"Father, help to the street children."

Studies estimate that approximately 5,000 Ugandan children "beg, wash cars, scavenge, work as commercial sex workers and sell small items on the streets of Kampala. The number of street children has been rising steadily for the last five years."

(http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/649570)

We walked the streets of Kampala and saw these children, many caring for younger babies who are strapped to their backs. They wander dangerously through lanes of traffic, approaching open car windows with their hands cupped. They hover on street corners, skeletons of potential... ghosts of childhood. A poor reflection on the city, they are sometimes herded into centers for "care," to ensure that the streets are rid of them, that the image is clean. But there they are often mistreated and many escape to return to the streets. You're compelled to give them money, but that only reinforces the cycle of poverty; it does little to change the system.

Sounds hopeless, eh? Well, with a heart for the Lord and a little creativity, life-changing things can happen. Andrew Sserunjogi, orphaned by AIDS, developed a passion for these lost children. He would visit them on the streets repeatedly, slowly but surely gaining their trust and building relationships. He was an adult who cared, not interested in pimping them for his own profit, or offering them glue to sniff. Through the very trip I went on (the first year they ever went) he met Amanda Davis, an American student at Wellesley, and they discovered a common passion for God, children and the arts. Andrew was studying industrial and fine art at that time. Together they embarked on a project to offer street children a new life: one of love, family and education. The result? The New Start Home.

It was there that I spent my first week in Uganda. And there that I began to see God's heart for healing and restoration. One boy at a time lives have been changed. Now they hope to be rap artists, pastors, famous football players-- you name it. Man might change their environments, but only God could change their hearts. They'll be the first to tell you, not me. They once stole and bullied to survive, they now sing and dance in celebration of life. What a transformation :)