Calo Me Lare is a beautiful place, where the Project Hope Worldwide children live. It is in Northern Uganda, which has been called the Breadbasket of Africa and you will soon see why.

It is hard to capture the rolling hills and beautiful foliage of Calo Me Lare (Village of Redemption) with a camera, but Dennis has done his best to give you a glimpse.

Our first photo is the driveway leading from the gate to the Administration Building. Actually, this photo is taken from the Admin Building looking toward the gate.

The Admin Building was designed by our first Director, Andy Flegewho along with his wife Cami began directing this monumental work. They are skilled cabinetmakers, so we were very fortunate to have him design many of the buildings at CML.

The homes are built in circles. We currently have 1-1/2 circles and when funds become available Project Hope Worldwide plans to complete the second circle. Each circle contains 8 homes with an open building in the center, which we call the Center House. This is the meeting place for children and Moms who live in the homes.

Each home contains 8 children, either girls or boys and a house mother who is a widow. Our original intention was to care for the widows and orphans. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” (James 1:27) We have a mixture of children and moms from different tribes in Uganda. The mothers love the Lord and train the children in the ways of the Lord, teaching them responsibility and building character into their lives.

We have a playground and a full-sized football (soccer) field, which the kids use a lot! They always have the ingenuity to come up with new games, i.e. dodgeball with and old rolled-up sock.

We have three classroom structures, which currently house Primary and Nursery classrooms. Our oldest children are finishing P7 (primary level of education) and we are working toward adding the senior level beginning in January 2018. The school is open to the community and currently there are about 250 students.

Our Medical Clinic was a huge gift to Project Hope Worldwide by generous donors! It was completed around 2014. We are so happy that one of the young men from our church at CML completed his education as a Clinical Officer and is now practicing at the clinic. We have a lab and this Medical Clinic can service not only the needs of our own children, house moms and staff, but also the surrounding community. This is such a huge blessing to the project!

This is the church building, thanks to the generosity of donors to Project Hope Worldwide. We must say, this church was God’s idea and as always, it has been wonderful!!! When the first children came in the Moms, the Directors, Administrators and their families began teaching them Bible Stories and worshipping with them on Sundays. When the group became too large for the Center House they moved to a large room in the Admin Building and invited the community to join them. When we arrived in 2012 there was breathing room only!  The church was built and a pastor was called. The pastor and director’s homes were built the same year. Now the church is thriving!!! About 200 people attend each Sunday.

This is the Drip Irrigation Garden installed in July. It is a joint effort of PHW and Field of Hope. The garden is fed from a well on the property powered by a solar pump. We are harvesting tomatoes and green peppers now. Pumpkins, eggplants, onions, carrots, watermelon and cabbage are growing also. This promises to be an amazing blessing during the dry season. The peppers and tomatoes are some of the first produce from that garden. It rivals any from Lira markets!

PHW has purchased a piece of land across the swamp where maize (corn) is being grown. Maize is a staple in Uganda. The maize is eaten fresh or ground into “posho flour”, the main starch used in the diet of Northern Ugandans. We also have an orchard with oranges and mangoes. Cassava is grown on campus also.

We have begun a poultry business, where we are raising about 550 chicks. Some will be used for meat and about ¼ of them will produce eggs for those living in the homes. This was a gift from the government of Uganda to help these children. We are grateful to the government for them and are thankful that God put it in their hearts to help some of Uganda’s most vulnerable children!

Thank you again for visiting our blog and “visiting” Calo Me Lare! Thank you for your prayers for the children, staff and us. They are very much needed and appreciated!
– Dennis and Margie Baltzer

source: https://jungletrek-baltzer.blogspot.com