The Dream and the Miracle: Buvuma Island
Rev. Brian preaching
The Archbishop of Uganda Forges a Partnership That Brings Hope to a Remote Island. Blog post by Bonnie Wellensiek and photos by Ty Van Rensburg.
On a Saturday morning in August 2023, Reverend Brian from the Anglican Church of Uganda stood in a remote forest clearing near his church on an island in Lake Victoria.
He was surrounded by throngs of barefoot children wearing their very best worn but colorful, second-hand clothes and watching with bright, uncertain eyes.
It was a special day on the island.
Rev. Brian with crowd
The young priest who had been serving the kids faithfully but with few resources would soon be empowered by sponsors from around the world as his grass-roots ministry blossomed into a OneChild Hope Center on Buvuma Island, Uganda. The new partnership would open countless possibilities for the future of the children.
“Child Champions” — volunteers from Reverend Brian’s church — had gathered that day to learn how to register kids for sponsorship using a new platform called Bridgely.
Ten children had been selected for enrollment during training, and the community was told that only those 10 could be registered that first day.
Yet more than 100 children turned up.
An Island in Need
The church is an island of hope in a sea of need.
About 25 miles off the mainland of Uganda, Buvuma’s lush landscape contrasts with its stark poverty. The island has little medical care and few schools. Much of the population is illiterate. Even toilets are scarce.
Buvuma Island Fishing Village, Uganda
The people of Buvuma rely on fishing and subsistence farming. Many parents leave for the mainland to look for work and don’t return for months, leaving children in the care of grandparents or completely on their own.
Reverend Brian, a courageous Ugandan Anglican priest and his young family accepted the call to move to Buvuma Island. Seeing the plight of the children who had no one to look after them, the young priest did what he could to help them.
He shelters more than 100 kids, from toddlers to teens, in a one-room building. He also started a school that meets under trees because the church can’t hold the 700 who attend. They have no books or other materials, just a board painted black that served as a chalkboard until it was too worn to use.
Reverend Brian dreamed of doing more for the children, but how?
Hope Grows on Buvuma
The answer would soon come, thanks to Stephen Kaziimba, Archbishop of Uganda.
Seeing the desperate need on Buvuma and in other areas of Uganda, Archbishop Kaziimba had forged a strategic partnership with OneChild, an international child development organization with long experience bringing hope to kids in some of the hardest places.
The partnership would empower Reverend Brian and the members of his congregation to champion these kids more effectively than ever.
Bridgely app registration at Buvuma Island, Uganda
That August morning, with nothing but a cell phone, Reverend Brian and his team of Child Champions began registering boys and girls on the Bridgely app. They knew that hope on Buvuma would not end with those first registered children. In the days to come, many more kids would be registered and find sponsors.
On the app, potential sponsors would see a video of each child sending a greeting in their own words, with translation from their Child Champions. They would also receive regular updates from their child’s Hope Center, and they could send greetings to the kids through the Child Champions serving them.
It was the formation of a community that spans continents — all united in care for these little ones on Buvuma island.
Stephen Higgens speaking at Buvuma island
A Tree of Grace
As two Child Champions played with the other kids, one of the bishops in attendance invited Stephen Higgins, an Anglican from the U.S. and OneChild staff member who had facilitated the partnership, to speak to the parents and grandparents waiting patiently under the trees.
Stephen stood behind a rough wood table next to an interpreter and chose a passage of scripture to share. But before he could begin, a seed dropped from the tree overhead, landing on the table in front of him. Looking up, Stephen realized it was a sycamore tree – the same kind Zacheus had climbed to see Jesus.
He threw out his planned message and picked up the seed.
“This little seed made this tree that’s so huge,” Stephen told the crowd. “This is like the seed of faith. This little seed of faith, this is the start of something small that can grow very big, just like this tree. And it can bring comfort and grace to everyone that sits underneath it. That’s why we are starting a Hope Center here.”
Planting that seed of faith is also the reason Archbishop Kaziimba and OneChild had linked arms to support Reverend Brian’s vision of reaching even more kids. Kids who will now have access to education, have basic needs met, and most of all hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
At this Hope Center children will come to know the hope that only He can bring.
And they will pass that hope on to the next generation as the God who makes mighty trees grow causes the seed planted that day to flourish on Buvuma Island.
If your congregation would like to partner with the Church of Uganda and OneChild to bring hope to kids in hard places, contact shiggins@onechild.org.
Join Reverend Brian and Archbishop Kaziimba in their mission of hope; download the Bridgely app and join the Buvuma Island cause community.
Bonnie Wellensiek is a longtime storyteller and graphic designer who loves sharing glimpses of how God is at work in our world. She has had the opportunity to witness His work in places as diverse as Ghana, Ethiopia, Honduras, and El Salvador, to name a few. During a year in South Asia with International Justice Mission, she shared stories of courageous survivors of modern-day slavery. Bonnie lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she is a writer and graphic designer for OneChild, a global community of Child Champions. She is the proud sponsor of Amina from Kenya.
