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Current volunteer opportunities in Mawanga:

Ministry Team: June 29-July 15 2012

Vocational training, Sunday school training, Orphan camps, Widow seminars, Evangelistic Outreaches, Music/Drama/Dance

Medical Teams: June 29- July 15 2012 with Ministry Team

Are you a doctor, nurse, physician’s assistant, public health professional, dentist, or medical student? Mawanga’s private clinic, which consists of five local staff members and one dentist, could use assistance any time of year—from conducting medical seminars on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, counseling, to conducting check-ups and focus groups. Internships also are available for up to six months.

Work Teams: June 1- June 17 2012

Come build a ROWAN Main Hall on our new property in 2012! Or perhaps upgrade the ROWAN guest house for future volunteers! Everything from laying bricks- to painting - to gardening. These opportunities are available NOW.

ROWAN has officially launched our newest Campaign called "Let's Make Cents!" This progam was created by ROWAN interns as a way to get elementary schools, junior highs and high schools involved in helping orphans go to school! What do you have to do?

1. Dig those coins out of the bottom of your pockets

2. Drop 'em in our ROWAN piggy Bank

2. Tell everybody what you are doing

3. And who you are doing it for

Even if you are a Sunday School class, a Small group, a Family- ANY Unit of people willing to come together and collect change for these orphans is welcome!

So far two classrooms out of Southern California raised $90.60!

Check out more about how your school or class can get involved HERE!

Our widows are working hard in the village this week creating more of their Signature Collection beads for the Christmas season! Each woman makes a specific color bead when she signs her name on EACH bead for a personal touch! You can read more about this Collection HERE.

Interested in buying these necklaces for Christmas gifts? Email us at elaina@loveROWAN.com with your order.

Interested in helping ROWAN sell these beads at your local Christmas boutique or store? Contact Kelsey@loveROWAN.com right away!

One of the current micro enterprise projects ROWAN initiated is Passion Fruit! I had the honor to take part in the preparation and planting of the very first passion fruit trees. I joined 20-25 widows from the ROWAN program and what a privilege it was for me to stand next to these beautiful and strong women. I absolutely loved watching them in community with each other, laughing, and working alongside one another. Each one of them carry their own story of hope and it is evident in every way.

Not only is this Passion Fruit garden going to provide income for these women, it is the beginning process for the entire community to adopt and benefit from the fruitful harvest. The trees we planted created a demonstration garden which will be a way for the entire community to learn and begin to plant in their own homes! ROWAN’s hope is to equip and empower the entire community which will in turn have a greater impact on all those in Mawanga and beyond!

*Read more about Joy's journey into Mawanga and the heart of ROWAN here.

Remember that one verse that says to never look down on those who are young? Well, ROWAN has learned the full meaning of those words after receiving 1000 Singapore dollars from the students of Fairfield School for our orphans' uniforms. The students pictured above, along with their kind teacher, Sheena Sutherson, held a fundraiser. For eight hours they toiled in the kitchen, cooking yummy chocolate baked goods and then sold the fruits of their labor to friends, neighbors and family. Because of those young students, our HOPE metre increased significantly--and more than thirty of our orphans will have uniforms for school this year. Inspiring, to say the least!

Want to hold a fundraiser of your own? Go for it! You can email ROWAN for support, ideas and details at info@loveROWAN.com.

Want to come alongside these students and donate to make another orphan's school year? Click here!

For the second year in a row, ROWAN children received Samaritan's Purse boxes full of toys! Boys and girls immediately ripped open the tape and started rummaging through the unknown shapes and sizes of gadgets, calculators, hats, toothbrushes, bibles, baby dolls, play-doh, and sweets. The laughing and smiles in the room were simply breathtaking.

Watching it all take place, ROWAN team members realized that the saying is true: It is truly better to give than to receive.

If you make a Samaritan's Shoebox every year, keep it up! Tangible blessings like these keep our children's hope very much alive.

Our ROWAN children are in great hope of clothes right now! You can make their day—and even their school year—by donating a full uniform (shirt, shorts, socks and shoes) for $40, or any other amount you’d like!

NOTE: The above figure is updated on a weekly basis.

Donate Full Uniform - $40

Donate Any Amount

ROWAN conducted an HIV seminar created by CUAHA: Churches United Against HIV and AIDS. Staff member David Wafula and two other trainers facilitated the 60 community leaders from the region. There was a total of 17 Chapters that were spread across 3 days--from advocacy to compassion, leadership to church involvement and empowerment. According to the statistic, 300 Ugandans are infected by HIV and 170 die of AIDS EVERY DAY. Therefore, it is essential to share and have the knowledge of HIV/AIDS across the country.

It was a unique seminar where villagers talked openly--even the women spoke freely about how to protect oneself against HIV/AIDS and how it can be transmitted. At the end of the seminar, certificates were given out to the participants, but on one condition! Each participant must go out and help one person within their own community living with HIV/AIDS.

ROWAN couldn't be more proud to have hosted such an enlightening and successful event.

A local Ugandan student named Irene offered to spend her internship with ROWAN.  She is finishing her Masters in Bible Counseling and has a heart to serve in rural communities-especially with people living with HIV/AIDS. Within two weeks Irene managed to run seminars on hygiene & sanitation,  and purity & culture for over hundreds of youth and women in the region.

One of the biggest needs ROWAN faced was organizing all 120 members living with HIV into sub-groups.  With the local staff, Irene managed to organize all members into zones with zone leaders. These zones are across 15 villages in the region!

Her achievements included:

• To equip ROWAN beneficiaries with problem solving skills
• To group ROWAN beneficiaries into small groups for easy and perfect work
• To  help them choose a leader for themselves
• To make God  supreme in our sessions

As Kelsey Young conducted Irene's exit interview, Irene concluded by saying, "Kelsey, my heart is in Mawanga. I love ROWAN and if I could work there permanently, I would start tomorrow."

Thank you Irene for making a lasting impact in the community, and thank you ROWAN for leaving a lasting impact within Irene.

Greetings in Jesus’ mighty name. My heart is filled with joy and gratitude. I write to express my inner most feelings of joy and gratitude for the unreserved love and care for me, my family, Mawanga church and ROWAN.

In Africa, we have got a saying that “he who does not appreciate is a witch,” and I would be the worst one if I do not say thank you for your spiritual, social, moral, material and financial support you have rendered me.

This is my word of encourage to you, my friends. I have a belief that giving is a spiritual investment, not an expense. For the bible says,

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 2 Corinthians 9:6 (NIV)

God often compares giving to sowing seeds. Like a farmer, if you go out and sow a bunch of seeds, you'll get a bunch of plants. If you only sow a few seeds, you'll only get a few plants. And if you sow no seeds, you'll get no plants. No farmer considers sowing seeds an expense. He sees it as an investment. He knows that if you don't buy seed, you won't have a farm.

When a farmer plants seeds, he's excited about it; he's hopeful about it. He has faith because he puts one corn seed in the ground and expects to get a whole corn stalk full of more seed than he put in. He looks forward to the harvest because he knows he's going to be blessed. I, as Pastor Paul, say that whatever you sow, you are going to reap. You will reap more than you sow every time; you will always reap in a different season than you sowed.

God bless you,

Pastor Paul Nyende