SEARCY — Eva Rose dreams of helping the children of the world.
She officially began her journey toward making that dream into a reality when she started Logos One By One Inc., a nonprofit ministry, in 2014.
After a number of trips to visit her daughter and family, who were missionaries in Mbarara, Uganda, from 1999 to 2007, Rose said she saw firsthand the tremendous need for ministry in the area.
“I felt a burning desire to help, and I kept praying to God for direction on how to proceed,” she said.
Rose’s daughter and son-in-law, Renee and Nick Fouts, were helping to raise an orphaned teen boy, Alexander Mutungi, at the time.
Rose said she came to see Mutungi as one of her own children, and the two shared a desire to work with and help other children in the area.
“He knew what he had received by being loved and by being taught the word of God from my daughter and her husband. He desired to share that with other children in Uganda,” she said. “Alexander’s heart is wonderful.”
In 2012, Rose launched a traveling Bible school for children with the help of Mutungi, who still teaches Bible classes in the town of Mbarara and the villages of Kitooma and Katete in Uganda.
“He began teaching four classes a month, gathering children at outdoor locations. Presently, we are teaching around 14 classes a month in the town and two villages surrounding the town, all in outdoor locations,” she said.
Rose said she hopes to expand the teaching to four more surrounding villages in the near future.
“Our immediate desire is to hire at least one or two more Ugandans to teach now, and to provide more funding to Alexander for trips to the villages,” she said.
Rose said a trip to the villages requires hiring a taxi driver for the day, and Mutungi is also paid a base salary.
It takes a full day to travel, teach and return home because of poor road conditions, she said, and that’s the largest hurdle in their ministry.
“When our organization grows, we hope to provide some sort of beans, grain and a good source of protein as part of the ministry as well,” she said.
The ministry was named using the Greek word “logos,” meaning “word,” and “one by one” was added to emphasize individual children rather than numbers, she explained.
Rose said she opened a gift shop in 2014 to assist in growing the ministry, but the business failed in 2015.
Rose and her husband, Jim, recently opened The River House bed-and-breakfast in Searcy to help with ministry expenses.
The River House will have an open house from 1-4 p.m. Oct. 14 at 259 Riverview Road.
A Christmas shopping event will be held at the B&B during the first weekend of November, and proceeds raised will go to Logos One by One, she said.
“We will be dedicating a portion of every reservation at the bed-and-breakfast to the ministry,” she said.
Rose said that while the organization is operating, it’s not at the level she wants it to be.
Raising Mutungi’s salary and coming up with the funds to hire a female teacher is of utmost importance, she said.
“I dream of providing school fees for the children as well so more can learn to read. I also dream of building closer schools to each village so more children can attend,” she said.
Rose said the organization has paid school fees for just fewer than a dozen children so far in Mbarara and paid to send one Ugandan teenager to tailoring school.
“It costs around $240 a year for school fees per child to supply everything, including books and a uniform,” she said.
The organization has also covered medical expenses for some of the children Mutungi teaches.
“It truly takes a village,” Rose said.
Jim said that when he visited Uganda, he was impressed by how generous the people there were.
“These people, who had nothing, wanted to give to us. We were visitors, so they even served us meat. They were just incredibly giving,” he said.
Obera Norman, a board member, described Rose as faithful to her calling.
“She’s a gifted speaker and has good leadership qualities. She teaches through experience and now has me wanting to go to Africa,” Norman said. “She’s on a mission.”
Norman said she believes Rose will reach her goals in time.
“She’s speaking to a nation,” Norman said. “God has raised me up to be a giver, and he lead me to help Eva.”
Ann Walker and her husband, Jay, are also members of the Logos One by One Board.
“I’m excited about the passion that exists in this ministry. It ignited a passion in my heart to help,” Ann said.
Jay said he spent years in the United States Army and learned by traveling that children are often the same wherever you go.
“They trust you unless you give them a reason not to. This is an opportunity to reach children and give them a starting point,” he said.
Rose said the organization also plans to help the Batwa tribe in southwestern Uganda as soon as possible.
However, until money is raised for a rough-terrain vehicle, the ministry cannot travel that far, she said.
Rose said the nonprofit organization is at a standstill at the moment because of funding issues.
“There is so much more we can do in Uganda, but we need to raise more funds. We would love to see a church embrace this mission as their mission project, especially as we try to work with the forgotten people of the Batwa tribe. Our huge need is to buy an all-terrain vehicle to travel to the villages and to the Batwa tribe,” Rose said.
“This is something we can do to plant a seed farther than we can reach.”
For more information on Logos One by One or to make a donation, contact Eva Rose at (615) 480-1700 or evarose1@icloud.com.
Staff writer Kayla Baugh can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or kbaugh@arkansasonline.com.