ECM Gets Involved in Fighting Child Sacrifice, Ritual Abuse

When Resty, the coordinator of ECM’s Gayaza Sponsorship Project in Uganda visited her sister recently, she told me she had my training on child trafficking fresh on her mind. So when she learned that a village woman had just rescued a three year old child who was discarded in a sack, she was immediately interested. As she learned to do in her training, she began to ask more questions, to look deeper.

When she learned what had happened to the little girl, she knew she had to get involved. The baby had suffered horrific ritual abuse in a traditional shrine, including having her undeveloped canine teeth cut out of her jaw, undoubtedly for ritual purposes. Her head hung to one side and her neck looked rotten, signs that she had probably been tied up around the neck. Then she had nearly suffocated when stuffed alive into a bag and discarded. She was found nearly drowning in her own feces, and seemingly near death.

In God’s mercy, a kindly lady found the little girl and did everything possible to rescue her, cleaning her up and seeking medical treatment at a hospital in spite of that fact that the child seemed not to see, hear or make any sound, and that all her joints had stiffened, including her backbone. The foster mother named the child Hope Tereza, and cared for her valiantly in spite of the fact that she had two other children to care for, one of them also unable to speak, and that her tumbledown hut leaked badly.

As the police began to search for the parents, two men showed up threatening the foster mother. It turned out that these men had kidnapped the child eighteen months previously and had used her as a sacrifice for rituals in a traditional shrine. The police then were able to locate the parents, who had nearly exhausted all their resources, even selling their land in their search for their missing child. The police have advised the family to leave the child in foster care for the time being while the parents settle some family issues. The girl’s original name was Resty, the same as the ECM worker who has been helping her.

ECM is now helping the valiant family who rescued the child as well as to the child Resty herself. We’ll call her Resty Hope to combine the two names. We have given assistance from our Rescue Fund, but we now need additional help. If we pull together, we believe that this family should be the beginning of a new sponsorship program in the Masaka District. We are seeking sponsors not only for Resty Hope, but for the two other children of the foster family. We also need special funds to help meet Resty Hope’s special needs and to get the new Masaka program started. In addition, our staff are working with all stakeholders to develop informative skits for public use that will show parents how they can protect their children against the growing problem of child sacrifice in Uganda. Gifts will also be accepted for this program.

Resty Hope’s joints are becoming less stiff with therapeutic massage, she seems to be seeing and hearing, and she is now able to smile. It is believed that a cerebral palsy chair would help her.

I remember being impressed recently as I watched a video recently of Gianna, a young woman who suffers cerebral palsy induced by the late term saline abortion by which her mother sought to end her life. She was born alive but damaged by the saline, and has become a mighty advocate of life. (You can watch her at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPFhCNOuQ. If you have difficulty, just go to youtube and type abortion survivor in the search box.)
Like Gianna, Resty Hope, may never again be normal (although we acknowledge God’s ability to heal). But even if she is never normal, God must have very special plans for her life. Who else could have sent a woman who had such a heart to help her, just when she was at the point of death?

Let’s all join together in praying for Resty Hope! Those who wish to help can designate their gifts for one of these projects when giving to Every Child Ministries at www.ecmafrica.org.

Shooting Street Kids or Killing the Unborn--What's the Difference?

I can't even begin to express my shock, disappointment and utter disgust at our new president's restoration of funding for worldwide abortion. So much of that taxpaper money will end up in Africa, yet the very last thing Africa needs is free funding for abortion!

How many our president possibly think this is positive change? This is not the kind of change we wanted! In many countries the government simply sends out the police or the military to "clean up" the city by shooting street kids on sight. In other places they load them into huge trucks and then haul them out a distance from the city and dump them someplace where it is impossible for them to survive. How does our president's new order differ from that? Very little! Both deal with children who are unwanted--by someone. Get them out of sight, out of mind. Less strain on social services. A more attractive city for tourists. Mr. President, the human cost of your policy is astronomical.

I am not unfamiliar with the needs and problems of the poor. I have lived with the poor, laughed with them, cried with them, shared their concerns. How does it help them to pay for the killing of their children?

More black children will be eliminated than any other kind. Precious, beautiful black children whose only crime was their mother did not want them, or thought she didn't, in a moment of discouragement. No! No! A thousand times, No! Let the children of Africa live. Amongst them may be another Martin Luther King, Jr.

Please, Mr. President, you have begun your administration on an extremely destructive course, but course corrections are always permitted. No, you need a U turn. They are permitted, too.

Amazing Pro-Life Links

I just found these amazing pro-life links related to the black community.
www.blackgenocide.org
www.klannedparenthood.com

Along with another of my favorites, www.lifenews.com, I'll pass these along.