What a beautiful
Sunday in Uganda despite the rain and thunder!
The morning started off dry and overcast as we walked down our dirt
road. We were told to be at church at
10:30 but we have come to realize that nothing starts on time in Uganda! Pastor Samuel calls it Uganda time! If they tell us breakfast is at 9:00 we might
have it by 9:30!
As always, we were
met at the entrance with smiles and arms waiting to drag us to the nearest
seat. For church, they put up extra
tents and rented chairs. The service had
not really started but they were doing some talking and praising when we
arrived. The praise team eventually came
up and sang some beautiful songs-some that we even recognized. I had tears when they sang, “How Great Thou
Art” in their language. Mom, Ashley made
a video of them singing that for you!
Ally’s little
friend came right over to her and jumped in her arms as usual. She fell right to sleep on her but this time
she gave Ally a little surprise. Ally
felt a little damp and sure enough, her friend had wet on her. A chance we all take when holding the little
ones. They don’t use diapers here and so
it is a common thing!
When it was time
for actual church to start and Deanne to speak the children were
dismissed. Some of us were to go with
the children and so Teresa, Ally and I went with them. Little did we know that we were being put on
the spot to talk and help. It was very
sad because it was a small tent and three benches were set up for over 60
children under the age of 10. They were crammed
in there so tight and could barely move.
I was to teach the children Acts 16:31 and a craft was to follow. The teacher gave me a cross and explained
that they were to take the sticky backing off, wad tissue paper up and place it
around the cross. There were not enough
crosses to go around and it made me sad to tell some of them that they couldn’t
have one. I was denying a child a cross
and it hurt deeply. The ones that did
not get a cross were handed a piece of construction paper and marker and could
draw. Markers were placed in my hands to
give out and/or collect. Again,
heartbreak for Tori when the children were begging for markers and I was
supposed to be collecting them! Children
were poking me and begging for markers.
I was a little overwhelmed and was about to cry-not tears of anger or
frustration as much as tears of sadness because there wasn’t enough to go
around and there wasn’t enough space for them to work. They want to know about Jesus and yet they
have such limited facilities.
I finally got the
markers collected and sat down on the ledge of the house. As I was sitting there my posse of Teddy,
Faith, and Joy found me. They always
migrate towards me and Joy is always crying.
I always ask them what is wrong and the will respond that she is
sick. Joy has a cough and is very
small. I would imagine that there is
more to it than just a cough. Today when
I asked them they responded that she was hungry. All I could think of was that the last meal
she had was the rice and beans we served them yesterday afternoon. Here is this 18-month-old baby and she is
crying because she is hungry. Various
children were bringing out the porridge and Teddy quickly grabbed one for her
baby sister. Teddy is 13 and Faith is 14
and yet has the responsibility of a mother.
The porridge was hot and Teddy was trying to cool it down quickly so
that Joy could get some as fast as possible.
I am not joking when I say that Joy was sound asleep on her sister’s
back as soon as she had a very small amount in her tummy. I turn around to the other side and get
mobbed by children wanting to show me their artwork from Sunday school. You can see in the picture that I am an
emotional mess at this point. They are
so proud of so little. Why can’t we as
Americans be more like that? Why do we
always have to have so much more? An
18-month-old child is starving and we throw food away on a daily basis. God is opening my eyes to so much here. I truly don’t think that I will ever be the
same.
We might have said
goodbye to some of the children today.
Some will go to school tomorrow and others will not. As a team, we are going to the market to
purchase food and health items for Return Ministries. Ashley, Ally, and I were blessed with donations,
fund-raising, etc. and were able to donate $500 today to Pastor Samuel to
purchase items for the ministry. He was
very excited to receive the donation! As
we left the ministry to come back to the guesthouse for lunch, goodbyes were
said and pictures were taken yet again.
We never know when our last time together will be and the children LOVE
to have their pictures taken! They love
to do photo-bombs as well!
This is Vivian and
what a sweetheart she is! She climbed on
my lap the first day and has since been my buddy. She has the sweetest smile! You know, I haven’t met one child that didn’t
have the sweetest smile yet!!!!
Tomorrow we go on
visits and into the homes. I know that
tomorrow will be hard and I can only hope that I hold it together. There is such sadness and poverty here but
they always manage a smile to the nice white people that come to love on their
children.
Some of our trip
had to be changed for security reasons after last month’s incident in
Kenya. We knew going into this that it
might change and it did. We will not be
able to go to Jinga (I was really looking forward to that) or to the downtown
area of Kampala where a ministry rescues babies off of the street. I am glad that Visiting Orphans watches out
for our safety. I sat and talked to
Micah today during a break about the trip and said that obviously God wants us
with this group of children for a reason and not in the other areas. I am disappointed that I can’t see downtown
but glad that He is watching over the team!
I apologize for
such long blogs! I want to share so much
with everyone. I feel that God put me
here to not only help do His work but to share with those of you back home what
it is truly like. I hate to leave out
details! Pray for our safety tomorrow in
the homes and shopping. Pray for the
children that we will see because they are the ones without sponsors and don’t
get a lot of schooling. Pray that God
uses us in mighty ways to not only minister to the children but to the family
units as well.
Until next time,
blessings from Uganda,
Tori
And they said, “Believe in
the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Kids playing in the community.
No comments:
Post a Comment