Marsali Campbell is a member of Smithton-Culloden Free Church. She is a nurse who went to Uganda in September 2001 with Africa Inland Mission to join a Ugandan Christian team working with street children.

The work Marsali joined in Kampala is called Dwelling Places. There are three main strands to the team's work:

::  They work on the streets of Kampala developing relationships with full-time street children.



::  They have a transitional rehabilitation home with 108 resident children. This building also houses their offices, Marsali's clinic and an interim school. There are social workers who counsel the children and try to trace their families. There are also other staff who help with the day-to-day running of the home.

::  They run a family empowerment programme involving 30 families in Katwe, a large urban slum area in Kampala. These families are mainly women with children who spend their days on the streets but have somewhere to sleep at night (part-time street families). This work consists of Bible teaching and discipleship training, counselling, life-skills training, adult literacy work, craft skills training, social welfare assessment and health care.



As the only health worker in a team of 30, Marsali has established a health care programme, beginning with basic hygiene and an improved diet. Many of the children have had to steal or scavenge for food in the past and are not used to sitting down to eat with others without fear of their food being snatched from them.

Marsali also has a stock of medicines for dealing with minor complaints and has a good relationship with a local hospital for times when the illness is more serious. The most common health problems she attends to are malaria, respiratory infections, skin complaints and stomach pains. There are also children in the home who experience seizures or have HIV, TB or sight and hearing problems.

Many of the people Marsali works with have suffered years of emotional and physical abuse. Those who have known such abuse often abuse others and Marsali admits that some of the women on the streets of Katwe are very difficult to love. Yet she believes that love is the only answer.



Marsali returned to Uganda in September 2008 after a year's study at International Christian College in Glasgow. She was nearly knocked off her feet by the welcome she received from the children and staff!

But there were sad stories to hear too, as the children and Marsali's colleagues told of the challenges they face with poverty and disease. A young girl called Nalule Sylvia has required frequent hospital attention over the last year and the hospital bill now stands at £2400 - a sum that Dwelling Places is simply unable to pay.



::  If you would like to read more about Marsali's work in Kampala and learn about some of the answers to prayer she has seen there, take a look at Marsali's website or the website of Dwelling Places.

Rita Nkemba, the Ugandan leader of Dwelling Places, sings a song of her own composition for many of the groups she visits. This song describes the plight of street children. The lyrics can be read here. (PDF)



::  If you would like to receive Marsali's newsletters, e-mail her friend Ishbel MacDonald or write to her:

Ishbel MacDonald
c/o Smithton-Culloden Free Church
Murray Road
Smithton
INVERNESS
IV2 7LU
United Kingdom

::  If you would like to give to the work of Dwelling Places, please contact Deborah Kong at Africa Inland Mission, telephone: +44 (0)115 983 8120.

Please allocate your gift in one or more of the following ways:

'For Marsali Campbell': Marsali's living costs.
'For the work of Marsali Campbell': the health work both in the home and in the slum area.
'Children in crisis: Dwelling Places, Uganda': general needs at the home and in the slum area.



::  Pray for the team at Dwelling Places, that God would give them the health and energy they need for this demanding work. Pray that they would have wisdom in dealing with sensitive issues.

::  Pray for the children and families they work with, that each individual would know the love of God for themselves.

::  Pray for Marsali's family at home in Scotland.