Over the course of the first week, we held a leadership day where various leaders from the prison, children and health ministries shared their experiences. We also held our second Village Health Workers graduation ceremony were 49 Village Health Workers qualified in VHT and Community Based Health Care training.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING DAY

Our leadership day was very exciting to see as I asked each of the leaders to share from the prison coordinator to the local Pastors, Children's leader, Health workers and Hospital Visitation team. We prayed for each department and gave time for testimony. It was enlightening as everyone could see the integration of all the projects and sense of wholeness to the vision from meeting spiritual to practical needs. There was no time left for me to preach!

We are now working with over 300 leaders in Gulu and Amoro district and are beginning to see the wave spread to other parts of northern Uganda. The prison work has extended from 8 to 15 prisons and includes the setting up of prison fellowships outside of the 8 largest prisons. This is providing ongoing support for ex inmates and links them to local churches.

Two months ago the first juvenile offenders unit, attached to Gulu prison, was opened for those under 18 years. Two of the Sunday school teachers will begin to visit the centre and spend time with the children. A children's evangelism event was held in November and the response to the grace of God was truly encouraging.

Seven teachers in Gulu central prison who were formerly incarcerated, and who became Christians, are now teaching inmates basic adult literacy and primary school education. We have had approximately 85 learners and 15 have now graduated at P7 level (primary school). I think that is what they call rehabilitation!

GOAT PROJECT

The growth of the goat project has been encouraging. We had our first set of Boer-cross goats born in September, followed soon after by the second pair in October. We have 8 bee hives occupied but the African bees are the wildest on earth so you need to visit them at night as they don't like being disturbed. We are expecting our next batch of honey by February and are looking to begin to sell our produce on the local market.

LITERACY & SEWING CLASSES

The literacy and sewing schools have made steady progress. The sewing garments, in the opinion of a local Pastor, are of very good quality and the atmosphere of the school is very personal and communal. All our projects including the Agape child support programme have a beautiful sense of family and intimacy which makes them far more than a mere programme.

The literacy class attached to a local church is the most successful of all the classes and we will be meeting with the Pastors to look at extending this programme to more churches as there is a need for literacy in the local churches so that people can read their Bible and to draw the local community to the church.

HEALTH TRAINING

We also held our second certification day for the Village Health Workers and there were 49 in total who qualified in VHT (Village Health Training) and Community Based Health Care training. We had representation from the local authorities, health department and even the Mayor's office. All the workers are from local churches and will be developing health teams in the church to begin community health over the next 6 months. The local Government has been quite blown away with this because of their difficulties in implementing this previously. They will be training another 10 or more of our church based health workers at the end of October at their own cost!

SITE WORK

Work has now been completed on the fencing of the 5 acre plot in Layibi; the water Borehole is a tremendous asset to the community who have been trained in water and sanitation, the Agape family are progressing well with all the usual challenges of growing up; the expansion of the children's ministry is also fantastic.

IN APPRECIATION

I would like to extend my appreciation to all our supporters and team members. This work is not small and continues to grow. There is a desperate need to facilitate all aspects of the vision; in particular the health work and ministry in 2010 as we focus on training local people who will then be able to carry the vision.

Kerryann, a paediatric nurse, joined us for the first time. She immersed herself in the vision and work and did a tremendous job. Brad, our project co-ordinator continues to plough the field faithfully. It is rare to find a person so faithful in such a difficult work and who is willing to completely relate to, and be with, the local people. Rachel, the UK child care co-ordinator, is absolutely committed to the children and her attention to detail exemplary.

What more could we ask for? Three of our mission partners, Phil, Annie and Jennifer, visited 15 prisons during a two week visit in September. Matthew 25 is very clear about God's heart to visit the prisoners. It is rough, tough trekking in difficult conditions that few would do. They have done it with love and commitment to the inmates. They are a gift to me personally and to the work as it is not possible for me to visit all the prisons; I honour them for it. Duncan and Rosalind, a married couple with a keen interest in business and skills development initiated the sewing school at the Layibi Sanctuary in 2007. They spent time visiting the goat project, sewing school and site in July. They are top draw people who have excelled in life. I greatly appreciate their humility in spearheading and facilitating what they have done in Gulu and serves as a testament to their quality.

Dr Liam Chapman