Visiting Orphans Part 2- Kampala and surrounding villages

After a long bus ride on a VERY crowded bus we got to Kampala around lunch time (on Sunday?) and went to Return Ministries. When we got there children crowded around the bus eager to see us. Return is situated in the slums of Kampala and ministers to the surrounding community. It is run by Pastor Samuel who has such a heart for these people and big visions for this ministry. At least once a week they provide a meal for community children and a safe place to be for a while. We helped feed the hungry children (over 100 of them) bowls of rice and beans. It was sad to see how skinny and hungry many of them were. After we fed them we played with them and held them. It's precious how they crowd around you, hug you and want to be held, but at the same time it breaks your heart because most of them don't get the attention they need at home. I picked up a little girl and started painting nails. Soon she was asleep in my lap and I had a big crowd of children (both boys and girls) who wanted their nails painted bright purple. I had my “assistant,” a sweet little girl named Sarah, hold the bottle of nail polish while I awkwardly tried to paint wiggling little finger nails with my one free hand. We sang, danced, played games and loved on the children for most of the afternoon. It was really good to see the guys in our group interacting with these children. They so desperately need good male role models in their life...even though we couldn't be there long, being picked up, held and played with by these loving, godly guys is so big.

The next day we went back to Return Ministries and went out into the community. We carried heavy sacks of beans and rice flour for many miles in the hot sun as we walked through the community going to houses to give families some food, talk to them and pray for them. I almost feel at a loss for words to describe the tiny houses crowded together, the dirt, the bugs, the listless malnourished children sitting outside, the smell...it's all kind of overwhelming. I just pray that God can expand the small effort we put out to help, that he will continue to use Return Ministries to shine a light in that place and bring people His hope.

Our last few days in Uganda were spent in an extremely rural village a couple hour bus ride from Kampala. How do I describe the 3 classes crammed into 1 small classroom or the hungry look on the childrens' faces as we served them posho (rice flour and water, basically like a drinkable porridge), or how do I describe the malaria outbreak that happened while we were there? It is just so different than anything in the states because people are getting sick and dying from things that either wouldn't happen or are easily and cheaply treatable back home. We worked in the clinic and school, did some construction and visited families in the community. We went to one house where both parents were gone and the older boy was taking care of a very small child who looked very sick. The next house we went to was the home of a Muslim family. We talked with them for a long time then they invited us into their house to pray for them in Jesus' name which was pretty amazing. When we went to leave the man got down on his knees in an expression of thanks (which is almost unheard of because normally only the women do that here). Before we left some of the children danced and sang for us which was amazing. If you haven't heard African children sing or seen them dance you truly are missing out on a piece of life!

The last day we were there we went to an even more remote village. It was a very spiritually dark place. They didn't even tell people we were coming because of all the witchcraft in the area...if they would have known they would have taken children and offered them as sacrifices to “protect” the area. You got the feeling that many of the children hadn't seen many white people. While we were there we all grabbed an old motor oil can and walked a very long way to a “well” to get water. It was a big murky, dirty hole where the cows drink. We filled the cans with filthy water and walked back to the village. I have never seen anything like it...at first it was kind of surprising that they were putting drinking water in old dirty oil cans but when you see the water you realize that's the least of the worries. I honestly couldn't imagine drinking the water but it's all they have. The children have school under the trees. Most of them don't have shoes. There's a “bunkhouse” for children who come a long way to go to school; it is a tiny dark room with a couple mattresses crowded on a dirt floor. We got to play with the children for awhile and when we went to leave some of them clung to my hands and arms not wanting us to leave. It was hard. It's hard to even describe the things I have seen and experienced and felt these past few weeks. I'm describing this poverty because it's real...and I can't just pretend that it doesn't exist. But before we left the children sang a song for us that talked about how although they are poor- no clean water, not enough food, lack of education etc, they are also rich in many things such as joy, faith, trust and love. I feel like this song helps describes many of the experiences I have had here. I have never seen poverty like I have in the past couple weeks, yet these people are so full of joy and love. I feel as if there are many things we can share with each other. We in the states have material wealth that we could easily share to help relieve these people by helping build wells and provide medicine that saves lives. Yet I think we have a lot to learn from these people about trust, joy not based on circumstances and so many of these concepts that they seem to understand in a deeper way than we may ever know. Many things to process and think on...