Because of your love and support we were able to help a young homeless boy sleep in a bed tonight for the first time in a long time.
Today I was supposed to go in late to work so I could spend time with Caleb. I got a call that a lady was coming for discipleship so I needed to head to the office. Side note: Uganda does not have garbage services and so you have to get creative about your trash disposal. Sadly there are rubbish heaps all over from people just piling up their rubbish. I take mine to the office and they dispose of it there. As I was going to dump it I saw a young boy, maybe 10, who was digging through the rubbish to find plastic empty drinking water bottles, so he could sell them and buy a meal at the end of the day. They recycle just about everything here, including used regular drinking water bottles. He had a good number of bottles. This is a photo of the bottles he had collected so far today.
I know we can’t help everyone but today was a moment I knew I had to step in to help this kiddo. He wasn’t drunk or high which is all too common with street kids. So I brought him up to our discipleship center. We were able to take him to get some breakfast for him. He was so hungry he ate it on the way to the office. He was so grateful. Afterwards I was able to pull some clean clothes from our resale store for him to wear, as the clothes he was wearing were beyond dirty and very smelly. At our building we also have a public bathroom that people can pay to use. Yes we have to pay to use the bathroom and shower that is in the building. So he was able to take a shower today and put some clean clothes on. I am currently at home, washing his other clothes. We ordered him a healthy lunch that gave him some leftovers for supper.
He stayed at our center all day and played with Caleb. He went from a downcast boy who wouldn’t look at you, to a boy who was laughing and being a kid for the first time in a long time. He has been on the street for quite a while. He played with magna tiles, cars and trucks, legos, watched movies and read books. He was such a different kid. He loved the magna tiles the best and a green dinosaur truck that when you push it forward it moves forward by itself. It was a heart lifting afternoon watching him play like kids are supposed to. For one day he didn’t have to worry where he was going to find food for the day he could just be ten. I just kept watching him, smiling. He started calling me mom, and Todd was on the phone with Caleb and He asked me if that was his dad, I thought he meant Caleb’s dad, but he got in front of the phone and said, “Hi dad!” to Todd. He really was missing having a family, you could tell.
I decided to go to the local CPS (Child Protection Service Office) and see if we could help locate His family. As we talked they were able to find a child’s home that can take him in and care for him for a few weeks while we are tracing the family connections to try to find someone in his family who can help raise him. He was happy to not have to sleep on the street tonight. We sent him with some extra clothes and a few pairs of pajamas. He was beyond happy and the smiles just melted your heart.
He woke up like every other day, walking the streets looking for bottles so he could buy a small supper and then later retreat to a verandah under a store to sleep. But God had different plans for his life today. Hopefully today is the beginning of a new life for him. I will sleep a little sweeter tonight knowing that he is sound a sleep in a bed with blankets.
Sometimes in life it is easier to just carry our own burdens and let others carry their own. But sometimes when we stop to help someone carry their burden it blesses us more than we feel like we are blessing them. It is good to have an active faith that loves others as we would want to be loved.
James 2:14-17, what good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
We thank you for supporting our family and our ministry with your prayers and financial support. None of these lives could be changed without your help.
If you would like to join our support team please visit our website Woven2gether.org and click the give button.
You may also mail donations to
Todd Herricks
C/O Woven2Gether
1970 26th Avenue
Rice Lake, WI 54868
Blessings to you all!
Thanks for making this journey possible.
Jennifer Herricks
Woven2Gether
WOVEN2GETHER 
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