Does anybody care?

The street is your home, leftover garbage is your food.

Your life devoid of love, future dreams are non-existent.

You live in survival mode, desperately trying to make it to the next day.

Longing for a glimpse of hope, you wonder, "does anybody care?"

This describes the backgrounds of the children living at Kampiringisa (a government-run rehabilitation center for street kids). An hour’s drive from the city of Kampala is a run-down, dingy compound which is “home” for several hundred children and youth. There are multiple possibilities why they have been taken to Kampiringisa:

-Some were street children, rounded up by the Ugandan government and then dropped off at the compound

-Or some are serving time for a crime they committed

-Or for some, their exasperated parents aren’t willing to care for them anymore. So the parents bring the child to Kampiringisa.

The intention of Kampiringisa was to rehabilitate street children. However, there’s not much rehabilitating going on. The children just exist there….not even enrolled in a form of education. They’re not offered much hope. Yes, it’s better than street life; however, no child should have to live in a place like this.

Each individual here has a unique story, but they have something in common: they’re lacking love. My heart breaks at this reality. At first, I was concerned about their poor hygiene (many of the kids are filthy, and they wear clothing that hangs off their bodies.) And I was concerned about the fact that they’re lacking medical care for their illnesses and diseases. And I was concerned about the fact that they’re sitting on the dirty ground, eating a “meal” of liquid porridge.

But then it hit me.

You can still survive and grow without clean clothing. You can survive and grow without great medical care. You can survive and grow without gourmet food.

But can you REALLY survive and grow without love? Without someone to pick you up when you fall. Without someone to hold you close and whisper, “I’ll always be here for you, darling.” Without someone to run to when life seems too much to handle.

I spent the day loving on these beautiful children: handing out stickers (they were ecstatic about such a simple thing!) and also administering de-worming pills to many of the children. I went with several Dwelling Places’ staff who give medical care to the kids at Kampiringisa twice a month. A missionary doctor from Ireland was here, so he helped us out as well.

One little girl in particular captured my heart. I asked around for her name but no one could provide me with an answer. So I’m calling her “Hope,” because I have hope that God will send her someone to permanently love her. She can’t be older than 4….she was living on the streets until she came to Kampiringisa a month ago. I don’t know what her future holds, but I pray for safety and God’s grace.

When I met Hope, her somber eyes were filled with sadness. Diana and I attempted to make her smile. Over and over we tried, but Hope wouldn’t budge, a solemn look stayed on her face. I almost can’t blame her. What does she have to smile about? Hope cracked a faint smile during Diana's silly faces.

I picked her up and snapped a photo of us together, showing it to her on the camera screen. After a moment or so, a smile danced across her mouth.

I was determined to show her Christ’s love, if only for an afternoon. When was the last time she felt loving arms embrace her? As I cradled her in my arms, she began to doze off. I could have held her for hours and hours, but I eventually had to head home. I blinked back tears as I placed Hope on the ground and waved goodbye to her, trying to ignore the fact that tears were welling up in her eyes. Yet another person walking out of her life.

It’s an incredibly helpless feeling to witness children living like this but not be able to immediately do something except pray. I am so thankful for Dwelling Places and their endurance as they continue rescuing children from the streets of Kampala.

You’ve just read about the lives of thousands of children here in Uganda. I’m asking, “does anybody care?” Please don’t forget these children. Pray for them. Or even consider sponsoring a former street child through an organization like Dwelling Places (contact me, and I can hook you up.)

As I type this, encouraging Phil Wickham lyrics play in the background.

“Jesus, Your love has no bounds. Your love is deeper than any ocean. Higher than the heavens. Reaches beyond the stars in the sky. Your love has no bounds.”

Tonight I pray that His love reaches especially to these hurting children. His love has no bounds, and for that I am grateful.

Random happenings

This will be a much more light-hearted post than the last, so read on and enjoy! I’m hoping you can get a glimpse into what daily life is like here. I’ll be honest: the first week here in Kampala was a difficult transition, as I was completely bombarded with so many new things to learn and challenges. The culture shock only lasted a few days, and I am really enjoying life here. Still not sure how I’m supposed to go grocery shopping and bring my purchases back on the Boda with me (my backpack’s not THAT big, people! : ) but I’ll deal with that next week….

Oh! My favorite thing about my flat? The view of the village from my little porch (I’m on the third floor) which is just heavenly, and I try to sit out there after work each day and journal/do devotions.

I have just started venturing out alone on walks through the village. There’s always something interesting to observe, whether it’s watching the locals make yummy Chapati (Indian flatbread) by the side of the road or perhaps saying hello to the wide-eyed, curious children who are EVERYWHERE! Love that!

I’m slowly picking up some Luganda phrases, but I don’t hear it much doing the day in the office, so it’s hard for me to learn. I just learned two phrases, which I use quite often. Have a nice day: “Siiba bulunge” (see-bah bah-loon-gee). Have a good evening: “Sula bulungi” (soo-lah bah-loon-gee).

I’m incredibly grateful that the Lord has provided some wonderful people in my life here, and though most of them are leaving Uganda this weekend, I won’t forget the blessing they were my first few weeks in Africa. Africa Inland Mission sent out a short-term team of 9 Americans to help at Dwelling Places (the ministry I’m serving while here), and they’ve been a blast to hang out with. Also, I’ve enjoyed getting to know two girls from Scotland, one from Ireland, and one from Canada. My roommate, Grace, is from South Korea and is a sweetheart…you’ll see her photo below. All these wonderful people invited me over to the guesthouse (where the American team is living) on my 23rd birthday, and we celebrated with a delicious meal of fettuccine alfredo, bread, and homemade passion juice! Some of the guys cooked the meal over hot coals outside behind the house—I appreciated it! Here are a few photos from my birthday…isn’t Uganda a beautiful country?

Let me introduce you to Sarah, who has been invaluable during my transition! She's from South Africa, who has been an AIM missionary in Kampala for more than 2 years. She’s leaving soon (getting married!), but I’m thankful for getting to know her! Sarah lives upstairs in the flat above me; my first week here, when I didn’t know a soul, she invited me up for tea and introduced me to delicious mint-flavored South African cookies called “Romantic Dreams” (just gotta get past the awkward name!) Monday evening, Sarah had Grace (my roommate) and I over for dinner (and tea! See a pattern here? I love that tea is a staple part of the day here : )

Grace taught us a self-defense phrase: “Jakukuba!” (jah-KOOKOO-bah) which means “I will beat you” in Luganda. Here they are, looking quite fierce. I don’t look particularly threatening, so I probably wouldn’t scare anyone off, but this phrase could come in handy when I walk past men who shout out obnoxious comments like, “hey American! My love! Come here…” or “my wife!! I want to marry you, mzungu!” Perhaps ignoring is better than provoking violence though? ;)

I know this blog entry is full of randomness, so thanks for bearing with me. Saturday was perhaps my favorite day since arriving in Africa. I attended Friendship Club, which is an outreach for children in the village (we teach them Bible verses, songs, etc). About 20-30 kids attend on average. It was my second week helping out, and I’m already in love with the kids, so I think I’ll incorporate F.C. into my weekends. After it ended last Sat, all the kids went home except a handful. I stayed with Cody and Jeremiah (two guys on the AIM short-term team) and played with the kids in the yard for about 2.5 hours. I can’t even explain how those kids blessed and rejuvenated us. They taught us many fun, unique African games. And then we played musical bricks ;) I created a circle out of bricks (which Cody and Jeremiah chided me for, but no one got hurt!) and when the music stopped, you had to find a brick (instead of a chair like we’re used to.)

After F.C. we decided to be spontaneous and go to a nearby café for coffee. So we invited a new friend we’ve made (a young man who’s part of the Dwelling Places youth program), and the four of us flagged down two Bodas to drive us across town. My life flashed before my eyes multiple times, as we sped across a busy, paved road (our driver was crazy and hardly slowed down for speed bumps, so I was rising off the seat.) And then another Boda was about 4 inches away from hitting us when we were turning into the parking lot. I think I’m going to start to wear a helmet after that experience. I was encouraged by our conversation, as we shared what has impacted us during our time thus far in Uganda. The night-time ride back to my flat was much more peaceful, through quiet village dirt roads. At one point, I jokingly said to Cody, “What if our Boda doesn’t make it up this hill and we have to walk?” About 2 minutes later, our driver motioned for us to get off. So we had to stumble our way in the dark up the hill, but it was quite humorous. This is the second time this has happened to me, so needless to say, the Boda engines aren’t very strong.

In an upcoming post, I will tell you all more about Dwelling Places and the exciting projects/events coming up that I’m working on! The staff is incredible there, and I am blessed each morning when we have staff devotions and worship time. Followed by tea time! Business offices in America need to install a daily tea time too, I think!

[street children] the reason I'm here...

No matter what language you speak, a smile can communicate so much. On the way to and from work each day, I zoom past the energetic, happy children in the village as they call out “Mzungu!” (white person) or “Ina!!” (a famous actress--I have no idea what she looks like; we probably just share the same skin color ;) I’m on the back of a Boda-Boda (motorcycle) whizzing by them, so I’m unable to engage in conversation, but I can wave and smile. Feeling tired after a long day of work, I passed by a little boy last evening who looked solemn. Yet all the sudden, his eyes lit up, and he flashed a toothy, earnest grin at me. At that moment I realized that no matter what frustrations I face during the week, I can look forward to the small blessing of these kids’ smiles. I wish these children could know how much their smiles touch my heart. I don’t ever want to take that for granted during my time here in Uganda.

Their smiles remind me that you don’t need material possessions to be joyful. These kids scamper across the dusty, dirt roads, rolling an old tire with a stick. That’s their toy. And they are having a blast! Their smiles remind me that you don’t need a grocery cart full of your favorite food to be happy. I’ve been blown away by how resourceful Ugandans are! They take advantage of locally-grown food, which might mean climbing a tree to find a banana or jack fruit. After a 7am-5pm day of school (yeah, it puts American kids to shame! ;) they may have to walk through the village to fill containers of water from a murky stream (saw a young girl doing this yesterday.) I’ll never complain about luke-warm water again. I’ve never had to worry about “will I have access to water tomorrow??”

Despite all the joyful faces, there are obviously children who are hurting and broken. On Wednesday, I went “into town” (Kampala city), and it was there that my heart broke. I walked by several faces that could not muster up a smile. Instead, the faces held a blank, hopeless stare. This was my first time to encounter street children. Just three years old, he has been through more than I can imagine. He’s just a toddler, yet there he sits, begging on the sidewalk, as people walk past nearly trampling him. He sits crosslegged, a position that allows him to be “comfortable” for a longer period of time.

I was helpless, unable to help the children at that moment. So I tried not to think about what I was seeing. Instead, I focused on navigating my way through the crowds of people….concentrating on not getting run over by a taxi bus or a Boda!

It wasn’t until I reached the peace and quiet of my flat that I took time to process what my eyes had seen. “I understand that I can’t hand out money—that would create chaos and may not even benefit the child,” I thought. “But I’m NOT ok with heartlessly walking past these precious children. Next time I have to do something—but what??

After discussing this with a long-term missionary, I know what I will do next time. I'll either carry stickers in my purse and stick one on the back of the child's hand. Or, I bought a long bar of soap today which I will cut into small pieces, handing them out so the child can have the option of bathing. It may not make a huge difference, but perhaps the child will see a glimpse of Christ’s love-- just by the simple fact that I took time to stop and interact with him, recognize that he/she is a valuable human being.

Please pray for the children in Kampala who are struggling to survive day-to-day. Pray that they will experience Jesus’s love and grace today. And please pray for Dwelling Places, the ministry that I’m serving while I’m in Uganda. They exist to rescue and rehabilitate street children.

Those children on the street? I can’t change their lives. But I know a Savior who can. And I am blessed to come alongside an established ministry (D.P.) who is passionate about these individuals.

That little girl with solemn eyes, holding out her hands for a scrap of food, desperate for a glimpse of hope? She is why I’m here.

Never thought we'd make it....

[If you actually read all this, you deserve a candy bar.

Keep in mind I move into my apartment tomorrow (Monday) and

don't know how often I'll have time to update my blog.

This will hold you over for a bit ;) ]

Last Wednesday,

My plane departed from NYC at 7pm.

My plane landed in NYC at 1am, six hours later.

Yes, you did just read that correctly. During orientation last week, we were told over and over to "be flexible" in Africa. This is a skill I can only acquire with God's help--those of you who are planners (like myself) can sympathize. It's not terribly easy to be flexible ;) Well let's just say, I was tested on the flexibility thing before I even got to Africa.

Thankfully, I traveled with four other individuals (a team headed to Arua, Uganda). This photo was taken right before we embarked on our traveling adventure.

It made our crazy adventures less stressful than if I had been alone. One thing after another went wrong....I still can't believe we were HALFWAY to Amsterdam when the pilot told us we had to turn back to NYC!

I'm going to steal part of Kevin's account of what happened (from his blog.) Somehow, we were able to keep smiles on our faces and laugh about the situation...

~~~~~~~

Wed, June 16 – 3:30 p.m. – arrive at JFK airport, except it was the wrong terminal. We then hauled all of our luggage to the end of the terminal, took a variety of elevators and hallways to AirTrane which led us to the correct terminal.
- 6:00 p.m. – depart JFK for Amsterdam
- 9:30 p.m. – realized an air conditioner unit on the plane had failed, causing us to turn around and head back to JFK (legal reasons, apparently)
Thurs, June 17 – 1:00 a.m. – arrive back at JFK and stand in a line to potentially receive hotel and food vouchers along with transportation to the hotel.
- 1:00 – 4:00 a.m. – stand in various lines trying to figure out how to reconnect our flight out of Amsterdam. Realized we were in a pointless line, and eventually received meal vouchers at a different kiosk. We then boarded a van to take us to our hotel, which just so happened to be overbooked. So another hotel is logical, right? Nope. The driver took us back to JFK briefly, then we took a 20-minute ride to our final destination, the Holiday Inn Express.
-12:00 p.m. – leave our hotel for JFK Take 2
-12:30 p.m. – arrive at JFK and stand in line for three hours to figure out how to reroute our flight.
-6:00 p.m. – leave JFK for a second go at Amsterdam (an hour later than the expected take off)

~~~~

Just a snippet of the three hour line mentioned above...

I had to chuckle when I flopped into bed at 4:30am at the hotel in NYC...I looked at the clock and realized, "oh my word, I've been 'traveling' for 15 hours and am in the same city I started in! I've made no progress!" So after 52 hours (and four airports: in NYC, Amsterdam, Nairobi Kenya, and Entebbe Uganda) we finally made it to Kampala, Uganda!

The five of us with our new Kenyan friend (he was on our forever-ending NY flight).

Yesterday was my first day in Kampala. This is my home for the next 9 months, and I'm still trying to process everything I'm observing. It was INCREDIBLY helpful to walk around the city with three other girls who are missionaries (from England, Korea, and Canada.) They've all been here for several months, so I'm trying to learn from them. Highlight of the day? Riding on boda-bodas! (A motorcycle taxi) You pretty much risk your life every time you take one (no helmets, darting between traffic), but I believe I will be taking one each morning to work. Something tells me I won't have a dull moment here in Uganda!

Here's a photo I snapped right after we hopped off the boda-bodas. Rachel (in blue) went back to Rwanda last night; she's a teacher there. Amy is heading home to Canada soon, but she'll be living with Grace and me for a few weeks.

Downtown Kampala is crazier than any city I've ever been to. FIVE MILLION PEOPLE live in the city. I move into my apartment tomorrow (I'm not living in the heart of the city. How do I know? Because apparently I'll live on a dirt road with crazy horned cows that wander around on the road.)

I LOVED the craft markets we went to yesterday.

I just meandered around, saying "olyotya" (hello) to the shop owners while using the five Lugandan words that I know ;) [Thank you, my sweet COTW kids!!]

We took public transportation to a delicious Indian restaurant on the top of a roof. My first Indian food, and it was in Africa--go figure. Oh, and I pretty much love the fact that Fanta costs 35 cents here!! (Fanta Passion is awesome--tastes like "passion juice" which is quite popular here.)

After dinner, we hailed a "private hire" taxi (these are safer to take at night, instead of cramming into a "taxi bus" which is a 15 passenger van that they often cram 20 people into.) The driver was sweet, bless his heart, but his car couldn't make it up the first little hill, and it was leaking fluid out the back. So we hopped out and took another taxi. Downtown traffic was insane....the taxi drivers will just turn off their cars in a traffic jam. We sat for 30 minutes at least once or twice.

And I learned NOT to hold a cell phone or a camera anywhere CLOSE to the window while riding in a car...it's quite possible someone will reach in off the street and steal it (it happened right before my eyes last night--the girl next to me had her camera taken out of her hands. kinda crazy. :/ )

This morning we walked down dirt roads to visit Watoto church (have you heard about the Watoto Children's choir? They're featured on Chris Tomlin's CD.) It was one of several Watoto church campuses. Interesting to see how westernized the service was..I enjoyed it, though.

I've enjoyed my time at the AIM missionary guest house but I look forward to seeing my new home (apartment) tomorrow! Enjoy a few photos I snapped today of the guest house. (AIM's central regional office is next to the guest house, and that's where we had orientation today.)

The guard on duty today. Her english was pretty good; as long as I talked slowly, we were able to converse. My first night here, our wonderful inn keeper told me "close your curtains. the guard is outside, and he'll be walking around..." I was thinking "wow, I think that was supposed to make me feel safe??"

The cozy screened-in porch where we've eaten our meals this weekend.

I hope all of you back home are doing well!

Please be praying for me tomorrow as I move in and continue getting adjusted to things here. I'm also meeting my co-workers at Dwelling Places tomorrow.

I can honestly feel your prayers, and I can't thank you enough. I'm excited for this venture, but I can tell it won't be easy. Thanks for your support!

passionate devotion

I read this on the plane to Africa, and I wanted to share it with you all. The cause (the work) that I'm doing is important; however, He has to be at the center of it. He has to be my strength. I can't do this on my own, and I know myself--there will be days where I'm tempted to, but it will get me nowhere.

Our Lord's first obedience was to do the will of His Father, not to the needs of men;

the saving of men was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father.

If I am devoted to the cause of humanity only, I will soon be exhausted and come to the place where my love will falter;

but if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though men treat me as a doormat.

-Oswald Chambers/My Utmost/June 19

Our two-day orientation at AIM's headquarters (in NY) was uplifting and refreshing. We were challenged to use our "kingdom eyes" instead of our natural eyes. While walking the streets of Africa, I want God to point out the people He wants me to encourage. I want to see the big picture and understand what's really going on--instead of looking with my natural eyes, as I'm used to doing.

Isaiah 61:1

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives,

and release from darkness for the prisoners.

That's what it's all about. That's why I'm here....

A video blog!

Monday = arriving at the mission's agency in New York for a two day orientation!

Wednesday = hopping on the plane!!

Thursday evening = arriving in Uganda!

[If you ever wonder what time it is in Kampala, where I'm living, just check out that nifty clock to the right of your screen.]

Thanks so very much for all your prayers. Keep 'em coming! :)

Enjoy a rambling video instead of a rambling essay :) Hmmm maybe I'll have to do this again, once I'm in Africa.

And so the "goodbyes" begin...

I've no doubt said many "goodbyes" in my lifetime, yet I'm still not good at them. It's so difficult to hug close friends and leave them, not knowing when God will bring you together again. But I can trust and pray that it's a "see you later." I spent this past week in VA with wonderful friends from college, as we were in the same city because of Anna's wedding. These girls have shaped me into the person I have become, and they have challenged and encouraged me along the way. Though thousands of miles will separate us, I am thankful for modern-day technology and also am grateful for their prayers!

In 19 days, I'll head to NY for orientation. The goodbye stage is here, which means that reality is hitting. I'm really leaving soon; Africa is no longer a far off dream. This excites me beyond belief, but I will admit to being nervous as well!

I can't thank you all enough for your prayers. I am surprisingly not stressed (in a week or so I might be ;) . God has provided my finances, and in fact, I may even be over my goal! Which means I'd love to stay in Uganda longer than 9 months....we'll see what He wants, though! It obviously depends what funds keep coming in.

If you're like me, you realize that it's easy to pray for this, this, and this without pausing to thank Him for what He HAS already done. That being said, I am excited to report that the car wash fundraiser on May 15 was such a blessing. My family, friends, and old acquaintances pitched in to make it possible, and I am so grateful for their enthusiasm and energy! What a blessing to be interviewed by the local newspaper about my venture to Africa; the article was published two days before the car wash, and that was one way the public heard about it.

This Sunday, I'll be speaking at a small church nearby. I look forward to sharing my heart for Africa with the congregation, but I'm unsure which direction to go. Please pray that God guides me as I prepare, and that he lays just the right words on my heart.