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 Pursuing God's Dream
Alissa Cooper Sande, the founder and executive director of Heart for Uganda, is a foreign missionary to Uganda, Africa. She has a Master's Degree in Reading from Clarion-University and was formerly an elementary teacher at Clarion Limestone School District in Strattanville, Pennsylvania. She resigned from her teaching job in Spring 2007 to pursue a dream that had been in her heart from the time she was eight years old. Alissa took three short-term trips to Africa-one in 2001 to Kenya and Tanzania, one to Mozambique and Sudan in 2008, and two to Uganda in 2007 and 2008. Then, in February 2009, Alissa moved to a district called Kyenjojo, Uganda, an area primarily composed of small villages. She is now currently ministering with her husband, a Ugandan Pastor named Victor Sande, under God's Care Ministries, which is the Ugandan organization that is partnering with Heart for Uganda. Her primary ministry aspiration is to establish a Children's Village in Kyenjojo District for the orphans and vulnerable children.
Alissa knows that her destiny in life is to bring love to the abandoned, joy to the despairing, and hope to the hopeless. She believes she was created to respond to the cries of the orphans in Uganda. She is ardently aware that every day a child dies because his cry for help is not heard. She has personally heard their cries and has seen their desperate faces. She has witnessed orphaned children raising themselves and their siblings. She has held children suffering from malnutrition and starvation, feeling their tiny bodies and viewing their skeletal figures. She has held dying children in her arms and has heard the sobs of suffering children. Alissa has been unable to remove their cries and their faces from her head and from her hear; therefore, she passionately desires to dedicate her life to meeting the needs of these children and showing them the love of Jesus. She is fully convinced that God has restored her life so that she can restore the lives of others. She has willingly chosen to surrender her life to God and sacrifice it for others.
Pastor Victor Sande, the pastor of God's Care Church and the founder/director of God's Care Ministries, a Ugandan Non-Profit Organization, was raised by his father and step-mother in the capital city of Uganda, Kampala. He made a personal decision to follow the Lord in September 1997, when he was seventeen years of age. Before that time, he went to church and was involved in ministry activities in order to obey and please his parents. He attended high school up to Uganda's highest level, which could be called grade 13 in America. He deeply desired to attend the university, but failed to attend due to financial issues. As a result, he began to attend several Bible trainings and participate in correspondence courses to increase His Biblical knowledge because he had made the decision to serve the Lord when he accepted Jesus into His heart in 1997.
In April 2007, Pastor Victor received a dream of someone instructing him to go to Western Uganda and do the work of the Lord. He was told to put his base in Kyenjojo. It was not easy for him to move from the capital city to the rural area of Uganda, where life is more difficult, but he faithfully followed the Lord's leading and moved to Kyenjojo on July 12, 2007. He began God's Care Ministries, which later became a partner with Heart for Uganda in America. God has abundantly blessed these ministries in a short period of time, and many Ugandans have been blessed and their lives have been changed as a result. Pastor Victor has also personally witnessed the blessing of the Lord, as God has delivered him and his immediate family from a great number of trials and tribulations. He wishes to remind everyone that God hears the cries of those who seek after Him and blesses them.
Pastor Victor was married to his dear wife Alissa Cooper Sande on August 15, 2009. They now serve the Lord as a couple, united to bring hope to the people of Kyenjojo, Uganda. They have a son Caleb and two foster children named Brian and Grace.
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THE CRIES OF THE AIDS ORPHANS
Alissa Cooper Sande
I used to be happy until the day
My mother and father were taken away
It began with my father - Who got very ill
As I watched in silence - My whole being was still
Soon after his death, my mother also went too
A voice inside me speaks - Was it because of you?
I wish I could cope with the sorrow I feel
But there's no time for that - I must find the next meal
The ache in my heart is more than I can bear
I'm sad and I'm lonely, but there's no one to care
Will anyone cry for me?
Now my whole world has changed - I'm left all alone
I have three other siblings, and no place to call home
I wander the streets looking for food to eat
Maybe today this trash bin will offer rations similar to meat
Or maybe I will find something new I can sell
I'm tired and I'm weary, but there's no one to tell
Will anyone bring food to me?
I had dreams of becoming a doctor or teacher
But now I'm barely existing - am I even a creature?
With no time or money to go to school
My dreams have been dashed to the bottom of the pool
In my future there is no hope - I don't know how I am going to cope
Will anyone come and teach me?
My life has also changed, but of this I'm quite ashamed
To relive my story creates deep guilt in my heart
I didn't know I'd be forced to play this immoral part
After both of my parents died - my close relatives took me in
But now I'm only used for their pleasure and sin
I don't understand why my innocence was stolen from me
I wish there was someone to set me free
Will anyone rescue me?
These are cries of the orphans of AIDS
Every day there hope dies and their joy quickly fades
Their lives are changed forever by no choice of their own
Will anyone stop to hear their feeble groan?
If Jesus were here he would stop for their cry
He would not turn a deaf ear and hurry on by
In compassion he'd gather them into his arms
And rescue their lives from all bodily harms
He'd hold them and love them and pray for them too
He'd tell them my Father in Heaven loves you
As followers of Christ how can we ignore these children's plight?
Does it matter that they might appear out of sight?
We have a divine calling to be Jesus' feet and hands
To take his love everywhere even to faraway lands
You and I are the only hope for these dear, desperate faces
We must intervene before their future soon erases
As we offer our time, money and prayer
WE make a big difference and show that we care
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