Dear friends,
It is with great sadness that I open this month’s prayer update with the news that Chris Copley passed away last month following a sudden decline in her health. The news came as a shock to us all as her illness was only brief and she had of course joined Jon and Rachel on their trip to Uganda at the start of the summer. Please pray for Chris’ family, friends, and loved ones, particularly those in Uganda who are further removed from the situation and unable to grieve in person with her family. Please pray for peace for all those who knew Chris and for strength as they deal with the inevitable list of tasks that follows such news. If anyone has not heard the details of the funeral and wishes to attend then please get in touch via the methods above and these will be passed on to you, all are welcome to attend.
In other news, Frank Kyeyune is making good progress with his house. He has managed to access benefits from previous work and has used this money to buy additional cement as well as a smart phone which means he no longer has to travel long distances to an internet café which is costly and brings high risk of hackers. We join together in thanks that Frank is making good progress on his house as it has been a source of great stress for him since it was damaged by earthquakes a few years ago.
However, Frank also tells us that the rains which were due in September did not reach his area until just this week, meanings that a lot of his area is in famine. Whilst his crops appear to have mostly been successful it is now growing season in Uganda and he asks that people pray for rain for the new crops.
We also ask that you continue to join us in prayer for Uganda as a whole. The country is still experiencing a serious outbreak of Ebola which has now reached the capital city, Kampala. Martin Sebuggo updated us earlier this week that there is now a lockdown in the Mubende and Kassanda regions, similar to the level that was enforced for Covid, and there are fears in the country that this could spread. Yet it is believed that the virus reached Kampala when an individual broke the lockdown to seek healing from a traditional healer in the city and so we pray that people will respect the lockdown and that the outbreak will be brought to an end. Please continue to pray for the safety of those who live near the region, particularly our contacts in the area including Julius, Moses, Duncan and Bernard, as well as their families and loved ones.
God bless
Rachel
Frank's building work is progressing well, his matoke (savoury banana) farming can be seen in the background.
In the background here you can see the remains of Frank's old house. Currently around 11 people live here, it is only a couple of metres wide!