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Christian Drama School Helps Orphans in Uganda
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
A young American woman lay weeping alone on her first night in a remote African village two summers ago. What had begun as a heartfelt answer to God’s call now felt like a frightening and overwhelming mistake. She had boarded a plane in New Jersey 26 hours before with high hopes. She had crossed two continents and an ocean, only to arrive in darkness and be met by three unfamiliar men, two teenagers, and a nine year old girl. Crammed in a Land Rover for an hour and a half without speaking, they bounced over unpaved, pothole-ridden roads until they arrived in the village ofNansana, Uganda. Now, instead of excitement and anticipation, she felt only despair.
“I prayed, ‘Oh God, what am I doing here?’” said Cindy Garrison, the first missionary of the Christian Drama School of New Jersey. Cindy was just 24 years old when she first went to Uganda in July of 2008. She arrived lugging three duffle bags stuffed with 430 shirts, a gift from theChristianDrama School for each of the orphans in Nansana. Overwhelmed at first, Cindy was soon transformed as she found herself surrounded by hundreds of children who needed her to be their teacher and mother. “When I met the children, I taught them a dance to John 3:16. Two days later, a boy named William drew a picture for me with the words to John 3:16. That’s when I knew God wanted me to be there.” She came home feeling as if she was called by God to do more. Back home, her mission work had been whole-heartedly embraced by the students of theChristianDrama School.
Today the orphans know they are well loved by Cindy and the students of her school. In less than a year, these students and their families have raised enough money to put a roof on the primary school in Nansana and build a secondary school in the village ofNamayumba. In addition, the orphans in Uganda have received clothing, school supplies, and financial aid from the children in New Jersey directly through the hands of Cindy.
Most of the funds have been raised through an originalChristianDrama School play called “According to Africa.” As the founder and director of theChristianDrama School, I wrote and choreographed this play with the hope that God would use it to save children in Uganda while also bringing American students to Christ. The play is based on the lives of actual people including these orphans and Cindy. To experience the incredible faith and joy of the orphans, you must first understand the horrors they have endured. The students learn how to bring these people to life in a fictional story that demonstrates the plight of the orphans and how to give them hope. I am so proud of all the cast members who gave of themselves and rehearsed for months in preparation for this play.
The play was received so well in May 2009 that it raised enough funds to buy land and start construction of the secondary school in Namayumba. On July 18, the encore performance was filmed atMontclair State University by Redcloud Mobile of New York City. The audience was so astonished by the power and presence of Christ shining through the cast that the money came pouring in. At the same time, Cindy returned to Uganda with 100 newChristianDrama School shirts for the new orphans. She presented the orphans with a banner of handprints made by the cast members.
“When I showed the children the banner with all the handprints, they were eager to find handprints that matched their own,” Cindy said. “They know that somewhere on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, there is a group of children, teenagers, and adults who love them and care about their future.”
Segawa Ephraim, the founder of the orphanage in Uganda, recently wrote to thank both Cindy and her school. “The children have hope,” said Ephraim, the program director of the Centre for Child Advocacy and Life Planning in Nansana. “They can see a bright future which they never had before the school was constructed. We had no money to build our school and no way to pay for education. When Cindy came to volunteer, we saw that she was different. She lived with the orphans and heard their cry.”
Cindy said the orphans sing a song of hope during prayers every morning. Cindy imitated the children singing, “Things are getting betta … things are getting betta. When the Lord is on your side, things are getting betta.”
God has a purpose and a plan for every person. Cindy is an example of the miraculous things that God can accomplish through one person who is supported by a Christian community. Be like Cindy. Seek your purpose, keep your eyes on Jesus, and let God make your plans.
At the Christian Drama School of New Jersey, it is our goal to help students meet Jesus face to face on the stage – in a place where acting is believing and believers take action. By learning plays that bring Christ or Christ-like characters to life, students like Cindy learn how to be the hands and feet of Jesus working to feed, clothe, teach, and heal a broken world. When students take action, they step off the stage into the real world where they become like Jesus by “acting like Jesus.”
TheChristianDrama School was founded on the verse, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrew 11:1) Over the past ten years, the ministry of theChristianDrama School has grown to include thousands of Christians. Under my direction, our school has raised more than 500 students from 29 different Christian congregations inMorrisCounty. Students have performed 25 plays with casts as large as 148 children and youth all praising God together.
Two years ago, I was convinced that God wanted us to build a school. I just didn’t know it was going to be in Uganda.”
“According to Africa” is being produced as a film with a backstage documentary called “Save An Orphan.” You can help the orphans in Uganda by watching the movie trailer on YouTube and telling your friends about the project. You can help build a school in Uganda by making a donation directly to “Save An Orphan” through theChristianDrama School website ChristianDramaSchool.org or by pre-ordering a DVD of the live performance. All the profits from DVD sales will go directly to the Orphans in Uganda.
Our faith and hope is to build as many schools as possible for the orphans in Uganda.
SPECIAL NOTE: “According to Africa” has been supported by CompassionArt. “CompassionArt exists to rescue people from oppression and create freedom from poverty. Recognizing that change can be accelerated through collaborative efforts and that there is power and influence in a collective voice, CompassionArt exists to inspire, influence, and equip people from the arts community to give of their time, talents and creative works so that together they can make a real and measurable difference in the lives of the marginalized who live in oppressive and impoverished conditions.” CompassionArt Music and Books are available at Family Christian Bookstores. 
www.christiandramaschool.org
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzxNmlQ9q0A