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!

Another day...

I'm sorry about my fragmented blog last time. I had only 20 minutes to write it and no time to edit afterwards. I'll have to keep this one short, too, but I wanted to give you a little background on where I am since my last blog was more about what I've been doing. The people here are amazing- friendly, beautiful, and welcoming. The women here have got to be the most gorgeous in the world. Their skin is flawless and they are all done up so beautifully- hair and make up immaculate, dressed in their best. It is a city so I guess it's not surprising that people dress better here than in the rural areas. :)
The food has been really good- beans, rice, pineapple, beef, peas, chapati (extra thick tortillas- Raquel and I are hooked on these already), and bread.
I also wanted to give you a little background on African Hearts, the organization we are working with. It was started by four Ugandan guys in their 20's, who wanted to get kids off of the streets and to safety and a better way of life. These are the most amazing guys I have ever had the privilege to meet. They are strong, full of life and joy, and full of a desire to make a difference in their country and to these kids. The organization is comprised completely of people in their 20's. I was incredibly impressed by that. They are an inspiration to me.
Well, yesterday we got a day of rest, which was much needed. We went to church in the morning. The first service was at 8 am for kids from the streets. Watching the sing praise to God in their native language really moved me. Then when the pastor taught the lesson, most of the kids just laid their heads on the table and slept. Jess told me that this was a good sign that they felt safe here enough to do that and no one was going to interfere with that. If they wanted to sleep, they could. I love that.
We went to the regular church service after that. It was so American. I admit that I was a little disappointed but was also grateful that I understood what the pastor said and could sing along with the songs. :)

Well, that's it for now. We go to the slums today so I'll have lots to tell you tomorrow. Love you all and hoe to hear from you soon. I miss everyone!

First Impressions

Here I am in a new country, in what feels like a world away from anything familiar. At the same time, so much is similar to my experience in Zimbabwe 6 years ago that I feel at home too. I have to admit that the first day was the most difficult. I have a lot of culture shock to get over but today was much better. When we first landed, we walked off the plane and felt at home. I could smell Africa exactly as I remembered it. After going through customs (which took an hour and a half, even though there were only a few people there- our transition to Africa time) we got a taxi. Our driver, Sard, was eager to tell us about things to see in Uganda and pointed out various sites to us as we drove the 45 minutes to Sanyu Babies Home, where we would be staying. Only a little ways from the airport and our driver was pulled over for speeding. It was quite entertaining actually because the police at that stop knew his name and seemed to know him well. They peeked in and asked how we had like our 5 km journey.

We saw the beautiful Lake Victoria to our right, and Sard pulled over to let us take pictures at one of the beaches on our way. Then we rode the long main road to our house. I loved being able to see so much of the country on our way. It is so green you wouldn't believe it. It feels like i am in some tropical place. Once we got to the city, it was less green and more like any other city- crowded and dirty. We got to our home and had plenty of time to settle in. Basically, we're in a guesthouse, next to the Babies home, with about 13 other guests. They all volunteer at the home so we don't see them much.

A few hours later, our fearless leader, Jess picked us up and we headed oer to the other guesthouse, where a team of about 20 were staying. They are from Colorado, a few from Oregon and Canada. Most are teenagers, which surprised me. what a mission trip to go on as a teen!
Anyway, they'll be here for 10 days so we'll see them for a short time. We got to spend the day with them as we were all oriented to the city. Jess planned a lot for us to do so we would stay awake and get over our jet lag faster. It worked!
We walked about an hour to the center of the city of Kampala, which was a little traumatic. I have never been more on guard or my life as i have been walking the streets on Kampala.
There are taxis (which are like vans that fit about 13 people that don't stop for anything. You have to just walk out into the road and walk right next to cars, which seem to have a mind of their own. There are no lanes, no signal lights, no rules! No wonder every one tells me the number one way people die in Uganda is by car accidents! The team became very close to each other yesterday, as we had to grab onto each other for dear life just to cross the streets. Seriously, groups have a better chance of getting cars to stop so we all stuck together. The one guy from Canada, James, became a protector for Raquel and i and stayed i the back and heped us et where we needed to o. He said, "I need to watch out for my girls". (He's looking into adopting another baby from Uganda- he has three from various countries in Africa so far).
Anyway, after lunch and exchanging money and sitting at a coffee shop, we all went to Sanyu Babies home and helped the kids eat and get ready or bed. Another crazy experience! 50 babies, 30 volunteers, mayhem.

We fed them, changed their diapers and put them to bed. A few hours later, we were all exhausted but much better for it. Those babies were adorable. They range in age from 0-3 years.

They don't always have more than 2 volunteers so the fact that we had about 3 and still had a crazy ordeal, I don't know how those women do it everyday. Honestly.
Needless to say, Raquel and I slept like babies and woke up refreshed after 10 hours of sleep. Time to start a new day.

Today we visited a street kids program at a church in the city. After lessons, we hung out with the kids or over an hour. They loved taking pictures on our cameras and teaching us card games.

Jess, our leader/coordinator, is in the picture above, with Paul, another African Hearts leader.
We spent most of our morning there. I loved those kids. They reminded me of my experience at Just children foundation in Zimbabwe. That was always m favorite part so I fell in love with these kids instantly. After that we took a long taxi ride to one of the orphan home in Senge. This home was started by African Hearts and houses 13 boys who have been taken off the streets. Now they lie at the house and go to school and are in a marching band. Awesome The were fun. We took a taxi most of the way then took Bodas down the road to the house. These are motorbikes. Everyone in town takes them. You usually see women straddling them sideways with skirts on. It was a pretty fun ride. Thank goodness I've had plenty of experience on a motorcycle to prepare me because it could have been scary otherwise.
We hung out with the kids at the house for hours, playing cards. It was pouring down rain once we got there. Thunder storm and everything so we just stayed inside. we got a car ride back this time, rather than Bodas in the rain.

Well, that's the short version of everything so far. I'm at the internet cafe now and only have a few minutes left. Wow, 20 minutes at a cafe flies by. I wanted to at least give everyone an update so that's it for now.

There's plenty more i could tell you but that's what we've been up to. I am glad to say that even though I had a tough first day things are looking up. I miss people at home like crazy but God brought me this far. He will not abandon me.

Almost there, but why am I going?

I can't believe that I am finally embarking on my much anticipated adventure! I leave on a jet plane tomorrow night at 6:50 pm. I suddenly don't feel ready. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I am excited about traveling somewhere new, about meeting new people, about going on this trip with my best friend, about visiting Africa again, about holding babies everyday for a month, about growing as a person, about growing closer to Jesus, about having the opportunity to witness miracles, about challenging myself to get out of my comfort zone, about learning new things, about sacrificing the things I love (comfort, time with family and friends, the things of home), and about doing what God has told me to do.

I am nervous about getting sick, about forgettng something important, about being away from my family, friends, and boyfriend for a month, about things changing at home while I am away (what will I come back to?), about feeling miserable without my comforts of home (running water, chiropractor, chocolate), about what I might have to eat, and about not having enough money to get by when I return.

When it comes down to it, though, knowing all of this and knowing that there is much more I can't possibly anticipate, I still choose to go to this exotic and possibly dangerous place. Some people have asked my why I'm going. They don't seem to understand why I would choose this life for a month when I could go to somewhere like Italy or Spain or England. I choose this because I desire to be challenged and I desire to grow as a person and a follower of Christ.

I know I am not of this world when I say that I am eager to give up everything I know and love to do something challenging and scary, possibly something that will make me very miserable in the process. Who knows what I will encounter? And yet, I do it because God has told me to pick up His cross and follow Him. Being comfortable is easy and I love it but the more comfortable I get, the more lazy I get and the more I miss out on in my limited time on this earth. I have felt called to Africa for some time now and when I chose to answer God's call, He made everything happen that I needed in order to get there. That is an answer to prayer and I can't deny that He wants me there. I feel blessed that he speaks to me this way and that he rewards me in huge ways when I listen.

I am eager to become a stronger, more compassionate person through this experience. Every time I do something like this, I learn so much about myself and I grow as a person. I don't know if you want to call them goals, but I do have a few personal things that I am eager to see happen while I am in Uganda:
1. I want to become closer to Raquel, my spiritual sister and one of my closest friends.
2. I want to grow closer to Jesus.
3. I want to be used to help the children and people we will meet.
4. I want my relationships back home to be bettered by who I am when I return and by the time we all have away from each other (this is always the true test of friendship).
5. I can't wait to see miracles first hand and God's amazing work in action! I want the stories I see to be a witness and encouragement to those at home, reading my blog every weeek.

The coolest thing about this list is that it mirrors Raquel's exactly. Yet another sign of how amazing God is and what He did to bring us together for our shared adventure. I can only become richer through what I will experience this next month. This is why I go.

UGANDA!

As most of you know, my best friend, Raquel, and I have been talking about our desire to go to Africa for a long time now. We started planning a trip to Uganda about 8 months ago and were all set to go with a secular global volunteer organization. Well, about 3 months ago, we both felt God telling us to change our plans. WHAT? But we like having an exact schedule of what we'll be doing and where we'll be! Well, God had a different "plan". We listened.

We told the organization we weren't going. We requested our refund. We waited. A month went by and we still didn't know what we were doing. We waited. We prayed every week for guidance. Where could we find a place that could use us in Uganda? We kept meeting people who knew people there. So, we emailed them. We were making connections but nothing was resonating with us yet. God was telling us to wait. We searched diligently online for organizations who were there or organizations who were going. We still had no idea what we were going to be doing. All we knew was that God was saying "Go." Money kept rolling in. We kept praying. We kept waiting.

We held a last minute garage sale and God gave us $800! We said,"Okay, God. You are still telling us to go.". We were going on faith now. We requested the dates off of work. Still no flights purchased, still no organization to go with, still no place to live once we got there. We waited. Another few weeks passed. Then one day, with 6 weeks to go until our departure date, Raquel emailed me, saying that a Christian organization (African Hearts) had contacted her regarding volunteering on the exact dates we had already planned to go. How did they find us? GOD. It turns out that they are doing exactly what we have been longing to do more than anything else- spending time with kids on the streets and in orphanages. It was God's answer to our prayers, so clearly!

All of a sudden, things were falling into place. We booked our flights, got our vaccinations, and started packing! This organization fits us better than anything we had imagined. We will be spending all our time with kids. No schedule of subjects to teach, no skill set needed (just our style :). We can just BE. We can be with kids, loving them, learning from them, investing in them.

We will be spending three days a week in the city's slums, giving medicine to the kids who live there and spending time with them. In the afternoons, we will spend time with the boys from the orphan homes that African Hearts takes care of. We will teach them Bible classes, music, games, and art. During the evenings, we will live at a Babies' orphan home (also sponsored by African Hearts). On Sundays, we get to take our boys to church. On our free days, we have the flexibility to go wherever we were needed or simply spend time with the various people we are sure to meet.

On some Thursdays, it turns out we may be "preaching" or giving our testimonies to the kids at another orphan home that we had contacted earlier. Even though we will not be working with them as we had anticipated, they still want us to come. We're also going to go visit a little girl who Raquel sponsors through World Vision. Uganda is exactly where we are meant to be. God told us so. Isn't it amazing to be so completely in His hands? I couldn't be more in awe.

Loaves and Fishes

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to see God's miracles firsthand. I am constantly in awe of Him and the things He chooses to do to show his love and grace, which none of us truly deserves.

Five years ago, my church started a little thing they called "Beautiful Day". It was an opportunity for us in the church to show love to our neighbors one day a year and serve them in various ways. As my church says, "[What] if we stopped being a church of “come and see” but instead we were told ‘go and be’ like Christ in our city?". So, it all began with serving food to locals who didn't have the resources for a Thanksgiving dinner. Now, a few years later, we are doing 22 projects, for a whole week, as well as projects throughout the entire year. It has spread across the nation and the world and other churches are doing the same thing, all in the name of Christ, who has called us to serve others. It is so exciting!

This year, I had the opportunity to lead up one of these projects, in order to serve the 110 local EMTs who serve our city. It started yesterday with a delivery of breakfast items to the administrative staff there. Then, in the afternoon myself, as well as 3 others, prepared a BBQ for the 6 mechanics who work on the rigs everyday. It turned out that 3 of the mechanics were sick that day, so I was feeling a little bummed. No sooner did we find that out and the EMTs started coming over to the table, having smelled the burgers cooking. They started coming and didn't seem to stop. I started getting worried. After all, we had only brought enough food for 6 people! The EMTs kept coming and asking why we were there and where we were from. We said that we wanted to thank them for their service. One young EMT, in his mid-twenties, came outside and stood in front of the table, staring at the food. He smiled and said, "I'm just in awe right now. I am amazed that you guys would do all of this!". So, 40 minutes later, we still had food left. How did we feed almost 20 people when we had only brought enough food for 6? It was all GOD. What an amazing day! It just goes to show that God will make it happen, regardless of what we feel capable of.

So, Thursday morning we get to deliver 110 coolers to the EMTs, each one filled with homemade cookies, cliff bars, caffeine, and gift cards. I can't wait to see their faces!