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OUTREACH to AFRICA |
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Making a Difference One Community at a Time. |
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Outreach to Africa
P.O. Box 14486
Irvine, CA 92633
USA
(949) 477-2056
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Success Stories
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The Wheelchair Story Uganda 2004
By EVELYN KOMUNTALE
November, 2004
I take this opportunity to thank Free Wheelchair Mission and the donors who enabled us to receive 550 wheelchairs.
 The blessings started when the container was finally released to us from Uganda customs officials. I had a team of 28 American missionaries who had just finished their mission trip and on their last day to the USA. An appointment was made to present 100 chairs to the Queen Mother and King Oyo of Tooro Kingdom. (He became king as the age 3 and he is now 13 - has been featured in Who is Who in the Guinness Book of World Records). Our first recipient was  Joseph a beggar of the streets of Kampala. What a joy to see one of our guys carrying him on the back and bringing him to the palace. The team had the chance to meet the king, deliver the chairs, see Joseph receive a wheelchair from the king and pray with the entire royal family. It was a great farewell for the team and the beginning of work for me.
These 100 chairs were distributed to 5 regions of the Tooro Kingdom, Western Uganda. One night I was driving from the village to Fort Portal town, the capital in Tooro Kingdom, I saw a young boy being pushed on a wheelchair by 3 boys, stopped to say hello only to find it was one of our chairs! We now have the key to preach the Gospel in the whole Tooro kingdom.
 The second bunch of 100 wheelchairs were donated to the First Lady of Uganda, Mrs. Janet Museveni who is a wonderful Christian woman. I had the chance of introducing her to some of my UK friends who were visiting with me. We spent almost an hour talking and sharing the Gospel after which we prayed for her. These chairs have been distributed to hospitals, HIV patients, the disabled in rural areas and individual people. This has opened doors for us to visit with the HIV/AIDS patients, and share the Gospel with them. We have also received great favor from the First Lady.
Another blessing was when I gave 25 chairs to the Vice President, His Excellency Gilbert Bukenya. He welcomed us to his home and later invited me to personally hand over the chairs to the disabled in his village. I was shocked when I arrive at the village! Over 50 disabled had gathered and several members of the village. In there was a crippled principal of an elementary school who used to crawl on the dirt floor. He spoke very good English and was so happy to receive a wheelchair and donated others to the village disabled children. I was given an opportunity to speak and I shared the Gospel. As a result, I was invited to speak in one of the local churches. The place was packed with people from the village. They have also invited me to do a crusade and the Vice President will open it!
Through the President's office we donated 25 chairs of the disabled in the army. I have been invited to the army barracks to share the Gospel! In 2003 I was invited by a wife of diplomat to visit a center for the disabled. There were over 60 - young and old. The place is very dirty - 10 to 12 of them sleep in a 10' by 10' room. During the day most of them go to beg on the streets of Kampala (the capital city). It was a great blessing to donate 60 chairs to them.
The rest of the chairs were donated to the Rotary Clubs, Inner Wheel Club, Churches, orphanages, and individuals. I had the chance to share the Gospel with Rotarians!
The wheelchairs reached all corners of Uganda. Doors are now open for us to go and preach the Gospel. What a blessings. There was a lot of coverage on their local TV and radio stations. The newspapers also featured the wheelchair story. I appeared on a TV show with one of my American friends who speaks boldly on HIV/AIDS issues and the interviewer made a mistake of putting my cell phone number on the TV screen! I received several wheelchair requests because most of them had already seen me on TV donating chairs.
It took me 4 months to distribute all of them. I verified each group thoroughly before releasing the chairs. I rented a warehouse for $900 where the chairs were safely stored. It was quite a challenge but very rewarding. The demand is very high. The greatest blessing is to have doors opened to us to preach the Gospel because of taking care of the disabled.
Thank you for caring.
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Copyright 2004-2005 Outreach to Africa. All Rights Reserved.
Outreach To Africa is a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization based in Irvine, CA. USA and
is registered as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Uganda, East Africa |
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