming practices, encourage one another, hold each other accountable, learn to save, and gain access to microloans that enable them to grow larger cash crops. They are learning agribusiness!

At the end of the field trip, we went to a five-acre field planted in peanuts and spent about 20 minutes doing some weeding, as the crop was about two weeks from harvest. This is a sustainability project for NFCM – generating income to help pay the ongoing expenses of the ministry. As I do a bit of farming here in the US, I thought I could teach the girls a thing or two about pulling weeds, but they were much faster and better at it than me! On the ride back to Gulu, I was amazed at the many people I had met whose lives had been transformed by the Gospel.

If you are interested in hearing more details about this work, please contact us at info@sportsoutreach.net.

We covet your prayers for the teams at SOM and NFCM who carry out these effective ministries. Will you consider investing in their work? You can help SOM rescue sexually-exploited girls and empower young women to start small businesses. You can help NFCM plant churches, bring people to Christ and give farmers new agriculture skills to lift their families out of poverty. A dollar in the hands of a wise Ugandan ministry leader goes a long way, so that any investment you make will have significant impact.

Blessings,

Ben

P.S.: In coming months, we’ll be sharing many more stories of Gospel transformation on social media and on our website.  Stay tuned!