We, at His Grace Ministries, would like to say how grateful we are that you have joined us in serving the children and women in Uganda. Your child sponsorship and donations are doing so much more than just paying school fees and providing them with food—it is allowing them to experience selfless love. More and more we realize how much the children in the program benefit from knowing that someone cares for them from thousands of miles away.
Over the years, we have been asked many times by our donors and child sponsors, “How can I help more?” This is a natural question, one that we have asked ourselves many times. However, what we are realizing is that the help we offer needs to be very calculated and Spirit-led.
As Americans we like to fix problems as quickly as we see them, and our nurturing instincts go into overdrive as we see a child in living in poverty. Both are wonderful characteristics if they are tempered with wisdom and discernment. As we’ve spoken with other organizations, pastors and mission board committee members, we have come to realize that we need to formalize HGM sponsorship guidelines. If you have worked with organizations like HGM you may recognize many of these guidelines as they seem to be the universal best practice
1.Communication
We ask that all communication with any contact at HGM (sponsored child, parent, or staff member) go through His Grace Ministries. If you wish to send the child that you sponsor or an HGM staff member an encouraging letter, please send it to hgmuganda@gmail.com and our staff will be sure to forward it. These letters are a huge blessing to the children, and we strongly support this type of communication, but we ask that you be mindful of what is disclosed.
For example, you don’t want to set unrealistic expectations suggesting “Hopefully you can visit me in the United States sometime”. It is also important to refrain from asking a HGM child or mother “what can I get for you?” or “what else do you need?”. These types of questions create a variety of negative character traits in the people God has asked us to serve. It is our goal at HGM to give the ones we minister to an opportunity, not necessarily give them what they want or even what they may need. At HGM our mission is to give the children and women we serve an opportunity to be educated, an opportunity to be self-sufficient and of course an opportunity to know Christ.
We ask that each sponsor not accept or submit any friend requests on social media from those within the ministry – sponsored child or parent. (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.) The cultural and economic gap between you and the ones we serve in Uganda is so great it just isn’t healthy for the kids and women to have this view into our lifestyle here in the US. If you are currently “friends” with your sponsored child on social media don’t worry, they will not be alarmed if you “unfriend them” nor should you be if you get unfriended.
We will continue to give you updates on your child throughout the year – if we become aware of an illness or milestone event that takes place, we will be sure to pass that on as it happens.
2.Finances
There should be no monetary or cash exchange between you and the sponsored child or their family. All donations should be made directly to His Grace Ministries by visiting the donation page or by writing a check made payable to “Becoming Foundation, Inc” and listing HGM in the memo section.
If you would like to send a gift to your sponsored child (which would be submitted and delivered through HGM), we ask that you limit it to fit inside of a large, manilla envelope.
We would suggest sending a letter, family picture, small notebook, book or devotional, school supplies, etc.
3.Visits
If you would like to visit your sponsored child, you would need to do this in coordination with His Grace Ministries. We will do our best to see if we can accommodate this visit within the schedule of planned trips. No direct visits to your child can be made outside of this scope of practice.
For more information and requirements needed to set up a visit, please contact HGM.
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions on the above guidelines and once again thank you so much for your prayers and support as we respond to Gods calling to serve the “least of these” in Uganda.
By His Grace,
His Grace Ministries Staff
