In January a team of five from Water’s Edge Church in Carol Stream left for Uganda to visit Mercy Ministries. During our visit we had planned to do something special for the 60 orphans of Mercy Ministries. But God took that idea and moved through the hearts of many different people including the kids at the home to organize a Kid’s Camp. This is a story about Him and His efforts to reach the lives of 800 children in a village called Nansana.

The plan for the Kid’s Camp was to present the gospel, do a craft, play some games, hand out prizes, sing songs, provide shoes and clothing to children in need, as well as give the kids a warm meal. Nothing like this had ever been done before. None of us knew what to expect including our friends in Africa.

The night before the Kid’s Camp we all went into Kampala to purchase the food for our “200 – 300” guests. It ended up costing only about $250 for all of the supplies. What an experience to shop in an African market place!!! The next day there were about 5 women who prepared the food for our camp using only a small charcoal fire. It was amazing to us that they could feed this many children a WARM meal. Once the Kid’s Camp got going children started coming out of the woodwork.

The more we talked and sang and played the more children came down the hills and into the church. At one point we realized we had far more than 200 kids, far more than 300 kids and they just kept multiplying. No longer did we have a “plan” for the Kid’s Camp but we were merely in survival mode. By the time we started feeding the kids there were 750+ kids.

We were not prepared at all for this, but God was. He multiplied our efforts and our supplies…the last scoop of rice was placed on the last child’s plate. All 750+ children received a warm meal that day. Only God could have done what He did because in our earthly minds it didn’t add up.

At the end of the day we wanted to leave the kids with a visible reminder of Christ’s love for them and His death on the cross. In God’s divine wisdom, He “nudged” a woman in our church to make salvation ribbons to go along with 350 salvation bracelets assembled by Wheaton Christian Grammar School. She hand made 400 beautiful ribbons to pin on the children. EVERY child left with either a bracelet or a ribbon.