Home sweet home!!!

After a month away from home the last of our mission team arrived at the Sacramento Airport after 32 hours of flying and layovers.  Other than a few naps on the plane we were awake for over 48 hours and were so glad to be headed home to a comfortable bed.

We take so much for granted here in the USA, and we don't stop to enjoy all that we have because few of us have seen the world that lies out there for many more of God's people.  I believe we should be happy with our success as a society, but should also remember that we are called to love one another.  Taking the time to learn about people or other cultures and appreciate them for their uniqueness is a very eye opening experience that each person should have.

We were able to have an impact on so many lives during our time in Uganda.  We may never know if the seeds of hope, encouragement, learning, sharing and caring will ever germinate in the people we touched, but our hope and prayers are that we changed some lives.  

Physically we are all worn out and ready to adjust back to the comforts of our homes, our foods and our wonderful family and friends, but emotionally we will be forever changed by our experience.

Today is our last day of our month in Uganda.  We have said our goodbyes at the orphanage and at the worksite.  This morning we packed up our clothes (what we didn’t donate), our souvenirs and our great memories and left Mityana.  We traveled to Kampala for a little last minute shopping then headed off to our favorite restaurant Java Cafe’ for an american styled lunch.  We met up with Pastor James and his beautiful wife, Lillian to say our goodbyes to them.

We left Kampala early in the afternoon to avoid the traffic we had two weeks ago when we took the women to the airport.  We did pretty well, the traffic wasn’t too bad.  Before we go to the airport we stopped at the Lake Victoria Hotel for coffee/tea.  This place was definitely the nicest facility I have ever seen in Uganda.  We sat up on the second level lake view terrance and enjoyed the company of Wycliffe, Vincent and Hamid.  We had a great time talking about our time in Uganda and watching those three characters poke and joke with each other.

We arrived at the airport terminal at 7:30 and our flight was not until 11:30.  I can tell you that there is not much to the Entebbe airport so we sat in the cafe and watch CNN for a couple hours before they said to head to the secure gate area because the plane was going to be leaving early!!! Yeah, those wood chairs we killing us.  But, alas early in Uganda time really means it might be on time...so as scheduled we headed out at 11:30 for our 8.5 hour flight to Amsterdam.

All three of us were tired and had plans to sleep on the plane as we flew through the night, of course with the help of modern medicine we all did get some sleep.

We woke up and had breakfast as normal, but there was something hanging in the air.  We knew this was our last day on the project and we would be say goodbye to several people that we have become fast friends with.  At the site it was work as normal; lets move, lets get things done.  We still worked on the roofing timbers as some of the team finished the concrete floors in the building.  We are sad that we won’t see the roof on, but at the same time very proud that we have accomplished much more than we started out to do.  The construction will continue until the money is expended after we leave.  There is still much more to do and we could use another team with two weeks to help finish it completely.

God didn’t want long sad goodbyes so just as we were about to wrap up for the day He brought on a huge thunder, lightening and heavy rain storm.  We had our quick goodbyes to the people of the village and headed for the safety of our van.  Heading back on dirt (mud) roads in the heavy downpour with 9 sweaty rain soaked bodies added a final touch of excitement to the end of the work day.

We got back to the hotel for a quick shower and change of clothes because we had plans for the evening.  The rain has completely stopped and it is a beautiful evening.  We headed to the Mityana Baptist Church where Harry spoke to a group of about 20 young men and women.  He told them about setting goals and finding a way to achieve them.  It was inspirational to watch the youth taking notes and really wanting to know how they can succeed and reach their dreams.  Several of them said they wish they had more time to learn more and to have us there to help them as they plan.  Wycliffe said he wants to have a future session where we could spend the day giving a seminar to youth; there is such a need.  

We headed back to the Enro Hotel for a special dinner with some of the friends who have been with us during this mission.  It was great fun with lots of laughter and joy.  We have found that the people are so warm and friendly and truly care about us.  We definitely have made several great friends and we will miss them dearly.

This morning we went back to the Kiwumulu Orphanage to say goodbye to the children and the teachers who have touched our hearts.  Although each of these almost 100 children have lost both of their parents it is heartening to know that they are being cared for and loved each and every day.  Little David, the sweetest boy is HIV+ and has hope of a decent life at the orphanage.  The house mothers, teachers, aides, and administrators are all warm and friendly and truly care for the children.  It was sad to say goodbye, but we are encouraged by their work.

We headed to the building site and found out that the delivery of rock needed to complete the concrete floors was delayed as the truck was in the shop being repaired.  Thankfully the roofing timbers had been delivered and the crew worked on connecting the boards to each other to be able to span the entire building.  This is a slow process using a hand say and metal strapping.  Some of the workers had their last day on the job today so we gathered them all together for a photo.  There were several young men who are struggling to make it in this very hard life of Uganda, but we tried to pass on as much knowledge and advice as we could and left each of them with a bible.

We have one more work day tomorrow and will say goodbye to the project without completing the roof.  We leave knowing that they will be able to pay for the materials to get the roof done.  We will still need to raise additional funds for the doors, windows, furniture and the solar panels.  There is still work to be done to finalize the building past this point and we will be praying for God to show us how that will be done.

Today was a great day, everything seemed to go our way.  Our good Lord was making up for our blah day yesterday.  All our workers were on site today and everyone seemed full of energy.  We all go going on projects and there seemed to be a rhythm in our efforts.  Great team work and this morning's work laid out the rest of the day.

Just as we were cruzing along we discovered we were out of water.  Our only water source is 1 mile away down the hill to the lake.  As there was this animated discussion (all in Lugandan) I figured out what the problem was.  Henry, the sand and rock truck driver, was suppose to be here with more supplies and he was going to be our transport for our water jugs.  The workers were not stalled, they took the 12 jerry cans tied them to the back of two motorcycles and headed down to get water.  Way to go guys!!!  

Just as the motorcycles returned with water, Henry arrived with our cement bags and the re-bar we needed, but also to our joy the truck was packed full of the timbers we will use for the roof.  You can imagine how excited we were to see that lumber; this means we will start the roof structure before we leave.

As we have done for the last several days we and the workers loaded up in the van for our trip back to Mityana. Harry (Prince Harry) has become our front seat occupant and waves and yells out to all the kids as we are driving.  The kids love running toward us yelling hi or bye mzungu (white person) so Harry makes a big deal of it and the kids get so excited.  Dennis, I and the workers all get a huge laugh every day as he bring a little joy to each of the little lives.

Dennis is still seeing patients, but unfortunately many are infants and we are completely out of medicine for infants.  He is still able to help the older children and adults to some extent

We are all growing very tired of the food.  It is better than last year, but it is just the same every day and it is not something that we would normally eat.  The only exception is the pineapple.  We are devouring every one we can find, they are so good!!!

We have been thankful for the emails with encouraging thoughts for us and for the hope we are helping provide for the people in the village.

Off to a slow start and not as efficient as we would like, but we did make some progress.  Building the forms for the arched entrance to the porch took way too long.  Harry and I are very frustrated at times at the lack of planning and job assignments.  Too often workers are sitting because other workers didn’t think ahead and prepare the next task.  I’m trying to remember we are here to help and serve, but we also want to teach them.  Harry is really wanting to move faster, we are praying for more patience for him.  We all know he means well, but we are not going to change their way of doing things in one short month.

Dennis continues to see patients, about 25 or so today.  He is seeing the same things; fever, cough, congestion, back pain, and worms.  Most are children.  He believes that their lack of a solid immune system is the root cause.  They do not have a balanced diet; much of is is carbohydrates with little vegetables or protein.  Much of this is due to eating what they have always eaten and not trying to eat things with good nutrients.

We are planning our wrap up coming on Friday.  We want to get back to the orphanage to say goodbye and have a final dinner with Wycliffe, Pastor Abdul and the others.  We were hoping to have the roof on, but it is not looking promising at this point.

It is our day of rest after working hard all week.  We attended the morning bible study and worship service at the Mityana Baptist Church.  It is always inspirational and lively during the 3+ hours we are there.  The people are all so warm and welcoming it is a joy to be with them.

We went to lunch after with Wycliffe, Pastor Abdul, John and Hamid.  We went to the New Highway Hotel for a change of pace, but the food is similar to our hotel.  We had great conversation and really enjoyed our time together.  We said good-bye to John as he is leaving for Seminary.

Wycliffe took us to the Ttanda Archeological site, which to say the least was curious.  It is basically an historical site where they have found 240 holes in the ground.  They appear to be about 3 feet across and some are very deep and interconnect underground.  It is not know how or why the holes are there, but there are certain people who believe that it is the location of certain spirits.  People come to worship these spirits and  to place spears (different types for different reasons) to the spirits.  It is really similar to idol worship with food sacrifice.  Very odd.

It’s Saturday, the end of the work week.  The King of Buganda came to Mityana last night and there was such a celebration that the King had to get our and walk through the gathered crowd just to proceed down the street.  It was amazing to see such joy and inspired hope in the faces of the people.  What a difference from last year when we were caught up in the civil unrest riots prompted by the President’s actions.  I think the extreme joy for the King is also a message to the President that he is not doing the peoples will as the King does.

The King oversaw the start of the King’s Tournament, a soccer event where different county teams of the Buganda tribe play against each other.  We had to drive past the soccer stadium on our way back to the hotel and the roadways we so packed with people it took us over 15 minutes to go 200 yards.

At the worksite we completed all the walls to final height and just started on the front porch area.  I’m still hopeful for a roof, but look back at what we started with and am amazed at what we have done.  We arrived believeing that we would only complete the first half of the building which we started last year, but we have completed the structure of the entire building;  what a blessing God has allowed.

We continue to make the contacts to ensure the operation of this clinic is maintained after it is up and running.  The building is just the structure, we need the people to provide the services and this will be the main focus on the future missions.  So if you or anyone you know has experience in medicine, dentistry, optometry or has a true servant’s heart please pray that the next mission will be filled with those that can help.  Those who want to be builders, don’t worry there is still plenty of work to be done too, so set your hearts on coming with your skillful hands.

We were up early and headed out to the worksite before 8; Harry does not like to waste one minute.  As we drove through town we saw very elaborate decorations and banners for the King.  It is a larger celebration this time since he will not only stay the night in town, but he will oversee the kick off of the King’s cup soccer tournament.  The people in this region and tribe of Buganda, love their King and honor him greatly.  I believe they would like to have the King be more than just ceremonial and an advisor to the President, they would like him to rule their region.

I had received a call from Pastor James saying that he was headed to Mityana and was looking forward to meeting with us.  We were out at the clinic and he said he wanted to see it, so he drove out to us.  He arrived with his wife, Lillian and a US Navy Pediatrician , Sharon.  They were excited to see us again and really wanted to see the clinic building.  As we toured the building Dr. Sharon and Dennis had a few more patients to treat.  Sharon graciously comes to Uganda when she has leave saved up and assists Pastor James at his church; they met in San Diego when Pastor James was there visiting her church.

We continue to build on the clinic and have reached the final height of all the outside walls, except for the porch which will take a little more effort.  It is truly amazing how much we have gotten done in less than three weeks time.  Our hope is that we have the roof on before we leave at the end of next week.

We are hoping that others are inspired by our work and that we have made some connections with others to bring medical missions (and some more construction)  to this clinic.  We will be a great resource to the area and basic medical attention is so greatly needed.  Even people with basic knowledge of medicine can be valuable to the people here.

We praise God for watching over us, keeping us safe and healthy as we do His work.

We were up early, had breakfast and left for the site before 8 am.  We are all raring to go.  We picked up some workers as we went.  There was a light rain when we arrived, but not enough to stop us.  We set up a line and move an entire truckload of bricks by throwing them like a bucket brigade...there are a lot of bricks in a truckload!!!  But, what a great way to wake up or muscles.

Getting started always seems to be an interesting process, no one seems to have the plan, but everyone starts doing something and some how it turns into an semi-organized process.  Harry and I get together every once and a while and encourage each other that it is their culture and processes that we need to accept and that we can choose our reactions and attitudes to be positive and to be the servants that God sent us here to be.

Dennis had a few patients, but not like the prior 3 days.  He took the opportunity to walk from the site with John and Hamid to the lake and hand out worming tablets to every person they could find.  Intestinal worms are a huge issue in the villages and is easily cured.  The bottle of 1000 tablets cost less than $10 and a dose should last for 6 months.

We ended the day at about 5:45, everyone dead tired from the long day and so much physical work.  Back at the hotel we talked with some of the Peace Corp teachers who have been living in some of the villages for the last year.  They all had great stories of their time so far and all seem to be looking forward to their next year in Uganda before retuning home.

Oh, I forgot to say Wycliffe was at the site for a short time before heading to Kampala for business.  He brought us a package of Kit-Kat bars.  It was such a treat to have some chocolate and a taste of home.

Gaining interest in the area

We are seeing the need for this medical clinic in so many ways.  Today the District Health Officer came to look at our building and was very excited to see the building and was amazed at our progress.  He was intrigued that Dennis had a line of people waiting to be seen.  As we explained that we purchased the medication out of our own pockets, he assured us that he had medicines available for our clinic.

We have made more progress on the time consuming concrete header beams and got a couple more walls up to their final height.  We are praying that it is in God’s plan to begin the roofing structure on Saturday. 

Dennis saw about 70+ patients today.  Some come for explanation of their illness, others for coughs, fevers, malaria, etc.  It is so difficult for him to see people that should go to a hospital for treatment and all he can do is strongly encourage them to go.  They have a real distrust of the hospital and they know it will cost them money that they don’t have.  It really is a sad situation.  The medications are readily available at the pharmacies in Mityana without a prescription, but these people have no financial resources to buy them.  This medical outreach by the Mityana Baptist Church is such a blessing for so many and we are praying that once the building is ready we can arrange a continual or regular presence of medical personnel, equipment and medicine.

We had a late afternoon rain storm that dumped buckets of rain on us, we all fled into the church for refuge.  Harry and I were swarmed by the kids wanting our attention.  Harry had a group playing the drums and singing and I had a group teaching me Lugandan while I taught them English.  Once it let up the site was too flooded to work so we left at 4:30 PM; very early for Harry, he expects to stay until 6PM no mater what.

We started out this morning with a stop in town for some supplies.  Harry and I went to the hardware store (definitely not a Home Depot!).  We bought a brick trowel and two 12 meter tape measures; it cost us 16,000 schillings!!!! (that is about $7.00 American).  Dennis went into the pharmacy for supplies.  You can buy any medication without a prescription.  He bought a 1000 count Amoxicillian, cough syrup with Codine, and a bunch more meds,  When it was added up it ended up being $35.00 American.  He will be able to address the issues he saw yesterday.

The stage of building is not where you see a lot of progress, but there is a ton of work going on.  We are framing the header beam, installing the rebar, bucket filling the forms with concrete.  Did I tell you this is all hand mixed concrete on the ground with shovels and hoes?

Both Harry and I had lots of prayers for patience and understanding as we watched them building in a manner that is not efficient and often multiple steps to get one thing done.  Harry did succeed in getting them to make one change on the rebar which helped speed things up a little.

Dennis had a large crowd again for his medical clinic, but could only see 48 people before he was completely out of supplies.  People were coming from great distances to seek treatment for illnesses.  There is such a need here for basic medical care and knowledge of how to care for themselves on basic illnesses.

The food is a blessing of nourishment, we just wish it were more of what we are used to, we have had the same thing for each meal for every day we have been here; except the burger on the way to take the women to the airport.

When we got back to the hotel tonight we had a surprise, a group of 46 Peace Corp volunteer teachers joined us for dinner.  As you can imagine it was not too quiet in our small dining hall...I think there were only 2 empty chairs.  I sure hope they are all tired and go to bed early, because I am.

It's the beginning of the week and we are ready to go on the building.  As we began working on the beam (concrete headers) and finishing the walls to their final height the beautiful clear sky allowed the sun to hit us pretty hard.  It had rained quite a bit the night before so it was also a little humid.  But we are rejoicing in this day the Lord made for us.

Pastor Abdul was at the site and asked if Dennis would be willing to see a few people that had medical issues; of course Dennis said yes.  Now that he has his medical bag in hand he is able to do much more.  To show the need of the clinic, within a few minutes of the word going out Dennis had 64 people lined up to see him.  They came with everything from minor colds to 3rd degree burns.  He did what he could with the tools he had, but just imagine what can be done once we can fill this clinic with the medical supplies needed.

Wycliffe met with the town council today and spoke to them about how the clinic is for the community and they need to set up a committee to run it.  The council was ecstatic, they have been waiting to hear from us.  They have applied for government grants for this type of building for 10 years and were just recently turned down again, so this building is really a "God sent".  There is medical equipment that is designated for this region of villages that will be available as the building is completed and they will be working on having the doctors assigned to the region actually staff and use the building.  This was fantastic news to hear and really makes us want to get this building usable before we leave.

Harry continues to be a inspiration and encourager on the site, the workers see him constantly going and motivated and can't help but move a little faster; trying to keep up with the 66 year old mzungu.

We decided to stretch out the work hours and start at 8 am and work until 6 pm to make sure we don't waste any time while we are here and we can achieve our goal of having the building usable before we leave next week.  There is lots of work to be done so keep us in your prayers as we forge ahead.

April 29, 2012

We attended the service at the Mityana Baptist Church this morning.  We were inspired by the wonderful music, singing and dancing and a very passionate sermon from Pastor Abdul.  We enjoyed visiting during lunch and then headed out for a little exploration of the area.

Tour of Nkonya village

Our friend Wycliffe who owns the Sandfield travel in London and arranged the details of our mission trip is with us for our last two weeks,  He took us to the village where he grew up.  

In the picture above he is standing at the place where in 1983 his mother was walking to a hospital to deliver Wycliffe, but only made it this far and delivered him on the side of the road in this spot.

He is an amazing man.  At age 10 he began working at a local farm to raise money to go to school.  He has purchased this same farm and is turning it into a training farm where young men will be trained on efficient and modern ways to farm.  The intent is to give these young men the skills and knowledge to break the cycle of poverty and become successful; improving their lives and improving Uganda.

As we drove through the area you should have seen the excitement of the people as they recognized him.  As Wycliffe explained the whole village participates in raising the children, so they take great pride when one of their own becomes successful.

We are back in Butebi at the clinic construction site, but now it is just the three men;  Harry, Dennis and Ed.  The blog will be lacking the flavor and detail that you have enjoyed with Stephanie at the helm, but I'll try to keep you informed as best I can.

We had a horrible night (not sleeping) in Kampala.  Our guide did not want us driving the road at night back to Mityana for safety reason, so we stayed at a hotel in Kampala.  It was quite the adventure.  Since we had not eaten they prepared some food before we went to our rooms well after midnight.  When we got to the rooms we were all excited to take a shower since it had been a couple days.  Dennis managed to get enough water to soap up before it shut off, Harry and I didn't even get wet before it shut off.  The next morning they told us the man who runs the water pump was not at work yesterday!?!?!?!?  Crazy that only one guy can make the water system work for an entire hotel. All night long a local church was BLASTING over large speakers repetition prayers until 5 am!!!, then the kitchen staff was busy banging pots and plates to make sure we never went to sleep.

We had a nice visit with our friend Wycliffe as we ate breakfast.  He and Vincent headed back to Entebbe to collect our bag from the airport.  Remember yesterday we got the letter releasing it, but they didn't give it to us until they knew we would not have enough time to pick it up yesterday.  Later in the day, after noon they called and said they had the medical bag in hand!!!! yeah!!! It only took two weeks and kept trying to get us to bribe them to release it, we stood our ground and didn't allow the corruption to extend to us.  We all said a great pray of thanks for God's hand in getting us the bag.

We finally go to the clinic site at noon and were very please to see the progress that happened while we were away.  The local workers are doing a great job and were so glad to see us back.  We now have all of the walls inside and out on both halves of the building up to the top of the window and door tops.  They have also started forming the concrete/iron header beams that will top the existing layer. before we left for the day we had two walls to their final height.  I can see a roof in our future.

We all came back, showered!!! and ate dinner.  I think we are all glad tomorrow is a day of rest.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Our last day together as a full team we drove into the center of Kampala for some last minute shopping.  Ed and Vincent went to the NDA (National Drug Authority) for another round of "what do we need to do to get our medical bag?".  We can happily say that we were finally successful in getting to talk to the senior drug inspector.  He looked at our list of items, asked how many on the team and said that the items we were bringing in were reasonable.  He had us write a letter to them stating these items were for our use and not for sale and return it to him.  Although he was at lunch when we returned with the letter, a short wait allowed us to obtain the letter releasing the medical bag.  But, it is now too late to drive to the airport to get the bag from their office so our faithful friend Vincent will go in the morning to obtain the bag (presumably).

We went to lunch at Cafe Java, an American style restaurant in Kampala and I believe each team member had a burger for lunch.  After lunch we went to the crafts shopping center where there are about 50-60 booths selling African crafts and souvenirs.  We then went to a coffee roaster for Uganda coffee beans and an iced coffee before beginning our drive to the airport.  Did I say drive?  I mean our crawl to the airport.  We were in a tremendous traffic jam for almost two hours just to get out of the city.  We were able to stay entertained as the street vendors walked past our vehicle and tried to sell us every imaginable product.

Once through the traffic jam we were on a smooth easy road to the airport.  Once we arrived we gathered all the women's items and headed them off to the gate.  We were not allowed to go inside the building, but got them inside.  As we stood at the window to waive goodbye we were ushered away by the security staff.  We headed back to Kampala for an over night stay.  Wycliffe would not let us travel the road to Mityana at night for his concern of our safety.  We got to the hotel; the Arch Apartments.  This is the first place Annette and I stayed last year; it has not gotten any better.  None of us got any sleep, but will head off this morning to Mityana.

We all thanked God for keeping us safe and allowing the women to travel safely.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

            This morning we got up early again and headed out for our walking safari. The staff was there to wake us up with hot coffee and delicious breakfast crackers. We were up with the sun and seeing the landscape took our breath away! The African sunrise sparkled against the cool morning fog and the air was crisp and clean compared to what we experienced in the city. We met our tour guide, Bernie, and set out on foot into the bush. Bernie was armed with a small rifle just incase any of the animal became too curious with us, but we never needed it. We learned about different types of trees and plants and learned about the animals that were in the park. Unfortunately we didn’t get very close to those that were out, but it was remarkable to see the different herds of zebras, waterbucks, and antelopes. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we were reminded of God’s great majesty and creativity. After the 2-hour walk, we were taken back to the lodge and hungrily devoured another tasty meal. Then we packed up and went back to Kampala.

            Along the way, we pulled over for a few handmade baskets and stopped by the drum makers shop to get some drums. It was interesting to see all the different kinds of drums and the different workers stripping skin or stringing rope around the wooden frames. By the time we got to Pastor James’ home, we were tired and hungry again. His family was very hospitable (as usual) and filled our bellies with the best food we’ve had the whole time we’ve been here. No one else’s chapatti compares to Lillian’s and we were excited to have it once more. After visiting for a bit and having some prayer time, we each headed to bed.

            Tomorrow we will meet up with our good friend, Wycliffe, and do the last of our shopping. The ladies have to catch their plane back home around 11pm and the men will stay in Kampala before returning back to Mityana and finishing their work in the Butebi village over the next few weeks. We will miss our new friends and all the adventurous opportunities here in Uganda. This trip has tremendously changed our perspectives and the way we live! We will never forget the sites we’ve seen, the people we’ve met, or the passion we’ve shared with the locals. Please continue praying for God’s provision and protection as the men carry on with our mission. It will not be the last time the red dirt of Uganda covers our feet and although we are ready to go back home, a part of our hearts will stay here forever. Amen.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

            Today we were up bright and early to leave our hotel in Mityana and head towards Mburo Lake National Park for the safari! We piled in the van and took off for our 7-hour drive. Some of us slept, some of us chatted, and some of us simply stared out the window watching the beautiful scenery all around us. After 3-4 hours, we saw signs telling us that we were approaching the equator! Anxious, we climbed out of the car and each took turns taking pictures at the huge sign marking the equator. One foot in the Northern Hemisphere and one in the Southern! Officially in two places at the same time! There was an “equator instructor” who showed us some interesting facts while we were there. Did you know that on the Northern Hemisphere water drains clockwise and in the Southern Hemisphere it goes counterclockwise? There were buckets set up on either side and he demonstrated which way it swirls as it drains by dropping a flower on top of the water and watching the direction it moves. When you are directly on the line of the equator it doesn’t swirl either way, but rather drops straight down. It was very fascinating!  

About noon we stopped at a bar/restaurant for lunch and tried to wait patiently for fish. It ended up coming out mostly raw and we were pretty unhappy, and at that point behind schedule. We snacked on jerky and Oreos most of the way to the park and were eager to get there. The drive into the park only made us more excited! We put up the top of the safari van and all stood up on our seats so we could get a better view of all the animals. We were rushing to get to the lake for our boat ride so couldn’t stop for the black faced monkeys, zebras, impalas, water bucks, or bush bucks although we knew we would have opportunities later.

When we reached the lake we met our guide, Andrew, and quickly got in the boat. He was very educational and had a good eye for picking out the shy animals in the area. We saw curious hippos peaking out from under the water and a few small crocodiles sitting up in the sun getting warm. We saw a single water buffalo and Andrew told us that when they are alone, they are most dangerous because they have been exiled from their herd. Typically they are shy, but when they are banished they will be quick to defend themselves in any situation, even if there is no danger. We saw a lot of birds in the trees surrounding the lake: the African fish eagle, African Fin bird, and the King fish bird. It was astonishing to see such great, majestic animals so close in their natural habitat.

As the sun started to set, we got back in the van and headed for the lodge we were staying at. By the time we got there, it was pitch black outside and we got lost in the jungle for a bit. It was relieving to see lights and the staff warmly greeted us with fresh juice and a hot meal. Although it was dark, we were very surprised with how nice the accommodations were. It resembled a tropical beach hut; such as you would see in Hawaii! Only having been open for about 8 months, everything was new and suitably set up for us. We were exhausted and full from the dinner so we quickly fell asleep under a gorgeous starry sky. Tomorrow we will continue our safari and the head back to Kampala to stay with Pastor James and his family once more before the women head back home to America. 

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

            Today is the last day in the Butebi village for the women, but the men will return late on Friday after the safari. We had a delightful last day! This morning we went back to the Kiwumulo orphanage to minister to the children. Ed and Harry worked on improving the steps that lead up and down the steep dirt hill and Dennis went with John to take one of the HIV positive kids to the hospital for more medicine. School is currently out for holiday so there were only about 60 children left. Annette read them some Bible stories and Winnie translated. We passed out coloring pages and crayons and watched them excitedly kneel down on the floor to quietly color. We are still blown away by their consistence obedience!

After coloring, we took them outside to the field and played games. They loved the relay games and balloon tosses. We watched them frolic and laugh over the most simplest sports. Then it was back to the classroom for crafts. We got simple strips of leather and strung different color beads on them, each representing a different part of salvation. Black for sin, red for Christ’s blood, white for being washed clean, blue for baptism, green for growing in our relationship with God, and yellow for heaven. Stephanie led the children in the making of the Salvation Bracelets and Sue, Annette, and Lila helped pass out the materials. It was great explaining what everything meant and knowing that whenever they look at these simple pieces of jewelry, they would remember their walk with Christ and all He’s done for them.

            After lunch, most of the group went back to the Butebi village to finish what we could on the worksite and say goodbye to our young friends. Dennis and Lila went back to the medical clinic at King’s Kids. They saw at least 26 patients alone, not counting for all the other nurses there. One young girl came in to take care of a cold and Dennis couldn’t help but notice the 3^rd degree burns up and down her arms! She sat still and peaceful even as they peeled off dead skin from the wound. Lila was Dennis’ helper and filled prescriptions in small envelopes while he treated the patients.

It was a productive yet rapid day! We got a lot done, but it was hard to say goodbye. We are happy to know that every little “seed” we plant is helping their lives and we wave goodbye with full hearts. We know we can’t change their lives or the way they lead them, but we hope that we can assist in making them better. The women are excited to keep watching as the building progresses and are confident the men will do good work as they teach (and learn from) the people.