Minister for the Presidency and Budiope West MP, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda, has challenged Seventh-day Adventist believers to match their prayers with hard work, urging them to take practical steps towards creating wealth and defeating household poverty.
Babalanda made the remarks at the closing of a one-week Seventh-day Adventist Camp Retreat held at Kiige SDA Church in Kamuli District, where hundreds of believers gathered for prayer, Bible study, fellowship and spiritual renewal.
The Minister conveyed greetings from President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Janet Kataaha Museveni, Presidential Affairs Permanent Secretary Hajji Yunus Kakande and staff of the Office of the President. She commended the SDA leadership for dedicating an entire week to strengthening the spiritual lives of believers and promoting unity within the community.
While applauding the faithful for their commitment to prayer, Babalanda urged them not to stop at worship, emphasizing that faith must be accompanied by productive work. She called upon Christians to use their abilities, land and available opportunities to improve household incomes and build sustainable livelihoods.
She further appealed to pastors and other church leaders to use their platforms to educate and mobilize communities about government wealth-creation programmes, including the Parish Development Model, Emyooga, Youth Livelihood Programme, Operation Wealth Creation and GROW. According to Babalanda, proper management of these opportunities can help families move from subsistence to income-generating activities.
The Minister also encouraged Kamuli residents to embrace President Museveni’s 4-Acre Model, with one acre dedicated to coffee or cocoa, another to fruits, a third to food crops and vegetables, and the fourth to pasture for zero-grazing dairy farming. She also promoted backyard enterprises such as poultry and piggery as additional sources of household income.
Babalanda echoed President Museveni’s message that Ugandans must fight corruption and reject idleness if poverty is to be defeated. “There must be ‘No Sleeping’. As Christians, our hands must work as much as our voices praise,” she said, stressing that prayer and hard work should go together.
As a gesture of solidarity with the SDA community, Babalanda contributed 100 bags of cement towards the construction of Kiige SDA Church. The retreat concluded after bringing together SDA faithful from across Kamuli for a week focused on spiritual growth, community fellowship and renewed commitment to improving their families and communities.
