Kerri In Uganda working for Children of Grace

From the Majority World to the Minority World

2010-05-19T05:51:00.001-07:00

(Written last Saturday)

As I sit here in the Amsterdam airport all I can think about is Uganda (as tears come streaming down my face for the millionth time I clearly should have invested in tissues for this past week of my life!) I'm thinking about all of the people that I just left behind. How does one say goodbye to someone? I absolutely hate goodbyes! (I much prefer saying hello with a big hug after not seeing someone for a while!) Have you ever said goodbye to someone and physically felt your heart ache? Well I have many times and this is one of those times. I've cried almost every day this past week just thinking about Friday, the day of departure. Time has not been my friend this week. Don't get me wrong I'm very excited to see my family and close friends soon I just wish I could bring them over to Uganda with me so I can be with all the people I love in one place. (But since I can't I'm really thankful for airplanes.)

Thursday afternoon I finalized the packing of my bins and picked at all the food Bonnie was busy making all day. Around 5:30 Risa asked me to come and help her "fix a computer" in the office. So into the new office I went and everyone was surrounding the cake and ice cream. I stood there for about 5 seconds before I just lost it. The whole staff surrounding me and hugged me for a while. These Ugandans have become a part of my family. I have learned so much about their culture from them and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them more so. What a privilege it has been to physically see with my own eyes the care that they exhibit for all of the children who are sponsored. After they all went home we had my "Last Supper". Mike had asked me if I wanted to go out to eat and of course said no, nothing in Jinja compares to the food that Bonnie makes. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating! So we had fresh tilapia from Lake Victoria, guacamole, mango salsa, rice pilaf with sweet potatoes and pumpkin, and pumpkin bread. Wow after having cake at 5:30 I wasn't that hungry for dinner at 8pm but I ate regardless, who can resist that yummy food?

Friday morning came all too quickly and I worked on finishing some last minute packing. Godfrey, the driver, came around 10 am and Risa and I went into town to do some last minute errands. After those we swung by my new favorite place…Welcome Home. As if my week of goodbyes wasn't hard enough it was time for me to do one more difficult goodbye-George and Esther. I really hope and pray it wasn't my final goodbye. They were both looking better than they were the week before when I had seen them. I held Esther's hands and she walked across the room with me! WOW! She has gained enough strength in her scrawny legs to do that?! She'll totally be walking in the next few months! And George, my goodness. His little belly is just solid, so filled with food! I can now hold him without feeling like I'm going to break him. (Pastor Godfrey, the one who brought the kids to us really enjoyed seeing them again. He hadn't seen them since we first received them. He couldn't believe the difference.) The highlight of seeing them was the fact that George and Esther totally recognized us. George was crying when we walked in and he heard us and looked at us and stopped. I picked him up to give him lots of kisses on his cheeks and he just grinned ear to ear. That boy has the cutest smile ever! I think I'm really starting to believe that he is actually 2 years old. I look forward to having Teo go see them in a month or two and send me updated pictures of their progress! I pray God puts those two into my life again. They are forever engrained in my heart and mind.

We drove by the office one last time and Teo and Sam had arranged all the kids involved in the Holiday Bible Program (40 total) to come out on the porch and sing a song called, Goodbye Kerri, Kerri Goodbye, May God Bless You. (They recited this over and over for a few minutes). Then the staff all came and gave me our last hug goodbyes and I just lost it again (as I'm doing now as I write this).

How does one who has experienced what I've experienced and lived in the Majority World re enter into the craziness of the Minority World. What lessons learned can I transfer over into the world that I've reentered into? How do I stop talking in the Ugandan English that I've grown accustomed to? Someone in the airport just asked me for the time and I told him it was 8:30am and he asked did you say 8:30am and I just responded by lifting my eyebrows (that's how Ugandans say yes haha). So please bear with me if I respond to you in that way instead of verbally saying yes.

The Minority World and the Majority world are so different. As I sit here I can't help but think of the differences. I'm leaving a family that I got to be a part of in the house (Ugandans are very relationship focused and we mzungus really embraced that living there). I absolutely love being around people so living with 3 mzungus and a Ugandan (plus more Ugandans at different times) has been incredibly rewarding. We have experienced many joys and sorrows together. We've learned something new almost every day about Uganda. We didn't have a television in the house (some Ugandans were shocked when they found that out). It's been quite nice to not have a television. Every night was a dinner where we would all be seated around the table and would talk about our day (imagine that happening in America nowadays). Dinner usually took about 2 hours with cleaning the dishes as well. When I first got to Uganda in September I really missed the freedom I had in Virginia to go out at night and be social. But I quickly grew to love our family dinners every night. Another difference…I can't tell you how many pieces of clothing I have but a Ugandan could probably tell you off the top of their head because they wash their clothes so often since they only have a handful of clothes. I'm not looking forward to stepping back into the consumerism in America. The amount of stuff we have at our disposal is something that has affected me every since my first visit to Uganda. The choices we have at the grocery store can be overwhelming after living somewhere where there are two kinds of bread, white and brown. I'm going back to big malls filled with tons of stores and people buying things that they really don't need (I'm definitely guilty of this). What are we as American Christians doing to share our resources with the rest of the world? Do our pocket books reflect the Lord who we love? Are we really caring for the widows and orphans as we are told over and over again in the Scriptures to do? If you are not already sponsoring an orphan to go to school I implore you to think and pray about starting that relationship that will forever change your life.

How will God use this experience in my life to change me and shape me? How has He used it in the lives of those who have read my blog? As I start to reflect on all God has done over this past year I just wanted to thank all of you who have prayed for me and financially support me on this journey that God had me on. I wouldn't have gotten to experience what I did without you all. I hope you have been able to sort of experience it all along with me. I don't have any idea what God has next for me. What will my future involvement look like in Uganda? I don't know but I do know my heart is buried deep in the soil there so it will be a place that I know God will continue to bring me back to.

(Two books I highly recommend are The Hole in our Gospel and When Helping Hurts, they have both been very eye opening and convicting for me to read this year.)

World AIDS Orphan Day

2010-05-11T01:55:00.001-07:00

Last Friday was World AIDS Orphan Day. We had 17 children practice for about a week in order to be able to perform two songs and a poem. An organization called Phoebe organized the march and the performances at the government center. I walked along the parade and then sat with our children as we watched many other children perform various songs and skits all having to do with AIDS orphans.

The parade downtown.

17 of our students performing two songs and one poem.

They provided lunch. And this was my first time eating Ugandan style (no silverware) so Teo just HAD to take a picture of me.

The poem that Marion wrote and recited (typed up by Risa):

O, O, O
what a child, my God
whose life is full of nothing but sorrow

a victim of all circumstances

the poor African child
there are many fights for rights
among children in this continent
who are neglected and rejected
depressed and dispersed
misused and abused
yet there are children in the same world
whose rights are highly respected
with no question about good life
for education food and good care
but the poor African child
ever on streets
sleeping rough and dressing in rags
like stray dogs
they go wondering
there are children in the same homes
whose stories are never told
whose voices are never heard
and their songs are never sung
as a child sacrifice is a serious threat
let us rise children and fight for their rights
let us form a voice
a globally sound voice
and a voice reaching far
Until we conquer the fall
- Mukyala Marion
A Children of Grace Sponsored Student

FURNITURE!

2010-05-11T01:28:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday the furniture was scheduled to arrive at the new office. So Thursday morning the staff helped to clean the floors and then we spent a good part of the day organizing all of the bins. Then around 5pm in to the gate came a big truck!!! The furniture company only sent ONE worker to assemble around 14 desks/tables and a whole bunch of stackable chairs. It would have taken him two days to finish all of that by himself! Joseph, Joseph, and Allan stayed late to help set up the chairs and desks. We finished helping the worker around 9pm to eat dinner. He continued to work and even slept a little before he left in the morning! WOW. We now have an office full of very nice desks!!!!!!!

I'm attempting to dance Calypso while assembling chairs.

Moving Day for COG last Wednesday

2010-05-09T06:45:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday we "shifted" (that's Ugandan English for moving) to our new office! It's unbelievable to be here for this momentous occasion. Almost every day that I've been here I've been watching this new building being built. COG has been renting out the previous office on Kiira Road for a long time now. And now we are rent free from that place! It's so exciting! The day we moved we were determine to take everything out of that office. And when I say everything I mean EVERYTHING.

Below in the pictures you will see what I mean. We recently came in contact with the brother of the girl that I met the previous Sunday. Damalee started the orphanage over in Njeru and then her brother also started an orphange right down the street from the old office. Risa and I walked to the place where 23 young boys are living. They were living on the streets but now a young Ugandan has taken them in. He grew up in an orphanage outside of Kampala and simply wants to give back for the great care that he received. We asked them if they'd like some desks and chairs and within 10 minutes a whole bunch of them showed up to start carrying everything away. It brought me so much joy to have these boys come and take whatever they thought they could use!

A few loads in the truck.

The boys carrying some of their new treasures home. And below: the boys cut down a couple of the banana (matoke) trees in order to get the bananas down.

The boys were SO excited to get all of the things from the office. They got a few desks, some chairs, some matoke, a big piece of plexy glass, and they even took all the light blubs! We gave them some of the casava that had grown in the back and they immediately just started eating it raw!

The boys walking home with their new treasures!

Babies Home started by a Ugandan woman!

2010-05-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

This woman is incredible! Saturday afternoon I went out to visit her. She started this orphanage about 8 months ago because she grew up in an orphanage. She has about 17 children right now. She goes through like 2 tins of formula a day! Formula and diapers are really expensive here! She just received two week old twins who's mother died in child birth, and who's father is a drunkard. The grandmother can't afford to care for them either.

Teo and I thoroughly enjoyed holding these little ones and loving on them for the hour plus that we were there! If I spent anymore time there I might just stay there or adopt some kids! They were super cute! I'm so thankful for this woman who is caring for these children. I pray God would give her the strength and resources she needs to continue to do what she's doing!

Always Enough

2010-04-29T01:32:00.001-07:00

This is a song that I have continually been listening to over and over again in the past few months. Many times it has brought tears to my eyes. As I sit here working for an organization who cares for orphans and as I have formed relationships with many orphans in my time here, my heart loves the line in the song that says "Your love is hope for the orphan". I pray that the many orphans that we encounter really do feel loved by God through us!

Casting Crowns- Always Enough lyrics

In the drying weary land LORD You are the rain
In the sea of shattered ones Your love comes rushing in
You hold the world within Your hands
And see each tear that falls
Through every fire and every storm
You're Always Enough
Always Enough

Your love is peace to the broken
Faith for the widow
Hope for the orphan
Strength for the weak

Your love is the anthem of nations
Brings out to the ages
And You're Always Enough for me

In the watches of the night
LORD You are my song
Hope is in the morning light
Your love shines like the dawn

You keep my heart in perfect peace
My life is in Your hands
When confusion hides my way
You're Always Enough
Always Enough

Your love is peace to the broken
Faith for the widow
Hope for the orphan
Strength for the weak

Your love is the anthem of nations
Brings out to the ages
And You're Always Enough for me

And rejoice for my for my Saviour reigns reigns
And rejoice for the lives
God on how set me free and
Worthy is the LORD

And rejoice for my Saviour reigns
And rejoice for the lives in me
God on how set me free and
Worthy is the LORD

Your love is peace to the broken
Faith for the widow
Hope for the orphan
Strength for the weak

Your love is the anthem of nations
Brings out to the ages
And You're Always Enough for me

Your love is peace to the broken
Faith for the widow
Hope for the orphan
Strength for the weak

Your love is the anthem of nations
Brings out to the ages
And You're Always Enough

And rejoice for my Saviour reigns
And rejoice for the lives in me
God on how set me free and
Worthy is the LORD

In the drying weary land
LORD You are the rain

Thoughts on Gulu

2010-03-16T10:37:00.001-07:00

I do not know how to rightly put into words yet all that I saw with my two eyes, the things that I heard with my ears, the things I've learned with my mind, and the things I've felt in my heart on Thursday. I'm so overwhelmed by all of it. I was asked that night at dinner what stuck out to me the most from that day. I said the pictures of the art therapy because they really tell the story of what those 14,000 kids experienced. It is unfathomable. I just about lost it while I looked through the drawings and tried taking pictures of a lot of them. This one pictured below is one that is forever etched into my heart and mind. At the top of it the child wrote "Remember you are not alone." If I were any one of those kids I would have needed to recite that to myself hourly. I can't imagine the extreme feeling of loneliness those kids must have felt. The things these kids were made to do and the things they saw are things I have only seen in movies, if that. Some of the things they have lived through are horrendous to even think about. Though there is so much despair all around me and though at times it felt so surreal to be there I was glad to be able to see firsthand what NGO's like World Vision are doing up there. They are truly being Jesus' hands and feet to these kids. At the end of the day as I sat there and journaled about all this and just cried all I could think of was how ready I am for senseless violence like this to end and be no more – Heaven!

Art Therapy

2010-03-16T01:06:00.000-07:00

(this is a before and after picture of the war)

At the top of this picture it says "Remember you are not alone." As I looked through about 20 of these pictures and read that I started to get really overwhelmed. If I were one of those kids I think I would have to recite that out loud to myself every single day. I can't imagine how alone they must have felt!

Two place night commuters stayed

2010-03-16T00:33:00.000-07:00

After we drove back down the horrible pothole dirt road and stopped off at St. Mary's. This is a rather large hospital in which many of the night commuters would come to during the way. (During certain times of the war, particularly in 2003 the LRA was abducting many children from their homes during the night. So in order to be protected from being abducted the children would walk to this hospital every night and sleep there and leave the next morning to go back to school.)

(picture taken by Risa)

We then went to another place in town where night commuters would come. He told us that for one whole year he would take his kids to this facility every single night and sleep there with them to ensure their safety!

(picture taken by Risa)

Invisible Children

2010-03-16T00:05:00.000-07:00

Next we headed over to the Invisible Children headquarters. Risa worked for IC right after college and one of her coworkers and former classmates is still working for IC and so we went into this office and got to hear from him all that IC is doing now. It was incredible to hear! They are doing school to school which pairs up a school in Northern Uganda with a school somewhere else in the world. The school discusses what its needs are and then they invest 5% of their money into the project. They sponsor about 600 kids in secondary school and about 100 kids at the university level. They have also started going into the communities to find women who are skilled at tailoring. Before the war Uganda's big cash crop was cotton (40%)! So they bring these women into a production facility and give them the materials, design, and training to make bags. The women are taught how to have a loan, savings, and interests. These bags are selling lot hot cakes in the US right now with high school and college kids. The newest program they have done is the teacher program. Teachers from the US have come over for about 6 months at a time and have team taught in a classroom here. And for the first time they just had a handful of Ugandans who were selected to go over to a US school and team teach in a classroom there. (They started this because they heard that Uganda's top schools used to be up in the north before the war. So in order to really build up these schools to the standard they used to be at they started these programs.)

IDP Camp

2010-03-15T23:47:00.000-07:00

Next James took us a little farther down an extremely bumpy dirt road to an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Camp. Up until a year ago there were 3,000 people living at this camp. There were 14 IDP Camps created in Gulu District alone. The largest one in Gulu had 10,000 people living in it! There's a very small percentage of people still living at the IDP camps. Typically you'll find the elderly, disable, or those who have nowhere else to go still living there. These camps were started about 20 years ago so some of the kids have known this place as their home all of their lives! He told us the poeple were forced to come and live at these camps because it meant that they would be protected by the UPDF (Ugandan Army). The World Food Program would bring food to all of these people since they had no land to harvest.

This was a sign out front of the IDP camp. James told us it was a reminder to those who were returning home to be careful because there could be land mines on their property.

Keyo Secondary School

2010-03-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

Next we went with James to the school that he teaches at. The school had just relocated the kids back to this location about a year ago after having moved them into town many years back due to the war and wanting to protect the kids from being abducted. This is one of the schools that Invisible Children is partnering with. We saw two new classrooms that had just finished being built. The next step is to hopefully build another dormitory on the school grounds as the girls are squeezed into two rooms and then the boys have to walk over to a neighboring polytechnic institute in order to sleep there. If these girls in particular do not board they have a much lower chance of actually staying in school. So the headmaster really wants them to board at the school as he is very concerned about the girls. He also told us that some of the kids at the school are sponsored by IC and if they do not perform well enough they are dropped from sponsorship so they are very motivated to do well in school.

Two new classrooms that Invisible Children built in their school program.

Their current classroom.

Inside the new classroom! WOW!

The headmaster gave us all sodas so we toasted to the good time we had touring his school.

World Vision Rehabilitation Center

2010-03-15T22:08:00.001-07:00

Inside the facility.

Paintings some of the kids did on the building.

We stayed at the Acholi Inn which was really nice. Thursday morning we got up and left the hotel around 9am. Brenda called a friend, James, who came and met us in town and took us around all day long. He was a wealth of information and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to ask him a million questions about Gulu and the war.

This is the first place we ventured to go to-the World Vision Rehabilitation Center. As we pulled up I though there is NO WAY we are getting into this place unless God gets us in there. (I've heard that typically they require visitors to go through a couple of months procedure before they are able to go in and see the facility.) James goes into talk to the staff on the inside of the big gate and comes out a couple of minutes later to tell us they don't normally let people who just show up like this in but the are going to bend the rules for us (Thank you Lord!).

We are all sat down in a conference room while Fulkas, the program director, shared with us what center has done in the past many year sand what they are currently doing. He told us that in 15 years they have seen 14,000 kids go through the program! It takes about 1-3 months in order for a child soldier to be rehabilitated. After they are sometimes physically cared for because of wounds they are counseled using art therapy, play therapy, and they are taught skills like carpentry, bricking and bicycle repairs. The World Vision staff does family counseling, follow up counseling with the children, and there are also community counselors. They have about 2 % relapse rate, which is extremely good! Currently the children that are still in the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) were brought to the Congo so they are not able to escape because they do not speak the local language. If they escaped in the Congo the communities there would most likely kill them. So it was a lot safer for them to escape when the LRA was in Uganda. There are supposedly UPDF (Ugandan Army) stationed in the Congo. So in order to escape they would have to surrender to the UPDF, be taken to immigration, and then to the Ugandan government, and then to World Vision. They told us that the youngest children they've had here were 2 weeks old because they come with their mothers who are young children themselves who escaped from the LRA. They used to have 40 staff members when they had a huge influx of children. But now that the numbers have gone down there are about 15 staff. He told us the perception in the community is not bad for the children who return to their families and there are only isolated cases of abuse that happen. We asked if some of the kids had a lot of anger with their parents for allowing them to be taken. He said that happens but most of the time the kids and parents are just so overjoyed to be reunited. He told us WV will continue to do what they are doing until the last child has come home! Currently they are trying to gather records of children to figure out how many are still missing. We were then able to go out and tour the facility (pictures). We met the four former abducted children who were about to be going home soon. We then go to look through many of the art therapy that the children had done.

My trip to Gulu

2010-03-15T22:01:00.001-07:00

How does one begin to put into words all that you experience as you walk through a war torn area?

I have always wanted to go and see for myself and learn more about the war that went on in northern Uganda for 23 years. I have watched the videos that Invisible Children created over the past 6 or so years. I read the book called Girl Soldier that was all about one girl's experience of being abducted into the LRA and then her escape. It is with this tiny piece of knowledge that I have always wanted to go up there. Well, last week God gave me that opportunity.

Wednesday I traveled by car up to Gulu with Risa, Brenda, who is a psychologist and counsels some of the kids who were former child soldiers, and Steve, a volunteer from California who helped with various things for Children of Grace over the past two weeks. I know God's hand of protection was on us when we safely arrived in Gulu around 5:30 pm that night. The road going up there is quite dangerous because of the coach buses. These buses go incredibly fast down a road that barely two cars can fit by at once. They barrel down the middle of the road expecting everyone who comes into their path to move out of their way. It's all about making more money so they want to reach their next destination as fast as they possibly can. On top of that Brenda told us a lot of the drivers are high on marijuana! We had two close encounters with these buses as Risa was driving the car. One came within centimeters of running into the back of our car as it passed us. Another one was flying down the road straight at us and its two axles were completely not aligned and it barely swerved around us as it passed by! I'm glad I was sitting in the back of the car just praying and wasn't able to see some of this!

The closer we go to Gulu, the more kids we would see just walking on the road. They were rushing home from school to be able to have time before dark to do all their work around the house and do some of their homework. We saw some kids running. Brenda told us some of them walk a good 2 hours to school so they have to rush to get home at night.
Here's one baboon that we got to see as we drove home. He was just crossing the street as we were coming up on the bridge ahead.

Here's a statue that is in the middle of town. You may not be able to see it but there's a gun on the ground as apart of the statue. James told us they put this up in town to signify the end of the war that children are going back to school and putting down their guns!

Prayer

2010-03-12T07:21:00.001-08:00

God has taught me alot about prayer in the past 7.5 years that I've been in a relationship with Him but I still have many questions and wonder about how it really works at times. For the past couple of months I have been reading Philip Yancey's book called Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? There are so many great things I am learning from this book but I wanted to share two of them. This chapter talked all about the partnership that we have with God.

"God chose a different style of governing the world, a partnership which relies on human agency and choice. C.S. Lewis suggests that we best imagine the world not as a state governed by a potentate but as a work of art, something like a play, in the process of being created."

Another chapter goes on to talk about John 17. In it Jesus is reminiscing about life before planet Earth, eternity before time. "He gives the ultimate answer to the "Why" questions: why creation? Why free will? Why human history and the onslaught of time? From the beginning, before the beginning, God willed to share with other creatures the love and fellowship-the life-enjoyed in the godhead before creation, now, and forever."

Why am I sharing all of this? Because last week God answered one of my prayers, I'm reading this book on prayer, and on top of that the sermon today was on prayer. For the whole past month I have been missing the interactions I have had with students since they have been back in school. I told God that I really missed the students and then this past Thursday He brought me one! I first met Phiona when she was in my group at the first camp I came to in January 2008. She is one of about 6 girls that I really connected with and kept in touch with after the camp and saw on my multiple trips back here.

Phiona came by the office on Thursday last week just to say goodbye to me. She is going back to spend time in her village with her grandmother and wasn't sure if she would be able to come back to Jinja before I leave in May. How precious is that! She told me she needed to get going because she was going to walk an extremely far distance in order to get to where she was going since she didn't have any money for transport. So I remedied that problem and asked her if I could spend some time with her and take her to lunch. She gratefully accepted my offer and into town we went. We went to Park Villa Restaurant and I had the opportunity to just sit and talk with her for about an hour. She lost both of her parents right after her youngest sibling was born and has stayed with her grandmother ever since. She plans to go to vocational school next year to be a nurse. I told her how glad I was that she wanted to do that because I know that she will be different from the nurses that I've heard about here who could care less about their patients. It was such a blessing to be there with her! After we finished we went outside to see that it was pouring buckets. And of course I had forgotten my umbrella at the office, so I was like well we'd better just walk fast. So I started walking after the rain had lessened a little bit and then I didn't get very far before it started pouring again so I went under an overhang. Well Phiona had apparently watched me do all of this even though we both went into two different directions. So she came down to where I was and kept me company for another 15 minutes before it slowed down again.

Sunday we went to a different church. We typically go to Victory Family Center but today we went to one of their church plants which is pastored by Godfrey, who we have hired many times to be our driver to go to the airport or Kampala. In all of our hours spent in the car we have had many great conversations with him and have learned a lot about Christianity here in Uganda. He is a really great man and you can really tell that he really loves Jesus. Today he spoke about praying by faith by using James 5:15-18. In these verses Elijah is mentioned as" a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again and the sky poured rain and the earth produced fruit." When Elijah was a prophet in the Old Testament, Israel was involved in a lot of sinful things but he knew God's will for Israel and he knew his God. Godfrey said that we are so easily prone to being deceived into thinking that the things of this world are better for us than God's will. We turn from God just like the Israelites did. Elijah was an ordinary person but he believed in what God said in His Word and he believed in the One he was praying to. He encouraged us to memorize God's Word and pray God's Word over things because it is so powerful. He said we need to know God's Word here in Uganda because we are so easily deceived. He told us about a woman who went to a pastor who was staying at a hotel in town and said I will pray for your problems for 50,000 shillings. The woman said she only had 30,000 and the pastor said that's ok I will pray for you and your problem will be partly solved. (WOW!) The pastor had told Mary Ann the previous day about a young boy that came to him and wanted prayer from him because a witchdoctor had put a stone into his body. The witchdoctor took a stone in his hand and did a (what we call in America-a magic trick) and made it disappear leaving the boy to believe that the stone was now in his body! (WOW!) There is a lot of deception here. My prayer is that God would continue to build up my faith in Him and that His truth would reign here.

Colin's Graduation Party

2010-02-21T22:56:00.000-08:00

Saturday was another day in Uganda that I will never forget. The whole office staff was invited to go to Colin's graduation party. I had no idea what to expect after just having been to his house for the family get together a month ago on the day he actually graduated. Risa and I went early to drop off some things at their house and there were already many decorations and chairs all laid out! It looked like they were getting ready for a wedding, in my eyes at least, wow! We arrived around 5pm and Mary Ann was put right up front with Colin's mother as one of the honored guests. Risa, the staff, and I took our place a few rows behind them. Colin had asked me a week ago if I had a video camera, little did I know that meant can you video tape my whole party? One of his relatives told me to just start taping. So I took the place that I love to be in...behind the camera. If you know me at all, you know that I love taking pictures so to be able to serve Colin in this way was a privilege to me. (Unfortunately this means he's going to hear me laughing many times as the MC was hilarious!) I am much much better at telling this story through pictures so here are a couple of pictures below but I will try and add some words to the experience.

A lot of Colin's relatives were there, even ones that most people would not want to invite to their graduation party. The MC announced different people over the course of the next hour to come up and give speeches about Colin. There was a teacher from his primary level there, friends from the university, relatives, and older clan members. Mary Ann was even asked to get up and give a speech. After all of the speeches Colin came up to the table full of presents, which I totally thought were for him since he's the one graduating from college. Oh no...as you can see in one of the pictures, he started handing the presents to people in his lives that have made a big impact on him and where he is today. The present that impacted me the most was when Colin got down on his knees in front of his mother to thank her and tell her how much he appreciated her for sacrificing so much for him over the years. (This shocked me because in this male dominated soceity you never ever see a man do that! You will see women and kids do that all the time but never a grown man!) His mother became a widow when Colin was about 10 years old in 1995, which means she was younger than I am when she was a widowed mother of four young kids! Through the sacrifices of his mother and later the sponsorship of Children of Grace, Colin was able to go to school and get a degree from a good university and now even have a job at a good company!

Colin and his brother Allan

(Yes that is a cake with really really big candles!)

Building Pics Update

2010-02-21T22:02:00.000-08:00

February 9th this is what the roof started to look like from the outside.

Feb 9-the roof from the inside (you can see all the red beams up top)
Here is all the work that has happened in about two weeks, this was Feb 21st. The walls have started to be cemented all throughout the inside of the building.

And the outside has gotten cemented as well as of Feb 21st.

Wow it's really looking like a building now!

Back to school time-Feb 1st

2010-02-12T07:52:00.001-08:00

Back to school time just happened here almost two weeks ago now. In America our lists consist of the necessary pens, pencils, colored pencils, paper, binders, and a box of tissues to contribuite to the class. In Uganda the list looks quite different: broom, knife, razor blades, toilet paper, a ream of paper, bathing soap, washing soap, bucket, jerrican, 1 kilo of sugar, gray socks with blue and white stripes, a cup and a plate, and 4 pairs of knickers. Some of them are really ridiculous (what school needs 1,000 brooms when they can't even afford text books?) As we went shopping with some of the kids on a hot afternoon I found myself saying I wish there was a walmart around here somewhere! The children here who attend boarding school gather up their few items and put them into a metal suitcase secured with padlocks. They keep the suitcases on their self-provided mattresses and sleep alongside them, hoping not to kick too hard in the night, leaving a bruise. Children of Grace provides each boarding student one mattress in their education career. Upon sponsorship each student also receives a backpack, mosquito net, school shoes, scholastics, pens, and school uniforms. When these items run out or become unusable, they are able to bring them back to the office and trade them in for new ones. Thus, as you can imagine, the beginning of a school term for the office is BUSY!! The new year started on February 1st. Getting 700 kids ready for school is quite an undertaking.

I had so much fun helping out with this undertaking!! I got into my place of the assembly line that I love to be in-the picture taker (we want to be able to send new pictures to their sponsors). Here I am again saying seeca (smile) or fine (jackfruit), I had some students give me some really good smiles! J And as hard as it was for me I even said no to a guardain who wanted new shoes but instead of new new shoes I gave her child some other child's shoes that I had just taken (which by the way were in really good condition). (We took the old shoes from the kids and Sam had such a great idea to get them fixed so we can reuse them-he saved COG SO much money!!!) We don't provide them with each of the things on the lists they receive from their schools, but we do provide them with the things they can not attend school without. The other items, such as soap, flatware, etc., we leave for the children to provide. This enables them the sense of accomplishment in providing sometime for themselves. What a blessing it was for me to see all of our students come by the office with big smiles on their faces :)

Back to school time in Uganda

2010-02-12T07:01:00.000-08:00

Here is the big line of students on one of the many days that we were handing out scholastics, new shoes, and new this year water guard. We found out that we can give kids water guard in order to treat their water at boarding school, so yay to hopefully no more typhoid!

Hilarious...and...so GROSS!

2010-02-12T06:39:00.000-08:00

Monday night we came home and Mike told us that we might want to reconsider our desire to try and be "green" here. Since they burn trash here we decided to try and have a composite pile and a garden...both have had some visitors. Around 5pm on Monday night he told us that one of workers came up to him and brought him over to this picture. They told him that they caught it and they inquired as to whether they could buy it from him! One of them wanted to take it home and eat it and he was willing to pay 1 dollar for it! Mike told him he could just have it. What a way to get rid of the rats that was literally the size of a small cat! I'm so glad I was not home to see it in person. The picture is quite enough! On top of that our guard Robert told us that sometimes he throws rocks at the rats that he sees to get them to stay out of the compound! Can someone please send us some rat poisoning?

Meat night at camp

2010-02-11T03:33:00.000-08:00

In the states we roast marshmellows at a campfire and make smores...here in Uganda these kids rarely get meat, for example if you ever watch them eat their meal that includes meat they save it as the last thing they eat (they even take a humburger off of its bun to eat the bread before the burger). The last night of camp we had a bonfire for meat roasting and of course a dance party! :)

I told the kids to make funny faces as it was really dark outside and I just started taking a whole bunch of pictures with my bright flash, so fun!

A group of kids posing for a picture after we had just danced for a while.

More fun camp moments

2010-02-11T01:14:00.000-08:00

Mark was giving this little one a tickle attack.
They had to race to pick up the candy that was hidden in the flour.

Precious: Jason explaining some Bible verses to Alex. The team said a lot of the kids were so hungry for the Word.

Football Tournament every afternoon before dinner. Everyone got very competitive and it was a lot of fun. And I learned a new word-pitch. They kept saying go to the pitch. I thought they were saying go to the beach. And then I asked for clarification and found out that pitch means field.

Always a precious moment: swimming day. We did it on the second day of camp this year and although I wasn't able to enjoy at least I got to watch the kids enjoying it!

Some fun camp moments

2010-02-11T00:20:00.000-08:00

Joel and Mohammad are sponsored by Kindri so they got to come to camp. How cute are they!!! They wrestling with each other.
The girl that I sponsor, Rashida, and two friends.

Yellow Thunder!! (my team)

Gloria and I. When I first saw her I gave her a big hug and then she asked me to come with her so she could show me where she had placed her things in the dorm. It turns out she had her bed right next to my bed! I love her and thank the Lord for her!

The camp assistants were playing the games with the American team that we were going to do with the kids. Here's Brenda and Izzy battling it out, trying to throw water at each other while blindfolded and given directions by their team members.

Jan 31st Dinner the students made for us

2010-02-10T23:52:00.000-08:00

We had 4 students from Lira come down to attend school here in Jinja so we had a big Ugandan feast with them Sunday night before they went to school Monday morning. The three students already staying at our house made Matoke (shown above), eggplant and cabbage, chapati, rice, beans, and meat! It was SO good!

Oliver and Martha enjoying their meal.

Daniel and Peter enjoying all of their food.

Then Julius and Simon got some sugar cane. (I told them I had never had it before a while ago.) So they showed me how to eat it. You have to suck the sugar out of the cane. YUM!

Celebrating Robert's self proclaimed Birthday January 30th

2010-02-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

Mary Ann asked Robert when his birthday was. He told her he didn't know (very common here) and so she told him we are going to celebrate your birthday on January 30th. So Robert came to have dinner with us with his gun of course that Saturday night. After we stuffed his face full of food we had him come back for cake with trick candles. It was so funny because he had no idea why the candles kept relighting!

I was trying to help him blow them out because they seriously kept relighting for a good minute or two. We were all laughing a lot. (Asha was taking the pictures which is why they might be a bit blurry.)

And then we gave him a birthday card. This is the first birthday he has ever celebrated.

A Blessing

2010-02-02T02:20:00.001-08:00

Another moment at camp that has really stuck out to me was on the last day. It is a day that is always filled with sorrow for the kids and the adults. The kids have such a different life at camp that they don't want to ever leave and the adults walk away with new relationships and hearts expanded for love of the kids. (Tears are plentiful!) The pastor's wife spoke that morning about listening and hearing from God. After she spoke she asked the staff to come up in order to pray a blessing over all the kids. What an amazing and incredible once in a lifetime moment that I will never forget. Many students came up to me and I just hugged them and prayed over them right into their ears. I was fighting back the tears. What a cool gift to give to these kids! There is so much power in prayer. It reminds me of the times in my life when friends have prayed over me. There is just something so amazing about it; I cannot put in to words what a blessing it is to have others pray over you so I can only imagine how special these kids felt. Thank you Lord for these kids and the joy that they have despite dealing with so much loss in their lives as well as poverty. I have so much to learn about You and Your heart. Please continually break my heart for what breaks Your's!

A Father to the Fatherless

2010-02-02T02:16:00.001-08:00

As I have been reflecting over the past two weeks after camp has ended one of the small group times really stuck out to me. One morning at camp Pastor Godfrey's wife, who came to speak at camp because her husband was so busy, spoke about fathers. She started off by saying that typically we don't talk about things that are sad like when people pass away but it's ok; we need to talk about it. She went on to talk about her dad and the struggles she had growing up. She always had a desire to be hugged by him and he rarely ever did that. She transitioned in to talking about God as our Heavenly Father. She told us that none of you are orphans in this room. God is father to the fatherless. In our small group time after the talk we went around to all 16 kids on my yellow team plus the couple of staff and we all shared about our fathers. Every single one of those kids talked about how their dad passed away many years ago. A good handful of them had no memory of their fathers. And as they shared that I wondered if the others were just making up details about their fathers. These young boys and girls are lacking fathers and father figures in their lives. It broke my heart to think about my own father and how much I have learned from him and his heart and how much I love him and cannot imagine the past 30 years of my life without him. I am so grateful that these kids have heard about their Heavenly Father. He loves them better than an earthly father ever could, He protects them, He gives them advice, and He meets their needs. My pray for the orphans who were at camp is that they would go home and allow that truth to really soak into their hearts and that they would get to know Jesus who came to show us the Father.

Being a Mom

2010-02-02T02:13:00.001-08:00

I have always had a strong desire to be a mother some day. And Lord willing it will happen someday but for now I realized once again that God has given me His kids to love and be a mother to. As I was talking to one of the Americans on the mission team from CA a few weeks ago she pointed out to me that I am being a mother to the kids who live with us in the guest house as well as others that I have relationships with. What a privilege it is for me to be here in order to love on these kids who do not experience parental love. My mother's heart was torn during camp time as I cared for one of our kids. Tuesday I took him to the clinic because he was throwing up and had a high fever. (The other student who stays with us rode the bike to find me at the office so that I would come and take his friend to the clinic! He love his friend so much and is such a good caretaker!) That night through much convincing we had him stay at the clinic over night because they could give him the best care if he got even sicker. Wednesday Risa took him back to the house. Friday Risa took him to the hospital in town so that he could get on drip because he was really dehydrated. Saturday Mary Ann picked him up from the hospital and brought him to see us at camp. Within a few hours of being there Risa found him shaking so immediately took him to lie down and consoled him. (More about Risa's side of all of this is in the blog that I just previously posted.) Mary Ann had got him back in the car to take him to the hospital and I just lost it. I told God that I would gladly take his pneumonia from him, at least my immune system could fight it! I love him so much! He is so precious and such a joy to be around and I cannot wait to see how God will continue to use him in the lives of those around him and across the world. It really was prayer that kept him alive that week. God has surely taught me a lot about prayer! Thank you Lord for the miracle of life!

Risa's Unedited Thoughts

2010-01-26T07:55:00.001-08:00

(I wanted to post some of this incredible story from Risa's blog, please read and thank you for your prayers.)

January 21, 2010

Because of confidentiality, names of Ugandans here have been changed....

Stephan. This guy is a complete miracle. The other day Alison and I marched into his hospital room with two purposes. One, we were going to tell him how much hope we had for him and how much we love him. The other, we were going to read Scriptures of being conquerors in Christ and God's strength over him. Stephan had gotten sick and had been sent to the clinic. Dr. Emma said he could come back home and thus he was staying here at home when Mary Ann arrived from the States. I had been here daily during the camp to check up on him. Mary Ann didn't realize how sick he had been and so brought him to camp one day. About two hours later a little boy runs up to me and says, "Risa, there is a boy who is sick who is looking for you." I ran to find Stephan standing there shaking. In a weak voice he says, "I want to go and sleep somewhere and I need a sweater and Tylenol." I immediately grabbed Chris Sheehy and said, "Take him to your dorm." I SPRINTED up to my room to grab my sweatshirt after grabbing Kindri and sending her after Chris and Stephan. Of course, Chris being the giving kid that he is had Stephan already wrapped up in his sweatshirt by the time I arrived at the dorm. Kindri left to go and find Mary Ann with the car to take Stephan away while I sat there holding back tears as I rubbed the back of this boy who I love. And when I say I love him, I am at a loss of words. Sometimes I wonder if God has brought me here for Stephan and James. They know I love them. It's becoming evident. And for me, this is the greatest joy. They are understanding that they can ask me things and sometimes I'll tell them no and other times I'll tell them it's absolutely okay. They are becoming comfortable asking me why to certain questions, which really is a huge milestone in this culture. If I move my hands in expression they're not wincing anymore from a natural reaction to fear of being abused. They know I will never touch them and that if my hand goes flying somewhere it's because I'm so caught up in the story I am telling that it is coming out in my non-verbals. Stephan and James will even smile at me at times and they have completely come to understand my facial expressions. I was upset over something the other day and James came up to me in a crowd of people and said, "Risa, is there any problem?" I assured him everything was okay, that what I was upset about was nothing to do with Stephan. I knew that was really was he was asking because Stephan was in the hospital. He was probably the only Ugandan who picked up that I was anything but normal at that moment. These kids know I pray for them and they know that at the end of the day I will fight for what is fair for them. And, they have come to know that when I say no to something, I really love them and have their best interest at heart.

So I am sitting rubbing Stephan's back in a stuffy boy's dorm room as he is wrapped up in this blanket and sweatshirt and absolutely shaking the bed because his fever is so high. I am trying to help him sip down water without sitting up. He begins to cry. I just continue to rub his back and tell him how much I love him. The phone in my pocket began to buzz and I went to silence it. Accidentally I pressed "Accept." I had answered by mistake. Seeing it was an international call, I was ready to tell the person that they needed to call me another time. "Risa, it's Aimee." "Aimee, I cannot talk now, I am here with Stephan and he is really sick. You can talk to him, but he is unable to speak, so he'll not talk back to you." I put the phone up to his ear and Aimee began to speak words of love into this sick kid's life. When I heard her voice stop I said, "Aim, call me another time. I love you." And I hung up. At that moment, Mary Ann pulled up with the car. God's perfect and miraculous timing. Jason had been lingering in case I needed any assistance. He picked up Stephan and carried him to the car. Stephan continued to tremor. He was BURNING up. Myself scared, I said goodbye to him in the car and sent him off to the hospital.

The next day Mary Ann came to camp and I asked if I could go see Stephan. Of course, she said yes. I was worried about him. Really worried. Mary Ann said he had asked her that morning if I would be coming. I think he knew without a shadow of a doubt I would be there. I borrowed the car, asked Cathy Burkholder for any advice she had for me, and I went into the hospital room to check on a boy who I thought might be dieing. Mary Ann, a former nurse, was deeply concerned about his condition, as was Kindri, another nurse from the U.S.

I walked into the hot hospital room that would not pass the first stages of any inspection in the States and sat on Stephan's bed. He couldn't speak. He was not taking in food because he said he had a wound in his throat. He was burning up. He was weak. But, he grabbed my hand and his non-verbals spoke volumes. He rubbed my hand with his thumb and I just rubbed his back. Stephan was in so much pain. I wanted to get some calories in him and so I sent his uncle to the market for some ice cream, thinking something cold might even help his throat. I got two baby spoonfuls down him before the pain was too great. I couldn't believe that in the 24 hours he had been there nobody had thought to take the shirt off of this boy who was on fire. We helped him out of it, but not without causing him excruciating pain. He was on a drip, so at least he was getting re-hydrated. I asked him if I could read some Scriptures to him. He nodded. I opened to Romans 8. Beginning to read I paused for a long, long time. I was about to loose it completely. Hearing words of confidence from my God at a moment like this and reading them over a sick kid who is a part of my heart was bringing two of the deepest parts of me together in and extreme moment of need and crying out. I knew that if I was going to make it through this, I needed to pause. Here we can't cry around the sick because they take it as a sign of giving up. I didn't want to make Stephan think I am giving up, because I AM NOT!!! I also could not look at Alison who was studying the floor in an effort to hide her own emotion. I got through the passage, turned to Philippians 4 and then to Zephaniah. I looked at Stephan and said, "Stephan, God loves you. He is mighty to save you, he is rejoicing over you with singing, and he will be your strength." laying there limp, he nodded. Stephan knows how much God loves him, and he trusts that. Alison asked if she could pray for him and again he nodded. She prayed.

Towards the end of our visit I told Stephan that I could not wait for him to know my kids someday. I told him one day he will need to teach them how to be good like he is and I told him all of the things I appreciate about him. I said that I want my kids to be just like him and I cannot wait for them to know him and learn from him. Stephan needs to know I am holding out hope for him far into the future, and that yes, he is very sick, but he can fight on. He was loosing hope, and so I needed to hope and dream for him. I promised him I would come each and every day until his was better. He nodded when I said I'd come everyday. But, he did not respond when I said, "Until you're better." Alison and I both picked up on that. And, as we left, Alison did not make it to the car before breaking down. I was too depressed to crack at that moment. When I am the most depressed, I don't cry very much. Some things are too deep for tears.

Stephan's aunt and uncle were in that hot room. I asked if they were going to spend the night. They said they had other kids to care for. I wanted to shout, "BUT THIS ONE IS SICK!!!" But, I didn't. I think Alison, Aimee, Kerri, my mother, and I love Stephan more than his biological family. He is part of our family. When we left I was fully prepared to spend many more hours in that hospital room. I would sleep there if I had to. I would do what it took to be at Stephan's beckon call.

I went back to camp and immediately sent a text to Brendan and Jana. Brendan called me back immediately. I told him what was happening and said, "Brendan, we're discouraged. We need prayer here today." I think he took it to heart. Many people in the States were praying that day, as my mom had also put a prayer notice on her FaceBook. The next morning when I woke up, I broke. Cathy Burkholder found me and just hugged me while I wept.

I came home from camp that afternoon. I was walking up to my house and I saw a young boy squatting out front of our compound. I took a double take and began to run. Stephan was there. I gave him a BIG hug and said that I was going to visit him. Obviously, he knew that. He said, "I can go back and you can come and visit me." "NO WAY!!! Welcome home." He is still sick, but God is a God of miracles. I am floored by His healing power. Mary Ann, Alison, and I all thought he was giving up. I truly believe God spoke to Him in that hospital room and gave him a hope to get well for. The team could not believe it when they saw him at the house that night. It was a true miracle.

He came in and slept the afternoon away on our couch. I sat down next to him on the couch and rubbing his back said to him, "Stephan, between God's strength, many people's prayers, and your will to get better, God had done a miracle." He smiled at me.

I cannot begin to tell you what I have learned from this experience. I learned that God does miracles. I learned that life is largely due to a person's will. I learned that prayer is powerful. I learned that I need my community from Walnut Creek to be present in my work here. My mom, Alison, Cathy, Aimee, and Brendan were all key parts of this journey for me, and for Stephan. And, I learned that Stephan knows that he is a part of Aimee, Alison, my mom, Kerri, and my hearts and that when he gives up hope, we will Hope for him. He is truly loved and God is going to do great things with him.

Rehemah

2009-12-24T04:28:00.001-08:00

One of our sponsored children, Rehemah, went to Danville, CA, a couple of weeks ago in order to have eye surgery. I just wanted to send out an update so that you all could be praying for her. This is the update from Linda, who she is staying with:

An update on Rehemah. Her corneal transplant surgery on her left eye went well today, she was in surgery for two hours and in recovery for two hours past that. We arrived back home in Diablo at 4pm and she is resting. She is a trooper and did great. We will return to Santa Rosa tomorrow for a recheck. The doctor visited Mary Ann and I for a short visit between his surgeries. He reported the DALK procedure punctured the "bubble" protecting the corneal tissue requiring him to use a different transplant technique. The alternate procedure is still not as invasive as the PK procedure and did not require him to disturb the inner most corneal tissue. That is good news. He was very hopeful for a positive outcome, we will learn more tomorrow. Please continue to keep Rehemah in your prayers that the donor tissue is accepted by her body, no infection develops and the healing process continues as God has set forth in his plan to restore her vision.

Bible Study (Wednesday Dec 2)

2009-12-06T22:53:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited! Risa and I got to have a Bible study with four girls yesterday. I invited about 10 girls since they are all out on holiday now from school. A lot of them go back to their villages for the holiday so there were four that showed up. It was perfect! We started studying the book of John together. The girls that came were: Brenda, who is sponsored by the Dillows, Eron, who is sponsored by Deana, Joweri, who was in my group from camp the first year I came, and another girl Josephine, whom I didn't invite but it was awesome that she came J We read half of the first chapter together and then I started asking them some questions about the passage. Brenda understood my English the best and so she answered a lot of my questions and sometimes would translate for the other girls. (Next week I will have the questions all typed out for them. I had them typed out this week but they were split into 3 groups which we didn't need to do since there were only 4 of them.) I asked the girls if there was anything they did not understand in the passage. Brenda said yes verse 19, what is going on there. Why did they think John was Elijah. Risa and I were like that's a very good question...we will have to get back to you on that. (He was an incredible prophet that God used to perform miracles through but other than that I'm not sure why...) We also explained what the word Messiah meant. We both thoroughly enjoyed the time we got to spend with those girls discussing Scripture. I am so thankful that I got to spend that time with them and look forward to next week's Bible study J

Thanksgiving Pictures

2009-12-03T23:52:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from our Ugandan Thanksgiving, it was SO fun. The only thing missing was cranberry sauce and our families of course, but it was fun having our Ugandan family over for dinner.

Samuel, Joseph, Rogers, Paul, Dennis' Aunt, and Dennis

Risa, Vicky, and Mary (and my food to the left :) )

Vincent, his wife Molly, Teo's roomate (Rose), Rehema, and Maureen

Here's our little 10 lb turkey. Joseph went and found a man to sell us his turkey. The man asked to be paid before he killed the turkey and skinned it. Nothing like an organic turkey :)

Our thanksgiving spread: green beans, sweet potato casserole, onions, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, stuffing, turkey, and Bonnie made a really good chicken dish (chicken, potatoes, and veggies wrapped in banana leaves and cooked over coals).

Junior Achievement in Kampala

2009-12-03T23:07:00.000-08:00

Wednesday November 25th Risa, Dennis, Vicky, and I took about 25 students up to Kampala to attend the 2nd Junior Achievement Exhibition in Uganda. There were about 15 companies from various schools represented there. Some of the businesses that students had started up included: hair salon, selling popcorn, selling chapatti, selling fruit salad, selling paper bags and book covers for school, and embroidered cups, shirts, and pens. We arrived at the event when all of the schools were being judged on their businesses. So our students went around to each of the companies and asked them questions. After lunch we heard speeches from all of the companies regarding their successes and failures. Then they had a man come and speak (who had clearly spent a lot of time in the states because his accent almost sounded American!). He is a prominent businessman who shared with all of the students about the first company he started when he was 16 years old. He found a need and met it and was able to employ other kids and earned enough money to fly himself to Nairobi to go shopping! He said I know that Uganda has a lot of problems and a lot of poverty but you need to look at the problems as opportunities to make money! He did a great job of encouraging and inspiring the students to go out and create their own jobs in a country where the unemployment rate is high. Our students left that afternoon with some new ideas about businesses that they want to start creating here in Jinja. This afternoon (Dec 5) a group of the students that went to the event came over to the guesthouse to create a name for their new company. They are going to start producing “dirt shirts.” They have a lot of work ahead of them in terms of creating a business plan but they are creative and eager to start. We are so excited for these kids who are involved in our Junior Achievement Program.

This is the chairman of JA in Uganda, giving the overall award to this group of girls who's business was embrodiering mugs, pens, and shirts.

This was one of the many "companies" explaining their business. They were selling paper bags.

I LOVED the slogan on the bottom of this poster. This company made chapattis at school because kids could not get them at school. The slogan says "Try me once and buy me always"

This is one of our students who is in the JA program. Isn't she the cutest ever? She was modelling all of the things that one of the company's made and sold.

Sacrifice...Thankfulness

2009-11-24T21:54:00.001-08:00

This week as Thanksgiving approaches and it does not feel like its
coming at all because there are no reminders of it here, however, I
have thought a lot about the word sacrifice in the past couple of
days. Many people around the world know the meaning of this word. I
could go on and on with many examples of those who sacrifice their
lives daily. Today I think about one of our students who has been
working on the building project during his holiday. He sometimes
misses school so that he can earn money in order to pay school fees
for younger siblings in his household. That is sacrifice. I think
about all my friends and family who have sacrificially given of their
prayers and finances that enable me to be here where I know God has
called me to be for this season of my life. I want to thank all of my
friends and family for that sacrifice as well as for the sacrifice
that comes with trying to keep in contact with someone on another
continent. I miss everyone a lot but this sacrifice that I am making
by being here is completely worth it. And finally as I think of the
word sacrifice my mind goes to the cross and meditates on that for a
while. For, it is because of the cross that I am here in Uganda. I
will never be able to fully comprehend what Jesus did for me on that
cross. He became sin and in so doing was separated from the Father.
I can not imagine the agony and pain He went through in those moments,
physically, emotionally, spiritually, all at once. So thank you Lord
for the cross, that enables me to have eternal life, live life to the
full, and love others the way You do. Thank you for my friends and
family who love me because it's often times through their love that I
feel You loving me. Happy Thanksgiving family and friends! We will
be taking our holiday off and cooking up a great American Thanksgiving
meal for our family here (the Children of Grace staff).

Continually Learning New Things Here

2009-11-15T07:45:00.001-08:00

Last Wednesday (after the building dedication) the COG staff was invited to attend a meeting at St. Francis Medical Clinic. COG has a partnership with this clinic so all of our children who get sick go here to receive free medical care. The clinic was holding a seminar on HIV/AIDS and the stigma attached to it. Headmasters from all around the area were invited to come. The director of the clinic shared about some of things that St. Francis does. They have a grandmother's (Jaja) project in which they support grandmothers who are now caring for their grandchildren due to AIDS taking away their children. They also now have about 25 children that live at the clinic who are in stage 3 and 4 of AIDS so that they can get around the clock care. They have about 10,000 patients and about 790 people on ARV treatment. The director went on to talk about the word stigma. He said it is not a word that is found in their Ugandan language so let us define what it means in English. His definition was "a spoiled identity." He talked about the fact that there unfortunately is still a stigma attached to AIDS in Uganda, many people do not think that is still a problem here but it is. This is because it is not talked about! The director appealed to the teachers in the room that they must be teaching their students about HIV/AIDS. One of the COG staff spoke out and talked about how there are signs posted all around the schools here that talk about HIV/AIDS and about abstaining from sex, but nobody ever talks about it in the classroom so the children after seeing these messages posted so many times simply just walk by them without noticing them anymore. He asked the teachers to please make this apart of their curriculum. Another one of our COG staff spoke up about a child who's teacher basically announced to the whole class that he is positive. Needless to say that little boy never came back to that school! Could you even imagine having that "label" put on you? When that label is put on a child here other children will stop being friends with them or they will make fun of them. This is just unacceptable. The director pleaded with the teachers to educate our children. The director told all who were present in the room that these are our children that we are talking about, they are not any one person's child. We need to work together as people who love and care about children to really find out their backgrounds and get to know them so that we can best care for them at school or wherever they are. He reminded the headmasters that teaching is a vocation, the root of vocation means calling. He told them as teachers they are called to love and care for the children. He said you have a responsibility to care for these children because we all know the government is not going to do it.

Overall it was just really eye opening to hear the discussion between the clinic, COG, and headmasters in the area. Throughout the day I could not stop thinking about the words spoiled identity. I am SO glad that the clinic hosted a seminar such as this as these issues definitely need to be addressed. Thank the Lord for these people who care so much about the well being of children who are so near and dear to Jesus' heart!

Most recent building pics

2009-11-15T07:20:00.000-08:00

The walls are coming up!

I walked through the building this afternoon, to try and capture a picture of how high the walls are now.

The front door of the new building.

Group picture of all the workers and COG staff at the dedication last wednesday.

Update on the new building

2009-11-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

(These images posted in the wrong order but hopefully you can just work backwards when viewing them.) This is Rehema and Sue signing a brick at the dedication of the new building this past Wednesday morning.

MaryAnn reading a passage from Ephesians that talks about Jesus as our cornerstone. We prayed that many children will come through these walls and feel the love of Jesus Christ in the years to come!

The "cornerstone"

The building with its first layer of bricks laid out where all of the rooms will be.

The concret slab was completed on November 7th.

Lacking parental love

2009-11-12T04:16:00.001-08:00

Last week as I walked through a village with Teo I asked her how her
cousins were doing since I know Annet had just lost her mother a
little less than a year ago. When Teo's two cousins are on break from
school they both come and stay with her. Her other living relatives,
an Aunt and her grandfather are up in Northern Uganda. It's quite
expensive and quite a trek to get there. Anyways, I asked her how
Annet was doing emotionally. She told me that there are some days
that Teo does certain things that remind Annet of her mother and she
thanks Teo for doing those things. And then there are other days
where she just misses the way her mother would do things. I started
to tear up in thankfulness of thinking about my own parents and how
much love they have shown me and continue to. I can not image not
having them in my life right now. My heart breaks for the parentless
children who have been orphaned in this world. I told Teo that she is
such a blessing to her two cousins. I know that while their parents
are no longer alive to love them, they are receiving a lot of love
from their older cousin who cares for them so much. They are blessed
to have Teo in their life. It made me sad to think of all the
children (over 2 million orphans) in Uganda who do not receive this
substitute parental love. There are countless stories of guardains,
whether they are Aunts or Uncles or Grandparents or just friends, that
take on the responsibility of raising an orphan who do not love them
like their own children.

We met a sponsored boy yesterday who was working during his holiday
break from school at St. Francis Clinic on a building project there.
When we found that out we immediately asked him to come and work at
COG's building site. So today Risa and I walked him to the house. We
told him how proud we are of him for showing such initiative and
getting a job over his holiday break! I asked him who he stays with
and he told me he used to stay with his cousins in a house but when he
came back from boarding school they had left the house and sold the
property and there are new people living in there!! So he is now
homeless! He now stays with a friend of his during the holidays. He
told me both of his parents passed away about 5 years ago (so sad!).

Violence=Violence

2009-11-04T06:36:00.001-08:00

Today I had the privilege of going to Bosmo which is a primary school. I went along with Teo as the Phonics teaching is coming to an end since the children are going to get out for summer break soon. We were giving the students an exam today. I walked up and down their desks to make sure no one was cheating. After they had all finished Teo and started to grade all of the test on a bench outside of the classroom. The teacher was no where to be found. Half way through grading the exams we both heard the sound of someone being canned. Immediately we jumped up and ran into the classroom to find a boy, Isaac, canning three of his classmates who are girls. Immediately Teo took the sticks from him. I pulled the three little girls out of the classroom and Teo addressed Isaac asking him if he would like to be canned himself. She asked him if it pains him. He said yes. Then Isaac got his things and walked out of the room. Outside the classroom I gave those three little girls big hugs and tried to wipe away their tears. I asked them why Isaac had hit them and they said no reason. I looked all of them in the eyes and I told them what Isaac did is wrong. No one should ever cane you! I am so sorry this has happened to you! After they went back into the classroom Teo came out to look for Isaac. She then found out that Isaac had run away. The gatekeeper chased him for a little while and then fell down so he came back to the school. As Teo was gone I took the opprotunity to again address the class. I told them all that what Isaac did is wrong. No one should ever be canned. I told them they are all made in God's image and He loves them very much and does not want them to every be hit like that. As Teo and I went back to grading the papers the teacher reappears. Teo tells him what happened and he goes over and talks to the gatekeeper not Teo. He then goes into his classroom to ask the kids what happened. Immediately Teo went into the classroom with him. In front of the teacher she told the class again canning is wrong. You should never be canned! If you see someone being canned or if you are being canned you need to write a letter to Children of Grace with the teacher's name on the paper and we will come and put a stop to it because we do not believe in canning. Teo also told the teacher do not cane Isaac when he returns to school tomorrow! (I was so proud of Teo for how she handled that situation! We will follow up with that school to make sure Isaac does not get canned. We need to stop this by empowering the students to stand up against this as it is very wrong! I feel bad for poor Isaac as he is a product of his environment. He has grown up seeing others being canned and probably being canned himself and so he does it to others.)

Simon

2009-11-02T00:38:00.001-08:00

Saturday night after taking the three kids around it was time for us to take Simon back to school. He has been staying with us for about 2 weeks now and is such a joy to be around. I very much enjoyed him having fun dancing to music (Ugandans are SUCH good dancers!). He is HIV positive and has been staying with us because he had pneumonia. Dr. Emma told me this past week that he was well enough to go back to school. And let me tell you, Simon was SO excited to be able to go back to school. As much as he enjoys being with us, he really just loves learning at school. Before he left the house Mary Ann asked him a lot of questions about school. She found out that he really does not like it there and wants to go to a new school next year. Why she asked. The reason he does not like the school is because he is in boarding and so everyone sees that he is taking the ARVs. (When he comes back from the clinic the guard at the gate of the school has searched his bag before and pulls out the medicine and exclaims "Eh! AIDS, you shouldn't be here." When all of these people know that he is positive some of them decide not to be friends with him. COG will be looking into putting him into a day school possibly next year so that he can take his medicine at home and be treated no differently from other kids at school. My heart just breaks for Simon. I cannot even imagine being in his shoes. I pray that he continues to get stronger and continues to do well in school.

I talked to Maria, the COG staff who takes care of all the positive kids, about what Simon had told Mary Ann about school. She told me yes there is definitely still a stigma on AIDS here. It has improved over the years as people used to think you could get it from eating lunch with someone. But unfortunately a lot of kids do not get educated on AIDS. A lot of the kids have probably been affected by AIDS if they are not infected. Whether it's a parent, relative, or classmate, they most likely know someone who is positive and most likely know someone who has died prematurely due to the disease. She told me that there are still people who think that you can get it through saliva. Even though scientist a while ago came out and proved that it is nearly impossible to get it through saliva. She said the problem is most people have not heard that information. So there is clearly still a lack of understanding about HIV/AIDS and COG is determined to do all that they can do to make sure our sponsored kids are well educated about it and do treat someone who is positive like they would treat anyone else.

Meeting physical needs first

2009-11-02T00:36:00.001-08:00

"…the whole gospel involves more than preaching; it also means caring
about the whole person and finding ways to meet that individual's
needs." (pg. 248 The Hole in our Gospel)

I was so blessed to be able to live this out Saturday afternoon. This
past Wednesday Mary Ann and I met two young girls, Gloria and Diana.
We decided to take them shopping Saturday so on Saturday Dennis, their
mentor, graciously came over to the guest house and off we went to
their house. We stopped the car on the side of the road and got out
to walk back into a neighborhood. We walked past many houses and
eventually got to their single room house. Diana was the only one
there at the time so Mary Ann left with her to go find her younger
sister Gloria. Meanwhile Richard, the older brother who is not
sponsored, came home and Dennis started asking him questions. Dennis
finds out that both their parents have passed away and they have an
older sister who is probably only 18 who works at a salon so sometimes
has enough money to give her younger siblings dinner but not every
night. He also finds out that Richard carries water for the neighbors
in order to earn money so that he can go to school. He is not able to
pay the full amount and normally that would mean the school would not
let him come but his teachers feel sorry for him so that let him
continue even though his debt is high. Eventually Mary Ann came back
and we took Diana, Gloria, and Richard into town to get some lunch
since it had started to rain. They filled their plates and were all
smiles. (What a change it was to see them now from this past
Wednesday when we first met them!) After lunch Dennis took them
shopping (if we went with them they would have been charged mzungu
prices, so we hung back and bought them some other necessities). Then
we made our way over to another store to buy them all mattresses and
blankets. We loaded everything in the car and drove them back to
their house where offloaded everything. We also got them a new
padlock so that all of their new things would not get stolen.

And now with their physical needs met we were able to tell them how
much God loves them. What a blessing it is to be His hands and
feet!!!! Thank you Mary Ann for your heart to take care of these
kids! (Children of Grace does not have the budget to be able to do
that for all the kids that they encounter.)

Friday and Saturday pictures

2009-11-02T00:13:00.000-08:00

On Friday Godfrey was helping pull out 30 cups of Poscho and Beans for him and his sister to eat. He is on the food distribuition program. I went out with the truck that afternoon to deliver some more food to others who could not make it to St. Francis.

We took Simon back to school Saturday evening (more about him in the next blog). But here he is with Michelle (she is the 9 month yr old daughter of Bonnie who cleans and cooks at the house).

The cute little neighborhood kids that I got to take lots of pictures of while we waited for Diana to go and find her sister Gloria.

Gloria, Diana, and Richard with all of the new things that we bought for them on Saturday (the next blog will talk more about that).

Brian and I at his school (my best friend Karen sponsors him).

Marital Unfaithfulness

2009-11-01T09:17:00.001-08:00

This is what Risa just posted on her blog and she told me all about
the conversation so I really wanted to post it as well because I
thought it was so interesting/sad.

"While in a meeting about camp on Friday we diverted and soon Samuel,
Vicky, and I were in a deep conversation about AIDS and marriage in
Uganda. I have noticed that many children still have mothers alive,
however their mothers are HIV positive, and their fathers have died. I
have assumed this is from infidelity; deducting that if not more
children would be HIV positive. Since many children are negative and
have mothers who are positive, I must assume that their mothers
contracted the virus post-birth and thus their husbands extracted it
first and have since died from it, leaving a tragic situation. In
Uganda it is basically assumed that the husband will be unfaithful to
his wife, and this is widely accepted. Many men still take multiple
wives. Thus, the spread of HIV is so rampant. I asked about Christians
and they both were quick to add that it simply doesn't matter. Samuel
said, "What are they thinking about God if it's not Sunday?" Implying
that men follow Jesus on Sundays only.

Samuel has risen above a hard situation in which his father took two
wives, and he grew up watching his father love his second wife more
than his mother, leaving heartache. Needless to say, he is very
against men having multiple wives. This hurt is the same hope that we
have in America for the next generation of marriages. Hopefully the
pain of people's childhoods will inspire them not to pass on the pain
to their children's.

My heart began to break as I sat asking further clarifying questions.
Obviously, some women are unfaithful too, but in Ugandan culture,
women are at home caring for the children most of the time, making it
much more difficult for them to be unfaithful. I asked Vicky how she
planned to deal with this, as she is a very beautiful, educated young
woman. She replied, "Risa, that is why I told you I want a mzungu
boyfriend." I assured her that mzungus can be unfaithful too, and her
response was, "Yes, but at least in a mzungu marriage, when a man is
not satisfied with his wife, he will leave her rather than sleeping
around and thus eventually infecting her with HIV."

This point that Vicky made was new to me. I have pondered it for the
past few days. Here it is culturally unacceptable to leave one's
husband or wife, and in the States it is too culturally acceptable to
do so. However, I am grateful for each time a spouse is honest about
his or her infidelity and leaves when unsatisfied, freeing up the
family from his or her double life. But, WOW!!! I have been deeply
burdened by this. Change is necessary. Children need to be educated to
be faithful, starting while they are young. This needs to be modeled
though actions. And, we need to pray that men and women alike will
have self-control in the moment to do what is right.

As Vicky walked out of the room she pointed to Samuel and me while
saying adamantly "You know what they say, the answer to HIV starts
with me, with you, and with you!!!" "

In need of Godly wisdom

2009-10-29T23:23:00.001-07:00

The question given to us last night at dinner: What do you do for a child who is sponsored who is 22 years old and has sickle cell? He is in S3 and probably misses a lot of school due to his illness that is not curable. COG helps him out with his medical needs right now because he is a student. The only thing I can think about it, is what would I do if he was my child? Everyone of these kids that God puts in our path here are loved by Him so much more than we could ever love them. They are all made in His image. So what is God requiring of us? Please pray for wisdom for the COG staff.

My Wednesday and Thursday

2009-10-29T01:08:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I had the privilege of going out with one of the mentors,
Dennis, to a couple of the schools that we have sponsored children at.
The first
school we went to was St. Andrew's. The little girl that I sponsor,
Rashida, goes there. It was SO fun to see her again. She has grown!
I
thought she was younger than she really is, I now think she is more
around the same age as Gloria. So therefore we are inviting her to
come to camp
:) After we encouraged the nine students there to do well on their
exams we made our way to the next school. Mpumudde Estate. As we
drove there it felt like we were out in the country. It was quite a
distance out there. There I got to see one of my best friend's
sponsored child :)

Next we went to Mpumudde Methodist, which was started by Methodist and
is now a government school. Since the government wants all kids in
school, the Primary 2 and 3 class sizes are RIDICULOUS! The Head
Master, who used to be one of Dennis' teachers, told us that there are
200 kids in a class with one teacher. WOW! I can not even imagine!
As we sat in the office two of our sponsored children came in to see
us. They are sisters, Gloria and Diana. We found out that they
"live" with their dad who is gone a lot during the week due to his
business. Their older sister sometimes brings food by for them to
have supper but not every night. Their mother passed away but we are
not sure how long ago. Upon looking at them in their tattered school
uniforms both Mary Ann and my heart just broke. They are not
performing well in school and it's not wonder with their living
conditions. I think we might take them shopping this Saturday. They
need some TLC!

After there we ventured back to the office where everyone got out of
the car that Pastor Godfrey is driving us in and we headed on to the
Guest House to pick up Simon and Gloria. I took my two little ones to
the clinic to have a check up on their health. We got there around
3:15 and Dr. Emma was not there so I found his phone number and called
him to see how much longer he'd be, he said 20 mins. So we waited.
When he came he had both of their blood taken and he checked out
Simon's chest since he had pneumonia previously. After a little more
waiting we found out that both of their hemoglobin counts had improved
and D. Emma said they were well enough to go back to school. So off
we went to Simon's school on our way home to pick up more books for
him so that he can catch up on his school work.

This morning we decided to take Gloria back to school but forgot to
also tell her that meant we were taking her back home as well. She
was all dressed in her uniform and ready to walk to school this
morning around 6:45am when I saw her. And I told her no you are not
walking to school. So she sat and waited for all of us to get ready.
And then I told her she needed to pack her clothes so we could take
her home as well and she was like oh I thought I was coming back.
(AWW! :( ) So we loaded into Pastor Godfrey's car this morning and
went to Gloria's house where I met her Aunt Milly. And then on to
school where we told the Head Master that her long school days need to
be shortened because we don't want her cd4 count dropping again! It
was so sad to take her back, I totally started crying. I miss her
already! I'm going to miss her saying my name 5 million times during
the day. I'll have to make many visits over there...

This past weekend in pictures

2009-10-27T00:25:00.000-07:00

Update on the building project: The wall started going in yesterday!! It's so exciting to watch the progress everyday. (Sorry I forgot to rotate the picture before I uploaded, so just tilt your head to the right and it'll make more sense :) )
We went to Colin's mom's church this past Sunday. The women were peforming a song during worship time. It was AWESOME. I love their outfits!

Saturday we ventured to Kampala with Simon and Gloria and took them bowling for the first time. What a joy it was to be a blessing to them and share in this first experience with them. (Also I showed Gloria what a hand drier was, that was another new fun experience :) And on Risa's blog you'll see a picture of them on their first escalator:) )

I am so blessed that God has put Gloria into my life. I want to keep her forever!

Aww, Simon is so cute! He loves Jesus so much and loves to dance. Please pray for his body to continue to gain strength back so that he can go back to school. He really wants to go back to school but we are not allowing him to quite yet. He gets tired too easily still.

Pictures of the Girl's school I visited a few weeks ago

2009-10-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

Me and Jalia at her school
Jalia's bed. I can't believe she sleeps on her bed with her trunk!

The girls told us that they were really "squeezed" in their dorm so I went to check it out. Sure enough they were not lying, look how cramped that space is! It's so ridiculous. It's no wonder they all get sick.

As we were walking away from the dorm I took a picture. Their dorm is up their to the left.

Two of the girls talking Teo's ears off as we walked through their school property.

Thank you for your prayers!!!

2009-10-22T11:38:00.001-07:00

I am SO excited today to let all of you know that I went with Gloria
to St. Francis Clinic this afternoon to get more medicine for her and
to check on her latest cd4 count. I am SO happy to report that her
cd4 count went up to 318 (from being75) !!!!!!!!! She can not go on
the ARVs until her hemoglobin improves so please be praying for that.
So for the next week or so she is still going to live with us so we
can continue to provide her with good nutrition :) It's going to be
difficult to take her back home, I have grown quite attached to her!

Some updates through pictures :)

2009-10-20T01:27:00.000-07:00

Me and Gloria the other day. I told her to make a funny face haha. I've grown very attached to her and I think it's likewise. She says my name like 50 times a day!
Aww! So precious! Saturday afternoon we took Gloria and Harriett shopping for some new clothes. This was taken Sunday before little Harriett went home.

Aww they are too cute!

Aww! Harriett tried on all of her new dresses when we got home Saturday afternoon from the market.

Just a picture of the progress that's been going on with the new building next to the guesthouse.

Some realities here...

2009-10-16T04:39:00.001-07:00

The reality here is so different from what I have grown up in or could even imagine in the school system. Yesterday one of the sponsored girls was going to be reprimanded for not having all of her books (she should have been given all of her books because COG paid for them). Mary Ann went to the school and told the Head Master there that he had better not even think of canning her for something that is not her fault or for any reason for that matter! The head master was silent and sort of agreed that he would not cane her. Five hours later the office got a call from the little girl's guardian telling us that she had been canned at school!!!!!!!!!! OH MAN! We were all livid! I wanted to personally go over there and cane the person who canned her! Mary Ann immediately drove over to the school to inquire about what happened. The head master said he did not cane the girl but someone else did. It just so happens that Mary Ann knows the Director (owner of the school) and so she talked to him about the situation and he assured her he would get to the bottom of it. If things do not change Mary Ann will pull all of our 22 sponsored kids out of that school!

I woke up this morning thinking about the fact that we can not change the Ugandan school system but we can make a difference for that one girl that God has entrusted us with. She will most likely never forget about the adult (Mary Ann) who stood up for her when she was telling the truth. Please pray for the Uganda schools and that we as Children of Grace would continue to be able to impact them about the correct ways to treat children!

Another reality I was faced with today in the school system is the sadness that comes with losing a classmate. We went to Shield Standard this morning where Risa taught the class about the long and short o. We sounded out words like poke, nose, and home. Before the class began the teacher told us that last week one of the children in the class, Simon, was sick and then she heard a few days later that he had passed away. These kids are probably about 8 or 9 years old. I can not imagine losing a classmate at that young age much less a parent (which is also a part of the reality here).

Uganda's schools

2009-10-14T05:02:00.001-07:00

I have a strong disliking for some of Uganda's schools! Yesterday I heard about a conversation with a Head Master at Highway Primary School. When asked about how he treated the children he said, first the children are treated as our friends. Then a few minutes later a couple of children brought him his lunch and he yelled at them for coming in and "interrupting" his meeting! Last time I checked we don't yell at our friends and demand them to wait on us hand and foot! Oye!

Ugandan school teachers "used to" cane students for discipline which often includes a child with a wrong answer or one who does not answer the question asked of them. While canning has been outlawed it still happens sometimes because no one enforces the rules here.

Children of Grace is trying really hard to be a light in this dark world through the school system here. We are trying to reeducate these teachers to help them to see that positive reinforcement is much more effective for the learning environment then hitting children. Sometimes it can seem like a problem that is too large for us to tackle. But we believe it starts with one teacher learning to change and others will see the difference and follow. And on top of that, we pray that our children who are sponsored will grow up some day and become teachers who encourage students in stead of hitting them.

Something that we can not change that makes me SO upset is that the schools here do not want to put forth the money to treat the water to make it OK to drink. Therefore a lot of our children suffer from Typhoid! Water that is so essential to human beings should not be making them sick! Yesterday they had to take a girl from school to the clinic because she suffers from Typhoid. How are they supposed to do well in school if they keep getting sick from the school?!

New family members in the house

2009-10-11T05:01:00.001-07:00

Thursday I was so excited to go back to the ministry guest house and
see Mary Ann and Mike McCoy, founders of Children of Grace. They will
be staying with us for the next two months. I am SO excited to spend
more time with them because I already know that they have such great
hearts! I cannot wait to learn even more about Children of Grace (as
I feel I learn more and more every time I talk to Mary Ann). Seeing
them and having them live here now is just another taste of America
and the people that I miss there so I am just so grateful they are
here now. (And Mary Ann brought a Bible study here from the states
that they are doing at CPC right now and Deana just told me how she's
been thinking about me so much while she's been doing the study. I am
SO excited to start doing this Bible study with the staff here!!) And
the McCoy's got a lot of GREAT food from Kampala. I had chicken
breast for dinner last night (Friday) – Thank you Jesus!!!

The night they got to Jinja the staff all came over and started
debriefing Mary Ann on some of their kids. My heart broke as I heard
the story of a girl who is HIV positive with a CD4 count of 75! Her
CD4 count was at 800 only 6 months ago! Immediately Mary Ann jumped
into action and said we are going to go pick that girl up tomorrow and
have her come and live with us. She is so susceptible to any kind of
illness with her CD4 count being so extremely low, therefore we do not
want her in school right now much less staying in her house that is
not as clean as where we live. The clinic told us that she needs to
receive more nutrition because she is also anemic before we can start
sticking her on the ARV's. This is why I love Mary Ann and I have so
much to learn from her and the heart God has given her for His
children. She is all about ACTION. So now I have a new little sister
living in the house with us. She is so precious! I taught her how to
play phase 10 this morning :) And today is her 14th birthday so we are
having cake! :) Please be praying for her CD4 count to go up quickly!

No more sickness, no more pain...a hope and a future

2009-10-11T04:57:00.001-07:00

A couple of days ago I was sitting in the office working on Quickbooks
when I heard a guardian come into the office weeping. A few minutes
later Risa came into the office I am in to tell me that a 10 year old
girl just passed away that morning. We just sat there and wept. I
can not imagine the heart ache the guardian was feeling as I heard her
sobs. All I could think of was the fact that there will be a day when
there is no more pain and no more suffering. Hope. I have hope in
the future because I know that Jesus is up in Heaven seated at the
right hand of God the Father and He promised us in His Word that He
went to prepare a place for us. Heaven will be like nothing I can
even hope for or imagine here on Earth. It is unfathomable. The
Bible says that it cannot even be fully described. That is how
amazing it will be. I'm excited that I am working for an organization
like Children of Grace that desires to give kids hope and a future.
Please join me in praying for the family of this young girl and for
all the children here, that they would all come to know Jesus as their
Lord and Savior so that they will some day be with Him forever.

Some more pictures.

2009-10-06T01:05:00.000-07:00

We were teaching Lydia how to make dough for pizza :)
Empowerment Program Meeting that we went to in Mbiiko.

The living room where we live.

The Kitchen.

My messy bed.

Pictures!

2009-10-05T23:41:00.000-07:00

My backyard friends who steal the bananas!

A class at St. Abel, there are probably over 100 kids in this class. What kind of manageable class size is that!? Teo and Lydia do a great job of teaching phonics to these kids.

Joseph and I walking to work. It's almost a mile to the office from our house.

Aww cutie! This little kid just climbed up on my lap and sat there while Risa and I observed an empowerment meeting that Vicky was having with some women. They collectively are working together to pay back a loan that they were given.

The first Friday we were here Risa and I went out in this truck to help distribuit food to the COG kids who are in the food program. That is Godfrey there with us, Risa's family sponsors him.

Chicken Wrap!

2009-10-05T08:09:00.001-07:00

So I have been craving a chicken wrap from Ozzie's in town ever since we arrived here. It's quite expensive (Mzungu prices) so today we splurged for lunch. Chicken, avocado, and chapatti what could be better? Oh I know! The connections we made while we were at Ozzie's. (haha) At the table behind us we met a woman who runs a babies home in town. They have 0-5 year old kids and have had about 40 over their time being here who have been adopted by Americans and Ugandans. We told them where we lived and they said we lived right next to a woman who works at their Orphanage! So next on the agenda, make some good old cookies and meet the neighbor! Speaking of connections Risa and I made many over this past weekend. First, on Saturday we went over to the Nester's house. They have been missionaries here for the past 5 years. Jen DeVries and Erin Beck met them in town when they were here last year. Guess where they are from...Virginia! LOVE IT! Roanoke actually so they are HUGE VT fans, GO HOKIES! J We met some other mzungus there who work at the YWAM base. It was really refreshing to meet some other mzungus here. Then comes Sunday...Risa and I ventured to Kampala early Sunday morning to go to a church there called Life Church. Risa's friend Allison knows the pastor and his wife, who are from Oregon. We got to Kampala around 8:30am and met up with our friend Colin at the taxi park (the crazy taxi park you've ever seen). Then we got on to a taxi to go to the church. A guy on the taxi told Colin he was going to the church we were headed to so we decided we would follow him. Lo and behold a miscommunication occurred because he was not taking us to the church that Risa had been given directions for (when we found this out Colin said "Saved by the bell" Risa and I died of laughter). So we asked a boda boda driver on the road and he pointed us further down Entebbe Road. We made it to Life Church and absolutely LOVED it. I wish it were in Jinja! They had a really cool blend of Uganda and America going on in worship time. I really like the pastor and how much he knows the culture and used examples from the culture in his sermon. We went to the newcomer meeting after the service and we were given sodas, yum! After the service we met the pastor and his wife. They have been here since January at the church. His wife grew up as a missionaries' kid in Uganda when her dad started a church in the 60's! So their breath of knowledge of Uganda is vast. I really enjoyed asking him about the intertwining of witchcraft and Christianity that happens here. After church we walked around Kampala with Colin and he brought us to the only Movie Theater and bowling alley in Uganda. Some day we will go bowling with Colin J

Water

2009-10-05T02:27:00.001-07:00

"Water is life, and because we have no water, life is miserable." –a voice from Kenya

This week Risa and I have been drinking a lot of water that we have to buy at the store. We go through about 2 liters each a day because our bodies are not used to living here. We can easily tell when we start to feel dehydrated. As I sit here during the day drinking a lot of water I am so conflicted in my heart as I daily see kids carrying water from who knows how far away daily. Water is so essential to life. I am reading "The Hole in our Gospel" by Richard Stearns right now and in this chapter he is talking about the problem of water around the world. If we as Americans even stopped using water one day of our lives we would start to realize how much we use it. We use it so much without thinking about it because we know that it is safe for us to drink. But for a majority of the world that is not the case. If suddenly our water supply was shut off "finding a way to get water would begin to consume our lives." The book says as many as 5 million people die every year of water related illnesses. (Joseph, the 19yr old who lives in the house behind ours, just told me one of his friends in school died of Typhoid-a water related illness. He told me many people in the villages here simply do not even know that they need to boil their water to make it safe.) Richard Stearns goes on to say that thousands of hours are lost seeking and hauling water, especially by women. This task affects children too because millions of them are unable to attend school because of the hours they spend fetching water. Richard Stearns then goes on to give an example of a community that was changed as the result of a borehole well that World Vision built in Ghana. The well was built right near a school. Before the well was built there were 40 students attending the school and now there are over 400. This is because the women and children would spend five hours of their day fetching water several kilometers away. This community is no longer riddled with Guinea worm disease either because that was in the contaminated water. Clean water has improved their health. There are also women now making skin lotions that are being bought by Bath and Body Works in the States. (The only thing the women had needed to create this business was time and clean water, both of which were now available.) Wow! Water is life here in Africa. May God lead us all to find ways to put an end to this water problem!

Friday, October 2, 2009

2009-10-05T02:25:00.001-07:00

So far this was one of the best days that I have had here. I started the day by going to Shield Standard with Risa, Teo, and Lydia for the phonics program. Teo taught the class about the letter "I" and the sound that it makes. Teo does a remarkable job at teaching these kids something that is totally new to them and her! Then Risa and I went into town to Park Villa (a hotel that serves Ugandan food that we go to frequently). After lunch we waited at the office for Vicky because we were going to go with her to her empowerment program meeting in Mbiiko. Right before we were about to leave for the meeting, a girl with her guardian came into the office. She looked extremely weak and had just come from St. Francis clinic where they had given her medicine. We put her in the Director's car (she could barely get in there because she was so weak!). Then we got a ride in to town and the Director to her and her guardian home. She has medicine for malaria and typhoid. (I just about lost it in the car sitting there with her. She was crying because she was in pain and I thought about how horrible I feel when I have a fever. I can't even imagine how she must feel! As I started to tear up looking at her, I prayed for her and thanked God that we have medicine and that she is able to get medicine because she is sponsored!) We then went with Vicky to Mbiiko and sat with six women who showed Vicky the books they were keeping. We got to see one woman's store. With the loan that she received from COG she was able to purchase larger quantities of poscho and rice so that when she sells them she can actually make a profit. Every week Vicky visits these women and they are expected to pay back 5% of the loan. These women have become a team. One of them didn't have a big enough house to store logs to sell so another woman is letting her store her logs at her house! What a blessing this program is to these women and the kids that they take care of.

Next I had the privilege of going to Nakanyonyi Girls School with Mary and Vicky because the sponsored girls there wanted to tell them about issues they were having with the school. (I went for two reasons, 1.Because I wanted to see Jalia (she is one of the girls who left a forever impression on me the first I met her at the January 2008 camp) and I wanted to see Deana's sponsored girl, Eron, and give her Deana's gift. 2. Because I did really want to see how the meeting would go with the girls and what their concerns were.

We opened up our time in prayer and then Vicky asked the girls to tell her what they were unhappy with. None of them wanted to voice their opinions so we had them write their opinions. Then Vicky and Mary read through what they had written and the discussions began. Their lists included: electricity was out for three days so they were unable to work on their studies at night, there is not enough medicine in the nurse's station and they run out quickly, about 12 of them have not received sweaters that come with their uniform and they are cold, they are too squeezed in their dorm, and a teacher is not being very encouraging and helpful. We talked through the issues with the girls and told them that we would bring up some of the issues with the school administration. I absolutely loved how Mary and Vicky handled the complaints. They gave a lot of great responses to the girls and at the end I told the girls how blessed they are to have Vicky and Mary and just reiterated things that they had said.

My first week of work:I love the Children of Grace staff in Jinja!

2009-10-05T02:20:00.001-07:00

My first full week of working here has been incredible. We have felt so very welcomed by the staff at COG. I already feel like I am a part of their family. The other day Vicky gave Risa and I Ugandan last names! A couple of days this week I have gone into town to have lunch with the staff. The great part about being here and working here is that I have the privilege to really spend time getting to know the staff each individually. I also now have the ability to physically go with them and see everything that they do out in the field. I am continually so impressed by them and how God uses them daily to care for the children who are sponsored. Whether it is taking a sick child to St. Francis, checking up on a guardian, meeting with students at a school to hear their complaints about the school, making sure kids have new shoes, teaching phonics at a school, or meeting with women in the empowerment program, they are constantly out serving the children and have their needs as their number one priority. I amazed at how they remember all of the intimate details of every single kid. I can ask them about a girl that I know from camp and they instantly can tell me about how that child is doing.

My first weekend in Jinja

2009-09-28T01:49:00.001-07:00

It's taken a few days but I think I am now adjusted to the time here.
On Friday Risa and I had the privilege of going out with the COG staff
for food distribution. Once a month COG goes out and gives food to
those in the food program. We started at St. Francis Clinic and we
helped load up 30 cups of poscho (corn maize) and beans into bags.
Then Risa and I got into the back of the truck with the food and off
we went to a couple of villages. (Precious moment of the day-walking
through one of the villages I was attacked by about 15 little kids who
all wanted to hold my hand at the same time. I walked with them and
then played a little ring around the posy.)

Risa and I are trying to learn what kinds of things we can make to eat
here. So on Saturday we went out to one of the grocery stores. We
found cereal, Rice Crispies, for about 8 American dollars!!! Yea we
won't be eating that while we are here. We bought some good old
Oatmeal :) We found some soy sauce and on Saturday we made some stir
fry, yummy! :) We also went downtown and found a coffee shop with
free wireless internet-WHAT?! I never thought I would find such a
place here!

Sunday we went with Joseph to his church in downtown Jinja. It was
probably about a 2 mile walk (I'm definitely going to get exercise
here.) The service went on for about 4 hours, a typical service lasts
about 3. The church is getting ready for the big conference that is
happening now. A lot of speakers are coming in from different places.
So we look forward to going to that at some point in the next week or
two. After the service we were really hungry so we ventured up to
main street to try and find a Rolex (chapatti with egg wrapped up in
the middle of it). Those are going to be the reason why I'm going to
need to walk 2 miles a day! haha. They are SO good. So we ended up
finding one which totally made my day! And then we went back to the
church to see Abraham (whom we know from the first trip that we took
here Jan 2008). On our long walk back to the house Joseph found us a
jackfruit!!! (He must think we are crazy because I've been asking him
about finding one ever since I arrived.) So another awesome part of
yesterday I finally got to eat some jackfruit :) SO YUMMY! and so
sticky! And then last night our friend Colin dropped by with his
brother and we had a great time visiting with them. After that we
taught Joseph how to play Uno (oh and I taught him to play phase 10 on
Saturday morning :)). Poor guy ended up almost taking the whole deck
into his hands haha. Good times had by all :)

We made it to Uganda safe and sound

2009-09-24T01:02:00.001-07:00

Before I left the states I was really blessed by so many people. So from the bottom of my heart thank you to all of you who have listened to my stories about Uganda, who have prayed over me and continue to, and who have supported me financially. I still can not believe that I am here and am so blessed to get to share this experience with all of you.

Tuesday morning before I left one of my friends with her two little girls came over to see me. I was blown away by her 4 year old daughter who made a card for me AND gave me a book that she has been reading (which is one of her favorites!). She gave me this book because her mom had told her that I was going to go to Uganda to help little kids learn how to read. If that isn't the most precious thing ever I don't know what is!!

Thank you for all of your prayers! We made it here safely and with all of our stuff! :) The first flight I took I got to talk to a guy who works for some African country's government (I say some African country because he told me and I could never really understand what he was saying). Anyways it was really cool because he told me a lot about African history and we talked about the LRA and Kony. He's working to try and put an end to Kony and him abducting children to be soldiers. He had just met with some NGO's in Washington D.C. as well as some people on Capitol Hill. It was just a great way to start my trip :) The rest of the trip I watched movies and attempted to get some sleep and I think I was a little successful with that. We got to the house around 11:30 pm last night. It's really nice! I'll upload some pictures soon.

Leaving on a jet plane

2009-09-20T05:39:00.000-07:00

I am now leaving from Dulles on Tuesday night (September 22nd) and meeting up with Risa in Amsterdam before we head to Uganda together. I am so excited for what God is already doing in Uganda and how Risa and I get to just come and join that. Please be praying for a safe flight, for us to stay healthy, and for us emotionally as we leave friends and family and transition to our new home in a new culture.

2009-09-02T06:41:00.001-07:00

I'm on my way to Uganda on September 15th!

Support Letter

2009-09-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

When I first asked Jesus to take control of my life 7 years ago I could never have envisioned what He had in store for me. What an amazing God we serve! When I look back and see the wonderful ways He has blessed my life, and my relationship to Him and others, I’m truly speechless. In January 2008 God lead me to go to Jinja, Uganda with a missions team to run a summer camp with an organization called Children of Grace (COG). God has captured my heart, mind, and soul for the children who have been orphaned by AIDS, I have not been the same since. Mary Ann McCoy, founder and executive director of Children of Grace, was changed forever following her first trip to Uganda eight years ago. As a result, she was felt led to begin the ministry of COG. (To read more about her story please go to the website: www.children-of-grace.org.)

I have had the privilege of returning to Uganda in August 2008 and most recently in January 2009. Over the past 6 months I have been asking God repeatedly where my next step should be as my internship at the church out in CA ended in September and I moved back to Virginia in June 2009. God has faithfully answered my prayers in abundantly clear ways. I believe He desires to use me in Uganda working for Children of Grace for the next nine months. God is doing some really exciting things in Uganda right now and I am so excited to go and be a part of what He’s already doing.

A good friend of mine, Risa Cranmer (who has been to Uganda with COG a few times) has felt a special calling to move to Uganda in partnership with COG, from September to May and has since been praying for a partner in ministry. I am so incredibly blessed that God has not only answered Risa’s prayers, but also affirmed my call to go, by allowing us to be there at the same time.]

The first program we will be working on while in Jinja is a “Reading Enrichment Program”. This program is already in full swing, we will however; help bring more direction and guidance. The goal is to be able to equip the teachers, giving them ways to teach reading that will help these students excel in school. The second program is the “Junior Achievement Program,” which will allow us to go into schools and teach basic skills necessary for them to succeed in the business world following graduation. One of the things we are most excited about is the opportunity to go into some of the high schools and start up Bible studies. (One of our prayers is to really bring the truth of Jesus into the lives of students, especially in their culture where Christianity and Witchcraft often go hand in hand.) While in Uganda, I will also be working at the COG office updating “QuickBooks,” a financial software, as well as their database. This is a huge answer to prayer for the COG staff!

With all that being said here are ways you can support me prayerfully:

For me to have consistent time in the Bible and in prayer so I can be used by Him
For God to open up my eyes and my heart to see what He sees
For God to break my heart for what breaks His and to remain constantly sensitive to the Holy Spirit working in and through me
For God to protect me from spiritual warfare
Praying through these verses for me: Colossians 1:9-12

· (If you would like to receive updated prayer requests while I am there please let me know.)

Ways to support me financially (for airfare, insurance, food, and phone usage (about $4300)):

Donate online at http://sponsor.children-of-grace.org/index.php?cPath=25_26 (Click on General Donation and then write my name in a memo or send me an email and I will let COG know that you supported me online.)
Send a check made out to Children of Grace with a note that says it is for me to P.O. Box 2394, Danville, CA 94506.

If you want to donate monthly please let me know and I will give you the contact information to be able to set that up.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27