September 2026 Newsletter

What’s happening?

Another month has come and gone again! Man this year is flying by! September was no less chaotic, and actually, maybe even a little more than usual, as I make a list of all that’s been going on.

I left Uganda to start my journey to come stateside, for my yearly trip, on Sept 16th, but a world of events happened before I even got out of the country. Dad better have his running shoes ready for when he goes back with me in November, because it’s non stop always!

The first week of the month I took a road trip to northern Uganda for a few days. It was a wonderful and easy trip, until I started back. About 3 hours into my 6 hour journey, my brakes suddenly quit working, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Well, true to Ugandan fashion, everything is a process and it took another 6 hours to get the part from Kampala (via bus, taxi, then Boda), another hour to put it on, and then still another 3.5 hr drive to get to a safe place to sleep for the rest of the night before finishing the trek home the next day. Never a dull moment, and always an adventure.

The next week I went with a friend and picked up my Alien ID (Uganda now requires foreign nationals to have a national ID, on top of our usual work permits which already permits us to be in country). We drove through the tea fields, the sugar cane fields, and up and around village dirt, pot hole filled, roads to find this place. Just when we thought we were lost to no return there was a random compound in the middle of the sugarcane field and it was surprisingly the least painful government experience I’ve ever had in Uganda. Usually things at government offices require shutting down bribes, complying with frustrating demands, and long wait times that are usually unnecessary, but we were in and out in less than 10 minutes, with Alien ID’s in hand. We are now officially dually permitted to be in Uganda.

I also donated blood, on the side of the main road, with another friend, and a few of the boys from the project. Donating blood in Uganda has a huge negative stigma behind it because most people either think they deserve money to give anything of theirs, or that they deserve free blood/medical care if they ever need it, which is not the case in either instance. The blood banks are always lacking, and after having to search for blood more than once during my 5.5 years in Uganda, I try to give as often as I can and also encourage the boys to do so as well, using everything as teaching opportunities!

We also finished making about 1500 paper bead bracelets with the boys, for me to bring stateside to sell for fundraising and school fees. The boys, staff, and I have all really enjoyed doing this project and we’ve all improved as the days and weeks have went on. It’s one of the holiday programs that we’ve incorporated into school breaks this year to keep the kids engaged and out of trouble and also for them to be able to be a small part of what’s going on with fundraising.

Then, it was all hands on deck getting ready for back to school and prep for me leaving all within the same week. We had to do some eye appointments for some boys who said they’d been struggling with their vision. One got new glasses, the other one got eye drops to see if they’d help since his visual acuity was ok . We have a new eye center in town that has more modern equipment so the boys thought it was super fancy and had a good laugh trying on glasses and looking into the machines for their testing. Then we had to do physicals for our secondary students to get their back to school forms finished, and take a few kids to the dentist to get everything in order before they left again for boarding school for 3 months. Ben got the last minute school supplies we needed, Joy got the final uniforms, shoes, & bags repaired, Moses got all of the kids back from villages that are outside of Jinja, & once again, I’m super grateful for a great team to do ministry with!

As we were wrapping up checking off our back to school lists, we had a terrible tragedy occur at the project house, itself. One of our well known young men (Kanyama, the young man who had an open tib/fib fracture a couple of years ago, emergency surgery, and stayed at the house for a year) came to the project on Thursday for bible study. He was pretty high, which unfortunately is a common occurrence these days, slept for a while, ate lunch and hung out with the boys playing board games. That evening he asked to stay the night because he also had tested positive for malaria and we started him on treatment for that as well. The next morning about 10am, I got a call from Ivan, the project house manager, telling me that Kanyama wasn’t breathing. Kanyama had woken up earlier in the morning, ate breakfast, took his medicine, played a card game with one of the boys, and then told Ivan he wanted to take a nap, nothing unusual. However, he never woke up from that nap. We’ve never had one of the boys die at the house before so we had to navigate a lot of new processes with police, the mortuary, government officials, and family, all while mourning a young man who was like a son to us. The police did an autopsy due to the fact he died at the project, but it was pretty inconclusive. Autopsies in Uganda are not really very thorough though, and essentially they slice and dice, only to look around to rule out trauma and end up deeming everything else “natural causes”. One of the boys who was also napping in the same room at the same time, and was a very close friend of Kanyama, has had a lot of nightmares and trauma from this event. Please keep Kiiwa (chi-wa) in your prayers. We brought in a counselor who’s been working with him, but it’s been the hardest on him. While we may never know the actual cause of Kanyama’s death, we mourn the lifestyle he chose to go back to, but also are grateful that he was always willing to come back to us and be a part of our family. Not all of our success stories remain that way, which is really hard to watch and witness. But we always continue loving and welcoming the boys with open arms, no matter what choices they make, so that they know where to come for peace, love, and comfort when they’re ready.

While Joy and Ben went to the village for Kanyama’s burial, Moses and I gathered up all of the primary and secondary students and got them back to school. Sometimes that’s a bit like wrangling wild cats.....but we always get it done! Everyone is set up and ready to finish this year strong!

I also got to take another fun, yet quick, trip to a culture festival in Northeast Uganda, to the region where many of my boys come from, Karamoja. I love learning more about the various tribes and cultures in Uganda and want to be fully immersed in all of it! We had a blast watching and learning about the tribal dances, eating their local food, and watching the many activities that they put on. I even got a local style skirt and jewelry made and also got some fun sandals made from literal car tires. It was a really fun experience! Learning about where the boys come from usually makes a lot of things make a lot more sense also! I can’t wait for the next one.

The Sunday before I was supposed to leave on Wednesday, all of my flights got cancelled. Uganda has been on a worldwide Ebola ban for several months, even though our last case was cleared and Uganda was declared Ebola free in July. Due to this, several of the major airlines cancelled all flights in and out, yet failed to rebook me, and many others. I had to spend several hours on the phone with Delta to get my flights straightened out, pushing me to fly through Kenya and spend 16 hours in the plane to get to JFK. Other than that, things were fairly smooth and I got to America without too much hassle. Once I landed I had to go through Ebola screening after immigration control (again due to the fact the CDC isn’t recognizing that Uganda has been cleared for several months). That was a whole process in itself, a lot of back and forth, talking to several people with lots of the same questions over and over and a phone call from the TN department of health telling me to check in with them if I had any symptoms during a 21 day period. Ebola is one of the things that we frequently have in Uganda, is easily preventable if you use common sense and basic precautions, so I’m not worried about it ever.

Joy and Ben attended another trauma course the weekend after I arrived stateside. Both of them actually ended up writing a note of gratitude about it and the other course I sent them through last year as well. (I’ll post those on the next page) Our boys have a lot of past and current trauma, and we deal with a lot of very traumatic things as an organization, so I’m grateful that we can find things like this and provide a way for them to learn and grow more, to better serve our young men and also to take care of themselves with everything we go through. Thankful for the many connections I’ve made over the years.

What’s to come?

Joy, Ben, and Moses have done 2 of the 4 home visits for 4 new boys that will be starting school with us in 2027. Part of what we do is at least try to reconnect the boys with their families, even if we see that it’s not safe for them to stay there full time. We want the parents to be aware of where their children are and also to be a part of their lives, but we also don’t ever want to put our boys back into a harmful situation for the sake of “rehoming” as many organizations do. They will finish the other 2 before I’m back in November, but they’re a bit further away than the first ones were.

October also entails school visitation days, prayer days for candidates, and a graduation. Usually primary and secondary schools have different days for Visitation, however this term, of all terms, it's all on the same day, along with the visitation for Edwin, our sweet guy in the special needs school. Joy, Ben, and Moses will all split up and divide and conquer to get everyone represented and seen that day. Once again, thankful for a great team who are all willing to do whatever is necessary to take care of our guys. 3rd term is also testing term for all of our candidates. There are 3 major promotional tests that Ugandan education system focuses on. P7 PLE, to finish out primary school. S4 UCE, to finish out lower level secondary school. S6 UACE, to finish out upper level secondary for University. We have 8 candidates this year and because we go to Christian boarding schools, they have prayer days to pray over the students who will be testing. Joy will be going for 1 this Sunday, and the other will be in 2 weeks time for primary, as they start testing the first week in November. 3rd term is also a shorter school term due to all of the testing. Each grade leaves school when testing is finished, and all of the other students get out before everyone is finished, so they’re not a distraction to the others. Joy and Ben will also be doing a lot of finagling to get many kids back home before I’m back in November as well.

We also have 2 young men who are having their graduation ceremony from Vocational school next week. Even though they finished their program in December, already completed their internship, and now have jobs, Graduation is just once a year, so it’s a bit delayed from when they finished. They picked up their transcripts, caps, and gowns this week and sent me pics. They’re so very happy to finally be able to walk and hold their certificates. We are so very proud of these 2 young men. They now fully support theirselves, save a significant amount of money every month with me and with the bank, and are doing so well. Not every story has a happy ending in our ministry, but these little ones along the way, which are actually really huge if you see the big picture, really show us what it’s all about. I’m sad I’ll be missing this big event, but I know Joy and Ben will send me all of the pics and videos of the event!

Thank you!

Thank YOU! Thank you for praying for us and with us! Thank you for donating, so that we can provide the great needs to these young men, and families, that otherwise aren’t available to them.

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, but something so important to better increase sustainability in the community and lives of these young men..

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. Something that they can’t access otherwise.

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.

And, thank you. Thank you to those who help to support us for such a time as this and to those who pray for us regularly. God is working in mighty ways here in Uganda, and we strive to answer those calls as He leads us. Whether it’s new territory or something we see day in and day out, we continuously pray for wisdom and discernment to go where God leads, prayerfully trusting that when we step God will provide everything we need to take the next step forward.

Katonda Mulungi! (God is so good!)

America

I’m still stateside for another 5.5 weeks before heading back to Uganda. I’ll be heading to Jacksonville, FL this upcoming week, for 2 weeks, and then back to TN for my remaining time. I still have some availability in both places if anyone wants to meet and hear more about the ministry. We continue trying to put more boys in school and rehabilitate them away from street life, and none of that is possible without God allowing us the way forward. I’d love to share more!

How can you help?

Prayer requests:

• Prayers for God appointed encounters as I’m in America fundraising and visiting friends and family.

• Prayers for our boys as they continue to mourn the loss of Kanyama and the trauma that has been triggered by his death occurring at the house.

• 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.

• Pray for my team in Uganda and all they have to do, as I continue to be out of the country for another 5.5 weeks

• Prayers for all of our candidates as they prepare to take huge promotional tests, beginning this month and for all of our students to finish the 3rd term strong

• 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.”