Uganda takes it name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a portion of the south of East Africa, with Kampala its capital. Once a booming country, half the population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day.
For a second time, Daniel Selvey, a Lely teacher and volleyball coach, ministered in Uganda. He returned with the person that urged him to go last year, Sandy Ewerth, a Southwest Florida Christian Academy teacher in Fort Myers. With them went friend Jaythan McReavy, who works for a Fort Myers pool care service.
Their purpose was to take part in an international school’s sports camp, while using it as a means to minister to the young people.
They ran an ultimate frisbee sports camp, with the mornings spent with the camp and the afternoons ministering.
It is a young culture with so little leadership. There is a real opportunity to impact lives.Daniel Selvey, on his experience in Uganda
“We spent several days at an orphanage, the Jordan House, working alongside workers, then hanging out with the kids,” Selvey said. “We also went to government schools to present the gospel to students and teachers. We were given classroom time in primary and secondary schools.
“The country is very moral based. They are very HIV/AIDS aware and it has decreased in their population.” Where the country’s HIV prevalence once stood at 18.5 percent, it has declined to 5 percent.
Selvey said Kampala serves as a centralized location for world organizations to send off teams to Tanzania, Kenya, the Congo, Rwanda and Sudan.
Selvey, Ewerth and McReavy went under the umbrella of Riverside Church in Fort Myers, which he said was non-denominational, but mostly Baptist.
“There are so many orphans and young kids in Uganda that they are always looking for opportunities,” he said. “We used sports to get the kids actively involved, then present them the gospel or Christian teachings.
One day, in conjunction with Samaritans Purse, they held a field day for 20 orphanages.
“We had marching bands, clowns, fun presentations and prizes,” Selvey said. “Over 1,000 orphans participated. It was really cool to get 40 to 50 workers of different organizations to minister to the orphans who have so little.”
The three also went north into Karuma to work on buildings for Restoration Gateway, Uganda. According to its Web site it says, “We love God and live to partner with Him for His purposes on the earth. We believe restoring the war-torn hearts of the people of Uganda is one of those purposes.
Restoration Gateway was launched in the Fall of 2006 to enable the orphaned children of Uganda to regain their dignity and rebuild their future. Our aim is to share the love of Christ by providing homes, churches, clean water, health care, and education to as many as possible.”
Selvey said Restoration Gateway owns 800 acres on Nile River.
“It is developing an orphanage village to house 250 to 300 orphans. It is one of different models it will establish in Uganda. It is getting ready to break ground for a new hospital building and schooling area in Karuma.”
As a youngster, his family spent two years in the mission field in Spain.
“I learned from that experience and understand a lot of what people are going through and working with,” Selvey said. “My goal is to find as many people as I can to understand and discover ways to get involved here, to assist people in Africa from here. I want to inspire what can be done from my country to help them in Uganda.”
Uganda’s history of war, including the torturous reign of Idi Amin where some 3000,000 people were murdered, left many orphans. Selvey said more than 50 percent of the population is under age 24. Wikipedia says the population of the 32.4 million people has an average age of 15.
“It is a young culture with so little leadership,” he said. “There is a real opportunity to impact lives. There is so much an American individual can do from here with our vast resources. We can assist in making a huge difference in peoples’ lives in a different way than we could ever dream.”
For more information contact Selvey at daniel.selvery@gmail.com.
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