Past wars and poverty have left thousands orphaned and/or living on the streets throughout Uganda and South Sudan. Child-headed homes are common as older siblings are forced to care for the younger, often living on the streets and struggling to secure a single meal in a day - sometimes left neglected in prison for the crimes they committed in order to survive, sometimes picked up by traffickers who make promises they have no intention to keep.
God’s Institute for Transformation (GIFT) is a home and family for youth who need Jesus with skin on. GIFT is not just a program, but a 24/7 family and a holistic solution to a total need: mentoring, food, shelter, medical, clothing, education, vocational skills and opportunities, salvation and discipleship, and starting a new life with Jesus in real community.
These precious children have horrific stories of being "wasted" physically, mentally, emotionally, and in every other way by sex-trafficking, exploitation, abuse, and more. They are broken in their minds and hearts, malnourished, full of diseases, suspicious, and untrusting. Love wins them over. They are placed in families of 8-10 with trained mothers & fathers who pour out affection and affirmation, love and prayer, until the walls of suspicion are broken down and the process of transformation begins.
Once these youth are in our GIFT homes, it's only a matter of weeks and they accept Jesus, learn scripture, learn how to forgive and trust, become worshippers and intercessors. Jesus turns their sorrow into joy, their ashes into beauty, their broken bodies are healed and HE gives them a HOPE and a FUTURE!
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