January 2025 Newsletter
Lasting Changes
If you follow me on facebook, you saw part of this message earlier this week, but regardless, I want to emphasize it again.
True change comes from Christ. And, true earthly change is a PROCESS, NOT a handout! Let me repeat that again.....TRUE change is a PROCESS, NOT a handout! Many people think that giving someone something, changes their lives, and maybe it does for a moment in time, but, true sustainable change doesn’t happen overnight. God has always led me and my team to work toward the sustainability of change in these young men. Unfortunately, I will say, that’s most definitely not the easy road to take for any of us. When someone has lived a life on the streets for many years, change is hard. I mean, who am I kidding, change is hard even without living a lifetime on the streets. What’s that saying? “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and you’re feeding him for a lifetime”. This is what we try to teach to these young men. True heart change, and true life change. Sometimes the appearance of change comes in waves. We think a young man has turned his life around, then God reveals to us something that’s hidden behind closed doors. Or even in the opposite extreme, we think someone is too far gone, and they come in one day and it clicks and they have the most drastic heartfelt change. What I do know is that every young man that walks in the doors of Experience Hope Ministries is exposed to seeds of change. Whether we see the fruit of that seed that was planted, or not, is up to God, himself. Sometimes that’s hard. Sometimes we wonder if we made a difference at all. We ask all the questions of what if, and why and how, and sometimes we don’t get answers. At the end of the day, what we can say, is we were obedient to what God called us to. Meeting these young men where they are, in any situation, loving them as sons of the one true King, and pouring into them in whatever time we have with them. But, ultimately, trusting that God brought them to us for a reason, and trusting that HE can and will change them. Providing proper medical and dental care are HUGE vessels that lead to change. Providing educational opportunities leads to long term sustainable change. Providing a safe space to rest, study, bathe, wash clothes, and eat a warm meal leads to heart change and opened hearts for further change. Change isn’t easy, but when Christ is the center of the change, it becomes much easier to maintain. Just check out Kanyama, on the “What’s to come” page below! He was high as a kite from huffing fuel, got hit by a boda and sustained an open tib/fib fracture. He went through a major surgery, detox, and complications all in a matter of days. But here he is now, loving Jesus, preaching, healthy, happy, and now 3 months sober! Praise the Lord. This is WHY and this is HOW!
What’s happening?
We have officially taken back 32 of our 40 students to primary and secondary schools for 1st term of the 2025 school year. It’s always quite chaotic during back to school time with getting all of the requirements, paying all of the fees at different locations, and wrangling all of the children at once to go, but we Praise God it went off without many issues this time, all in a 2 day span. We still are waiting on test results from 5 students before they can go back because the governement hasn’t released the scores yet, then the other 3 are going to vocation school at the end of the month. Everyone was so excited to hear they could go back to school, so thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts for the donations that help make things like this possible for these young men! Education is something that’s often given up on here because it’s expensive and no one can afford it. Yet, without education, good jobs are scarce, and it’s a trickling effect leading more and more to the streets and theft trying to survive. This is one huge way we can help change the trajectory of someone’s life here in Uganda.
Just last week we had a young man come to us with a terrible wound, caused by a local hospital. If you recall, even medical care here is scarce without money to pay, so when you live on the street and do anything to survive and get a meal, having money for medical care is a joke. Robert was hit by a taxi one day while crossing the road, drunk. He couldn’t walk when he was hit, so another nearby boda took him to the local governement hospital. In all reality, he needed xrays of both legs to make sure there were no broken bones. Unfortunately, when you’re a street kid, you’re considered a throw-away, and in certain situations the medical staff will use you as a guinea pig for fun instead of doing the right thing. I think you can guess where this is going....Instead of doing simple X-rays, the doctor decided to cut his leg from mid thigh to mid shin to “check his bone to see if it’s broken”. Not only did they do an unnecessary procedure, they used a toxic cleaning agent that people wash their clothes and floors with, to clean out the wound after creating it. By the time Robert came to me, his leg was severely infected and I had to start him on heavy IV antibiotics and pain medicine. He’s now also a resident of the project with Kanyama and Nicholas while he recovers. As tragic as it is, I believe God is using these tragedies for His glory at the end of the day. This is another young man who has never wanted to change. So forced sobriety and 24hr care is where he landed after a terrible series of events. We praise God for allowing us to provide this much needed care for these young men, and we pray that in this season they see the light and they don’t ever want to go back to the darkness. So, again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for partnering with us to provide medical care, that leads to ever lasting change.
We completed the home visits to Karamoja, in far Northwest Uganda. I ended up borrowing a car so I could drive, because I just didn’t feel good about taking the bus that far. Most of the public transit vehicles drive crazy to get back and forth from point A to point B to make more money, so it’s not the safest means of transportation for sure. The drive wasn’t bad at all and actually the roads going that way are much better than the roads around here. Our visits were so sweet. Seeing the boys reunited with their families and hearing their stories again from the parent’s perspective was beautiful. Moses was so excited to show Joy and I everything and have us meet everyone. 2 of the boys ended up wanting to stay with family for a few weeks after reuniting and we were so thankful for that! Everyone was shocked at the young men their son’s had turned into and just couldn’t stop thanking God for bringing them and us to the village! I ended up coming home with 2 chickens also and Joy dug for sweet potatoes at Moses’ mama’s house. We had a few issues along the way, but overall it was a great trip! We even ran into some old boys from the project, who were very shocked to see us that side and a few family members of boys in Jinja we knew. We are grateful when we get to see full circle the work and change that God is doing in the lives of these young men!
What’s to come?
The next few weeks of February will be spent getting the remainder of the students ready for school and getting all of their supplies, as well as getting back in the groove of our regular bible studies minus the students. We also have 3 more home visits planned toward the end of the month, but these are much closer than the last ones were. Even though we often don’t know what we’re walking into, overall the visits have been beautiful blessings of redemption and renewed family dynamic. We are always praying for God’s protection along the way and praise Him for always leading us and keeping us safe as we do these visits.
I’m also super excited and counting down the days for a little respite get away to a beautiful place called Prayer Mountain, that’s just outside of Jinja City. One of my sweet friend’s sisters decided to gift me a respite weekend, and I’ll be headed there this Thursday after bible study. It’s been a chaotic 2 months between school pick up, Teen Mission bible camp, flying my fellow missionary friend home for medical care, then almost immediately turning around to come back and prepare for school. I’m finally over the jet lag and brain fog, but I’m exhausted and very ready for this time away. Prayer mountain is a sweet place of solitude and rest always. There are hiking trails, which I love, beautiful views of Lake Victoria, prayer huts and benches all over just to sit and take in God’s creation. As I spend a couple of days there, I will be in fervent prayer for wisdom, discernment, and clarity in God’s plans for Experience Hope over the next year, as well as how to best serve my team and the young men we work with. Please pray for true rest, respite, and renewal for this next season and please join me in prayer for the ministry in 2025.
Once all of the students are back to school we will also be starting businesses for the 5 boys who completed their training in November. We have been counseling them and working with them on budgets and customer service skills, even after their course, so we are excited to see another round of young men start up small businesses and begin providing for theirselves and future families! Some of the young men from the past courses have extremely successful businesses and have even added more businesses to their initial ones. From thieves to shop owners, HE CAN!
Thank you
Thank you is only a small phrase that we can say to all of you who pray for us, support us, and help us to continue the work we do with these young men. We have many challenges every day, but God continues to give us wisdom and discernment to pour into the guys we work with. Sometimes we see failure and it’s easy to get discouraged, but then God always shows us a wink of success and renews the hope we have for these young men. While there are still many who are not ready to change, there are many who can’t turn back to their old ways. We count each successful transformation a great blessing from God. Thank you for standing with us in this gap as we serve those that God has called us to work with here in Uganda. May God bless you!
Kanyama then and now. From restless nights to peaceful sleep. From starving and stealing to healthy and full both earthly and spiritually. From fuel to sobriety. GOD CAN!!!
How can you help?
Prayer requests:
Continued prayers for my work permit to be processed with no more delays or problems. What was supposed to take 3 weeks has now been in process for 3 months, but no reasons as to why.
Pray for our students who are now back in boarding school, as well as those who are soon going back. For health, safety, wisdom, and wise choices to be made.
Pray for all of our young men as they continue to grow and rehabilitate and my team as we navigate the many obstacles that we are daily surrounded with. From corrupt government to corrupt hospital, we try to be the voice and the safe space for so many situations that I can’t even begin to describe.
Pray for my respite weekend. For true rest and renewal as well as clarity and wisdom over the next year of ministry.
Pray for financial donors 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.
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.”
