Peace & Hope by Emma Beams

Hello everyone! Quick update: We all made it home safely and on time on Saturday afternoon! Thank you for all your prayers for safe travel. Thankfully, none of the tech outages affected our flights. Even though we are back, there will still be a few more blog updates just to fill you in on some things that we just weren't able to tell you about while we were in Uganda due to time. So today, Emma is going to tell you about our day at Mirembe House and Suubi Home, which (at least for me) was one of the most impactful days of the trip. Take it away, Emma! 

Mirembe = Peace

Suubi = Hope

On July 11, the women on our team had the opportunity to visit the Mirembe House and Suubi Home that reside on the Youth for Christ campus. The Mirembe House is a crisis pregnancy home for girls between the ages of 11-19. There they are cared for and fed, go to therapy, and work towards reconciliation with their families, all while preparing to give birth to their babies. The Suubi Home is a home for young mothers. They are given the opportunity to learn either tailoring or hairdressing, opening up doors for their own careers and providing a way for them to make money. Each of these homes faithfully pours out the love of God to each girl and works to bring them closer to Christ. 

So after two days of school visits, the eight women on our team set out for the Youth for Christ campus. Our arrival there was different from the school visits - no cheering and clapping that the children had welcomed us with. Instead, we were greeted by Sylvia's calming presence. Sylvia works in both homes and her motherly and kind impact is evident. She invited us into Mirembe House first, where we were introduced to the 12 pregnant girls currently living in the home (the 13th had gone into labor the night before and was in the hospital). 

The youngest of the girls was 14 while the oldest was 17. It feels odd to sit across from girls that are the same age as us, but live in completely different realities. Instead of preparing for their next year of high school or getting ready to go off to college, they are getting ready to give birth and raise children - something that seems an impossible task for someone my age or younger. Three of the girls kindly shared their testimonies with us. While the Piehl family had spent time with Mirembe girls in previous years, the rest of us could never have been prepared for the stories we were told. We had been told not to cry as they were sharing their stories, almost as a way of helping the girls not to cry or make them feel their stories are too heavy to share. So we all sat there with tears in our eyes. If it was that hard to listen to their stories, how devastating it must have been to live them! 

Each story included a sentence that greatly stood out to me: "My life is over."

As the last girl wept, unable to finish her testimony, Chan (a social worker at Mirembe House and our translator for the day) began to sing the somber, yet beautiful chorus to "It is Well with My Soul". Slowly, we all joined her. Chan knows and loves each one of these girls tremendously. Not only was her singing a source of comfort, but a prayer over the young girls as she collected herself, sat up, and joined us in singing. This song was not yet a praise to the Lord for saving them from the hardships and storms they were currently facing, but a prayer for each girl - that they would see how God is meeting and redeeming them in the middle of the storm. A prayer that they would know and have peace in the fact that God's plan for each of them is bigger than they could ever imagine. Although they may not see it now, these girls' lives are not over, but are just beginning. Each of them were dead in their sin and will see and know new life through Christ - a more beautiful, joyous, safe, and whole life than they could ever dream. 

Mirembe House Girls

After this time, Wendy spoke with us all about choices. For many of the girls, their pregnancies were not the result of relationships or an accident - their own choice was taken from them. The choice to keep the baby alive though, was a hard one. The choices Wendy has made and they will have to make to be good mothers will be hard, but her encouragement to them to continue making good choices and to trust the Lord was beautiful to hear.

Handing out prayer shawls made by the CCPC knitting group

The knowledge of being saved through Christ is evident in Suubi Home. Each girl has found rest, contentment, and joy in Christ alone. They led us in a song praising the Lord, shared how He has saved each of them, and rejoiced in the education that is such a gift to them. Needless to say, the joy shown in the Suubi Home was overflowing. Christ has walked through their hardships with them, bringing each mother to a place where they love and value their child more than they ever thought possible and they have hope when they look toward their future.

Suubi Home Girls

Each Suubi Home girl was under twenty years old, had never finished school, and had a child to take care of, and yet had grateful and forgiving spirits. Suubi Home is truly a testament to the Lord fully sustaining them, with the help of YFC, despite their situations. The girls are all learning a skill that will support them and their children when they leave while also being discipled by people like Sylvia and Chan. Wendy gave an incredible talk here on forgiveness and handing over your fear and anxiety to the Lord. 

Every girl in the Suubi Home was in the same situation as the Mirembe girls are currently in and I have been praying that the Lord will make their redemption clear to them and fill them with joy and hope. I pray that He will calm their souls with joy and hope. I pray that He will calm their souls and show them that He has a plan for both them and their children. I have also been praising the Lord that He has placed each girl in Mirembe and Suubi and have given them incredible new mothers and mentors through YFC. 

Youth for Christ has opened the door to that life for these women. It is so incredible to see the heart that YFC has for each of them and the way that they help them in every step along the way. It was such an honor to serve with, donate toward, and support the YFC team even as we just got to meet a small rotation of the hundreds of young mothers they have helped. 

Christ is so merciful, forgiving, and loving and I am so grateful that He has brought the girls and staff of Suubi Home and Mirembe House into the same family as you and me, uniting us through Him. 

Thanks for reading!