GREETINGS We hope this finds you well, having had a wonderful Christmas celebration. We know some people have been negotiating hard times this year, and we hope that if you are one of them, that you have experienced God’s comfort and strength.

THANK YOU A big thank you for reading this letter, being part of the Gulu Connection family, if you are an intercessor, for praying and if you are a financial supporter, for giving. We really appreciate your support without which we could not provide the level of support we do.

GEMMA DOES IT AGAIN Gemma is working at King Edward’s School, Birmingham and managed to get Gulu Connection considered for a fundraising effort by the boys which resulted in a magnificent cheque of £1000. We are very grateful to the boys and the school for supporting in this way – and congratulate Gemma for more amazing fundraising success.

IT NEEDED TO BE DONE - THE OBERABIC BOREHOLE IS BEING REPAIRED AT LAST The main health centre we support, at Oberabic, has had issues with its borehole / water pump for some years. There have been temporary repairs. The borehole is shared with a small community who live in traditional huts near the health centre. Currently the water is significantly contaminated by sand. Fiona has organised two firms to inspect and provide estimates. The inspection confirmed that major work needed to be done and we were very pleased to be able to transfer funds before Christmas to enable this vital repair to take place. Both the health unit and the local population will benefit.

SAINT PETERS HEALTH UNIT, AWERE - WE ARE CONNECTED HERE AS WELL The main support interest for Gulu Connection is Oberabic with its new satellite clinic at Punu Dyang opened last year, but in addition we provide support for two nurses at St Peter’s Health unit, Awere which is many miles from Gulu and in a medically very needy area with a high incidence of HIV and is also an area affected by the mysterious Nodding Disease. We pay the full salary for a midwife and a subsidy to the in charge nurse. It has been heartening to hear of the improvement in expertise and maternity services here. On January 8th Fiona sent a report and was able to record a fantastic maternity achievement. She said “Maternity services are growing by the day. They had 308, 200 and 228 Anti Natal Clinics and 54,44 and 61 deliveries in October, November and December respectively. We decided to add another midwife as the workload has increased a lot.” This performance is good for the community and also for the finances of the unit which receives assistance from USAid for maternity services that are conducted to a high standard. As ever there are some areas requiring improvement but Fiona is “on it”

The unit is very busy as evidenced by the pictures of the waiting room and we are pleased to have a played a part in it’s transformation.

THE BORING WORK OF SAVINGS LIVES CONTINUES We were also delighted, just before Christmas, to forward a payment of £4133.75 as our regular contribution towards staffing at St Peter’s described above, drugs and staffing Oberbic and it’s satellite at Puny Dyang. Oberacic used to be a lost cause but now with passionate staff, clear supervision, admittance to the USAID maternity project and support from Gulu Connection it is advancing strongly and providing life saving assistance for its rural and deprived population.

WHILE THE BOSS IS AWAY Nick has been studying at Cambridge University and during this time Fiona, Nick’s personal assistant and Emmanuel, education and supervision nurse lead, have been holding the fort. Emmanuel’s main administrative responsibility has been the supervision of the eight brand new units. In addition he orintates new nurses and as an enthusiastic Christian, trains and encourages nurses in how to pray with patients. Fiona supervises the established units, and also does all the other administration and financial tasks. She has been very busy. We are very fortunate to have the services of such gifted and devoted team members.

We wish you peace, joy and prosperity in 2019. Gemma & Pete

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP... You can donate by : Bank transfer and adding your name as reference.  Account Name. NOCF  Account number : 00190468  Sort code: 30-90-95 Or by making a cheque payable to Nechells and Overseas Care Fund and then sending it to the following address :  Mr Peter Hill - Charity Administrator  47 Heneage Street  Nechells  Birmingham  B7 4NF