The Nile

One of my long time dreams came true Tuesday, when I actually got to take a boat ride on the Nile! I even put my hands in this historic, ancient river. It was beautiful and so peaceful there. Since it was a Tuesday, it was pretty quiet. What an adventure getting to and from there, though!

We got to the taxi park in Kampala at about 10:30 in the morning and found the bus going to Jinja (which is where the source of the Nile is). The bus was almost full by the time we got on it so I had to cram into the back seat with three other people while Raquel had to sit in one of the pull down seats in the middle of the aisle (the least comfortable place to be). At least I was by the window, which is good for the trip but bad for the taxi park. It was so hot that we were all sweating just sitting there so I had to leave the window open. Unfortunately, when you do this in a taxi park, hundreds of people come by trying to shove their goods on you to buy. You can buy anything from water to shoes to biscuits to table linens. If you're a mzungu, you're even more of a target, so I had the happy task of trying to get rid of these pushy guys as they came by my window. Some of them started getting more aggressive as time went on. One guy asked me if I wanted water. I said no. Then he shoved the water bottle through the window, into my face, asking I would buy it. I gently pushed it away and firmly said "no." You know what he did? He shoved me! Unbelievable! I was so done at that point. Thank goodness the bus was starting to move at that time. We had sat there for a half hour before leaving the taxi park.

So, then I had a small boy, maybe 1 year old, sitting on his mama's lap next to me. He gave me the evil eye pretty much the entire trip. He also felt it necessary to throw food at me. Fun. Three hours later, we arrived in Jinja. Thank God. Then we had the fun task of throwing off all the boda drivers who hounded us the second we got off the bus. We went into the gas station nearby and asked them where to go and how much a boda ride should be. Then we found a driver and asked him to take us to the source of the Nile. He asked for 2500. I told him 2000. He said 2500. I turned to the boda driver next to him and asked him if HE would take us or 2000. Before he could respond, our boda driver said, "Ok, let's go". haha, that meant he'd take us for 2000. Good negotiating skills, huh? :)

Once we got to the Nile, it was so peaceful, we felt like it was a welcome respite from the crazy taxi ride. Hardly anyone was there, being that it was a Tuesday afternoon. (Except for some school kids on field trips, who asked for pictures with us.) We ate lunch at a little restaurant overlooking the Nile. It was all outdoor seating, with a thatched roof for shelter. We had chicken and chips. Then we decided to take a boat ride on the Nile. It was only about a 20 minute ride but it was so amazing to be floating on the Nile! Our driver took us to Lake Victoria then back down the Nile. The source of the Nile is Lake Victoria and the river flows all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. It takes four months for it to get from Uganda to Egypt. Crazy!

After our boat ride, we were ready to go, knowing that our ride would be another 3 hours and we really needed to be back before dark. We got to the taxi park and were very pleased to have our pick of seats. We sat in the back, together, next to the window and the taxi filled up so fast that we were able to leave by 3:30pm. A few hours later, however, we stopped due to brake problems and had to wait for another taxi to come along and pick us up. We didn't get back to the city until 7 pm. Once we got to Kampala, the city was more of a zoo than usual. Traffic was bumper to bumper. It was dark by this time and we were ready to get home, especially after the happenings of the night before in front of our house (I'll tell you that story in a minute). We kept inching closer and closer to the taxi park but not very quickly. At about 7:15, the taxi stopped and the driver told everyone to get out. Raquel and I didn't know exactly where we were so we wanted to move fast and get a boda driver asap. We asked the first one we saw to take us home. We didn't even haggle over the price. We got on and received the ride of our lives. He raced through traffic so fast we felt like we were going to fall off. He sped between cars so we felt like we might lose a limb. He almost hit a taxi and almost hit a bus. We had to stop short a few times. By the time we got to Sanyu, we were shaking from all of the adrenaline and had to drag ourselves up the stairs to safety. The next day we found out exactly why the city was such a madhouse. Apparently, there had been a strike at the car parts shops, which are located next to the taxi park. There were fires and riots. They were burning tires so even driving through the city for the next few day, we came back with black soot all over our faces.

The next day, when we walked down that street, the asphalt was black from the fires. We were lucky that e were dropped off so far away from all of that craziness. These last few days have been really interesting. On Monday night, a woman was robbed on the street in frott of our house. It was about 8:30 at night and it was RIGHT in front of our house. We heard her screaming and ran out to see what had happened. She must have screamed for 15 or 20 minutes. She had been walking by herself down the dark street and someone had come out of the bushes and stole her purse from her. She was in shock so she kept screaming. It was unnerving, to say the least. We had 7 pm curfew anyway but now we saw why. This is a street that we take home every night, too. Then, this morning, we saw one of the volunteers who stays at Sanyu and she was all scraped up and a mess. She was hit by a boda driver the day before. This city is insane! Thank God we have been kept safe and are leaving soon. Keep hose prayers coming!

Well, I'd love to share more about our week's adventures but I have to go now to the slum program. I won't be able to access internet again until I get back home (unless I get to when we're in London). These next few days will be crazy anyway, with the stuff we'll be doing. Today is our last day at the slum program, last day with the babies. Tomorrow is our last day at Ssenge with the boys and Sunday we ship out to Queen Elizabeth Park. It's a 7 hour bus ride so we'll travel that day and stay at a hostel that night and Monday night. We have a 2-3 hour game drive on Monday through the park then we get on a bus again on Tuesday for Entebbe. We are staying with a pastor and his wife in their guest house that night since it is close to the airport. They will drive us to the airport the next day then we fly to London an have a 19 hour layover. Wear going to stay in a hostel in Piccadilly Circus that night but we probably won't sleep much. We want to see the city! I'm so grateful that I'm with my adventurous friend. Then we fly home on Thursday! I can't believe it. It feels like w are on our journey home already and yet there is still so much going on that we won't be resting by any means. Anyway, I wish I could blog more this week but I will definitely update everyone when I return. So, look for updates next week! Love you all.

God's blessings in Uganda

It's amazing to see how dramatically God has changed my heart during the last few days. I can't begin to describe to you how AWESOME this last week has been and how HAPPY I am to be here. I'm finally at the point where I get excited about each day and feel like my heart is here and not a thousand miles away. I will miss these amazing kids and friends I have made while here. I can't believe how quickly these last few days are flying by. What a blessing. The slum program has been so much fun lately. The neighborhood kids have been coming arund so there are a lot of little ones to play with. That's what I love. It's a disappointment that not more of our street kids are coming yet but, with time, I believe they will.

I have become especially attached to one little girl at the slum program, Martha. She's probably about 4 and she lives in a house next door to the church. She latched on to me riht away on Friday anmd I sat with her and colored with her and carried here around all afternoon. She even fell asleep on my lap towards the end, which was the most amazing moment. It made me want to be a mom someday. At the end, when it came time to leave, I went to put Martha down, and he said, in english, "No". She grabbed on to me so tight, it was hard to get her down. Once I did, she wrapped her arms around my legs and wouldn't let me go. She held on to me so tightly, that I had a really hard time trying to get away. By then, the whole team had left and I was having such a tough time getting away. It was the most traumatic goodbye I've ever experienced. She cried and cried. Finally, George came back to get me and tell her in Lugandan that we had to go and would be back on Monday. I cried. It was incredibly emotional. On Monday, she found me right away and we still spent most of the afternoon together but \I me much more of an effort to spend time with lots of different kids at the same time. It helped ans she actually played with the other kids this time. She was more involved with others and when it came time to leave she was able to wave goodbye to me, rather than cry. She is in the pictures below. The one where I am holding her, I am standing next to Martin, one of the leaders of Voice of Hope, an organization that works with African Hearts to get kids off of the streets.


We have experienced so much in the last few days that I can't begin to describe it all to you. We had an awesome church experience on Sunday. We went out to Ssenge to go to church with the boys. It's in a rural area, so the building has four walls and a roof but no doors and open windows. We got there a little late and everyone got up and gave us their chairs. It was embarrassing but such a friendly, welcoming gesture in their culture. There were maybe a hundred people crammed into the small space. They had awesome worship. They sang acapella, except for a drum, and they DANCED the whole time. I had such a blast. It was fun to be with the boys there. They sang a song and I felt like a proud mother. I just look at where they are now and am amazed at what God has done. They are the sweetest, smartest boys I know. At that moment, I knew that this is why we came here. These boys didn't need money to be saved, they needed love, a safe place to live, healthy role models, and lots of hugs. When I look at the incredible role models they have in these men who call themselves their "uncles", I see how blessed these boys are. These guys don't just take care of their physical needs like food and beds. They sit down on the floor and color with them, they play soccer with them, they hug them, they talk to them, they show love to these boys that is rare. These boys adore their uncles and I can't think of better men for them to look up to. They show these boys who Jesus is in every sense. Although, Raquel and i play a small part in this, I can see so clearly how only 6 months of love has built the self esteem of these kids. Giving them worth and showing them that do have so much to offer is huge! Being here and showing them that is so important If I can reach one boy and Raquel another, and so on and so on, as volunteers come, that is something to praise God for!

New slum program

Well, I found out a little more of Shafique's [pictured above] story on Wednesday. We all headed toward town to get lunch but we passed through the slums on our way. Of course, a few of the kids saw us so they walked with us for blocks, until we got to the restaurant. Shafique was one of them. Once we got to the restaurant, the boys stopped at the top of the stairs as we walked in. We had to turn around and convince them it was ok to come in with us and have lunch. Four boys came with us and you should have seen how big their eyes got when they looked at the menu to choose what they wanted. Each boy got a huge plate of food. We gave them our leftovers to take home, too. They were smiling so big that day, especially Shafique. It turns out that he has only been on the streets for a month. No wonder he still has some innocence about him. He ran away because his mom left him and his father beat him. It's the most common story you'll hear in this city (or in most of Africa, for that matter). He comes from a village about 6 hours drive north of here so I'm not sure why he ended up coming here but he did and now African Hearts is working on ways to get him off the streets. It was encouraging to hear Abby talk about their goals since we haven't been able to see the program in full effect yet.

Due to the disintegration of the previous slum program, they had to start over and I didn't know exactly what it would look like. She said that they had a program that involved literacy, food, medicine, and Bible stories. They were able to invite the government, as well as other NGOs to come observe their program and partner with them. This allowed them to get more kids off of the streets and into school than African Hearts alone could do. This is what they are starting to implement again. It is encouraging to know that Raquel and I are in the right place at the right time. We are actually going to be able to help them implement this program while we are here. So, we are making a difference. We had our first meeting in our new place on Wednesday. It's an outside shelter, next to a church. The church is providing it for us, as well as a locker to put medical supplies and things we'll need.

Today is our first official day of starting the program. Wednesday, we kept it simple and had the kids color and draw. They loved it!


One boy in particular was so adorable. I handed him paper and crayons and he kept saying something to me in Lugandan and wouldn't take it. I asked Collins to translate. He said that the boy, Robert, didn't know how to draw. Collins told me to teach him. Yeah, like I know how to draw. I drew a simple house. He took the paper from me and colored it in. Then he asked me to draw something else for him to color in. He was sooo proud of that drawing, let me tell you! Look at that adorable smile!About 5 new people came 2 days ago so we are all working with the street kids together. These people will be here until next week, same as Raquel and I. I love our new team. They are all so awesome! There's a retired grandma who came, who is so sweet. I love that she travels to other countries in her retirement to work with kids! Anyway, so today, each of us on the team is responsible for something different. Some people will do games, some art, some songs, and Raquel and I a Bible lesson. Fun! I'm excited for the first time to be going! I also feel really good this morning for the first time in a week. I slept most of yesterday so I missed a lot. I'm grateful to be back in the game. I am still eager to be home but I am counting the days we have left and trying to be excited about each event we have planned.

I just want to tell you all thank you so much or your comments and constant encouragement for me while I've been here. It's helped so much. Some days I have felt a thousand miles away from God and I have felt spiritually attacked on all sides. Your encouragement and prayers has made an impact. Yesterday, I sat on my bed and listened to worship songs on my ipod for the first time since I've been here and just worshiped my amazing God. It was a breakthrough for me and has given me the light spirit I have today. Thank you for your prayers in getting me to that point. Praise God for His constant goodness!

Slums

I can't believe that I haven't even told you about the slums yet. That's where we go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from about 1 pm to 4:30 pm. We give food o the kids there and medicine, which is VERY basic. We clean wounds and take kids to the clinic if they have malaria or something else majorly wrong. Our first day in the slum was the hardest thing I've ever done. I knew it would be hard but I didn't expect to go through that degree of emotion. I cried for a day and a half. I don't even know how to begin to describe it all. The smaller kids are in Chisenyi (not sure of the spelling), which used to be the main area where African Hearts would serve. They have 2 tiny rooms (basically the size of small storage sheds) for the kids to sleep at night, with locks on them to keep them relatively safe. African Hearts used to work here with 2 other organizations. However, due to recent rifts between two of them, they have not been able to work here and have started serving in another slum, the Gulu wall, a few blocks away. This has been a real challenge for many reasons. One- the kids from Chisenyi do not like to come to the Gulu wall because the older boys are there and they fight with them a lot. There is also a language barrier betwene them because the older kids come from another area and speka a different language. Two- the older boys at the Gulu wall fought having anyone in their territory for awhile. Now they tend to sit back and let us feed the little kids but don't engage with us much. They still take the food, though. ;) These kids have not opned up o us much so we have not been able to really fgure out were a lot of them ave come form or how we could better serve them.
Yesterday, we saw a huge breakthrough with these kids. After serving food, they all gathered around and listened while Paul, one of the African Hearts leaders, spoke to them about our new plans. We just secured a room at a local church, where we will have the boys come (rather than go into the slums, they will come to us). We will better be able to play games with them, stock up on medical supplies and lock them up there, and have a larger safer area in which to work. Not to mention that the kids won't be allowed to smoke there so it will give us a break from that. After telling the kids this, they all started telling us things they'd like to have, such as a canvas to provide shelter for them at night (they sleep and live along a wall, in an open area), and jackets for the younger kids. It was amazing that they opened up to us and that they requested things for the younger ones, who they usually don't let in. Then they let us pray with them. It was a huge answer to prayer for this team, I know.

Raquel and I have become especially attached to one boy, Shafique. He grabbed onto me on the first day and would not stop telling me, "I want to go home with you." It broke my heart. When we had to say goodbye that first day, he cried. The next time we saw hime, I was standing next to Raquel and another white person (I don't remember who) and I saw him come over to us immediately and look closely at each of our faces til he saw mine. He lit up and I waved to him and he ran over and gave me the biggest hug. He just held onto me for awhile and I wanted to cry. He attached himsel to raquel that day, too, and now ever time we see him, he sticks with us. We want so badly to do something for him but are bot sure what. We want to get him off of the streets and in a home. He's such a sweet boy, with so much innocence still left that it breaks my heart to see him every day on the streets, where he is going to becomemore and more hardened by that life. We are praying for him each night and for God's leading us in what to do for him while we are here.

Everyday that we walk into the slums, the kids run to us right away and grab whichever hads are free.They walk with us over to the Gulu wall. The entire way, men standing on the streets call out to them and us and laugh most of the time. I don't understand exactly what they are saying but I have the impression that's it's not very flattering. They make fun of us and of them for associating together. It is a funny sight, when you think about it. One thing that I still am not used to is the attention that we get- negative attention. Men call out to us everywhere we go. Everyone makes comments, asking us to marry them, trying to get us to stop and talk to them. The craziest thing is the amount of times we hear people say, "Mzungu". All it means is "white person" but EVERYONE feels the need to say it as we walk by. It's like stating the obvious. Can you imagine people doing that in California? Pointing out every race as that person walks by? It's totally bizarre and completely tiresome after 3 weeks of that.I can't wait to go home and be invisible again.

It was cute because on Monday, at the Gulu wall, Collins, one of our leaders, told us to introduce ourselves officially to the kids. He said, in his soft spoken Ugandan voice, "Tell them your names so that they know it's not 'you' or 'mzungu'."

Ok, gotta go. Sorry for all the typos but no time to edit today!

New Photos

I just wanted to let you all know that I have added more photos to some of my previous blogs. Uploading photos takes so long here that I can never finish putting them all up during one internet sitting. Anyway, look back on the old blogs for more pics.
I'll try to write again soon. I don't think I've told you anything about the slums yet. We're going back today so I'll try and write about it tomorrow. Til then, au revoir!

Ssenge

I feel so miserable today that I feel kind of useless. The doxycycline is really starting to affect me and I have about 95% of the side effects it warns you may get. I'm really bummed out because I feel like I'm missing out on enjoying this experience. I am forcing myself to stay involved, though. Raquel has helped with that. Knowing another person is relying on me to go places and do things helps because otherwise i might be tempted to just stay in bed all the time. Honestly, I don't think I would really do that but the temptation is still there.

Today and yesterday we spent at the Ssenge home, with the boys there. We colored with them and gave them sidewalk chalk to play with.
Here's a funny tidbit: Obama is a hero here and everyone knows who he is. One of the team members gave out ties to all the boys at Ssenge. One of the boys put his on and said, "I look like Obama!" I thought that was pretty funny.


We also taught them Rummikub (or a more simple version of it). The kids love matching the numbers and putting them in order. My favorite boy is Abdul. He is so shy and holds back a lot. He doesn't know English and he has a hard time with numbers. But he loves Rummikub. I helped him the first few times. On the third game, he actually won and he was so PROUD you could see his face beaming. He made a little shout and gave me a big hug. He didn't say anything but you could see everything on his face. It was my favorite moment of this trip. He is such a sweet boy. I spent a lot of today with him, too. He colored with me and asked me to draw for him. haha. Yeah, so i traced something. Raquel is the artist, not me! These boys are amazing artists, too. Some of them are incredibly talented.

The boys love taking our cameras around with them and taking pictures and video. They LOVE being on camera, especially on video because they can watch it afterwards. They filled up my memory card so fast that I have to upload all my stuff to Raquel's thumb drive. When I get home I want to put all their video onto DVD and send it to them. Abby, the girl who lives with them, has a DVD player so they can watch it. They love to take tons of video of them singing and dancing and the watch it afterward. I remember loving that as a kid myself.

The pictures below are just a few of MANY they took. It's fun at the end of the day to look through and see what they did. This is the inside of their house by the way. The floors are concrete and they are in the middle of a large field.


Here's my sweet boy, Abdul, below (helping make our lunch- fish, matoke, and rice).







Here are some pictures of the field behind the house:Here's one of their "toilets". Yes, I have use it many a time.When the boys scrolled through my pictures the other day they laughed so hard when they saw this one. CLEARLY, I am not from around here. ;)

We had a really good couple of days with those kids. We only get to see them on weekends because they are in school during the day and too far away to go see at night. I am really happy with how much busier we've become lately. Our first few days were pretty slow. it was a good transition but I am eager to make use of our time here. I feel that it has been incredibly difficult to build many relationships here because we are rarely in the same place twice. I think that the kids in the slums will be the ones we get to know best because we'll see them three times a week. I am getting to know and love the babies, too, of course, but they're too young to ever remember me or for me to make much difference in their lives. I struggle with this concept in general. I am not sure how much good I am doing but maybe, as a part of the bigger picture, I am making an impact.

I do feel badly that I don't love it here. Abby asked me the other day, 'Don't you love Kampala?" I didn't know what to say. I don't even like it here. I keep focusing on the kids to get me through. That's what i came for. I just wish I loved the country but I don't. I miss my Zimbabwe girls more than you know.

Yesterday, we also visited an orphanage called, "Open Door". They have about 80 kids that they currently house and put through school. They work to put every kid back in their home with parents or relatives. Others, they adopt out. We only spent about an hour there but it was the sweetest hour. I adored those beautiful little girls.

Hot and Sticky

It is so much hotter here than I thought it would be. It gets so humid and the sun just bakes us as we walk miles everyday to and from the city center. Today was a little overcast, at least, so we felt a little better. I think I will have amazing calves when I return to the states, from all this walking. I think I'm getting tanner from being outside so much, too. It's just so dirty here that whether or not you are blessed with a shower, you walk onto the street and you are immediately covered in Ugandan dust again. I swear I will never feel clean until we get to our hotel in London. I haven't even had a real shower yet except once, but it only lasted about 5 minutes. The other times I had to use cold bath water. Welcome to Africa.

Did I tell you that our guesthouse is right next to a mosque? They have prayers every morning and every night and we hear them loud and clear. That's how we wake up at 6 am most mornings. It actually sounds quite beautiful and I'm getting a little used to it. Anyway, here's our view of it, as well as the city, from our room.


Our guesthouse is pretty large and has running water but we run out quickly and with 13 of us living there, it runs out even faster. The other day Raquel and I did our laundry and we used up all the water for the rest of the day and night.


We felt pretty bad but what could we do? We'll have to try and use up even less clothes per week than we already do.

Our guesthouse really is very nice. We have the guest house manager, Jo-el, who makes dinner for us every night and who cleans the house and washes our sheets. He's very sweet and funny. We have some cool people who live in the house with us, too. One girl is from New Zealand, one from Australia, one from England, and a bunch from America (Colorado, Alabama). Three of them are going to adopt babies from the Babies home. It's interesting.

Here is the lounge area where we all have dinner.
Here is the outside patio.
Here's my bed! :)

Speaking of babies, I am in LOVE with these little ones.

I look forward to going home to see them every night. We've helped a few nights already. We go up and play with them for a while then help feed them and put them to bed. What an ordeal! I love it, though. I am getting baby fever, I fear. Anyone need a babysitter when I get home?

Today has been a good day. Raquel and I went to an orphanage, called "God Cares" or Buyumba. Raquel found them online and got in touch with the pastor who wanted us to come visit them when we arrived here. It was an amazing school. They have 700 children. It is incredibly organized and these kids are amazing- so smart and very well taken care of. This has to be one of the best orphanages in the country. Pastor Dongo picked us up from our house and brought us to the school, where the 2 of us led chapel time with the 6-7 year olds. I loved those kids. Raquel had this great idea to explain Ephesians 3: 16-17, which talks about being rooted in the word of God. She had one kid stand up and be the tree and when the wind (in other words, problems in life) picked him up and moved him around he could not stand still (I had the fun part of tossing him about which the kids thought was so funny). Then she had 3 kids come up and grab his legs tight. Each one was a root (reading the Bible, praying, and loving others and God). When the wind came this time, he did not move. The teacher who was there with us helped translate and had the kids repeat the story back to her then act it out then read the verse multiple times, until they really seemed to get it. We had so much fun.

After that, the teacher, Eva, led us to the taxi and we took it back into to town, where we exchanged money, went to lunch, and went shopping at the local craft fair. We got a bunch of souvenirs and gifts. We spent a few hours there then started the long trek back home. It probably took us an hour to walk. Now we're at the internet cafe and taking a break before the rest of our walk home. It was good to get out today. I was sick yesterday with a slight fever and stomach problems so I stayed home all day. I was bummed, too, because I missed out on apparently the greatest day Raquel has had since we got here. :( One of the girls in the group lent me her laptop though so I got to watch movies and feel a little bit at home. I feel all better today, so it's nothing to worry about. Something has been going around the guesthouse and the other team we have been working with (a 24 hour bug of some kind).

Well, I'll have to tell you about the slums in my next blog. I want to post pictures now. Feel free to ask me any questions you have, though. I'm sure there's a lot I'm leaving out! Love you all and miss you tons!