MAD4Watoto (Make A Difference for Watoto)

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”
James 1:27

Watoto is an holistic care programme that was initiated as a response to the overwhelming number of orphaned children and vulnerable women in Uganda, whose lives have been ravaged by war and disease.

Mike Swarbrick is leading a team of 12 - 15 volunteers in September 2011 to build a food store at one of the four Watoto villages. This is urgently needed to enable them to get the most from their limited food resources. We need to raise £10,000 – the cost of the food store building. We are raising money and awareness for this project. All the money raised will be paid to Watoto to fund their building programme. Each person going to Uganda with me will also be paying £1,200 for their own flights and accommodation. Mike first went to Kampala in November 2007 when, with 43 other volunteers, he helped build a house for eight orphans, an apartment for a teacher and a kindergarten at one of the four Watoto villages. His life was transformed by meeting the children and seeing the love of God in action amongst the abandoned and destitute of this beautiful nation. For Mike, the African AIDS crisis now has individual names & faces, and he has laughed and cried with them. But through the love of God these children now have hope. Watoto is real, it is genuine and it is making an impact. They now support over 2,000 children and 250 widows who care for those children. Most recently they have started working with former child soldiers and those affected by a brutal war in the north of Uganda.