Brian and Rachel
Christmas 2010 through 2011
" May we all be seven times better off at this time next Christmas and year!"
Brian Ssenkumba to Rachel Gebhardt,
Reply from Brian Ssenkumba, Sounds of Hope Youth Group, Uganda
My friend Rachel, How is teaching treating you? Do you find easy and enjoyable? How is your family? What type of crafts do you make? We also make some things from clay. The day you will visit us, you will have to look at our pieces of work from Clay. We do this during our youth meetings. I love netball. I have also watched people play lacrosse here. In love, BrianReply from Rachel Gebhardt, Christians Under the Stairs, Deer Park, New York, USA
April 2011
Hi Brian,
How is everything going? Teaching is a lot of fun, the kids are so much fun, and since they are so young their so cute. Also because of their age they are very easy to teach, during craft time, we usually make small crafts to hang up. I would love to see the works of art you make! They must be awesome. Do you make crafts every youth meeting?
Love,
Rachel
Correspondence March 2010 through December 2010
My name is Brian Ssenkumba. I am 16 years old and a member of the Sounds of Hope youth program in Uganda. My grade level is Secondary 4. I live with my parents, 4 sisters and one brother. I share a room with my siblings, ages two and a half to 16. My chores include cleaning the house, washing the dishes and utensils, cleaning the compound (while at school), fetching water and cooking food.
My favorite hobby is playing volleyball. Though I attend a boarding school it is only one mile from my home. I regularly attend church with my family and my goal is to become a doctor or an engineer.
Reply from Rachel Gebhardt, Christians Under the Stairs, Deer Park, New York, USA
"Dear Brian ... My name is Rachel and I am 14 years old. I'm in the ninth grade and I am really glad to hear about your life. I love sports too except I'm not very good at volleyball. I like lacrosse. I also have a sister and a brother. Do you enjoy where you live? Is sharing a room hard?
My favorite thing about our youth group is being with my friends from all around - different towns and different churches. I have become really close to them. I also enjoy all the activities that we do.
(Back) Chantal, Daniela, Rachel; (seated) Julianne, Linda
My favorite hymn is 'Here I am, Lord'.
Write back!"
Reply from Brian Ssenkumba, Sounds of Hope Youth Group, Uganda
Hullo Rachael Gebhardt,
The awesome God has brought us together for a purpose and we need to serve him with all our heart and body so that we can win the lost souls to his ministry. It was a great turning point when I got your letter.
My dad is Paul and my mom is Josephine. They are both living. My dad is a gardener and my mom is a house wife. Am living with both parents. When I get together at Sounds of Hope, I learn ways of interacting with others. I learn new things from different people and appreciate the difference between us.
My best subjects are Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
Your friend, Brian
Comment and Challenge from Lindsay Ullmann, United Kingdom
Hi ... my name is Lindsay Ullmann. I started to write poetry when I was your age and it helped me to learn more about myself as a person. I grew to understand that I had to search to just find myself . I am in my 20's and now am a professional songwriter and singer. So if we turn our thoughts around into something positive we can accomplish almost anything - through creativity and spirituality.
Brian and Rachel, do you feel that you have had a wake up call in life like I had through poetry, when I was your age? If so, would you care to share? Would you agree that creativity and spirituality can help us and also those around us?
Would you like to write to Brian, Rachel or Lindsay ? Send a note to Timferguson@christianyouthgroup.org and it will be included on this webpage. Brian, Rachel and Lindsay will be notified that you have written.
Reply from Rachel Gebhardt, Christians Under the Stairs, Deer Park, New York, USA
Dear Brian Ssenkumba,
I'm glad God brought us together and is helping and keeping your family together. We are both very fortunate that we both have our families and pen pals to write to.
My mom is marcia and my dad is michael. My best subjects are English and Global I was just recently confirmed in my church, now i am a full member and i am getting closer to the church and God. I hope you always have faith in everything you do and God Bless you and your family. Our youth group takes some time off in the summer with only a mountain hike scheduled for August 7th. 
Then we start our weekly Sunday night meetings in September.
Reply from Brian Ssenkumba, Sounds of Hope Youth Group, Uganda
Dear Rachel,
We have all the reasons to thanks God for his kindness to us and that is having our parents alive and working. Am witnessing a lot of Agony here with many orphans unable to keep in school plus getting food for a day or more. But for us we can eat and drink plus going to school to acquire education. We have a reason to put on a smile as friends. Congratulations upon your confirmation in the church. I was confirmed in our church some years back. Faith is a force that can keep us going and hopeful Bible readings, practicing memorizing Bible verses are some of the activities we carry out when we meet as youth group of Sounds Of Hope.
Bye bye Rachel
Brian
Reply from Rachel Gebhardt, Christians Under the Stairs, Deer Park, New York, USA
Dear Brian,
I'm very pleased to hear that your parents are well and working. My family is well and my parents are working too, thank God. I'm sorry to hear that you have to witness many orphans that aren't able to go to school and get food each day. I'm happy to hear that you have the food you need, go to school and have a smile on your face as well as your friends. Over here is pretty good, I can't complain about it. Thank you for congratulating me on my Confirmation, I'm very glad I confirmed for now I am a teacher, during church I teach young kids the Bible readings and verses and sometimes do a craft with them. During youth group we also learn about Bible readings and verses, we also do some game or activity. It is a lot of fun. I usually don't like the outside but the last hike I did was a lot of fun and I enjoyed spending time outside with the fresh air. I don't play any sports but I used to play lacrosse. Do you play any sports? Keep in touch. (:
Bye Bye,
Rachel