Followers of HSH know that Steven, a once past seminarian, now a novice for the lay-Dominicans, a youth leader (see http://www.uyma.org/ ) and heart patient (heart failure) in Western Uganda, needs a bit of help. He also writes a daily email on the Scriptures for a 1000 some youth. He even has some awesome facebook pages, though I don’t do facebook. Here are his Profile, and the Uganda Youth Ministry Association, and the Consecrated Secularity page.
We’ve figured out a way for him to get his medicines without going through endless financial obstacles for those wanting to help, but who are unsure how to do this and unsure of his suitability for receiving a donation or two. I had to shut down some of his comments when I saw a paypal link go up. He didn’t know the difficulties inherent with collecting money for overseas entities in the present “security” climate, much less my difficulties in regard to any donations here in North Carolina!
Turns out that Steven is a one-time chicken keeper (Ooo-Rah!), who still has his hen-house ready to go. Way to go, Steven! He had more than a dozen chickens, but they started to die with a contageous cough (hopefully not avian flu!). The eggs brought him enough income to get the four medicines he needs for his heart condition. But he had to sell them off when they started dying.
So, he needs chickens… perhaps enough not only to pay for the medicines, but also for his other bills for his apostolate. So, what to do?
Turns out also that Steven is also an author. He has two books for sale on Amazon. He receives royalties for the sale of each book, $9.00 for the $20.00 book and $4.00 for the $10.00 book. That’s a great percentage for royalties. Let’s take a look:
Publication Date: December 2, 2011 — “A big challenge Christians have today is to relate the word of God in the Bible with their everyday lives. The Catholic Church daily provides a timely message in the scriptures read at Mass, but how do we relate this word to our daily living? This book is a journey through the Gospels making them practical and livable. Ready your bible, and let’s get going!”
($20.00)
And here’s the other:
Publication Date: December 28, 2011 — “The situations that will stretch your faith most will be those times when life falls apart and God is nowhere to be found. This happened to Job. In a single day he lost everything—his family, his business, his health, and everything he owned. Most discouraging, for thirty seven chapters, God said nothing! How do you praise God when you don’t understand what is happening in your life and God is silent? How do you stay connected in a crisis without communication? How do you keep your eyes on Jesus when they are all full of tears? You do what Job did: “Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the Name of the Lord be praised.’ “(Job 1:20-21).”
($10.00)
Don’t you wish you had them? You, meaning ~you!~ can get them, read them over, pass them around… You get to give almsgiving. You get a great read in return. Your almsgiving not only helps Steven, but, through him, his apostolate. All safe, all legal, and hopefully frequent!
Can we all do this for Steven? I think we can! He does very much for Mary’s Son, Jesus: Click and Click! Done!
UPDATE: As you can see from the combox, we are getting closer to getting Steven his chickens so that he can get his meds. I’m very happy about this. In looking over some of his posts on his facebook pages, I’m impressed that he cites Church documents here, there and everywhere, and well cited, not just to do it. This sets up a perspective that is instilled into the zillion youth he works with in Uganda. That’s really very awesome. If you haven’t ordered your books yet, today is the day, um… Here and Here. Done! The best kind of almsgiving doesn’t give someone a sterile egg… no… The best kind of almsgiving gives someone chickens, which can lay eggs, and reproduce, and… Very cool!
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
Fr. George, thank you so much for this favor. And you all who are considering to order copies of my books, may you be blessed.
I am very grateful to you friends who have already ordered for the books. I registered 5 sales already with royalties worth $36. God bless you.
I can hear the chickens cheering you on from here! I’m hoping for more orders for you, and then…. and then… some great reviews from our readers encouraging yet more orders. That will take a week or two, but this is a great start. Go Steven!
2 more sales made this morning. Thank you, thank you everyone.
4 more sales this morning. This makes a dozen(12) total number of sales and $60 worth of royalties.
Thank you so much all. God bless you
Steven, that’s fantastic. Praise be to Mary’s Son! Thanks to our generous benefactors!
Thanks to you all again. 2 sales were made today.
I register 4 more sales to day, making 19 sales in total and $91.16 earned in royalties.
On a good note, starting today, I will be earning $1 more to the royalty for each sale. I just got that information from createspace where I published my books.
Thank you all for the support. I am praying for 21 more sales before January ends. Then, I can be able to get at least $200 paid to me towards the end of February. Well, that will be a fair amount for me into my poultry house 15 chickens.
Most appreciated lines after first read of THLoW:
We know that God is in all-powerful and that He is loving. So we trust Him that all that comes into our lives, even pain and suffering, first passes through the loving hands of the Master.
Thanks Steven! And Father, for the recommendation!
Father, today I made 4 sales after a couple of weeks. The first sales made in February.
We closed January with 24 sales, worth $127.4. Amazon will pay me this much at some time towards the end of this month.
My mind was set on the poultry project a few minutes ago, and we still have a journey to go. On my past project, I had local chickens and the biggest problem with them is that they take long to mature, and produce very few eggs.
I was talking to a friend who has high breed chickens on her farm, and she says her starting capital was well up to 1.5 million shillings($600). She is now doing well. The birds she brought in very small, matured in a matter of months and she now daily supplies trays of eggs to bakeries . Yes, this breed of chicken requires more feeding and care, but compared to the result production, it is cost effective.
May God provide for my project and may it be in position to start soon.
http://www.pri.org/stories/business/global-development/poultry-farming-in-uganda1894.html