a little bit of exploration

Well I have now officially reached the three weeks left mark.  It's crazy to think that three weeks from tomorrow I will be returning home (it actually feels like quite a long time) but I'm sure that I'll look back and be dumbfounded at how quickly everything went by.  

This was the first official weekend that I was able to spend at Another Hope and it was quite nice to have a change of pace.  Saturday we awoke to all the Little Stars running around (after being able to sleep in until 7 -- woo!) as they didn't have school.  The older children had gone to visit with another volunteer who was only in the city for a few hours and had the opportunity to go horse back riding at Lake Victoria.  For the rest of us, the day began as it has since we've been here -- playing with the kids and eating breakfast -- then I did my first load of African laundry in a water basin with a bar of Dove body wash and the help of 7 year old Linda.  The water instantly turned brown as I was washing my clothes from farming the day before and took quite a while to wash as we first had to pull out all the thistles and then compete with the mud that infiltrated every part of my jacket, capris, tee shirt, and socks.  When we finished, I was looking around trying to figure out where all the kids had gone and I found them at the back of the fence watching and mooing at cows that were grazing on the other size.  These cows were so cool!  They had gigantic horns and looked animals you would see at the zoo.  Some of the kids who were a bit bored with the cows entertained themselves by harrassing a chicken that came onto the property, chasing it down a drainage tube (ok, so I was the one who did that) and throwing on the ground.

Then it was bean beating time.  We gathered all the dried beans that we had harvested the day before into a pile in the front part of the property and all the kids as well as a few of the staff members picked up the sticks and began beating the beans to make them fall out of their dried shells onto the ground -- and of course I had to join in. :)  We spent most of the morning going back and forth between beating beans and playing with the kids who were waiting on the porch.  After that it was time for a nap, our usual lunch of bananas and beans, and reading outside our room as we waited for Ruth to arrive with the older children.

Then off to the market!  Ok, so really we went to an African grocery store but it was a nice and also strange change of pace.  The grocery store was located in a shopping center in an upper class part of Kampala.  It was attached to a hotel that overlooked a beautiful golf course (Trevor -- that detail was for you :) ) and there were all different kinds of amazing birds that were sitting all over the greens.  When we went into the shopping center, there were Muzungus everywhere (which is how you know it was in a nice part of town) as well as American restaurants like Pizza Hut.  For some reason, going to the grocery store has become one of my favorite things to do when I'm in a new place and this was no exception.  It was fun to help Ruth and Brenna find the ingredients they needed for banana muffins as well as to have a slight reminder of home.  Francesca and I bought ice cream for the four of us which we shared on the way home and we were also able to find Mexican apple pop! (Apparently it's not just in Mexico :)  ).  It was strange to ring up our items at the checkout to see totals that were over 50,000 shillings (which is about $20) as we as to have the clerk give us free cookies as we left as a complimentary gift for shopping at their grocery store.

On the way home, we made a stop along one of the side streets to buy some fruit from a man in one of the slums.  When Brenna handed him the money, he promptly replied with a "God bless you" and instantly my heart was overwhelmed.  God used him as a reminder to me, in a strange way, of the need that is everywhere in the world.  In him, I saw the homeless men of the streets of Grand Rapids who have also tried in times past to sell me what little belongings they had and it was instantly a reminder to me that all love is important, no matter where you are.

When we got back we played with the kids, had dinner (which was spaghetti -- a real treat!), and put the kids to bed.  After dinner, I had been holding Mark and brought him inside to put him to sleep.  When I set him down, he instantly started crying and a few minutes later one of the older boys looked at me and said "I don't know what happened.  He moved his bed."  Having no clue what he meant, I turned around to find that Mark (a kid who is less than 2 years old) had slid down his sheets onto the floor and had crawled out into the hallway following me.  After putting him back to bed, it was time for me to put myself to bed and go to sleep!

The next morning began with my bucket shower and then attending a church service that was held in the tent they have set up in the front of the property.  As is usual in Uganda, the service was to start at 9 but the pastor was tired, overslept, and we therefore started at 10 am instead. :)  It was so good to be at church with all the kids!  The pastor spoke on the importance of God's word and how we must keep it in our hearts each day by putting what God says into practice.  We're often told in church that God's word should be more important than anything else we have in our lives but hearing that same message spoken to orphaned children who literally have nothing took on an entirely new meaning.  To think that they, in their obedience, would be willing to give up what little they own while I often debate whether to put $5 or $10 into the offering plate really hit me.

After church the children changed into their play clothes and I spent time with them looking at my Bible and letting them write in my journal as they had come up onto the porch next to me during my devotions.  Then we had lunch (bananas again) and I wasn't feeling well so I took a nap. When I got up, one of the older girls asked me to help her cook something that sounded like it was called "sandwich" but was a mixture of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, beef flavoring, and garlic powder that was cooked in a metal bowl over a fire in their cooking area. 

After cooking and drinking tea, Francesca and I went for a walk in the surrounding area.  We explored one of the busier streets and walked up a more secluded hill behind Another Hope.  Life here is so different.  Walking around makes you feel like you are in a jungle with birds flying every where and streams and greenery covering everything.  It's really beautiful.  When we came back, one of the older girls was having a wound in her calf cleaned with salt while all the younger kids were watching and listening to her cry in pain (needless to say I couldn't watch).  Instead I went to the back and watched little Enoch play with a fish he had caught in a nearby stream and watched Cato chase the children around with a chicken.  Then it was dinner and off to bed.

Today was back to the same routine.  Francesca and I got up at 6 to walk to the Little Stars to school and on the way back we stopped at a convenience mart we found on our walk from the day before to buy some drinking water.  When we returned, I washed what clothing was still dirty with Whitney's help.  Then we played with the kids before leaving to pick up the children from school and stop at a convenience mart to buy some airtime for the Ugandan cell phone Ruth graciously let me borrow.  When we returned, I was not feeling well at all so I slept until I was woken by the call for our lunch of corn starch and more "sandwich" like we had cooked yesterday.  

Everyday after the kids have lunch, they all lay on mats on the porch to take a nap so I used that time to iron the clothes I had washed that morning (there are flies that can lay eggs in your wet clothes that hatch when they make contact with your warm skin and ironing kills whatever eggs may have been laid).  During my ironing time, Francesca and I had some time to talk which was a nice break.  Then we headed out back where we were roped into dancing with the kids which was so much fun!  One of the staff members played a drum and shouted out different commands for us to do while we were dancing.  People who had been passing by would stop at the fence to watch the Muzungus try to dance like Ugandans -- it was quite a scene!  

After dancing I had the amazing opportunity to talk to my Dad and to Trevor!  It was so good to hear from home and to have the reassurance that, even though adjusting has been tough, I always have family to rely on. It's amazing how much being here has shown me about home and there are so many things that I never realized I took for granted.  It was truly a God sent blessing to talk to them and lifted my spirits more than words can express.  God definitely had planned those conversations b/c right after I hung up the phone, Moses came to me and said that they were waiting for me to start Bible study and I hadn't prepared anything!  Thankfully God had spoken to me through scripture a few days before and, with the encouragement of talking to my Dad and Trevor, it went off without a hitch. :) 

The combination of talking to family and teaching Bible study really turned my day around and after we were done, we had dinner and Francesca and I were able to spend time with the older kids inside the children's home.

It has been so amazing how much I have learned since being here.  Adjusting has been slow but it has taught me so much about so many different things.  I do, however, have some prayer requests:  the first is again for my health.  The malaria pills have really been kicking my butt, making me dizzy and weak and giving me chest pains and aches in my legs and it's been really taking a toll on my spirits.  I know that God is our ultimate source of healing and that this is only Satan's way of bringing me down so I know that through prayer everything will work out.  Also, I'd love prayers for Francesca.  She is a wonderful girl but she has expressed to me that she does not believe in God and that she's in a point in her life where she is trying to make a decision about whether or not she thinks He exists.  While these kids may not have a lot, they do have Christ which makes them so so so rich and it is for this reason that it breaks my heart to see Francesca struggling and to know what her life could look like if it was devoted to God.

Thank you so much again for all of your prayers and love!  God deeply reminded me how loved I am and used the love that all of you have shown me throughout my life to break the lies that Satan was trying to send my way.  I hope you all have a wonderful day and know that I love you and am thinking of you.   Oh and happy 4th of July :) .

Love you!