In 2008, Christian Fellowship Assembly (CFA), a church in Grande Prairie, Alberta, gave birth to an exciting mission project called ARISE. This project began to take form during the summer of 2007, when Mary Ebinu and Lynn Vanderveen travelled to Uganda in eastern Africa. They went to visit orphaned and vulnerable children, whom CFA was, and is, supporting, and to explore new opportunities for CFA to share the love of God in Uganda. Out of this visit came a proposal to the CFA church board to begin a new mission project in the rural district of Ngora in eastern Uganda. The proposal was accepted and in June 2008 project ARISE was born. Lynn and Ted Vanderveen were asked to oversee the project.
The ARISE project is all about coming alongside people and offering them a hand up. While the goal is self-sustainability, this will happen gradually over time. ARISE looks at the needs of the whole person: spiritual, physical, emotional and intellectual. This means that there are many ways in which CFA family and friends can come alongside.
GROW (Grace for Rural Orphans and Widows) was formed in 1996 following the return of the displaced community from Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camps, where they had taken refuge during years of conflict. Those returning were mostly women, children, and the elderly. Many of the adult male population had been killed during the conflict and young boys had been abducted to serve as child soldiers.
In the absence of social agencies to assist with rebuilding the social fabric of the community, two couples, also returning home, reached out in love. Kevina and Joseph Egolet, a retired teacher and headmaster, began to feed the hungry showing up at their homestead. Oikia and Lucy, another retired headmaster and his wife, joined with the Egolets in forming GROW and responding to the great need surrounding them. Besides providing food, the two couples gave support and encouragement in whatever ways they could with their limited means.
Over time, Kevina and Joseph’s adult children, living out of the country, became aware of the work of their parents with the orphaned and vulnerable children and widows. The Egolet’s daughters began to fund-raise through garage sales, craft workshops, and the donations of friends and sending the funds home to Uganda. The funds also helped with school fees, uniforms and supplies. Many pencils have been handed out to the neighbourhood children!
Some of the children under the care of GROW are the head of their households, HIV/Aids having taken the lives of many of the parents. They do not have the benefit of fathers or grandfathers to teach them about farming or animal husbandry. Oikia and Joseph have taken on a father’s role and meet regularly with these teen-aged boys to teach them farming practices.
GROW has also benefited from the help of other local volunteers who have offered their services to help meet the needs. The organization had knowledge, experience, and dreams for the future. What it needed to make their dreams a realty was a partner to provide support in the area of finance, business experience, and other key areas. In the summer of 2008, GROW and ARISE agreed to a unique partnership that would allow them to work together to help transform the lives of the village people, their families, and the community at large. The overall goal of the partnership is for the people to become a healthy, self-sustaining community. In the fall of 2008, GROW incorporated and is now a legal entity in Uganda.
