Back to Uganda

I am so excited to officially share with everyone that I, (Kari) will be returning to Uganda in just over two weeks.  I will be spending the week at Canaan Children's Home.  I am once again traveling with Visiting Orphans.  In addition to working on some murals to brighten the children's rooms and loving on the kids at Canaan, I am also hoping this will be an opportunity to see what the future holds for my family in Uganda.  I will be meeting with other missionaries in the area to discuss all types of things, such as schooling, cost of living, ministries, etc.  I am also hoping to get the chance to look into what our housing options could be.

Here are some prayer requests that I would love to have you praying with us for:
- clear vision on where we go from here
- safety for Kari while traveling
- continued development of the relationships with those in Uganda.
- strength for Jason and my mom, Bonta, while taking care of the little ones for the week while I am gone.
- support, understanding, and trust from our friends and family. We are daily seeking God's will for our lives and we feel such a peace about these decisions that we are making.  Decisions that are definitely not always the easiest to make and not always the most popular, but ones that we whole heartedly feel God calling us to make.

Things you can do to help:
1. We are gathering used cell phones to take with us.  If you have any old ones that you no longer need, I would love to take them off of your hands for you.  Even the most basic, really old models can be sold in Uganda for $10+ dollars and we want to bless Canaan's with that money.  Chargers are a plus, but not a must.  Because I am leaving in such a short period of time, I will most likely only be able to gather from those people in the College Station area.  I have been told, that even if the phone is a little banged up, as long as it works, it can still turn a profit for the children's home.  Thank you so much!

2. We are hoping to bless the children's home with new mattresses.  Some of the ones that the kids are currently using are in very, very poor shape.  I have a feeling that there are many animals in the US that have better sleeping arrangements.  The mattresses cost $30 each.  If this is an area that you feel you can help at all in, please let me know.  You can donate through my paypal on this page or by check written to Visiting Orphans and mailed to me. (email me, k_penrose@yahoo.com for address)  You guys are the best and I know I can count on you for your support with this.

So I'll leave you with some of the sweet, sweet faces that I will soon get to hold and kiss!  Enjoy!

Pastor Isaac of Canaan Children's Home

I wanted to share some VERY exciting news.  I will be returning to Canaan Children Home in March.  I will have more details to come, but please keep me in your prayers regarding this trip and everything that it encompasses for our family!

I spoke about Pastor Isaac that started CCH with his wife, Rebecca.  He has one of the most amazing testimonies I have ever heard and I wanted to share it with you.  To be able to hear this story in person was an unbelievable experience for me.  To see the joy in his words, even when talking about such tragedy.  Joy that clearly comes from the Lord.  I know it is lengthy, but I hope you will take a moment to read.  Enjoy!

Pastor Isaac with Kari and Jason at Canaan

"Canaan Children’s Home was born after the Lord gave me a vision when in a dangerous time and that was the time when IDI AMIN was the ruler of Uganda. He closed all spiritual Christian churches in Uganda and he persecuted the Church openly. Most of our churches were burnt down and many of our pastors killed. I was one of the pastors, who were persecuted but narrowly escaped by the Grace of God, because I was invaded three times because I was the District Overseer and my name was on the death list.


On this third time, I was found at home with my family and they started shooting at us, looted my household property, bound me with ropes and I was put on their truck and taken to Kampala where they had a special place for killing people.  On that truck I found five more pastors whom I knew and we became six. We were kept in a room at the house which was called the Nile Mansion and the room was stinking with human blood.


When we arrived there we found when they had just killed some pastors including Bishop Jana Luwum of the Anglican Church in Uganda. We were told to stay in that room for three days. On the third day, the soldiers came in and asked us to denounce Christianity and become Muslims so that we can save our lives.  Because of torture and hunger, four of the pastors accepted to be Muslim and were circumcised and eventually set free. 




The other pastors and I persisted and after 3 hours we were told to get ready for death. We were taken outside with our faces blindfolded, our hands held backwards and were shot at. My fellow pastor called John died instantly. I was shot in the right hand and the soldier thought that I had died, and then we were left there. They never knew that I was alive so that is how I miraculously escaped death. After that about 25 of us were thrown on the back of a truck and the driver was commanded to take us to a pit dug in Kampiringisa Forest on Masaka Road, then we were dumped in the pit as dead bodies. Late in that evening, I heard a voice calling, "Isaac, I have saved your life so that you may save the lives of my fatherless children".

In that state, I got a vision in which a lot of children were coming to me and these children were hungry and malnourished. In fact they were like naked, moving skeletons and the voice went on to say, "Isaac, I will be the father of those children through you." Immediately I felt strength in my life and stood up but failed; so I crawled on my knees from the dead bodies. I really cannot tell how, but I found myself in the home of a herdsman who was looking after his master’s cows. I asked him to help me because I had come from a dangerous situation. He welcomed me and nursed my wound. He was my Good Samaritan and early in the morning I was taken on a bicycle to a place where I received first aid and that man paid the bill. I recovered after 5 days of treatment in that clinic. I requested my Good Samaritan to go and see my home but when he went there he found everything looted and my house burnt to ashes. My wife had gone to hide at her parent’s home with our children whom we had at that time: James and Samuel. I found myself homeless and I had nowhere to go. So many pastors were escaping into the neighboring country Kenya. I also got an idea of escaping too and the Lord made it possible for me to go into Kenya by train. Within one week I had found my fellow pastors who were already in Nairobi and they took me to the hospital where I was totally healed.

We spent 9 months in Kenya praying that God may give us a God fearing President and God did hear that prayer. The government was overthrown in 1997; we started making arrangements to return to Uganda. The Spirit led me to go back to my Church at Buziika even after my home had been burnt down. I insisted that I go back to that place. I thank the Lord for the brethren in Kenya had contributed some money to help me build a small house to live in. The brethren at Buziika helped with putting up the small house.

In 1982, I had almost forgotten about the vision and the words of the Lord in the forest, but one day a lady came to our church with two children and told us that the Lord had led her to come to our church. She stayed for three days and the fourth day she abandoned the children and escaped leaving the children behind. After 2 days that is when we remembered the vision of becoming the Father to the fatherless. (The two girls are now married.) In 1986, a widower came to us and asked us to help him with his 2 sons because he was sick and old, within a few days the old man died and the children remained with us: one was 4 years old and the other one was 8 years old. We stayed with them and took them to school until they became adults and self-reliant. 


In 1996 this was the year we found that a home was necessary because of the many children who continued to come to our church with the problem of orphans increasing and abandoned children continued to rise. I remembered the vision in its full light and great conviction came to me to help these children. My wife and I rented 2 rooms near our house for those orphans. We started that home with four children by July 1997 we had received 8 more aged between 4-13 years. We tried our best to clothe and feed them and meet their health needs. To our surprise children continued to come and we could not stop them. By 1998, we had 24 children on roll and I was obliged to open another home at one of our local churches in the village called Seeta. We helped them with the little finances we could get from god. The most difficult problem has been the education of these children but the Lord has been so good, we trusted his providing hand.

1999 Canaan home became a registered Ministry with an orphanage of 30 children and that year was the year when our Ministry was low in finances and we found that we needed some real partners to give us a hand in this work of promoting the vision that God gave me. "

Serving His Children

Today I wanted to take a moment to tell you about an amazing ministry led by an incredible woman of God, Renee Bach.  http://www.servinghischildren.org  


At the age of 18, Renee went to Uganda on a calling to serve God there.  At the age of 19 or 20 she started the ministry Serving His Children.  In addition to a feeding program for children in the area, she has started a malnutrition rehabilitation program.  She takes the children that have been cast aside by hospitals and doctors and said to have no chance of survival.  Sometimes already given up on by their own mothers, she takes these little ones and loves them and tenderly nurses them back to health.  Sometimes this means getting up every hour, 24hrs a day, to feed the small amounts that their bellies can handle.  I was so excited to catch a glimpse of the day to day of the ministry while we were in Jinja.
Here is Renee (left) and a good friend, Shanna that comes whenever she can to help out.

The little boy they are holding was a child that had just come to their ministry a couple of days before we got there.  His name was Andrew and he was four years old.  Unfortunately, he got to their door too late and he passed away the day after we left.  This completely broke my heart.  To know that this little boy had to suffer and die in such a way.  Not from an incurable disease, but from starvation.  NO child should have to suffer like that.  I know he is with our Lord now, and in pain no longer.  Sweet, sweet rest Andrew.

I hope that Renee's story can be an inspiration to us all that we all have something we can offer these sweet children.  Whether it is to be extraordinarily brave like Renee and move to a foreign country at the age of 18 or to be one of the many people that God is calling to support people like Renee.  WE ALL HAVE A PART TO PLAY.  And I hope the images of these precious children will help you realize that we can't deny that any longer.  If you would like to support Renee's ministry, Serving His Children, you can find a link here  http://www.servinghischildren.org  

These three images are of 18 month olds that are the size of newborns.  They are improving daily under SHC's care.

This little boy is Robert.  He has an amazing story that you can read more about here http://servinghischildreninuganda.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html  He has come so far under Renee's care and is showing amazing signs of recovery.

And finally, this is Betty, who captured my heart while we were there.  Betty is 14yrs old and also suffers from CP.  She has done so well under the program that she is almost to a point where her mom can take her home.  The great thing about Renee's program is not only do they nurse the children back to health, but they also use the time with the mothers to teach them about nutrition and how to grow food so that the children will not end up back in these conditions.

Canaan Children's Home

So I have SO much that I want to share.  Trying to decide where to start I figured I should start with Canaan's just in case you only read this one entry and decide I am a terrible writer and give up on me.  I will forever be changed by the children that I met at Canaan's and by Pastor Isaac and his wife, Rebecca.

(the precious children of Canaan's)

Canaan Children's Home is a ministry started in 1996 by Pastor Isaac and his wife.  Isaac has the MOST incredible testimony and life story that I have ever heard.  There seriously could be a major Hollywood movie made of it, but they are the most humble couple you will meet.  He received a clear vision from God to father the fatherless and Canaan's is the result.  In total, they care for 120 children with the help of some incredible servants of God.  They feed them, shelter them and educate them.  They depend heavily on sponsorship for the children.

This is Frank.  He is the newest part of our family, by way of sponsorship.  He is 2yrs old and has been at CCH for about 6m.  I am amazed that my friend was able to get these smiley pictures of him because usually anytime he saw one of us Mzungu's (white people) he started crying and ran to one of the two people that he trusted in this world.  

At first I thought it was just us, because we were white, but he pretty much has the same reaction to all the staff.  He broke my heart.  To be so young and already so afraid of the world.  

I made it my mission for the week to earn his trust and I made big progress in the world of Frank.  When we were leaving he had Chris, a 13yr old boy that he constantly clung to, to find me so he could wave goodbye to me and shake my hand.  That little gesture meant the world to me.  

Of course, maybe he was smiling so much at me because I was finally going to be leaving him the heck alone, but I like to think it is because he truly began to like me.

Either way Frank will forever be a part of the Segner household and we will remember him daily in our prayers and support him the best that we can.  

There are still many children that need sponsorship.  I can vouch that your money will be going to an incredible ministry to support some amazing young kids.  For more information please visit their website at http://canaanchildrenshome.org/

Pastor Isaac truly does have an amazing story and I hope to find a way to share more of it, but you can see a short video about him and CCH here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUHtADSpmF0&feature=player_embedded 

Back from Africa

There are a million things I would like to say, but my heart can't bring me to say any right now.  It has been hard to process all that has happened over these last two weeks.  Coming home has been the hardest because our children here need us 100%, and at the same time my heart is broken for the children we left in Uganda.  It aches especially for a little boy named Allan that I love like he was my own.

I promise that I will blog more soon.  I hope you will read the stories and I hope that you will be effected by what we experienced.

I feel like I am pretty recovered from my jet lag so I hopefully won't just want to crash after we get the kids to bed and will be able to write about our journey.  I have so much that I want to share with you all.  So many injustices that I want to scream from the rooftop in hopes of being able to make a change.  And all the while I hear the enemies little voice in the back of my head asking "What can one person do? What difference can you really make?"  But I see the enemies lies and I KNOW that a change can be made.  Even if it is just for one child.

I don't know the exact plans that God has for our family, but I know that Jason and I will never be the same.....and I don't want to be.  I want to ache for Allan.  I want to be broken over the little boy that we met one day and he died the next.  I want all these feelings so that I never become dull to the reality of this world again.  So that I will always be praying for and looking for my part in serving God and His children.  I have hope for them and I just pray that they have hope too.

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season for..........stress and financial woes?  I really hope you are not one of the many Americans that fall into this category this Christmas season.

If I am being honest with myself (and the one or two people that may be reading this!) it is hard not to fall into this category each December.  I have felt so convicted lately though, every time I even think of letting myself have a little pity party.

I could let myself worry about how our electric bill will be paid next week given the fact that my husband has not been able to get any part time work for over 3 weeks and we heavily depend on this each month.  I could let myself worry about where money will come for Christmas presents.  I could even let myself worry about where the last of our money needed for the trip will come from.

BUT  each time I even begin to let one of those selfish worries creep into my brain I am reminded about the NUMEROUS blessings I have received.  Blessings that should be consuming my each and every thought this Christmas season.

When I think of even how our Lord came into this world, how can I possibly complain for one second?  As a mother, the birth story of Jesus has taken on a completely different meaning to me.  I can't imagine traveling by foot or donkey in my last trimester......in the cold......giving birth in essentially a barn......with NO pain medication.  What a miracle we were given that we all too often so easily overlook.

During this Christmas season I hope and pray that I will continue to focus on this miracle.  To focus on ALL the many, many blessings that my family has and how unworthy I am of even one of them.  I pray that I will remember to truly focus on the meaning and reason of why we celebrate Christmas and not let any selfish worrying take away from that at all.

I hope you will be able to do the same.

I Cor. 1:5 "For in Him you have been enriched in every way...."

For me.......' Tis the season for miracles, the gift of our Saviour's birth, cherished time spent with family, incredible friends, a warm place to rest my head and a house to protect my family each night, food to eat, and too many blessings to even count.

Baby Juddah from Ethiopia

Here is a very sick little boy in Ethiopia that could really use our prayers right now, and also for his twin sister, Sarah. You can read about his story and follow his progress at http://babyjuddah.blogspot.com/