July 2025 Newsletter
What’s happening?
I’ve now been back from my missionary retreat in South Africa for a week, and such a blessed time it was. I had never heard of Thrive Ministries, until a few months ago, but highly recommend it for any woman serving in missions, anywhere around the world! Thrive’s mission is “to journey with women ministering overseas by transformative experiences, and authentic one-on-one relationships, to replenish them as they invest in Kingdom work”. And that, they did! My friend, Betty, and I traveled down to Cape Town a couple of days before the conference began to sight see and begin our little respite trip, then spent 4 very intentional and fruitful days and nights being poured into and filled up in such beautiful ways, by the Thrive coordinators and volunteers. There were around 75 women who attended and I don’t know of a single one who didn’t leave refreshed and renewed. We had twice daily worship sessions, beautiful lectures and teachings on topics such as Rest, Remembering, Resetting, and Revival, self care treats provided by the amazing volunteers who came (pedicures, haircuts, massages, counseling, etc), and small group sessions with very intentionally and purposefully put together groups and leaders. After the retreat was over, Betty and I stayed another 4 days with our friend who blessed us with the trip, and got to sight see with her, in her own country! We were able to spend so much time in God’s beautiful creation, exploring such a beautiful country, and got to see the African penguins and multiple humpback whales up close and personal. We both left South Africa, to come back to Uganda, filled up in every way.
My team held everything together, here in Uganda, while I was gone, and I didn’t have to deal with any issues that they couldn’t handle, while I was away. I left when Nico still had a pretty large wound, post op, but Joy carefully followed the wound care regimen that I left for her, and by the time I returned, his wound was almost closed, finally! Praises for that! We still have a little bit remaining to treat, but it’s greatly improved at least!
A couple days after I returned I was also able to do some therapy upgrades on 2 of the boys! Kanyama finally got to come out of his walking boot and is wearing his new shoes and doing amazing in therapy to regain strength and coordination in his leg after his nasty break. He’s beyond stoked and couldn’t wait to wear trousers and his new shoes to church, Sunday, and testify of what God had done in his life over the last several months! He told me he can’t wait to be able to walk around more and go share of God’s goodness around town and show people how he’s changed. Jackson also was able to come out of his long leg cast and into the boot that I removed from Kanyama. We started therapy with that and crutches and he’s also doing amazing with that. He was also excited to go to church this week and testify of his healing both physically and spiritually after his accident in April. Since nowhere is handicapped accessible here, while the boys have been non-weight bearing we’ve just had to do church from home because it’s hard to get them in and out of places. This week was the first week everyone got to go to actual church again, together! Praises for that!
The week before I went to South Africa, we had Visitation for our primary students, as well. Everyone has drastically improved this term, except for one student, but we are so proud of them all! The one student who is still struggling has some learning disabilities and developmental delays that all continue to become more prominent as time goes on, so we are trying to find him a more appropriate school for next year. Special needs programs/schools are very few and far between here, because of the stigma behind disability. More often than not, disability is looked at as a curse and people are either abused or abandoned. We are going to 2 schools that I’ve been told about, outside of our area, within the next few weeks to investigate and see if they will be a good fit for him. Please pray we can find a better place for him so that he can thrive and grow.
We also met with the Landlord of our project and a police friend of mine, before I left. Long story short, the landlord lied to me about having sold the place, expecting me to offer a big sum of money to “keep” the place. He should know me better than that by now, since we’ve been renting with him for over 4 years, but generally the expectation of locals is that westerners will throw money at a problem to “fix” it, and while many actually do that, he got the wrong person with me! The police officer made him sign an agreement he has to give me 90 days written notice when he actually sells it and any further threats will bring punishment to him. It is on the market to be sold, but we are taking it month by month for now, and still searching in the process for a new place. Lies and deceit for personal gain are daily battles here.
What’s to come?
Bosco and Kodet, 2 of our vocation students, got their driving permits from their course this past week and will be testing in 2 weeks for their course certificates. Soon after testing they will begin their 3 month internship. Both of these young men have had such drastic life changes since the moment I met them and we can’t wait to see them thrive in their chosen professions! Please pray with us as they take this big test and begin the final leg of their schooling journey for graduation and new careers!
All of our primary and secondary school students will be coming home for their 2nd term holiday, this month, in August. We will bring back the teacher we used last holiday for our primary students 2-3 times per week, and are working on a program for our secondary students as well, on top of the regular bible studies they will all attend. If we can keep them occupied with empowering things at the project house, it keeps the temptations of hanging out with bad friends and habits out of mind. This school year is flying by and the last term will be here before we know it.
We had a pretty significant protest in Jinja last week, just before I got back, and the presidential candidates have been coming closer and closer to our city for their campaigns. So far we are at least getting warnings of when and where things will be happening and when certain officials will be coming, so we know to stay away from certain places. We pray that we continue to get those notices so that we can inform the boys and help try to keep everyone safe. We did have 1 boy badly beaten at a preliminary MP election while I was gone, but he’s out of the hosptial now and improving slowly. He ended up with a skull fracture, brain bleed, and broken ribs. This election season is not only for the Presidential candidates, but also all major officials across the country.
I’m currently in the middle of preparing for an audit for the NGO, as well. Every year you have to submit records and proof of what you’re doing and how you are empowering the economy here, in order to keep your NGO, even though it’s approved for 5 years. This is my first audit since the NGO got approved last year, so prayers for wisdom in this are greatly appreciated. More often than not, bribes are what keep you going, but I don’t believe in that, so I pray for honest reviewers as well in this process.
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!
Sugarcane trucks constantly flipping from speeding and being overloaded
Primary School Visitation Day
Back from SA in time to give blood again!
Joy doing Nico’s wound care
Alvin’s new barber salon up and running finally
Kanyama out of the boot finally!
Capetown for Women’s missionary Thrive Retreat
Community and communion with other global worker women in South Africa!
Thrive’s leader, Lori. Such a sweet blessing
Jackson out of his cast and into the walking boot
Our small group and volunteers at Thrive
Betty, myself, and Savannah (who is also serving in Uganda, in Entebbe, but we met her at Thrive)
Betty and I sightseeing with our sweet friend, Sue, who blessed us with this trip! <->
So many seals
Beautiful Table Mountain
Can you help?
I will be heading stateside in October for a little over a month to do fundraising for the next year. During this time I’ll be in Tennessee mostly, but will also fly to Jacksonville, Florida (Oct 21-29) and possibly Ohio again. I’m also willing to travel other places but my own personal funds are limited on long distance travel. I’m also in need of a few things during my time stateside and ideas/help with fundraisers.
I will need to borrow a car to get around while I’m visiting. (**Possibly have this covered, but will not know for sure until closer to time**)
Does anyone have any connections with businesses, coffee shops, restaurants, etc who may be willing to do a fundraising night where part or all of the proceeds can go to our ministry here in Uganda to support the young men we work with?
I would also love to come share with others what God is doing here. If you have a church or small group, or even a group of friends who would love to hear more about the ministry and what we do, I can arrange it!
If anyone has ideas or wants to connect regarding any of these things, please email me thens1213@gmail.com. Also feel free to please share my newsletters or email with listening ears who want to support/pray for missions.
How can you help?
Prayer requests:
Pray for a new project house, within budget and centrally located, sooner than later.
Pray for healing of hearts, souls, minds, spirits, and physical healing for all of my current and future patients to come. Medical care has proven to be a huge gateway for drastic change for so many young men recently.
Prayers for the yearly audit for the NGO and honest reviewers who will do the right thing without bribes.
Continued prayers for my work permit to be processed with no more delays or problems.
Pray for safety for myself, my team, and my boys as we are officially in the season of rallies and campaigning for all elected officials.
Pray for wisdom for myself and my team as we work with the street connected young men. Trauma, survival, and past abandonment are thick chains to break.
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. Education and Medical are typically our biggest expenses and both are life changing for these young men. We spend about $19,000USD on school fees/requirements per YEAR for 40 students and approximately $1000-$1300 USD per MONTH or more on medical care.
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.”
