Noah's Ark Promotiefilm 2013

Welcome to Noah's Ark Children's Ministry Uganda. We are Peter and Pita and we like to show you what we were able to do with God’s help and your support. A couple of years ago we started with a Children's Home But over the years that has become much more than that. Besides the Children's Home we have our schools: a nursery school, primary school and a secondary vocational school. We also started a medical centre. All these parts form a whole and we would like to show you some of this. In the Children's Home there are currently more than 150 children in our care. We are often asked: “how do the children come to you?” Well, most of the children come to us via the police. A child is found along the roadside, in the bush and sometimes even in the dumpster or pit latrine. People bring the child to the police and the police contacts us. Then the children arrive in Noah's Ark and the work starts: They have to become healthy, be well fed and we try to overcome their traumas. Being thrown away is not something small, especially when the children grow older and they find out what their story is. It is not easy, but we try the best we can to let them overcome their traumas. Peter and myself are a Papa and Mama for our children. In that way the children are raised in a normal family, although it is a lot bigger than most. Every child has its own place in Noah's Ark. They share a bedroom with six or eight children but they all have their own beds, and it is their room. Also at the table where they eat their meals: they have their own table and their own chair. This gives them the feeling that they are part of Noah's Ark. This is very important to us, that they now have something of their own. When the children are seven or eight years of age they move out of the Children's Home and into what we call Family Units: smaller homes with eight to ten children and a caregiver. In this way they grow up in a more family like situation. Together they are responsible for washing their own clothes, cooking food, taking care of their own toys and can do their own things like they would in a normal family. Raising our children is of course an important part of what we do here. We try to raise our children with the values that belong in a Christian family. The children pray for their meals, before they go to bed and we have our own church. Going to a church would be a big hassle with our big group, so we started our own. Our church is aimed at children and youth, specifically meant for them. Music and dancing is of great importance in Africa. Our children are musically very talented and enjoy making music. We have obtained a number of instruments, the children play the guitar, the keyboard, drums, trumpets, local instruments and international: they love it all. Our children are really enthusiastic about making music. The children in our Nursery School come from different places There are the children from the Children's Home who are with us since they were born, but also the ones from the villages surrounding us. Those children could not otherwise go to school but here they can start learning. The children are three years when they start Nursery School. So we have a class of three year olds, four year olds and a class of five year old children. What is important to us is that the children learn by playing. They learn colours, shapes and playing together without arguing or fighting. Those things are important for a child to learn. In Uganda they have a different way of viewing what is best for a child. They want the children to start copying words and numbers from the blackboard. We don't agree with that. They have to learn how to play, puzzle, learn how to recognize things. Above all they have to learn how to live with each other and share amongst themselves. The children really enjoy attending their school. Ever happy they walk up to school from their homes and also the children from the Children's Home happily walk the short road to school. They are always happy to see their friends and teachers again, every one of the children adore their teacher. In the Primary schools there are seven classes. There are about 30 children in each class and a third of that are from the Children's Home, the rest come from the broad area surrounding us. We try to help children who cannot go to school. We look for sponsors that allow them to go to our school. Finding good quality education in Uganda is hard. We want to be a school that is an example to other schools in the area that is of great quality. In this way we want to prepare our students as best as we can for the future. In the end our motto is “From Nobody to Somebody” so we need good education. Education is the start of development. After the Primary School we enter the next phase: the Secondary Vocational school. Going to Secondary School is very common in Uganda, but the students never leave the classroom. We don't want that. We want to make school practical, that's what missing in the Ugandan system. So we've combined the theoretical secondary education with the practical vocational skills. As vocational skills we offer fish farming, keeping bees, cows, pigs, chickens, all animals you would expect to be on a farm are there. After all this is Noah's Ark! But for the students that is exactly what they need: the diversity of managing livestock but also growing vegetables. The technical skills include carpentry, metal working, masonry, plumbing, electrical work, mechanical engineering, all these skills are wanted in this country and have a shortage of skilled workers. The students can choose the skills they participate in, but the first year the cover all. In the second year some skills are dropped and in the third year they specialize even more. In this way the students remain with their best interest, their best skill. We want to discover that and focus on that skill. In the end we aim to deliver young people who can create a job for themselves, rather than having to seek for a job. In our Medical Centre we treat the children from the Children's Home, but also from the schools on our compound. People from the surrounding villages also come for advice or treatment. Diseases that we are confronted with most include malaria, diarrhoea, and water born diseases like typhoid. The centre also includes a department for pregnant women. The woman can come for pre-natal checks and when the time is there for a safe delivery. We also run a malnutrition unit. We were confronted with a large amount of malnourished children, so we decided to act on that. That's why we stared this specialized department so that we are able to help these children as well as we can. In the medical centre we also have our laboratory, where we can do all sorts of tests. In the pharmacy all sorts of medications are readily available. People pay a small amount for the medicine. We conduct outreaches in the villages, we focus on education about clean water, hygiene, malaria, *** and AIDS, breast feeding and malnutrition. We have our own ambulance so we are able to reach emergencies. We also use the ambulance to refer women in labour to other, bigger hospital when our centre is unable to guide them through a safe delivery. At the end of this film we hope that you've been able to enjoy all this as we enjoy it. We hope that together we will be able to help even more and more children.