As we descended from the UCE team’s mountain home of Makamba, Burundi to the lowlands of the neighboring district of Nyanza-Lac the temperature increased, and the air grew muggy and oppressive. We drove through the huge community built around fishing, and the mood of the people matched the stifling heaviness of the air. It seemed a place where hope was in short supply. When we arrived at the school, the students told us of pressures to leave school and either fish or exchange sex for money. Living with these challenges of extreme poverty, the youth saw no value in their lives.
With light shining off their faces and truth coming from their lips, the UCE Burundi team brought a message that none had ever heard. They brought a message of hope, love, and new life in Christ. They explained how abstinence until faithful marriage was the certain way to prevent HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. I watched, during the 3 hours, as the faces of the teens in front of me slowly transformed from morose and downtrodden to jubilant and free. When the outreach began to conclude, the team could hardly contain the students as they rushed forward to make commitments. 256 boys and 198 girls gave their lives to Christ and committed to chastity that day. As the team left the school, the students’ emotions erupted in tears, cries of joy, and shouts of thanks. The photo of that moment adorns the cover of this year’s annual report. It is a picture of pure joy, love, and the newness of life that only the Spirit can bring.
The evening after the outreach, the team was contacted by the Muslim headmaster of the nearby Nyanza-Lac Islamic School. He had heard about the day’s events, and wanted an outreach, which the team arranged for the very next day. The team put on the full armor of God, traveled back to Nyanza-Lac, and reached the Islamic school. After the outreach the headmaster said, “It is my wish that the UCE program should be included in the curriculum of our education system. I compliment the UCE team and recommend that you should be coming often to visit not only this Islamic school but also many more because as some of the students dared to say, this UCE program is very new for many of us.” There is no power like that of the great I AM.
In the Fiscal Year ending July 31st 2013, UCE visited 133 high schools, 3 teacher training colleges, 1 vocational school, 4 universities, and held 1 chastity rally, 3 seminars, and 10 conferences in Uganda, Burundi, and Tanzania. 39,494 youths made commitments to abstain until a faithful marriage. UCE established 57 new UCE Chastity Clubs. The UCE Prayer Warriors program was launched, and people from across the globe, of many different denominations, have joined our teams in prayer.
To date, 237,730 young people have committed themselves to God and chastity. At our fourth annual summer Backyard Braai, a record number of donors stepped forward in faith to sponsor a school outreach at $250 each. This year, 88% of expenses were spent on program services, 9% were spent on general expenses and management, and 3% were spent on fundraising. God continues to guide UCE, and bless the ministry. Thank you to all of you who helped UCE to bring this life-saving message to people so far away. I hope the following report on our yearly activities will bring you great joy.
Yours in Christ,
Andrew Dernovsek
Executive Director
Please enjoy the complete UCE Annual Report for fiscal year ended July 2013, by clicking here (PDF)