The Jesus Tattoo

This is one of my favorite stories I love to share from time to time.  I’ve shared it on Facebook, but this is the first time I posted it on my blog.

This is an email I recieved  from Pastor Simone Rwaramba who oversees over 800 orphans in Gisenyi, Rwanda (Africa).  I stayed at Pastor Simone’s house  and helped with the orphange, etc.  The kids were mesmerized by my tattoos…especially the one of Jesus dying on the cross.  Here’s what Pastor Simone sent me about one of the Muslim girls who saw my tattoo. (Please excuse his broken english/spelling):

Blake, Hello in the name of Jesus our Lord who have 1000 ways for the salvation of his people

It this reason coming in the world!!!!

I can imagine how was the analizes for differant people who see the Totoo on the body of people from Europe or USA!

But this was new, see someone with Totoo of Jesus Christ!

Kids was looking this, and you was saying: “see he is Jesus Chrcist”

Two months after, who can imagine than this will be the way for salvation?

Saida (Musilm’s name!) accept Jesus Christ, and said I beleved that Jesus Chrict is my server, because I saw someone who desined his picture on him because he love him that much and I want love him to that much too.

Said 16 year old was baptised at Christmas day, and her name changed “Gratia Tuyisenge” Amen!

She still in her sewing class in our program

Here you have her picture!

Blessings

-Rev. Simon Pierre Rwaramba

Rwanda kids checking out the Jesus tattoo

Gratia Tuyisenge

YOU Did It! THANKS

WOW! Thank you guys so much! We reached our goal!  We just funded another well and you just improved the lives of about 500 villagers in Central Uganda!  Thanks to those who pitched in.  We completed the funding for the Kituntu Village Well in about 48 hours!  More opportunities to come…including a brand new 2012-2013 project that is going to blow you away and help thousands! Stand by!  http://iamsafeworld.org/#/main (-BT)

Just $1000 Shy! We Can Complete Another Well Today w/ Your Help!

Please Help Us Finish a Well in the Kituntu Village of Uganda!

It costs SafeWorld $6000 to put in a brand new well for a villiage in Uganda.  This covers the well (digging, etc), hygiene training, follow-up/maintanance and admin costs.  That’s it!  To give a whole village clean/healthy water!  We only need $2000 more to finish the Kituntu Village well.  This would be the 5th or 6th that SafeWorld has personally put in Uganda.  Can you help chip in some to cover?  It’s a great opportunity to change lives forever in the next month and you can have a hand in it.  We need to raise the extra $2k this week and so I’m calling on my supporters to help me finish it.  Click here to give online today http://iamsafeworld.org/#/donate (Make sure you say it’s for the Kituntu Well).  For more info/details on the breakdown, click this link  Kituntu Well .  Thanks for your support!  We can all make a life changing difference with just a little cash. – Blake

Nakaseke Government Hospital Visit

Yesterday I toured the the Nakaseke Government Hospital in Nakaseke, Uganda.  It is the only public hospital for 250,000 people spanning 300 plus villages. They have been waiting for years for the government to provide basic needs like beds, transportation for patients w/ emergencies, staff, medical equipment, etc.

The hospital ambulance out front has not moved from the spot it’s parked in in multiple years. The few staff members said it’s broken down and hasn’t worked in over 5 years.

There are just a few beds and only a select few of them have an old mattress on them. We saw many “floor cases” as they refer to them.  These are patients who don’t have a bed and are on the concrete floor.  The hallways are hot and very dark.

In the adult ward there were new mothers with birthing complications mixed w/ those that have TB.  They also have an AIDS ward, a children’s ward, a mental ward and a mortuary in the basement.

In one of the pictures below, you will see Matt Chambers of SafeWorld w/ a brand new baby boy named Moses. The girl in the bed just delivered Moses. She is 16 and is very sick from her intestines being accidentally nicked by a knife during her C-Section. She is on an old bed in a dirty small room trying to recover.  The girl’s mother is holding Moses in the picture.

The tiles in the ceiling are either out, falling out or about to bust open from water leaks.  You will also notice a picture below that shows a bunch of black hanging things from the ceiling.  These are hundreds of wasp’s nest w/ wasps on them through out the entire hospital…including the children’s ward.  One picture shows a very large nest in one of the AIDS patient rooms.

We walked through the entire hospital and never saw one doctor.  We did meet a kind woman that the world needs to know about named Luci.  She was getting off a 12 hour night shift taking care of the children.  She has worked there for over 25 years.  Luci said she hasn’t seen a new bed in the hospital since she started.

We set down with the administrator of the hospital before we left.  He said the government has forgotten about them and will not send needed beds, equipment, transportation, etc.  We saw the only surgical instrument cleaner the entire hospital owns.  It’s over 20 years old and on it’s last leg.  The administer said they sell hospital beds fully loaded w/ mattresses and linens 45 miles into town for about $200 American.
That said…SafeWorld is immediately working out a plan to give them any help we can w/ the help of our local Ugandan team members and the local community Chief.  If you want to know how you can help, let me know when I return.

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I’m in Uganda (Random posts from the trip)

Here are some quick excerpts/posts from my Facebook page since arriving in Uganda:

It’s 2am in Uganda. I’m hitting a wifi hotspot. Sleep time is way off from the 18 hours of flying (I left Sunday at 1p and just got to Uganda not that long ago) 9 hour time zone difference from Nashville. Tomorrow Matt Chambers and I will get up and meet w/ a member of Luwero (Uganda) Parliament about community health & possible village health teams provided by SafeWorld Nexus in the future.

Saw a guy in a UT shirt today clear across the globe in Kampala, Uganda. Asked him where he is from & he said Franklin! He’s a fan of our show. Over here adopting.

The little restaurant I’m in over looks Uganda. It’s night time. They have a piano player and he’s playing my all-time favorite Christmas song “O, Holy Night”. Little choked up to be honest. Headed to the more rural/bush area in the next few days.  You can’t make this stuff up…he just followed w/ “I Surrender All” and “Worthy Is The Lamb”…big tip for the piano player tonight.

Today we travel about 60 miles north of Kampala to Nakaseke to meet one-on-one w/ the District Chief who oversees the 300,000 people in the District (he’s “the man”). We will be discussing more ways SafeWorld can help w/ community health issues. SafeWorld has a relationship w/ him. Tomorrow the rest of the medical/lay team arrive. Then we travel about 5 hours back-road to the rural areas for the real work! It’s 8:25a (Wednesday) here which means it’s 11:25p (Tuesday) back home.

Check out http://www.facebook.com/blake.thompson1 for more updates.

-Blake