Life is Precious

The days here feel both incredibly long and terribly short all at the same time!  On Monday Scott and Haley left to head back to the states, leaving just Callie and I.  We spent quite a bit of time in Namatala, checking on sick kids and helping out with small wounds.  It always amazes me how we seem to start our days wondering what on earth we are going to do to fill up our day but God never ceases to fill it completely!   

Posho and Greens

On Tuesday we went into Namatala to hang out with our kids and check on Tom, Masse and Irene's little brother.  He has been sick for about 3 weeks with a very high fever and what we assumed was malaria.  He wasn't looking very good, but he felt cooler than the days before.  Although we thought he might be getting better, we decided to take him into the hospital.  Malaria tests are free, and often times the medication is the equivalent of 10 dollars.  It was obvious as we took him from his home to the hospital that he had absolutely no energy, and from what his sisters had told us, he wasn't eating.  When finally seen by the doctor, it was apparent that he was disappointed that we were the ones to bring him in.  We answered all of his questions as best we could, and he finally did a malaria test for Tom.  After about 10 minutes it was concluded that what Tom had was not malaria, but pneumonia. The doctor then said that what we needed to do was to admit Tom and start him on a fluid drip.  This scared Callie and I for several reasons, the first being that the mother was in the main hospital still with her malnourished child and the dad was not around.  Secondly, we knew that without any treatment and considering his living conditions, pneumonia could kill Tom.  We decided to see if the Jja Ja would be willing to stay with him for just the night.  As we figured, the Jja Ja (who was taking care of the other 7 kids) was unable to come, but luckily a relative agreed to stay.  As Callie and I waited for the Auntie to arrive the nurses started working on Tom.  It was a difficult situation for me.  Tom smelled badly of urine, since I am sure he refused a bath when feeling so badly, but it was apparent that he needed to be held.  I held him while the nurses tried to find a vein ( several times unsuccessfully) in his arm.  He screamed and kicked, which broke my heart even more.  After finally finding a vein and attaching the drip, I held Tom in the hospital bed and cried.  It hurt to watch this little boy in the hospital, not having a parent to hold him, being too weak to eat, being clearly dehydrated.  I prayed over him and his sweet family that I have become so attached to.  After the Auntie arrived we headed home for lunch. This came as an interesting surprise.  We were served Posho (flour and water mixture) and greens (kale).  It definitely was not my favorite, but I appreciated the experience!

Our 4th of July meal!

On Wednesday we started by heading to the hospital to check on Tom.  After some waiting around the doctors told us that Tom's fever was still relatively high (but lower than his 104.5 temp the previous day) and that his blood count was not normal and they would like to keep him for observation another night.  After discussing things with the Auntie, she agreed to staying another night with  Tom. We left them with some food for another night and headed back into Namatala for some time.  For dinner we decided it was necessary to celebrate the 4th of July, so we went to the market to get stuff to make grilled cheese! This was definitely a foreign concept to everyone else in the house.  James( the cook) made us some french fries, and helped us cut the cheese for our sandwiches.  It turned out great, and everyone seemed to like them, asking what they were called!  We ended our celebration with some ice cream :) 


Today we started by going back to the hospital to pay the bill and see what medication Tom would need to take home.  We were relieved that the doctors were going to release him and put him on some oral medications. We went into Namatala to hang out and spend time with the kids. Each day it gets harder to think about leaving here.  I have grown to love so many of the children here.  I will especially miss Masse and Irene's family, our homework club after school, and the long sunday services.  I have learned so much about myself and the heart of the Lord while I have been here.  I hope to get the most out of my last few days, showing these children how very much the Lord and I love them.  

Final Stretch

First Piki Ride!

Well it has been quite busy since most everyone left on Tuesday morning!  We started our day with a bang by heading to town to go visit Mama Irene at the hospital.  She has been in the hospital for a week and a half now and still has about a week to go.  From there we walked around town just looking around shops and markets, there are always a ton of people on the streets!  We also took this chance to take our first Piki ride home!( this is like a motorcycle taxi)  We were laughing the whole way, and most people were laughing at us because as girls we didn't sit side saddle so we looked like the men ha.  After lunch we headed into Namatala to spend some time with the kids. When we finally made it back home we ran into some of the IChooseYou walking home and decided to invite them in to work on homework, little did we know we had started a homework club!  We concluded our night with an awesome dance party outside.

Callie, Scott, Haley, and Christopher in the Kitchen

Wednesday started with me trying something new! The cook, Christopher, made us Mandazi for breakfast.  Mandazi is like sweet fried dough, and ours was flavored with a little bit of lemon.  I ate mine with a mixture of honey and cinnamon!  After breakfast Callie and I headed in to Namatala to help a little girl with a burn wound on her foot.  This was a less than pleasant experience.  The wound was infected so that required all of it to be cleaned off. The little girl's name is Gladys and she is just over two; she was quite the trooper despite being in extreme pain from the cleaning. After finishing up in Namatala we decided that it would be fun to try cooking!  So Callie, Christopher(the house cook), Scott(another american staying with us), and I went into the market to gather all of our ingredients.  Christopher did a great job showing us around the market and making sure we didn't get the "mzungu price" for our veggies. After we gathered our ingredients and spent some time at the coffee shop for internet, we went back to the house to start our experiment!  The meal actually turned out great! We had bow-tie pasta with red onion, eggplant, balsamic, tomato, olive oil, and garlic.  We followed our meal with an experimental dessert, fried cookie dough! Surprisingly it turned out good, considering none of us really knew how to fry or make cookie dough ha.  We ended our night with a bootleg version of Avatar. 

Our cookie dough, raw and fried!

Today was another busy day! We started by heading back into Namatala to check on Gladys' wound.  This poor little girl screams each time we walk up.  We re-bandaged her and headed to the school to talk with Teacher Sarah about which IChooseYou students needed extra tutoring.(This made for our second piki ride) After getting a list of kids who need tutoring we went back home for lunch, which consisted of Christopher's spaghetti(definitely the best I've had!). We went back into Namatala to pick up Masse and her brother Boyd after lunch, and we took them into town to see their mom at the hospital.  We left the kids with their mom and went back into town in search of some sweets for me, and some medicine for Callie. We picked the little ones back up and headed back to Namatala where we dressed Gladys' wound again. For dinner I tried something else I never thought I would, Matoke.  Matoke is a cooked plantain, and looks a lot like mashed potatoes when prepared! It was really very good with the meat sauce that was also prepared.


This has been a very busy but productive week, and I am loving what the Lord has been placing in our path!  I am really enjoying the relationships that God has given me in the village, it is such a blessing to be invited to be a part of these peoples lives. 

Nearing the End

Unfortunately this past week I spent a lot of time in the hotel trying to get over being sick.  Today is the first day that I am finally feeling better! 

On Wednesday we did a small wounds clinic in Namatala.  We always see so many people for these, mostly kids wanting band-aids as stickers.  The team did a great job bandaging up so many wounds and redressing others.  Bandaging is not my forte, my stomach doesn’t do well with blood, so I was the photographer! It is always amazing to me how fast word spreads in Namatala, in a matter of minutes we are flooded with kids and parents!  Of coarse little Masse showed up, and with about half of her family ha. It was great to see her feeling better, but when her little brother Tom showed up it was obvious that he now had malaria.  We tried to give him something to help but he would scream at the sight of the medicine! Malaria is so common here, and since so many of them don’t get medicine, we didn’t force anything.

Small wounds clinic

On Friday we took a trip to see the baboons!(A very bumpy two hour trip) We were a little nervous  about how they were going to act, but they came right on up and took the bananas right out of our hands.  We spent most of the time dodging cars and almost begging some of the baboons to come over.  We were told that they just sit on the side of the road waiting for “lunch” ha. We made our two hour trip back home just in time to beat the rain!  The best part of this for me was the scenery.  Uganda is such a beautiful country and the mountains have so much detail its impossible to capture the beauty with a camera.

Baboons and bananas!

On Saturday we went up to the school to help the kids write their letters to their sponsors.  It is so cute how excited they get about their sponsors, they all beg for their sponsors to come visit! After finishing up the letters we went out to walk in Namatala.  Mama Sarah took us to a rice field to show us what they looked like, it was actually really cool.  We had a tiny strip of land to walk on and either side where the rice was growing was filled with mud and water. We finished the day by hanging out with Mama Sarah while Becky and Deanna helped picking the beans!

Deanna and Becky helping with beans!

Sunday was a typical four-hour service, but playing with the kids is always great!  Today was the last day in Mbale for everyone but Callie and I so we went to Namatala and the school to say goodbye to all of the kids.  After playing with the kids at school we came back to the hotel for dinner, and tonight we had guests! Baby Loru and his family came to join us for dinner, and hearing his dad’s story was incredible.  I can only imagine what it is like to of known him last year compared to this one.  It is obvious that the Lord is doing great things for that family. 

I am both excited and nervous for these last two weeks.  I am nervous to be here with just one other person and without leadership, but I am very excited for all of the ways the Lord is going to grow and stretch me!  The prayers for my team and me have not gone unnoticed; we have felt so much love throughout the trip from so many people! I am unsure what my internet situation will look like when I move into Mama Aida’s, but I will be sure to update! 

Big Needs

I both loved and hated today. We went to check on Mama Irene's malnourished baby in the hospital and it was like a completely different child.  We have been trying to help this child get well since the beginning of the trip, and since day one, this child has absolutely hated us.  At the very sight of us walking up he screams and cries...and forget about trying to touch him! As we talked to the Mama at the hospital, I reached out to him and he placed his little hand in mine. HUGE step. I immediately noticed how much better his skin looked, and couldn't help but smile.  And as we sat talking to his Mama, he gave me the biggest smile. This is what makes him a completely different child.  His smile was the biggest reassurance from the Lord that all of our efforts are making a difference. This was something I honestly thought we would never see from this child, and I was so excited I just wanted to cuddle him!(I definitely didn't try, didn't want to push my luck!)  I left the hospital in complete joy! Oh how I love that my Father knows just when to provide encouragement to His children! When reflecting on His encouragement for us, I can't help but feel that we need to show the same encouragement to the Mama.


We then went from the hospital into the village to finish a garden and check on my little Masse. The kids all rush the van when we pull up, and Masse looked much better than she did the day before.  I picked her up and took her with us to finish the garden for her family.  I got to talk to the oldest sister, who is 12, for the first time.  She kept telling me how Masse hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, and not sure whether to believe her or wanting to start something with the other children, I didn't give her anything.  I asked her if her father had given Masse the medicine, and when she said no, I thought it was just a lack of understanding.  We had someone translate for her to go get the medicine and bring it to us.  Masse had missed 2 doses of her malaria, and probably 4 of her fever medication.  I couldn't help but be frustrated.  This man didn't have to take her to the doctor, he didn't have to pay for the medicine, all he had to do was give her a cup of water and hand her the pills.  We ended up taking the medicine and Masse with us for the rest of the afternoon.  She had a blast dancing in the van with us on the way to the pork joint. Watching her eat made me think about what her sister had said earlier, and it became obvious that she wasn't lying. After lunch we took her back home and begged her 12 year old sister to give her the medicine for tonight and tomorrow morning.  

Masse washing her hands after the pork joint

It hurts my heart each time I drop her off at that hut, and not just for her but this whole family that I have come to love.  I think about where all these children are sleeping, how is it that they aren't getting enough food, and why can't a father break away from the alcohol to help his family when they are in desperate need.  I know that there is no way that I can solve all of these problems, I simply have to hand my concerns over to the Lord and know that He is in control and loves them dearly.

Father to the Fatherless

Today was a pretty eventful day.  I always enjoy sunday's here, most especially because of the worship.  We usually have about an hour and a half of standing up worship, that is generally a mix between hymns and other worship songs.  It is so beautiful listening to them worship in their language, even though I don't understand a word of it! They dance and clap and sing with a joy that can hardly be matched. The church schedule usually looks something like this:


Pre-Worship 9:00-10:00
Sunday School 10:00-10:30
Porridge 10:30-11:00
Worship 11:00-12:30
More Sunday School/Sermon 12:30-1:30


Its pretty crazy, but I love being a part of it! Today after the sermon let out they served lunch to those who were still around.  Masse and Irene sat with me while they had their chicken (which I saw come in live) and rice...and a little bit of goldfish :). After their lunch was served, it was time for us to eat. Most sunday's we go to Mama Aida's for lunch, but today they served it in church. With all the kids gone except Masse, I couldn't help but share some of my pineapple with her(hands down the best pineapple ever). 


Just as lunch was ending Masse looked like she was going to throw up, and I immediately thought I had given her too much to eat.  I felt her forehead and she was burning up, something I knew couldn't have been caused by too much food. Pretty soon her whole body was burning hot and she was shivering.  Becky said that we should take her to the hospital, because she likely had Malaria.  So the whole team piled into the van and we headed to the hospital.  


I felt so helpless the whole time, just wishing I could make it go away for her.  I struggled holding back my tears when they pricked her finger for the Malaria test and she screamed.  They took her temperature, which was about 101, and gave her some fever reducing medicine. When her Malaria test came back positive the doctor assessed her to see how bad it was and gave her some Malaria Pills.  We headed back to Namatala to drop Masse off, and give instructions to her Jja Ja on what to do.  


It was quite a surprise when we got there and her father was there(the dads in Namatala are rarely involved).  He immediately knew who I was, as he called me Mzungu a Masse, just like the children do.  He even asked if I would take her with me when I go back to the states.  I couldn't help but see the irony in this situation, what father wants to give up their child on father's day?  This upsets me for two reasons: one being that I am totally in love with this little girl and would take her home in a heartbeat, and two that taking her with me isn't a likely option and I have to leave her with a father who doesn't care and 9 other siblings.


I left Masse with her father, whom I don't trust in the least, praying that her Heavenly Father will heal her.  I simply have to trust that the Lord, who loves this child more than I can comprehend, is holding this little one in the safety and comfort of His arms. So on this father's day I can't help but be thankful that I have a Father who has promised to never leave me nor forsake me, and who has given me a wonderful Dad to be His arms and feet in loving me on this earth. 

Masse and her porridge (which looks like glue)

Sweet Reunion

Yesterday was most definitely the highlight of my week!  We went to pick Madua Irene’s Mama, little brother Amaza, and little sister Sarah to take them to the hospital.  When we pulled up to their hut the little kids were yelling “Mzungu a Masse!” but since this is a regular occurrence, I did not get out of the van.  A man started saying Masse’s name, and then another kid did, and then the Ja-Ja’s(Grandma) were saying it, so I had to get out of the van and see if my little girl was FINALLY back.  The man yelled for her and she came running in her little red sweatpants and newly braided hair.  I picked her up and could not control my tears, I was completely overjoyed to be holding this little girl that had so quickly stolen my heart.  I’m pretty sure she was totally confused by my tears, but they didn’t keep her from having a huge grin on her face.  We packed up all 3 kids and the Mama and headed to the hospital, but since things usually run on “Uganda time” we were an hour late and told to come back the next day.  During the second half of our day one group went up to climb the mountain that is behind our hotel, while the other group laid by the pool.( I’m sure you can guess which group I was in J).

Today was a long day to say the least!  It started with a 6am wake up in order to be picked up by 6:30, so that we could make sure that we were at the hospital by 8 sharp!  So around 7:45am we finally get picked up….talk about timely huh? The door swung open and there was my little Masse, her brother, sister, and Mama.  It was such a relief that they had already picked them up!  We made it to the hospital, amazingly, by 8:01am.  After much walking around and being sent back and forth, we ended at the nutrition ward.  It was clear to the staff from the moment we walked in that Amaza was malnourished.  We explained to them that he is one of 10 children and that the mother is struggling to feed them all.  One of the nurses lectured the Mama about family planning and that for anyone 10 children was way too many, let alone a 30 year old woman.  The Mama was slightly irritated that she would be required to stay at the hospital with Amaza, and the added bonus of Sarah since she is still breast feeding.  We left the Mama and the two youngest at the hospital while Masse went back with us to figure out the rest of the day.  I felt so bad for her, it was clear to me that she was confused about what was going on.  We eventually made it back to Mama Aidah’s for lunch, where little Masse got to join us.  It was so precious to watch her look up at me for signs of what she should be doing.  We played with stickers and painted nails until we finally walked her back home. 

Precious Masse eating lunch with us, and of coarse she had a Fanta

I hold back tears when I think about how I am going to be leaving behind this little girl that has such a tight grip on my heart.  The joy that she brings me is truly from the Lord. He most certainly chose her for me that first Saturday here in Uganda when I looked down and noticed that a different child was at my side holding onto my hand.  

Learning Along the Way

This weekend was another busy one, but first we started by having a little birthday party for one of the girls on the trip, Molly. We picked up some "cake" for her, as well as some clearly non regulated candles(might as well have been fireworks) and sang and had ice cream after dinner! 

Molly and her "cake" and "candles"

On Saturday we had our second I Choose You family day.  It was very well organized and a lot of fun for the kids!(I was pumped to wear pants!) They got all of their gifts and letters from their sponsors, as well as some adorable pillowcase dresses for the girls and some colorful t-shirts for the boys! I don't have many pictures from this day because I was holding this little girl, Linda-Marion, ALL DAY! She has the most precious smile, although it takes me two hours every time to make it happen ha.

Linda-Marion

On Sunday we had a fully packed day!  We started with church, which usually goes from 9am to 1:30pm!  I got to hold little Marion the whole time again, but this time her brother, Shadrack, joined in.  They are such precious babies! After church was over we made our way to Luwanda Children's Home.  The kids there put on a precious little show for us, they are definitely not short any dancing skills!!  It was very sweet to watch one of our team members, Darby, hang out with her sponsor, Davis.  Those kids are so well taken care of, it was a big change from what we see daily in Namatala. 

Little ones about to perform 

We started our week with a bang, putting on our first day of the medical clinic. It was a learning experience to say the least!  We saw so many people, counted tons of medicine, and played with kids!  It was a long day, and definitely tough sometimes, but tomorrow will be that much better because of it.  Meeting the needs of these people spiritually, as well as physically, is an amazing opportunity.  I have never seen such gratitude and appreciation.  It is so easy to show these people the love of the Lord!