Whether our prayer magnet is on your fridge, you sponsor a child (or 4), or you've served with us on a mission trip, explaining family restoration to the littlest members of your family can be a challenge. The vast majority of our children haven't had to go without meals, shelter, or their parents. But they have seen Disney movies. Many of the themes incorporated into children's films can help our children grasp the complicated concepts of family restoration.
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​We hope you can use these films to help make connections for your kids to the ministry your family holds dear to your hearts!

If your child is older, they may have asked you, "Why are so many children living on the streets of Kampala, Uganda?" And rightfully so — 20,000 street kids is a big number! You may have talked to them about poverty or the Ugandan culture surrounding step-parents, but another big factor is shame or the fear of punishment. We have helped reunify many families whose children ran away out of fear of consequences for something bad they had done. The list often includes skipping school, theft, and multiple run-ins with the local police. We also find that there is normally another young friend encouraging them to run away, saying the streets would be better than whatever punishment their parents might give.
But every time we've found their parents, all they wanted was for their child to come home.

In Disney's The Lion King we see Scar convince Simba that Mufasa's death is Simba's fault. Scar tells Simba to "run away and never return," which is exactly what Simba does. He believes he is guilty beyond forgiveness and runs away until he is dehydrated in the desert. Luckily, that's where Timon and Pumba find him, but the kids we move to our Transitional Home have often not been so lucky.

When a child is living in our Transitional Homes, the guilt and shame that they feared is one of the many areas of rehabilitation that we focus on. Through day-to-day life with their House Parents, they grow to understand that parents can give consequences as well as forgiveness. "If my House Parent can love me even though I've been a thief, maybe my dad can too." This is what Kevin came to believe. In fact, on Kevin's Reunion Day, he walked right up to his dad and said, "Forgive me." Without hesitation, his dad took Kevin into his arms and hugged him.

The first time I realized Tangled was a family restoration story, I bawled my eyes out. Before we get too deep into this topic, I have to warn you that the connection to family restoration is the ending. SPOILER ALERT!

​Sometimes, however, the answer is no, but not because of negligence. In fact, the first family restoration Benjamin House had the privilege of seeing through was a story of a mother who believed her former-husband had taken their son, Innocent, to the city to get an education. Unfortunately, though, this was not true. Her son had been handed off to her former-husband's brother who paid for school fees for 1 term and then physically neglected Innocent. When we finally took Innocent into our Transitional Home to reunite his with his family, he had been living on the streets for 6 years. His mother was devastated when she discovered the truth and overjoyed when she was able to hold her son again!

The way Innocent's mother held him on Reunion Day flooded my memory as I watched the closing scenes of Disney's Tangled. Rapunzel's parents had searched for her nearly all of her life and all they could do when they were finally reunited was hold each other!

Finally, let's talk about the culture around step-parents in Uganda. Can it really be that bad? Growing up in the States, the closest I got to hearing about evil step-parents was the movies. Unfortunately, in Uganda, that's really not the case. Time and time again we hear stories of neglect and abuse beginning when one parent gets remarried. One such story is Hakim's.
When Hakim was young, his parents separated. After his mother got remarried, she and his step-father wouldn't let Hakim and his siblings visit. So their father took Hakim's siblings in and Hakim went to live with his Grandmother. After some time, Hakim's father and siblings visited. His father decided to take Hakim with him this time and leave his brother and sister with their Grandmother (essentially switching their living situations). She had no choice but to give Hakim to his father.
Hakim was 10 when he went to live with his father and new step-mother. Immediately, his step-mother began mistreating him and eventually she influenced Hakim's father to abuse him, as well. When their abuse became more serious, Hakim fled to the streets of Kampala.

Step-parents in Uganda are often attempting to do their best for any biological children they've already had or are planning to have with their new spouse. In order to give their children an advantage they neglect their spouse's children, just like in Disney's Cinderella. Cinderella's step-mother, Lady Tremaine views Cinderella as a threat to her daughters' chances to marry the Prince. Everything she does to Cinderella is in an effort to provide a better life for her biological daughters, Drizella and Anastasia.

In the film, this treatment results in Cinderella running to her bedroom, crying. In Uganda, it results in thousands of children running to the streets to avoid neglect and attempting to provide for themselves on their own. So far, in every restoration we've attempted with a story like this, there has always been another family member who desired to care for the child. The children do not return to homes of former abuse.

Family restoration doesn't always end like a fairy tale. "Happily ever after" looks more like healing old wounds and surrendering our family-life to Christ every day, but it is amazing how many children's movies are centered around themes of reunification!
​One final movie suggestion we have is Disney's Queen of Katwe. While it doesn't necessarily carry easy metaphors for family restoration, older children will enjoy getting to see a movie set in Uganda. They'll even hear some words spoken in Luganda! Watching a movie that takes place in Uganda may help them visualize some of the challenges our restored families and sponsored families face on a daily basis.

What movies have you seen that feature family restoration? What has helped you explain these complicated concepts to your children? Let us know in the comments!

Shafiq's mom and dad never married, so when Fatuma gave birth to Shafiq she had no way to take care of him. She decided to find Shafiq's father and ask him to take care of their son. For the next 8 years Shafiq lived with his father and step-mother. In 2016, Shafiq's father suddenly showed up at Fatuma's door and dropped off Shafiq. After living with his mother for only 3 days, Shafiq went missing and the police picked him up and brought him back to Fatuma. Although Shafiq claimed he had gotten lost, a few weeks later he went missing again and a non-governmental organization found him and brought him back home. They enrolled Shafiq in school and he immediately began performing well. Within the first 2 weeks Shafiq was enrolled, it was time for the school's exams and Shafiq excelled.
His demeanor did not match his academics, however, and Fatuma began to notice that Shafiq was acting strange. Fatuma was advised to take Shafiq back to his father so that his behavior would improve, but shortly after Shafiq moved, his father sent Shafiq back with a letter for Fatuma. In the letter, Shafiq's father proclaimed that Shafiq could not be his son, explaining that no one with Shafiq's strange habits could possibly be his son. (Fatuma shared a copy of the letter with our social workers. You can imagine the pain the family felt hearing that Shafiq's father wants nothing to do with him after raising him for the first 8 years of his life). Within weeks of returning to his mother, Shafiq was no where to be found. Fatuma searched for him, but had no idea where he could be. She filed a missing person's report with the police, but never received news of her son. Follow-up between police and our social workers revealed reports that Shafiq's step-mother, whom he lived with for 8 years, had mistreated and even bewitched Shafiq. She would not feed him and while he lived with her and his biological father he began to steal food and cigarettes. His history of disappearing for days began under their care.

​In June 2018 we found Shafiq living in Kisenyi, Kampala, where he slept on the sidewalks or dirt streets each night and searched through rubbage pits for food. He lived on the street for nearly 3 years. When Shafiq expressed interest in returning home, our social workers asked him if he'd like us to try to make returning home a reality. Shafiq wanted to go home and moved to our transitional home in June. While there, at the age of 12, Shafiq gave up smoking and took on a whole new demeanor. The boy who used to fight for his survival on the streets began opening the door for others to get into the car before he would. And he was shown the love of Jesus and asked to become a believer.
After 2 months of counseling, rehabilitation, and adjustment to family life in his transitional home Shafiq and Fatuma were reunited! She welcomed him home with a meal and the local chairman (a town official) and their neighbors gathered around to catch a glimpse of the prodigal son returned!
Since their reunification, Fatuma and Shafiq have already been able to move to a nicer home and Shafiq is attending school again. Our social workers will continue to check up on Shafiq and his family throughout the year as he adjusts to being a kid, again, in his forever family!

You may have heard that, in honor of their birthdays, we're having a friendly competition to see which of our founders - Bucky or Julie Rogers - can raise the most money for our Transitional Homes. Our goal is $10,000 or one full year of Family Restoration operations. That may seem like a big goal for just 3 months, but it's just that important. Here's why:

For as long as he can remember, Ibra's mother and father have been separated and while he was young his father cared for him. When his father took a new wife, she refused to cook for Ibra and his siblings. Naturally, they told their father and, to their surprise, he immediately kicked their step-mother out of their home. Soon after, their father regretted his actions, knowing they were made in anger, and pleaded with his new wife to return.
Ibra believed that he was the problem; he was the cause of his step-mother's banishment. When Ibra heard that his step-mother might return, he fled out of fear that she might blame him for his father's actions and mistreat him. Ibra was only 10 years old.

For the next 4 years of his life, Ibra was homeless and lived on the streets of Kampala - the capital of Uganda. Each day, he dug through rubbish pits for food and re-sold plastic bottles in front of street shops to try to earn money. At night he would sleep on the sidewalk and hide from policemen, ordered to arrest homeless children and send them to Reprimand "Rimand" Houses. Throughout the years, a few non-profits occasionally fed him, but none did anything to get him off of the streets.

If our Transitional Homes didn't exist, Ibra's story would end here. He would continue to roam the streets of Kampala, like many children before him, and be one of thousands. No one would know his name, remember his birth day, or care to hear his story. But God had another plan.
Ibra was found by Benjamin House staff. He moved into our Transitional Homes, where his House Parents, Abraham and Phiona, lovingly took care of him for 3 months as his social worker dove into his case in order to discover whether Ibra had any living relatives who would care for and raise him. The bonds formed between the Rogers family, Abraham, Phiona, and Ibra during those months will not quickly be forgotten.

After 4 years of homelessness as an orphan and 3 months of rehabilitation and family research, Ibra has a family. On Thursday, May 17, 2018 Benjamin House Ministries reunited Ibra and his birth mother! Her ex-husband never told her their son had run away and you can only imagine her horror as she discovered that he'd been living as a homeless orphan.
In 12 short weeks, Ibra's life is radically different than it was before. He has a future, a family, a home.

Our hearts are filled to the brim after witnessing Innocent return home for the first time in 8 years and be reunited with his family! This is his story:
Innocent grew up with his parents and 3 siblings in a small village in Arua about 375 miles from Kampala. In 2000, when Innocent was 6, his parents separated. His dad decided to move to Kampala to find work in the city and told their family that Innocent would come with him to go to a good school. But Innocent was never enrolled in school. Instead, he was abused at home by his uncle and after 2 years, Innocent fled to the street. He lived on the streets of Kampala for 6 years.
This February, Innocent moved into our Transitional Home, where he was counseled and loved by our social workers and House parents as we searched for his relatives.
Upon finding Innocent’s mother, we discovered that she was never told that Innocent ran away. For the past 8 years she believed Innocent was away at school. You can only imagine the pain she felt when we told her the truth.
But her pain was soon replaced by the greatest joy! With the approval of our social workers, Innocent was reunited with his mother and her family in Arua! Friends and neighbors flooded their home as news spread that their son has returned!
We are overjoyed to finally see our dream of family restoration taking place! Innocent is the first of many children whose families we will see restored! Thank you for believing in this dream and helping us make it a reality.