The best work is local and personal, even in Uganda.
The Kellermann Foundation’s long-term endeavor to help the Batwa and their neighboring communities in southwest Uganda highlights that the best solutions come from within the local community.
The Batwa Development Program takes ministry on the road using a portable movie theatre to show the JESUS film. The film answers questions such as: Who is Jesus? What did his ministry involve? And what does it mean to follow him? Many Batwa are responding positively by committing their lives to Christ.
Additionally, the Batwa Development Program uses the long-standing oral tradition of the Batwa to encourage their training as OneStory Bible leaders. Having inherited the gift of oral storytelling from their elders, the most gifted storytellers memorize anywhere from 25–50 Bible stories over a four-year period. They share the Bible in their mother tongue to friends and family living in their communities, and from there the stories spread to other communities.
In conjunction with OneStory, Batwa participate in adult literacy classes offered by the Batwa Development Program in open-air community bandas. These intensive reading and writing classes using the Bible result in adult baptisms where, for example, thirty-one Batwa were recently baptized in the parish church at Kihembe settlement.
The Batwa Development Program also conducts home-to-home pastoral visits each week where priests and lay ministers visit, pray over and share the Word of God with each family in their own homes, encouraging them and loving them in the way of Jesus. They have made great strides in discipleship and personal development among the Batwa. Led by the Reverend Canon Bernard Bagaba and Lay Evangelist Charles Kwizera, Batwa and Bakiga men, women and children are accepting Jesus Christ in increasing numbers.
The Kellermann Foundation emphasizes that locally-led initiatives take precedence. We stand alongside the people we serve, helping around the edges, and funding key local initiatives. Our best work has been one of enablement, trusting God, and letting the efforts of our partner programs in Bwindi be guided and prioritized locally by those on the ground doing the day-to-day work.
The Kellermann Foundation is honored to help fund these programs which have yielded many blessings of hope, faith, and trust in Jesus. We are thankful for the local community who works together by God’s grace to secure a better future.
