Wankulukuku

Take a second and think of a class room. Think of the classroom that you went to first grade in. Was it clean, colorful, happy? Did it have the alphabet hanging somewhere in the room? Did it have have posters on the walls to help you learn ?


Now think of a classroom in America today. It has computers. It has smart boards. It is disinfected probably everyday. There is one teacher in each room. And every child has a book bag, pencils, and paper. 


If i were to ask you to picture what a school in Uganda looked like I bet it would be hard for you to imagine just how bad they are. When you think of an elementary school back home there are certain standards that each school has to meet - that is not the case here in Uganda. At New Styles Primary School in Wankulukuku the building is just one small building smaller than my kitchen and living-room back home in the states. There are about 50-100 kids who attend the school and they are all in that small school. On the walls there are posters that are meant for the children to learn. At home teachers buy these types of posters , but here in Uganda the teachers have to make them themselves. At New Styles Primary School, the posters were falling off the walls, dirty, fading, and the heart breaking part was that most of them were incorrect or spelled wrong. 

Posters

Chalk Board

Posters

Numbers Written On The Wall Of The School

When we noticed this, we took time and made new posters for the children to learn from!  We made them colorful and correct ! They are not as amazing as some American teachers can buy and hang in their classroom..... but at least they are spelled correct ! We made about 50 new posters to hand in each classroom. We also spent the day cleaning the school. We made the chalk boards more black by rubbing charcoal on them, we swept and moped the floors, and we tried our best to just simply made the school look great and friendly for this kids. 

New Posters ! 

Ivan and Francis working hard at mopping the floors

Look how black that new black board is ! 

New Posters ! 

Ivan and Francis mashing up the charcoal to rub on the chalk boards

"Spread the love of God through your life but only use words when necessary.

-Mother Teresa 

When doing this project, we did not tell the children why we were cleaning their school and giving them new posters......but I'm sure that they saw the love of God through our actions. It was through our actions alone that we received thank yous and smiles from the children. 

Lola

Since I have been here in Uganda I have had the blessing of interacting with a beautiful Ugandan child named Scolastica. Last summer, my friend Melissa fell in love with this child. Melissa is a speical education teach back in America. She was here in Uganda last year serving with Empower A Child and ever since then, she has been helping in the well being of this child named Scolastica.

Scolastica has Ceribral Paslsy. She is an orphan at one of the babies home that we go to as a ministry on a weekly basis. The babies home that she is living at is called Nysambia. When Melissa first met Scolastica, she was not getting the special attention that she knew was needed for the child. She was sitting on a mat, in the cornner or the room helpless. Melissa's heart went out to her instantly. 

When Melissa returned home to Chicago, she began feeling as though she needed to do more for this child. First Melissa notified someone who was able to start to get the child the attention that she needed and deserved. Melissa then began to financially support her physical therapy. And then.... Melissa  decided that she needed to pursue adoption of the child. 

Melissa is a 29 year old single woman. She is a teacher, and obviously not someone who you would assume to adopt a child. But God has put this on her heart like a tun of bricks. She knows that she is being called to adopt Scolastica and bring her home to America to give her the life she needs and deserves. 

Melissa was blessed with the opportunity to come back here to Uganda last month for 4 weeks. She spent most of her time with Scolastica as well as some time with Empower A Child. After her time here she was 100% sure that she wanted to adopt this beautiful Ugandan child to give her a better life. While she was here, Melissa saw just how much adopting this child will help the well being of the child. While Scolastica is at the babies home, she is in a room labeled "intensive care unit". She has one caretaker who is assigned to her, but to be honest...... Scolastica is left alone most of the time just sitting staring at the wall or laying down staring at the wall. She has been fed boiling hot porridge that mostly just falls down the front of her because of her swallowing problem. She also is not getting the daily therapy that her poor little muscles so desperately need. Fortunately while Melissa was here she was able to show them some things that will help with her swallowing and muscle movement. 

While she was here, she also met with a lawyer who was able to tell her that her adoption process would be fairly easy and that that lawyer would personally help her with her court date. She could have her child with her in America by December at the earliest ! 

Since Melissa has gone back home to America, Hilary and I have been taking up her role as momma. Whenever Hilary and I have spare time, we have been visiting Scolastica to show her love and remind her that her momma back in America loves her. Hilary and I have both love the time we get to spend with this beautiful child.

Now you may be wondering why this post is titled Lola but I am talking about a child named Scolastica. Melissa, being her future mother has decieded to name her Lola. Scolastica is currently named after the saint who is sometimes known for the saint of children with non-working limbs. For short the orphanage has been calling her Scola, which sounds way to close to Scoliosis ( espeically for a child who has Scoliosis). So Melissa has made the wonderful desicion to name her Lola since it is still very close to her name already. 

So .... now it is time for YOU to meet Lola ! 

Melissa and Lola

Me holding Lola . Look at that SMILE !

Hilary and Lola

In The Village...The Peaceful Village...I Slept In A Tent

This past week my team here in Uganda packed up and went back to spend a week in the village.We left Kampala at about 9am and headed  Southeast to Zirobwe. I have  never been a huge fan of spending the week sleeping in a tent in a village filled with bugs, limited amounts of water, no clean water, and working hard. Although, as usual.... God worked in my life in some huge ways this week. Whenever I was tired or frustrated, God put something or someone in front of me to make me smile. Mostly it was my friend Joseph who would shout out my name whenever he would see me.

Joseph and I :-) 

I was excited for this week because I had about 100 adorable dresses to hand out as gifts to the little girls in the village. My mother's friend from work had some ladies from her church make them for me to give out. It was such a blessing to be able to have these dresses for these little girls who have almost no clothing to wear. I was also excited because Hilary, a fellow volunteer, and I had the great idea of getting t-shirt for the boys. Because of course - you can not give a little girl a dress without the boys wanting something as well. So we were able to bring along 60 t-shirts for the boys as well.

Almost immediately after we set up our tents, there were children gathering around out camp site. We were not doing anything at the moment... so I took that time to start giving dresses and t-shirts to the children who were gathered. Almost instantly their faces where filled with joy. I was so happy to be able to give clothing to these children. Instantly I knew that I would have my week filled with joy knowing that I could bless these kids with new clothes.

In the village, every morning looks the same... but you never know what the afternoon has in store for you. This past week we spent every morning working hard in the wells. This was my 3rd trip to the village so I had already cleaned out 3 wells. And honestly each well gets much harder to clean out. The well that we worked on this past week was a 1 mile walk away from camp. So we would get up, have our slice of stale, sometimes moldy bread, drink some tea or coffee.... then grad our hoe, slasher, or shovel and start walking. After the 20 minute walk through super tall grass, you would finally make it to the well.

When cleaning out these wells, you have to  get all of the mud out of the hole. So our team spent 3 days making assembly lines , passing muddy buckets, sweating, working hard, and enjoying each other company. Cleaning these wells has been such hard work because it is hard to see the end. It feels like you are going to be covered in mud for the rest of your life. But we were able to all work as a team and effectively clean out the well.

In the evenings we were able to do a wonderful assortment of things. The very first night we split in to small groups and did home visits. My group consisted of Lara, and Felix as our translator. I do not have much experience in evangelism and neither did Lara, but our plan was just to love on the families and smile lots. Lucky for us we had Felix as our leader who is probably the sweetest Ugandan in Uganda, so the three of us were able to smile lots and love the family that we visited. We spent about an hour 1/2 sitting and talking with 2 Ugandan women and getting to just hear about their lives then spend time praying for their needs.

The second night in the village we held a crusade , or worship service for the adults in the village. We wanted to spend this week empowering the parents so that they can lead their children. At first I was upset because we would not be heading to where we had done programs in the past. We were going to stay closer to our camp site. I was upset because I had fallen in love with 2 girls who are sisters who live right where we have held our programs in the past. But as usual here in Africa , plans often change. (TIA...This Is Africa). So we were able to go back to my girls and back to where we have held our programs before.

Knowing that I was going to be able to see my favorite sisters, I packed two dresses in my bag then headed down the dirt road with my team. I was so excited to see my girls. The youngest one is my favorite, she is about 2 years old and  her name is Jovia. The older sister is called Naomi and she is about 6 years old. I don't know why I loved these girls. Every time I have seen them, the youngest one has been sick so all she does is pout and fall asleep in my arms. And the older girl always seemed to be sacred of me so she would never come near me.When we got to their home, their mother was outside the house selling her chapatti. I approached her, sat down next to her and greeted her. My girls quickly came over to us as we sat on the mat that she provided for me to sit on. I pulled the two dresses out of my purse and held them up to the girls and then gave them to the mother. She thanked me with a HUGE smile.

Jovia and Naomi

Naomi in her dress

Jovia in her dress

Our program then soon began. I was holding the youngest girl, Jovia when the mother called her over to be bathed. Directly after her bath, her mother dressed her up in her new dress then sent her right back to me. Then the mother called Naomi over to do the very same. I quickly noticed just how grateful this mother was of these dresses. She so urgently wanted me to see how appreciative she was of them.

Soon after our program began, the sky opened up and rain came pouring down. Without hesitation the mother of my girls invited me into her hut. I sat down on the mat in their living room ( the only form of furniture in the house ) and began playing with my girls. They had 2 really old and worn out white baby dolls. We sat quietly playing with the dolls as the girls laughed and smiled and laughed some more. I had never before ever seen them as happy as they were at that moment.

Before I knew it, the mother had invited more people into her house. She was so hospitable. I was completely blown away by her hospitality. As the rain came down, this woman fit 9 adults and about 15 children into her home. Now to give you a visual.... her home is about the size of the average size American full bathroom, or about the size of a shed you would find in someone's back yard. Everyone was wet and dirty, but because this woman saw our need of needed to stay dry while listening to the preacher, she willingly welcomed us into her home.

I immediately thought of my own mother. I see my mother as a very hospitable woman. But It was hard for me to see my mother letting so many wet adults and children into her house. And most likely she would have to make sure it was clean before she let that many people in. I think that a lot of people back home would willing open maybe their car garage for people to sit in, but I find it hard to believe that we would open our house up the way that this woman did. Yet, this Ugandan woman, opened up her doors and she willingly let strangers into her home to keep dry. She didn't turn anyone away. She in fact went out looking for people who needed shelter from the rain to bring into her home. She was truly being a servant.

As the rain let up, people left the hut. But I stayed inside to play with my girls. When the mother saw the love I was pouring out to her children, she wanted to give to me even more. Not only had she let me play with her children, she showed me her appreciation of the dresses I gave to her children, she let me come into her home to stay dry from the rain, and then she feed me by giving me a chapatti. I was completely blow away by this woman and all that she did to show her appreciation.

The next few days, I became my favorite girls favorite person. They became my shadow. I could not see them without them running up to me. It filled my heart up with joy to know that a wall could be broken by a simple gift. I gave 2 girls a dress and they saw it as much more. Through these dresses came happiness and for that I am grateful.


Being in the village this past week showed me the need for Sponsorship as well. A lot of children are not going to school because their parents can not pay their school fees. Some children wake up every day walk to school and try to sneak in only to get sent home by the administration because they have not paid their school fees. In some households, the children who go to school are the only ones who can read or write so it is vital that these children get educated so that they can help their parents. We were able to spend time this week meeting with families of children who need sponsors. We were able to pray with them and give them encouragement. These kids need a hope. They need to know that they are worth it. They need to know that someone loves them. And most of all they need help. I am thankful for the need that I saw within the Sponsorship department this past week.


This week as well as many other was eye opening. I was able to spend a week living the life of a villager. It was hard as well as rewarding. I was able to bless the people and children and in turn they were the ones who blessed me.

Prayer Request :-) 

* Pray for the people and children in Zirobwe as well as the many other villages around the world. 

* Pray for my strength to work hard for the glory of God

* Pray for my wisdom so that I may effectively spread the love of God

* Pray that these children who are in need will receive sponsors.

* Pray for Uganda

* Pray for my family back home to give them peace about me being so far from home. 

Empower A Child has a child sponsorship program. If you feel lead to give a child the hope that they so desperately need, please take the time to look into sponsoring a child. If you need help - don't be shy to ask ... I will gladly help you ! Sponsor A Child !!  ( Click this link to find out more about sponsoring a child through Empower A Child )

Owino Market

This past week our team packed up and went back to the village. In preparations of going back to the village I had many things to do to prepare myself mentally and physically for the village. A few weeks back, my mother had sent me about 100 dresses made out of pillowcases made by some ladies at her co-workers church. These dresses were the most adorable things I had ever seen. I immediately knew that I wanted to give these dresses to the girls in the village. But I felt that I could not give the girls these cute dresses without giving the boys something as well. So Hilary and I had decided to buy the boys t-shirts !

            

An MST ( volunteer )  who was  here early in the summer had left me with $100 to buy bibles and $100 to do anything else with. So I emailed him to ask if I could use his $100 to buy t-shirts and he agreed and said that I could totally use that money to buy t-shirts for the kids in the village. So on Monday afternoon Hilary and I were in need of some stress relief from the house …. and what better way to do that than leave the house and spend lots of money on t-shirts to clothe little boys in the village.

            

We headed out of the house met up with our Ugandan friend, Collin, and went down town to the Owino Market. The Owino Market is the biggest market in East Africa. I was excited to go there because I knew that the shirts would be cheap, and I have heard so much about this market and have been in Kampala twice now and have never made a trip there. Collin had been there many times so he was the perfect person to ask to take us. He advised us to not bring our purses because at this market a lot of theft happens. When we got out of our taxi, we had to walk for about ten minutes. With each step it seemed like we just kept walking further and further into the bad part of town. I honestly was in a culture shock. I no longer left like I was in Kampala Uganda. I felt as thought I was in China or India. There were truck, people, and trash everywhere. We had no sidewalk to walk on, we simple walked through the traffic in the middle of the road.

When we reached the Owino Market, I again was shocked. It was store after store after store. And when I say store, I mean small area piled with whatever they are selling. It was a small dark dirt alley, with more people than space in the alley. As you walk past each seller, they call out to you to buy what they have, the men yell out that you are beautiful, and they grab at you. I quickly realized why Collin made us leave our purses at home.

           

When we made it to a man who was selling t-shirts. We quickly stopped and Collin began bargaining with him. We stood there for a very long time sorting out sizes, types, and makes of the t-shirts. After about 20 minutes, we were able to walk away with 60 t-shirts ! 

It was an interesting and a bit scary experience. But totally worth it to be able to bless some children with t-shirts :-) 

My Everyday, Ordinary Life

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." - Romans 12:1-2

Bogare !!!!

Hilary, Me, Jennifer - Victory Primary School

Katy, Me, Kelley - Hand washing clothes at Sanyu Babies Home

Children eating porridge at Victory Primary School

Hilary, Kelley, Mallory, Me, Megan - Living life in the village

My friend from New Styles Primary School in Wankulukuku

Me, Bogare, and Sarah in the village

A beautiful child 

Me sharing a bible story at Victory Primary School

A group shot of all of us with with boys ( Gabe, Kyle & Craig)
before they set out for their personal mission to Rwanda !

Me and a child in the village

Me, Hillary, & Mallory after a day of working on the well

Our team after a hard days work of cleaning out the well !

James 1:27

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. "

                                 - James 1:27 

This is exactly what I am here in Uganda to do. I am so thankful for this scripture. This past week I have been very tired and beginning to feel run down. I have found myself getting into a routine. I wake up each day to go to an orphanage, or a primary school and I do not think about my faith that is being put into it. I have let myself just go through the motions of serving and not actually wholeheartedly serve. 

On Monday morning God really spoke to me. As the rooster made its morning call outside my window, I immediately began to squirm around in my bed. I have been so tired lately and the fact that I sleep on a thin foam mattress has been making my back as well as my whole body ache. As I laid there in bed not wanting to be waking up at 7am to go to an orphanage, I somehow,most likely by the grace of God, got my butt out of bed and headed off to the orphanage. 

When we go to the orphanages, we spend our first hour or so of time there helping out the caretakers. We mop floors, feed and dress babies, hang clothing to dry on the line, sort clothing, sort beans, or clean clothing. We are there to make the hectic morning a little bit easier for the caretakers. Without us there these women have to do all of these chores themselves as well as care for the children at the orphanage. Because I have been so tired lately, I have found myself sticking to doing chores the whole time and not bothering with the children. I would do mopping or washing clothing until we would leave the home and some days not even see a child. The children in this orphanage truly need love. These children are found on the side of the road, left in taxis, left in public rest rooms, or simply left at the doorstep of the home. So these children need all the love that they can get.

On that Monday morning, God slapped me in the face the second that I walked into Sanyu Babies Home. He reminded me of the scripture in James. I am supposed to be joyfully caring for these orphans. I walked into the home and wet naked babies were everywhere. Some were crying, some were smiling, some were running, some were sitting, some were big, and some were super small. I quickly grabbed a towel and dried off the first baby that I could grab. I was able to dry the children, stop some from crying, dress them and love them. 

In that first ten minutes of being at Sanyu Babies home God reminded me of one of the reasons I am here in Uganda. And that is to love on these orphaned children. If these children had a loving family they would not be in a room every morning running around unhappy waiting to be dried from their bath and waiting to be dressed. They would be cared for and loved every second of the day. 

I spent the rest of my morning doing the mopping, washing clothing, sorting beans, and hanging clothing much faster than I had ever done before. I wanted to spend more time with these babies. Instead of avoiding them, God placed it in my heart to want to be with them more than anything. When I finished my chores I went to the room where the infant babies are. I was able to simple hold a little girl who was about 1 month old. As I was holding her I was able to tell her that she was beautiful, tell her how much God loves her, pray for her, and rock her to sleep. 

Monday was the first time in a very long time that when it was time to leave the babies home I honestly did not want to leave. I was able to push my desires of sleep or lunch to the side and solely want to love on the child of God that was placed in my hands that morning. 

The very next day God was able to show me just how much he wanted me to take this bible verse to heart. The next day I was able to spend time with one of my Ugandan friends. We were on our way to visit their home and hang out with their brothers and sisters, when we passed their Mothers church. She was in the yard of the church and quickly waved us down.We  got off the boda boda ( motorcycle taxi) and met her in the front yard of the church. She was excited to see me - a muzungu ( white person ). She was spending her afternoon weaving baskets with some other church ladies. She explained to me that she was feeling sick for the past few weeks and could use some prayers if I was able to spare any. We spent our time having small talk while she and the other women made their baskets. Her name is Elizabeth and she herself is a widow. Her husband passed away about 5 years ago. She has been raising her five children all by herself. She has been trying to send them all to school as well as eventually all to University. She has such a great heart and easily shows God's love to others. I could see that in the way that she clearly showed it to me in the way that she openly loved me. 

God used this verse this past week to show me once again why he as called me here. If I were back home in America I would not have the chance to rock an orphan to sleep on a Monday morning or sit with a widow as she weaves a basket on o Tuesday evening.  God is continuing to show me each day why he has called me here to Uganda. I am so thankful for the reminder that he sent me this week :-)

A Week In The Village

"I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it's like to be a leader, in on Christ's sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here's my concern: that you care for God's flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way."

-1 Peter 5:1-3

These past few weeks Empower A Child has really been looking to me for leadership. I am one of the main communicators of our team. Everyday, the Ugandan staff approaches me with their announcements and I am the one who delivers them to the team. The announcements range from super important ones to something as simple as telling the team that dinner is ready to be eaten. I am thankful for the leadership that I have been given. When I was planning my trip, I knew wanted to come back to Uganda. I knew that I wanted to come back with EAC as well. But mostly, I knew that I wanted to have a role with some type of leadership. I am so blessed to now know that EAC has put their trust in me. They trust me to fully communicate the ways of the organization to the team. Just yesterday I even lead an orientation meeting all by myself. Knowing that the organization has put their faith and trust in me is a wonderful feeling. 


Last week I was the leader for the team that went out into the village. This summer, we are beginning the building of the Training Center for Empower A Child. The organization has bought land in a village called Zirobwe that is located about 45 mins away from Kampala. They hope to build a school, a church, a medical clinic, and one day a type of trade school or university. So here in Uganda we have been focussing on making that happen. Each week we split our group of volunteers ( which has grown to about 25 people ) one group stays here in Kampala and the other goes out to the village for a week. We are trying to create a good relationship between Empower A Child and the people of the village.Then we all come together on the weekends to share our stories from the week. 


Last week was probably the hardest week for me. The village life is MUCH different from the life here in the city. When you spend the week in the village, you spend it sleeping in a tent, not showering, and working hard. 


Our first night in the village was an interesting one. Our team consisted of 6 American girls, 1 English girl, 2 American boys, and about 5 Ugandans. All of our tents were close together so there is almost no privacy at all. Our first day in the village consisted of us simply setting up our tents and getting settled in the village. We did a small amount of evangelizing to some of the families in the area, then headed back to our campsite to head to bed. In the village, with no electricity.... you go to bed when the sun goes down. 


Each day in the village we would wake up, then head to the water wells for cleaning. We were able to finish the cleaning of one well in just a few hours of our first day of work. These wells that we cleaned out were more like huge mud holes. The wells that we worked on cleaning out had not been touched in 10 - 30 years. So they were overgrown and for a lack of better words - just plain nasty. So we took our slashers ( the African lawn mowers ) and cut the tall grass and weeds back. We dug all of the thick mud out, and cleared out the hole. At the end of 3 days of work, we had cleaned  not one ..... but TWO water wells for the community of Zirobwe. 


In the evenings we spent our time with the children of the community. We did our Empower A Child program with them, which consist of signing songs, playing games, and sharing bible stories, and doing crafts with the children. The children in the village are so amazing to be around. They are so loving and so great. The children in the village have next to nothing. They have no shoes, some have no clothes, and they are just so so dirty. But they are so filled with love it is amazing. They get such much joy out of simply holding our hands or being carried and loved by us. It is such a blessing to be able to spread God's love to them.


The week in the village made me appreciate all that I have. I was completely humbled. It was such a hard week for me, but every time I felt myself getting ready to complain I had to remind myself that this was one week out of my life. This is everyday life for the people of Zirobwe. I struggled greatly with the fact that I was so dirty and did not have even a speck of make-up on my face. I am very insecure about  not having make-up on ,therefore week in the village really challenged me. I was forced to not wear make-up obviously because there were no mirrors and no access to showers.To even get water you had to walk 1/4 mile to get to the closest water well. We used baby wipes to keep ourselves clean. Every time that I was thinking to myself about how dirty I was , I immediately felt guilty. I was not there that week for me. I was there for GOD'S PURPOSE. 


The week in the village really helped me grow. I had to not only focus myself and keep myself from getting tried or complaining, I also had to focus on being a leader. I had to make sure that I was also encouraging my team, keeping a smile on my face, and not outwardly complaining so that others would be lifted up. I was thankful for my role as a leader for the village team because it helped me stay on track. I was constantly reminded of how I was there for God's purpose and not mine. I was able to encourage others through the strength that was given to me from God himself. 


Next week I will be headed back to the village. So hopefully God will use me in some huge ways :-) 

The children with their craft ( a cross made out of popsicle sticks)

Our team after our day of working on the wells.

Gabe, Jamie, Hilary, Mallory, Me, Kelsey, Megan, Cody

Bogare ! Our special helper :-) 

Cleaning the well ! 

Katy, Me, Jamie, Hilary, Kelsey, Mallory

Gabe teaching the children about Jesus walking on water.

Hilary pumping water form the water well !

Working hard ! 

Me holding a village child :-)