Uganda

Trying to figure out what she was looking at.....a camera.

This is Bernice. I fell in love with her instantly. She was burned somehow - I don't know her story. Her left hand is missing all of her fingers. This was the first child that made me feel even more sadness. I just wanted to take her and give her a better life. She was so small compared to the others and seeing her smile and try and keep up with all the games was so touching. She loved jump rope. I even found myself fighting on her behalf. The children can be aggressive with each other. She was trying to hold one end of the jump rope and another child came and took it from her. I had to peel that child's fingers from the rope (it was a struggle) and made her give it back to Bernice. I don't know if that was the right thing to do but I could not handle Bernice getting taken advantage of. She was very mild in nature...very sweet. She just looked up at me when I handed the rope back to her....I wonder what she was thinking?

What amazes me is how inventive the children are. They don't have anything to play with so they use big tires to bounce on, they use bicycle tires as hula hoops (which they are very good), they use bicycle rims and push them with a stick, the make their own balls to play with out of scraps of trash and knot & string them together to stay round.

This is the village where the children not wearing the uniforms lived.

I saw a lot of children on their own. Older siblings taking care of the younger siblings.

It's common to see babies on the backs of their mother and older siblings. This little girl is bending over to help scoot the baby up higher on her back. They will hold them for hours. The children are strong as are the adults.

These children were from a village across the street from the school. They would stand at the entry way and watch all of us from America play with the school children. I went over and talked with them (don't think they spoke English) and took pictures and showed them. I felt bad that they could not come in and play with us.

I love the children! I'm holding Grace. What you can't see in this picture is the amount of dirt they have on them. Grace is wearing a sweater - part of her uniform - however, it was so hot that day - they don't seem to wear closed based on the weather. You will see people in long sleeves, sweaters, jackets, I even saw a guy in a thick winter jacket.

They loved trying on my sunglasses! Then they want to take a picture. Then they want to see it. Then they laugh like it's so funny. =)

Classroom

Learning about domestic birds in school.

The Good Samaritan School (?) I think....the children singing for us.

Bricks! They make each brick by hand - well there is a machine that makes one brick at a time (pictured above). I think the most that was made in one day was 120.

Pen full of pigs where we were working one day....

Two more HIV mothers pictured here. The woman in the white shirt had 8 children, 4 of which died. The woman with the USA t-shirt had I believe 4 or more children. Her husband died and her and her children were starving for awhile. She used to beat her children because she was angry with life. She was finally able to make flour and sell to the markets and now has enough money to feed herself and her children. She expressed that since then she has come to know Jesus and she is now full of joy. Her children are happy too, not only because they now have food but since their mother is happy, they are not beat anymore. She kept saying how, now, she has the easy life.

Mark, one of our World Help leaders & our translator on the left.

This is Lucy. She has HIV. She had 13 children, 12 of which died. As she shared her story, she told us that she was very depressed and sad until she found Jesus and now she says she is full of joy and happiness. She is pictured here with her grandson. She is 45 years old.

One of my favorite pictures. She is so beautiful! This was at a very remote village where the mothers with HIV lived. As we were visiting the mothers, numerous village children surrounded the hut to watch us Americans. Of course, we could not resist taking their pictures (which they love) as seen in the above pictures.

Everytime we leave a village, the children run after our bus and wave and say bye Mzungu (which means white traveler or "whitey"). They get very excited!

watching the game

Soccer Tournament - They play with two balls. If you make a goal with one of the balls and the other one is not on the same side as the goal you just made - it doesn't count. As you can see, most play barefoot.

Uganda

Children loved getting our water bottles even empty ones

The children are amazing and beautiful. A water pump is in the background.

Me and D'Andra at the soccer game

Felix and his twin brother our with us. This is our farewell dinner.

Mosquito nets smell really bad

This is what a typical village looks like

The Nile River from a different location

Again, next time we'll stay here :)

Me & Elise at the Lodge - after 6 hours of driving (felt like off roading!) - 4 of which through the game park

The Lodge in the middle of the Game Park (we wish we could have stayed here but maybe next time) Lunch was so good!

Farmer monkeys

Monkey sitting in on class discussion

Crossing the Nile

The Nile River

An orphans bed. They are lined up row after row. Three bunks a bed. The chest contains everything they own and is locked. Each child wears their key around their neck.

Waiting in line for their lunch. It started to rain so many used their bowl to cover their head.

The sign posted at the medical center at Destiny.

The orphans at Destiny. There are 900 children that live here. They come to Destiny as a small child and stay until they are 18. They educate them, feed and clothe them and teach them a trade. 70% have no parents. The other 30% have parents that cannot take care of them. 700 children have sponsors. The remaining 300 do not and they are desperately looking for sponsors for these children so that they can remain there. They are also in the process of building new dorms to host 1500 more orphans that are waiting to move in. This is a Christian based foundation and the children go to church every Sunday. They sang for us worship songs and I started crying I was so touched. They are passionate children who love God very much.

The boys fascinated with Bryan’s stubble. They don’t have a lot of hair so facial hair, hairy legs, and long hair are all fascinating to the children…they think it’s funny…

Me and my sponser child Doreen. She is 11 years old and wants to be an accountant when she grows up. She's the sweetest girl and would not let go of my hand.

Me reaching for my camera - the children were obsessed with taking pictures! They loved getting random shots (like above) and then laughing hysterically.

The children love the camera!

Elise, D’Andra and I at our last meal in Kampala…..at a Chinese Restaurant! I was complaining at first but the food was amazing and it was great fun. Yes, Chinese food in Africa is better than Chinese food in America.

This is my dear friend Elise who was my roommate in Uganda. This is in London, England on our layover. It was great to share this experience together. Nothing like having a good friend to laugh with over the fact that you can’t shave your legs, the toilet doesn’t flush and the mosquito net you sleep under every night reeks!!!