By Chad Koenen

Publisher

As the old saying goes, God can work in mysterious ways. So when Jireh Kirabo and her husband were half a world away from their family in Uganda and didn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas, the young family took an offer from a Vining area family who they met on a mission trip in Uganda to spend the holidays in the frigid confines of the land of the Big Foot and lakes country. 

Kirabo and her husband currently live in Mississippi where he attends college, but spent 1 1/2 weeks in the area over the holiday break where they were able to share stories about their home country, her family’s growing orphanage, as well as the long-lasting impact mission trips and contributions have on her country. The couple spent the holidays with Kevin and Jessie Wiek who were eager to open up their home and continue to build upon a growing relationship from two very different places in the world. 

“Jessie does mission work with us in Uganda. I came to talk to the people about what we do in Uganda,” said Kirabo of her trip to Henning/Vining. 

What started in their home as a way to help orphaned children during the height of the HIV pandemic and extreme poverty, has transformed into an orphanage with a school and nearly 1,000 people in the village of Katosi, Uganda. 

“It’s been a life changing place for many children,” said Kirabo. 

The orphanage in Katosi was started by Kirabo’s parents approximately 25 years ago and has long outgrown their home as the mission has been moved to a large orphanage that serves approximately 980 people. The community of Katosi is located in the south eastern part of the Central region in Uganda. The orphanage was started as a way to improve the life in the community through programs that provide both formal and informal education, health care and more. The end result is a spiritual transformation to enable orphans, destitute adults and needy children to become positive, contributing citizens for Uganda, while also strengthening their relationship with God. 

The region is poor with a multi-tribal population that includes a number of poor peasants and small scale fishermen. There is also the prevalence of witchcraft and poor medical facilities that lack basic health education, meaning the orphanage is an important part of the community to assist the residents during a time of need. 

This past fall Kirabo’s father Timothy made the trek to Henning to visit Water’s Edge Church members and share how their orphanage has made such a life-changing impact on people across the region. Timothy’s journey to Henning was anything but easy as he attempted to plan a trip to the Henning area 10 times before he was finally successful in his journey across the world. 

“God just sort of dropped this connection in our lap. Now we have this opportunity to visit them and support them in their mission,” said Water’s Edge Church Pastor Andrew Lynch.

The partnership between Water’s Edge Church and Winners Home-Uganda is rather new and really came to fruition after church members Kevin and Jessie Wiek traveled to Uganda on a mission trip when they retired from the workforce. 

“It was the first thing we signed up to do (when we retired),” said Jessie of signing up for a mission trip. 

The Vining residents came across Winners Home-Uganda orphanage on that trip and met Kirabo who was teaching at her family’s orphanage in Uganda. From there, the relationship blossomed as Timothy and now his daughter have both visited Henning to give church parishioners a first-hand look at their work with orphaned children in their community. The relationship has given the small community of Henning a big picture look at how even a small contribution can have a lasting and big impact far beyond the bounds of Henning, Otter Tail County and even the country. 

“Some people say I am in Henning, what do I have to do with Uganda, but you really can have an impact on people over there,” said Lynch.

Today, Kirabo and her husband live in Mississippi where he is getting his PhD at Mississippi State. He is expected to graduate in 2028 with a doctrine in nutrition sciences and is planning to go back and teach in Uganda. 

When Jessie learned the Kirabos would be in Mississippi for the holidays, she invited her to spend Christmas in Minnesota.

“I said you are coming up here for Christmas,” said Jessie. 

The couple was in the Henning/Vining area for 1 1/2 weeks over Christmas and checked off a number of firsts on their list of things to do. They were able to see snow for the first time, went ice fishing and even had the chance to meet members of Water’s Edge Church to talk about their family’s orphanage and the lasting impact it has made on their hometown in Uganda. They were also able to talk about things that were needed at the orphanage and provide some real-life accounts on how a small church and community half a world away can provide some big help to children during a time of need. 

Lynch said the new partnership is a way to show how God’s work can be done in places far beyond the reach of the immediate church community. For example, while $50 may no longer be enough to feed a family of four at a fast food restaurant, it can go a long ways to help purchase supplies and food at the orphanage. The new relationship also allows Water’s Edge Church members to learn about a different culture where religion is spreading across the region and a place most people from the greater Otter Tail County and Minnesota area will never visit.

“God is at work in so many we places we don’t even think about,” said Lynch. 

Even though it may be difficult to ship supplies, man power or food items to Africa, Lynch said the church and Americans have the ability to send some money to places like Africa, where the dollar bill can stretch more than it does back home.

“In America we have money and our money goes a long ways in places like there,” he said. “If we send a few thousand dollars it goes a long ways.”

Kirabo agreed that small monetary donations can be the difference between providing food, shelter and medical care needed to not only save the life of a child, but to potentially help them get the education needed to assist future generations of people in Uganda and beyond.

“There are kids out there that need our help. Just a small amount of money like $50 a month can make a big impact on a child in Uganda,” said Kirabo. 

For more information about the Winners Home-Uganda and the Community Concern Ministries Uganda, or to find out how to help the orphanage, visit www.winnerschildrenshome.com or mail a check with the name Winners Home UG in the memo line to IMF, PO Box 98, Minnetonka Beach, MN 55361.