Uganda

After much prayer and research, our team stepped on the plane to Uganda in faith despite the reports of Ebola...and once we experienced Uganda, we were so glad that we had come.  We stayed at Canaan Children's Home for the week.  Having Wifi and more bathrooms and showers was such a treat.  Uganda was so dusty everywhere that we really needed to bathe daily!

Caroline, Vivian and friends showed me how to make beads out of strips of magazines.  Their little fingers worked so quickly and their beads were exquistite.

Melissa, Mama B, and Candice showing the kids how to make the colors of faith bracelets.

8/4/12~ Canaan Children's Home-this morning I made a few new friends-Caroline, Vivian, Polline, Claire, Trevor, and Jesse.  My team stayed here for the morning and did the colors of faith bracelets, face paint, nail polish, and balloon animals.  The kids enjoyed it.  The girls also showed me around the property and demonstrated how they make the beads.  Two of the older boys showed us Canaan's school and church. 

Vivian, me, and Caroline-my Uganda girls

Painting Jesse's toenails...Ernie decided to sponsor sweet little Jesse

Chaos at Canaan!  Vivian decided my bangs needed some style!

This school room at Canaan holds over 100 students, 6 to a desk, with one teacher!

We aren't smart enough to go to school here.

Canaan's future church building

On my way back to Canaan from looking at the school and church...these village children just latched on and walked me all the way home.  At this moment, I began to understand part of the reason God chose "white" for my skin color, otherwise, I wouldn't attract attention in Uganda and these children wouldn't have received His love through holding my hand.  

We went to the Source for lunch and did some shopping.  I bought 10 bags, 55 beaded necklaces, 2 nativity sets, and a small drum for Isaac and 2 bags of coffee.  Next, we went to a special needs orphange called Ekisa for the afternoon.  Two Emilys started this home-one from the UK and one from the USA.  The home is beautiful and well-kept with colorful walls and murals.  It just looks happy on the inside and the children are truly happy.  When are arrived the more severely handicapped older kids and the babies were on the front porch enjoying the sunshine and laying on mats with their nannies attending to them.  Many ladies in our group just sat on the porch and held and talked to these kids all afternoon.  There were other older kids with Down's syndrome, severe autism, one boy badly burned on his face and right side with poor skin grafting, and other boys with varying degrees of mental disabilities.  I spent the majority of that time with Rachel (age 6) who has CP and cannot walk.  She can crawl as evidenced by the Ugandan mud on the knees of her pants.  She enjoys swinging, balloons, and practicing standing and is very ticklish.  The saddest child we saw was a 10 month-old baby boy named Meshack who has malaria and meningitis.  He was hooked up to an IV through his scalp and propped up on a boppy pillow.  His little neck was stretched backward as far as it could go.  Poor baby-I'm praying that he lives and our team prayed over him.  So, so sad.  I lost it and had to walk away to regain my composure.

Jesse touring one of the rooms at Ekisa

Rachel and I

Rachel loves to be tickled!

Sweet girl, beautiful smile.

After Ekisa, we came back to Canaan and went to "fellowship."  Vivian fell asleep on my lap and I had Caroline and Jane cuddled up to my sides.  After dinner we enjoyed Wifi and luke warm showers.  I still haven't talked to Isaac and I'm really missing him.

8/5/12-We attended the church at Canaan called Buziika Full Gospel Church for a 3 hour worship service.  Ugandans get down and dance while they praise and get down on their knees when they worship.  The gospel was preached by Pastor Andrew.  He preached Col. 1:16-17 and Daniel 4:1-8; 17-32.  The summary of the message is this: He holds all things together and without Him, all things fall apart.  Amen.  (Videos of church are at the end of this post.)

Ashlie with Buziika baby

Jesse with Buziika baby

Coincidence? or Providence? that Sin is the middle finger...

Mama Beth with her sponsored child in her lap and beautiful Claire at her side

Kaylee and I in our luau gear

Doesn't Vivian look cute?

8/7/12-Sangalo Baby Cottage-(This was the day I could hardly wait for!!!) David and Damalie started the baby cottage 3 years ago.  Sangolo means "joy" in Damalie's tribal tongue.  Her testimony was amazing-she was so raw and real as she shared her call to love on orphaned babies and her bargaining with God and trusting Him for provision.  The last team literally packed and moved her and her family and babies to their new home and it was a beautiful home with room to expand.  I had read before the trip on Voices for the Voiceless that Sangolo was in need of baby clothes.  I collected baby clothes from my Sunday School class and Jesse put out a Facebook alert and the donations poured in.  I was able to space bag and bring all the donations to Africa.  The bigger kid clothes I gave to Amazing Grace in Kenya and saved the baby clothes for Sangolo.  Other ladies on the team had brought blankets, cloth diapers, bottles, etc.  When we presented the donations to Damalie, she just cried tears of thankfulness.  She told us that she doesn't like to cry because in her tribe crying is thought of as a sign of weakness- we reassured her that we are all criers and many of us cried with her.  As we were unpacking the clothes, we talked about the task of washing clothing, linens, and diapers for 12-15 babies at a time and what a huge task that is.  Damalie casually mentioned how nice it would be to have a washer and a dryer...our team looked around at each other and all mouthed "we could do that."  We left at lunch after holding babies all morning.  I was handed an 18-month-old Aaron who was wailing in all of the pictures with me where he is awake.  I came to find out that he is HIV+ and is cranky after taking his meds, which was when I arrived on the scene.  He fell asleep in my arms for about an hour while Damalie shared her testimony.  But when he woke up, he was not happy to see me and practically pointed at his "Auntie" and I handed him over. 

Me with a not-so-happy Aaron

This is the face of my sponsored child...yeah, Aaron, you can't get rid of me so easily!  Love you, sweet baby!...after I started this post, I found out that Aaron's mom had come back to take him home from Sangolo...Damalie is still taking him his meds daily and caring for him from afar.  We'll see what God has in store for Aaron and his Mama...and me.

Jesse with Grace

Jessica and Laura with twins, Sarah and Semily

Sleeping Aaron

Bringing in the donations to Damalie

I had no idea she was weeping until I saw this photo!

Donations...it was amazing to see how God provided through our team exactly what was needed...only our God can do that!

VO ladies holding babies

Lovin' the bumbo seat...future VO teams!  take bumbo seat donations!!!

Too much going on...sitting up for the first time and I've got two toys!

Sangolo-Notice the laundry drying everywhere...but not anymore!

Me with one of the twins

Ashlie and Damalie

Damalie and Kyle, Sisters in Christ

Jesse and Ashley goofing off during our lunch break!

At lunch back at Canaan, we presented the need for a washer/dryer to the rest of our team.  We all dug into our pockets and came up with $700 in 15 minutes or less.  Ernie took off in search of the W/D while Ashlie and a few others took care of the shopping list for food supplies, baby toys, and laundry detergent.  The entire team went back to Sangolo to an, again, crying Damalie-I think she was overwhelmed by the way the Lord was blessing her and Sangolo.  As Kaylee, AJ, and I were helping unpack the food, I asked Damalie what they call what appeared to me to be baby cereal. They call it "porridge" in Uganda she told me.  Then she went on to tell me that until we came with the bags of porridge, they only had enough to make it 2 more days, but they had prayed, and the Lord provided more food in their pantry that afternoon than they had ever had before.  Wow.  We had no idea that morning of their need-but HE DID and He answered that prayer.  AMAZING.  Two of the college students on our team, Kat and Laura, feel called to return to Sangolo next summer to serve there over summer break.  I can't wait to support their ministry to the Lord and Sangolo and see how this ministry continues to be blessed.  We joked with Damalie as she was tearing up over the blessings Sangolo was receiving that God must be preparing her for more babies...turns out He was...that night she received a 2-day-old baby who was rescued from his homocidal mother.

Tay with baby Andrew...praying that she can bring him forever home and become his forever Mommy:)

The washer and dryer-now a worker is freed up to love on those babies instead of washing their linens in a bucket!

Jesse and Grace...they were made for each other...sassy sistas!

8/7/12-Canaan-Mama Beth had really connected with the older girls at Canaan and came to realize that hardly anyone brings donations for the older kids, especially clothing.   She donated almost all of her clothing, including her panties-we joked with her that she was leaving her panties all over Africa!  Then Mama B had a clothing drive back in our dorms and collected a large suitcase full of skirts, tops, shoes, and some more panties to take to the older girls' Auntie to distribute among them.  Claire received a pair of my shoes and asked Mama B if she could tell me "thank you"-the squeeze, hug, huge smile, and "thank you" I received from that child was truly priceless.  Those shoes fit her perfectly and I could tell she felt so loved to receive that gift.  I learned so much from Beth this trip about generosity and giving myself away.  It was such a blessing and privilege to serve along side of her.

Kids at Canaan's lined up to get their fresh fruit treats...our team tried to provide a fresh fruit snack at each orphanage.

Cheers to Africa and Fanta!

While in Uganda, we also got to briefly visit the Karimojong tribe.  A few of our team members shared their testimonies with the women in this tribe who are Christians and who met together for Bible study and to make beaded necklaces for sale to provide for their families. Jesse also got the privilege to teach these women how to braid hair as a few of these women hope to become hairdressers.  It was a highlight of the trip for her.

The entrance to the Karamajong tribe...the yellow building to the right is the school.

Jesse, Tay, and new friends walking back to the bus from spending time with the tribe.

We also got to experience an evening of R&R while in Uganda at the Kingfisher Lodge.  We went on a boat tour of the Nile and Lake Victoria.  Richard was our boat guide and cracked us up as he pointed out to us all of the bird "sheet" on the trees-it literally looked like some of the trees had been whited out from the "sheet"-we all laughed so hard and we needed a good laugh.  

Jesse and Kyle...glad to get some R&R!

Melissa, Katrina, and Faith chilling on boat ride on the Nile.

Lauren, Brittany (aka Paris), and Dani on boat ride.

Blue Kingfisher bird

Monkeys on the Nile

Cassandra...that girl cracked me up the whole trip!

Jesse, Laura, Kyle, and Kat...can't wait to sponsor Laura and Kat next summer as they serve at Sangolo!!!

Ashlie enjoying the feast...she deserved it!  Ashlie was an amazing team leader!!!

8/8/12-we said goodbye to Canaan, Pastor Isaac, Caroline, and Vivian.

Caroline, Kyle, and Vivian at Canaan's

Bunk at Canaan's

Jesse and Teddy

Ghetto in Uganda on the way from Jinja to Kampala

My Father's House-we traveled to Kampala to join up with Rebecca Sorenson at her ministry school called My Father's House.  We were so incredibly tired and worn out when we got there, but we dug deep and God provided the energy to make it through our first visit there.  We got off the bus to children lined up, clapping, and sining "Welcome Visitors".  Then the choirs performed a few Christian songs and tribal dances.  After lunch, we split up for games and singing with the kids.  I ended up with the "babies" which are actually the 5-7 year-olds.  We taught them a few songs and played games.  There was definitely a language barrier since these kids hadn't been in school long enough to really learn English well.

Melissa holding new friend

After serving at My Father's House, we checked into the Victoria Travel Hotel.  It wasn't the Ritz, but the showers were hot and the electricity worked to light the bathroom at the same time the shower was on-what a concept!  Jesse and I had a room all to ourselves and slept like babies under our mosquito net with no holes in it-all of our other nets had gaping holes in them on the trip-made me thankful for my malaria meds!  We were also entertained by black and white Ugandan soap operas-such bad acting that we were laughing hysterically. 

Awesome Ugandan soap opera at guest house...we laughed so hard!

After cleaning up, our team had our last dinner together and shared 1) what we are thankful for, 2) our take-away from the trip, 3) our action plan for home.  It was so cool to hear everything that had been learned and revealed to team members through this trip.  I can't wait to see all of our action plans put in place and what will be accomplished for the Kingdom.

Ernie sharing on our last night in Uganda

8/9/12-My Father's House-we served our last morning in Uganda at My Father's House before leaving for the airport to start our journey home.  Jesse and I were assigned a group of non-English speaking 6-7 year-old kids to teach them about Jesus and show them how to make the colors of faith bracelets...it was mass chaos.  We both agreed that God DID. NOT. call us to become teachers when we got home!  The kids did enjoy playing "duck, duck, goose" and having their faces painted.  

Me with new friend at Our Father's House.

Jesse learning game from kids at Our Father's House

Jesse and Kaylee cutting apples at Our Father's House...they cut up 200 apples...the number of kids attending lunch that day almost doubled after the surrounding village found out that "visitors" were in town.

Little school girl at Our Father's house with her lunch

Mama Beth teaching the kids the Hokey-Pokey...hilarious!

Jesse found some mustaches along the way...

Before we left Kampala, we dropped off our team member, Jessica, to stay at a guest house for the night because she was going to meet her family's sponsored child the next day.  Our team enjoyed the view from the guest house and snacks before hitting the bumpy, dusty road to the airport.

View from guest house in Uganda

Here are a couple of videos from church at Canaan's...enjoy!