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Yard sale to benefit Ugandan orphanage

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

Jamie Rosser, a 20-year-old from Peachtree City, spent a month in Uganda this summer as part of a ministry provided by one of her professors at Covenant College, Dr. Henry Krabbendam, called the Africa Christian Training Institute. Krabbendam has been going to Africa for more than 20 years and the trip had such an impact on Rosser that she plans on returning next year and then possibly doing full-time mission work in Africa after college.

Her trip didn’t start off great as she got sick and was confined to bed for several days.

“It was frustrating,” said Rosser, who stared up at the mosquito net above her while her friends were out evangelizing in the villages. “I was thinking of ways that I could help.”

After leaving her sick bed, Rosser found out how she could help when she met Sarah Lubega, owner and operator of the Ranch on Jesus Orphanage and Primary School in Mutungo, Uganda. Lubega’s story and her students left a big impression on Rosser, who decided to hold an enormous yard sale at her church in Peachtree City, with all of the proceeds benefitting Lubega and her orphange and school.

Lubega, now 26, was an orphan herself. At the age of 23, she began to open her home to needy children in her community. The orphanage now includes a day school that provides free education, which is a rarity in Uganda, to 123 children. The orphanage and the school are in great need though. There is limited food for the children, few textbooks and school supplies and the children in the orphanage do not have beds to sleep on.

“I saw the need,” said Rosser. “I saw the cement floor in the orphanage where dozens of little ones sleep. I saw their bare feet and empty pockets, but I also heard them sing to me. The opportunities to spread the love of Christ are endless. I would be willfully disobedient to ignore them.”

Upon returning to the states, Rosser began planning the yard sale, which will take place at Carriage Lane Presbyterian Church Aug. 13-14 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. There are already two rooms filled with materials to be sold at the yard sale and monetary donations will also be accepted at the yard sale.

“It’s kind of ironic to have a yard sale to raise money, because we are selling extra stuff and they really don’t have anything extra,” said Rosser. “I John 3:17 says that ‘if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?’”