Uganda: Dorcas Ministry

So I mentioned the Dorcas ministry in my first post, but I wanted to write a little more about it. At Hoffmantown and from Dad's previous trips, I had heard of Dorcas, and I knew it was ministry that worked with the girls in the schools. The main thing I had heard was that they helped to provide feminine products so the girls could attend school all month rather than staying home because they couldn't afford the products they needed. (Read more about this on Hoffmantown's Girls Ministry site at the bottom of this page). I thought that addressed a very important need, but I had no idea the scope of the work Dorcas does well beyond this practical issue.

When we had our time with the staff ladies on Monday morning, I began to develop a better understanding of what Dorcas really is. They started Dorcas 3 years ago because the staff was noticing troubling patterns among the girls in the schools--they were losing motivation, dropping out, and running into other trouble like unplanned pregnancy. The Dorcas ministry is designed to help prevent these problems by creating a mentoring relationship between the staff ladies and the girls, training them as followers of Christ, and by providing support and information to their mothers about both academic and spiritual topics. Dorcas is far-reaching! Not only that, but it was clear that the staff ladies pour their whole lives into this work. They love the girls they mentor in such a Christ-like way. We were blessed to be able to hear reports from several of the staff ladies about recent happenings at their centers. Here are a few bits of information from those reports:

• At Bukoto, 108 girls participate in the Dorcas ministry. They are being taught that God made them female for a purpose, and the girls are being encouraged to have conversations with their mothers about all kinds of life situations.
• At Masajja, the Dorcas girls meet on the 1st Saturday of each month. The girls are encouraged to share the Gospel with their mothers.
• At Upendo, the ministry is just getting started as more children move to the new site. 
• At Igamba, they recently helped a widow to build an improved shelter for her family.
• At Namugoga, they are encouraging closer relationships between girls, mothers, and grandmothers.

In addition to this work, Dorcas has now begun funding college scholarships for two girls who have come up through the AMG schools and now work for Dorcas. One of these young women, Sylvia, shared the following thought with our group:

"I am a living testimony for Dorcas--if you want to see accountability--I'm it! Dorcas pays my full scholarship for university. The only thing required of me is to be morally upright."

After hearing from the staff, Resty, who was leading the meeting, asked all of us to work together to write an acrostic for Dorcas. Here it is:

Discipleship
Obedient
Relationship
Christ-like
Accountable
Servants

These words certainly describe the women I met and served alongside during our 3 days of working with Dorcas. I was so moved by their dedication and enthusiasm for the work they do. They have a good support system among the staff, and we clearly saw the witness they have out in the communities as we visited centers and homes. When Florence spoke (during the Monday meeting and on several other occasions), she said that Donna, who had been the only woman on the trip last May, was a spy last year, and she must have brought back good news because this year, she brought many other spies with her. We all laughed at this way of looking at it, but I think she's right. None of us really knew the extent of Dorcas, and I hope that by telling our stories from this trip, others will be both better informed and called to go. To go see the work first hand and to encourage the workers! While we were there for only a few days, these faithful women live and breathe this ministry. Praise God!