December 2025 Newsletter
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the equator!
It doesn’t ever really feel like Christmas around here. Sweating and getting tan lines during the Christmas party, no Christmas lights or trees anywhere, business as usual even on Christmas Day. But, then, I always step back and see that it’s so much more meaningful and slow here, not over commercialized and hectic. It’s special and sweet to see these guys light up over the simplicity.
We had the sweetest Christmas party on the 22nd, for almost 300 street kids, and what a sweet blessing it was. Time for the boys to spend hours with us off of the streets, hear the word of God and the true meaning of Christmas. Time for them to sober up for a few hours, eat too much food, get new clothes and shoes, and just feel at peace. Time for us to sing praise and worship to our Father, dance, and play games. Time to eat cake, tell jokes, and laugh together. A time to reflect on what God has done in each of our lives over the last year. A time to hear testimonies of the many boys we have treated medically throughout the year and how they all know our home is a safe place to come in any situation. A time to rest, let loose, and let God move. I left with an overflowing heart that day. It’s always one of my most favorite things we do all year! It takes a lot of planning and preparation, but it was one of the smoothest events we have ever had this year, thanks to my amazing staff and boys who have been through the program helping control the chaos. Myself and one of my right hand boys searched and confiscated all drugs at the gate, as we are a drug free zone. For once no one argued or fought us, they just laughed at the large collection I had by the end of the day. We burned the alcohol and fuel and opened up and dumped the marijuana and opium down the pit latrine. No one fought, for once! Some were even sober by the end of the day and said it felt nice to be sober, that they had not been sober in as long as they could remember! Everything was ENOUGH! When we thought food was going to be over, there was even enough for most to have small take away bags of food for supper! When we thought clothes and shoes would be over, the last pair reached the last boy, in the perfect size and fit. God provided above and beyond what we expected that day and it was the most perfect Christmas party for our guys!
On Christmas Day I got to enjoy a meal with the ones who live at the house, the ones recovering there, and the ones on holiday from school, who stay there. Also another sweet, special day for me, and for them. One even commented that he’d never had a sit down family meal, and it made his day!
What’s happening?
We had 15 little guys go to a youth camp with Joy and Ben’s church the first week of December, and they had a blast! Most of them even asked me if they could go back the next day instead of waiting until next year! They had church services as a whole group each of the 5 days, plus small group devotionals and discussions. They also learned about cultural etiquette, hygiene, and respect for parents and elders. They all came back excited to share the Bible verses they learned and the many things the camp had to offer! We are blessed to be able to send them there for a few days every December and can’t wait for next year!
30 of our big guys also went to camp, and are currently still there. Their camp is typically 6 weeks, but due to elections in January, it’s cut back to 4 weeks this year. They do 10 days of Bible boot camp, learning teamwork, leadership, scripture, and evangelism before being sent out into villages to evangelize and help the community. We always see a great change in many of the guys who go and can’t wait for them to get back and tell us all about it!
I celebrated another trip around the sun and turning 41 also, this month. My birthday was the day we took our big guys to camp, but the whole week leading up to that day I made cupcakes for everyone to enjoy. Since most of our guys don’t know their birthdays or even their ages, I decided a couple of years ago to make my birthday week also theirs! So all week long we eat cake and celebrate all of our birthdays! It’s a really sweet time and the boys look forward to that week all year! Joy and Ben bought me one of my favorite Ugandan snacks for camp drop off, then after I took a nap and a sweet friend took me for a pedicure and a late lunch. It was a bit of a busy morning, but ended up being a pretty relaxing day overall!
Christmas Eve and Christmas morning I spent some time with a few friends, celebrating, before going to the project to hang out with my boys and celebrate with them. We didn’t have our usual weekly programs Christmas week because of so many being gone and allowing Joy and Ben time to go to their villages to spend time with their families. It gave me some time to get caught up on some admin stuff and also have a little bit of laziness and rest! Something I don’t get much of around here.
We had a parent meeting for all of our students and guardians at the beginning of the month. At the end of the school year we gather all of the parents and students and discuss issues that we had, how we can all improve on helping our students, and expectations for the next year. We have worked with the parents and guardians, especially of the little kids, trying to improve the family dynamic, as well as create a healthy environment for the student during holidays.
We started learning how to make some crafts before camps and continued until Christmas, with the ones who aren’t still at camp. We will be continuing that program after the New Year, as well, especially when the older guys are back from camp, mid Jan. The boys are loving this activity, so far as well! They keep talking about how fun it is to do things like this. Hopefully in the future we can add more programs and skills like this, as well. Currently we are working on learning how to make various types of paper bead bracelets, necklaces, and earrings, plus liquid soap (which we use for cleaning, here). In the future I would love to add leatherwork and shoe repair to our program.
The trauma healing course was going great before camp, and once everyone is back we will also pick that back up and finish it before going back to school. Camp lets out on Jan 10th and school resumes on Feb 1st.
I donated blood on the side of the street again this month too. My first year here, I encountered a young boy who was literally on his death bed, simply because there was no blood in Jinja for him and he desperately needed it. I ended up driving him about an hour away to a friend’s clinic, where they had his blood type, and after that I vowed to always give blood when I could. After encountering this life or death situation in Uganda, I began searching on how to donate here. Typically it’s in an open air tent on the side of the main road in town, probably less than hygienic, but God has protected me thus far. In Uganda, women can only give blood every 4 months because the stigma is since a woman has a monthly menstrual cycle she doesn’t have enough blood to give every 8 weeks as the Red Cross states. Men can still give every 4 weeks here, just not women. Another Ugandan thing I just don’t get.
What’s to come?
Our big boys who are at Teen Mission Bible Camp have to be picked up on January 10th, then elections are the following week on the 15th. We won’t have our typical programs that week, so that our boys aren’t put in danger trying to come to us. Joy and Ben also both have to travel to their villages to vote, however we will still be open for any needs that arise during that period. We have already been getting updates from the president that all communication will be shut off the week of elections, and possibly the week before and after, as well. This means total black out around here. No internet, no cell service, no communication. As I’ve been talking to others who have been here longer than me, the length is always the unknown, but the fact that it’ll be a black out is certain. Please continue to lift us up in prayer during this season of unrest.
Our University student, Paul, goes back to school, in Kampala, the week after elections and we will greatly miss him! He’s been such a blessing at the house during this holiday period and has led some amazing discipleship groups with some of the boys and preached some amazing lessons during bible study. He’s a huge blessing to all of us in this ministry and we thank God for his life changing testimony!!
On the 1st of February, both primary and secondary students report back to school, with the exception of the 3 candidates who tested at the end of this school year. (They don’t get to report back until their test results are back, which could be as late as March.) We have 48 going to school this year and are still praying for all of their fees to be covered. Currently we have 38 totally accounted for, for first term at least, 26 totally accounted for, for the entire year.
I’m also going to be planning a trip for February, to go back up into Northern Uganda, for some more home visits. Last year in January we went to the far northeast corner of the country, at the South Sudan border, and it was such a sweet time. This time we will be going to the central part of Northern Uganda for 5 boys and pray it will be just as sweet of a journey. We try to hard to be intentional in finding family and at least reconnecting long lost relationships. it doesn’t always mean that the boy goes back home to live, because often that’s not healthy, especially with older boys,, but it does mean there’s a rekindled relationship that can continue to grow. Then, we see the boys and parents wanting to engage further down the road.
Thank you
2025 Medical recap:
Over 360 street connected youth have come through our gates for medical care this year alone, in turn, leading them to hear the gospel and be prayed for, while seeing first hand the love of Christ.
-6 had life saving surgical procedures
-342 positive cases of Malaria treated, which could have been deadly without treatment
-20 cases of positive typhoid treated
-many skin rashes/diseases treated
-150 cases of Ulcers, with and without H-Pylori, treated
-48 dental procedures covered
-2 severe allergic reactions treated and recovered
-593 cases of wounds treated, 23 which were severe and required IV antibiotics and daily wound care for extended periods, with full recovery
--And many other miscellaneous diseases and medical problems treated.
Thank YOU! Thank you for praying for us. Thank you for donating, so that we can provide this great need to these young men, that otherwise isn’t available to them.
Thank you to the seed sowers who have donated to help us purchase land soon, and we would be ever so grateful if others feel led to also give toward this great need so that we can purchase outright and not have a loan to pay. We’ve been trying to get estimates over this last month of land prices in town, and they’ve skyrocketed since we last searched in 2021. Once I get a better idea, after elections, I’ll be sending out a greatest need email.
Thank you to those who donate to help us keep our boys in school, and add new students every year. Something that the students and families have given up on because of the great expense.
Thank you to those who give faithfully to help us continue to do daily bible studies and feeding projects, keep boys housed, and provide both basic and life saving medical care for each and every street connected child/young adult we encounter.
These seemingly simple acts of love are life changing for the guys we work with. They now have a hope and a future in Jesus and in life in general, and for that we are grateful.
Giving blood on the side of the road in front of a petrol station while bodas and cars drive by!
<---A typical lunch at the project for me
Birthday week cupcakes!
chickens on bodas and people on cows in trucks
Youth Camp 2025
Abraham got a new business!
The most beautiful rain lilies that come after a big rain!
Waiswa and the Christmas chicken
Student/Parent meeting 2025
Paul doing homework on his holiday
Surgery #6 of the year, #17 total
Teen Mission drop off
Experience Hope Ministries Christmas, 2025
This is Willy ---->
This is Dominic --->
This is a letter from Willy, the young man who just had surgery this month on the 15th. I’ve typed it out on the next page for easier reading.
“My (name) is Mugisha Willy,
I am 14 (years old) and Musoga by tribe and I have been on street since childhood. Life on street has been hard especially gettting food, most of us have to make our own ways to get what to eat. I could get food from the rubbish pits, trash, or begging leftovers from hotels. We also faced a serious problem of treatment when sick, whereby some of my friends died of sickness, poison and some got accidents without treatment. For example, myself, I have been suffering from hydrocele where I experienced a lot of pain. I thank God I got treatment through EHM and now am well cared (for). Shelter too is hard to get because everyone knows we want to steal and the only solution is to sleep on street verandas or (in the) bush with a lot of coldness and during nights fellow gangsters could rob us. Like what we have picked throughout the day, for example bottles, scrap, ‘and’ sometimes little money we have begged from people.
I want to thank God for EHM for saving (me) from the bad life of the street where I had no hope. I am grateful to God and my guardians that now I live a good life of family without using drugs. (I am) living together with others and having Bible studies with daily prayers. I am learning a lot every day because (I am) cared (for) well. I want to study and become an automotive engineer. Thank you so much, God bless you.”
This is a letter from Dominic, the young man who just had surgery on Nov 22. I’ve typed it out on the next page for easier reading and clarification where needed.
“My name is Okongo Dominic.
I am 22 years old a Ugandan from Pakwash district. I have been on street for 7 year(s).
Street life has been hard for me because of money challenges I have experienced. Finding a safe place to sleep was a constant problem. ( I ) Could sleep in bush with no protection espeically from rainy coldness and insect bites. I could sleep in sacks besides the roads getting avoid (trying to avoid) of being beaten by police on verranders (verandas).
Getting daily food wasn’t easy. I could look for it in rubbish pits/trash, begging from hotels leftovers. I could steal. I was arrested by the police and kept in prison for one year after stealing scrap.
I suffered from hernia for a long time with pains due to street life. After my imprisonment, I had nowhere to go for a living and ended up still on the streets. Maintaining hygiene became a serious problem daily without bathing. I was on the streets with completely no hope.
I want to thank EHM and mummy Tara for giving me a chance to change my life and for showing God’s love to me. Thank you so much. You took me to the hosptial and took care of me with such love. I was treated well from hernia by EHM after suffering with a lot of pain in my life. I was also discovered to be having appendicitis that almost took my life if delayed and that proved to me that God loves me. I now live well and (am) surrdunded (surrounded) by people who genuinely love me and show me the right path. Am learning how to love God and stay with others throuy (through) daily bible studies with prayers every day.
I want to be an important person in life. God bless you so much, Amen.”
How can you help?
Prayer requests:
Pray for safety for myself, my staff, and my boys as crime and violence continue to escalate here and the election is quickly approaching (Jan 15th).
Pray for our guys who are still at camp as they evangelize and spread the Gospel.
Pray for our students who still have another month of holiday, to make wise choices.
Pray for God to continue to give us wisdom and resources to help the many many medical cases we continue to have dropped at our gate. For both physical and spiritual healing for the boys and strength to not go back to the streets
Prayers for the many young men we reached during our Christmas party. That seeds have been planted and curiosity has been stirred.
Prayers that God puts the best fit of land/housing for the best price in our path, with no legal issues along the way so we can have our permanent ministry home.
Pray for more seed sowers who can help partner with us to do the work that GOD has called us to. It’s only by HIS will that we are here doing what we are doing and we need financial partners to do this work. Tangible things such as a safe room, food, school fees, and medical care show these young men that they’re not given up on, like so many people here tell them. Education and Medical are typically our biggest expenses and both are life changing for these young men.
How is God calling you to partner with us?
Through prayer? Through financial giving? We believe that even as just one of these young men changes, there’s many more ready to start a new life also, due to the testimony of the one. God calls some of us to go, some of us to stay, some of us to give and some of us to pray. Where do you fit in? Please consider joining us in bringing hope and healing to these precious young men! So many in their community have given up on them, but we know that God has called them to more!
TAX DEDUCTIBLE CHECKS mailed to:
GoSendMe Global
PO Box 913106
Sherman, TX 75091
(Make checks out to “GoSendMe Global” and include a note with the check- but not written directly on the check- that it is for me, Tara Henson, Uganda)
VENMO: @Tara-Henson-1
PAYPAL: @TaraHenson
ZELLE: thens1213@gmail.com
How to Connect
EMAIL: thens1213@gmail.com
Isaiah 1:17 (CSB)
“Learn to do what is good.
Pursue justice.
Correct the oppressor.
Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause.”
