processing the missing

It's funny. Like I said earlier, I didn't miss Uganda all that much when I first left. Not that I was glad to be gone, because given the choice I would have absolutely stayed, but I didn't think about it all the time. As time goes on I miss it more and more.

I don't have any doubt that God put Uganda on my heart almost two years ago for a reason, and allowed me to go there for a reason. I really think I will be going to back at some point because I have such a huge passion for it and God has just been opening up doors for me. And if I don't ever go back, that will be because God has something even better in store for me, so I will have no regrets about not returning.

Even with knowing that, though, I still miss it. I haven't changed the time on my watch yet so when I look at my clock, I know exactly what those kids are doing, and have a little math practice to figure out what time it is here. Part of me wants to still stick toilet paper and a water bottle in my purse when I go places. And all of me wants to have rice and chicken at every meal. Thankfully, my mom has been pretty accommodating to that and I've had plenty of rice since I've been home.

I'm slightly addicted to the pictures of the boys. I look at them all the time. I'm really excited to print off the pictures and make a huge photo album so that I don't have to go on the computer to look at them.

I don't know if I mentioned this in one of my journal entries, but I really love Kampala. And I am NOT a city person so I was not really looking forward to going there since Jinja was so nice and had less of a city feel. But when I got to know the street kids and just had an absolute BLAST with them I started liking it more. And now I just really miss it there sooo much. I could probably write the word "miss" like a gajillion times, but I won't - for my sanity and yours.

I really don't know how much I will continue to write on this blog. Maybe a lot, maybe not. But I'm really glad I made it so that you can read of my adventures and see some of the pictures, and I can put the pictures and stories together and look at them over and over and over and OVER.

Home

I miss Uganda when I brush my teeth with normal water, don't eat rice and potatoes at every meal, don't have red dirt all over my feet, find toilet paper in the bathrooms, and eat junk food. My clothes don't smell like Africa. I eat at American times. I'm not doing doing the gangsta fist bump with Abdul or counting with Junior. I miss them. I don't want them to forget me as much as I don't want to forget them. I wish when I wash my face and body red dirt would get all over the towels. I wish I brought more home with me. I was learning to be comfortable there and loving the discomfort. I loved worshiping with them. They lyrics took on a whole new meaning when I looked at them from an African point of view. I felt like they really understood what they were singing and praising God for. I miss the genuine-ness of their faith. It's a lot harder to bring that back because it's not cultural here in the USA. I miss the Ugandan handshake. I miss the boys so much. I don't miss the lack of napkins and eating with fingers, but with time I would have adjusted to that, too.

7/13-14 - Wednesday and Thursday

On Wednesday morning I woke up at 4a and closed up my suitcase, ate breakfast, and then then got picked up by Kate and Steven in the taxis. I was feeling surprisingly calm and not sad then. I don't know if it was just because I was so tired, or what. It was sad on the car ride to Entebbe because, ya know, it's the last ride in Uganda until who knows when. I definitely want to return, but since no plane tickets are reserved I have no idea how long it will be until I step foot on beautiful Ugandan soil again.

At the airport we went through security and chilled in a cafe and the boarding area until we finally got on our plane. The plane ride was nice! I was sitting next to Mrs. Gibbons and a guy from Gordon College who had been in Uganda for a month so it was really cool to talk to them. When we got into London we did all the security and fun stuff like that and then took a bus to our hotel. Those buses are not made for 14 people with luggage, let's just say. I'm sure they weren't sad when we got off. =)

Greg in Dave's skinny jeans. this was picture worthy.

After settling in at the hotel we took the bus to Heathrow and then took the tubes to the Piccadilly Circus stop and walked to a local pub. It was so cute, the pubs had so much character! And good food. And famous people! I didn't recognize him, but Andrew Garfield from the Social Network and the new Spiderman was there so Ryan was freaking out. Dinner was about 9p, which was 11p in Uganda. We were hungry. After eating, we walked around the more historical area, I guess (I don't know what to call it!) and saw all the old building with amazing architecture. We also saw Buckingham Palace and from a distance saw the London Eye, Big Ben, and a couple of those huge cathedrals. And I saw red telephone booths which made me super happy. SUPER happy. Also, there was a Uganda House shop thing by the tube station. Love. ♥

We got back on the tubes by midnight (which was 2a Uganda time, and I hadn't slept that much on the plane). It was jam-packed and full in there. No place to sit down so a bunch of us just sat down on the floor in the end of the car and basically fell asleep. Not necessarily sanitary, but we were exhausted. We were able to find some seats when the car cleared out so I fell asleep on the seats them. We got to Heathrow and it was completely empty! It was crazy. It was also 12:30 and we caught a red double decker bus to the hotel. It was really late and I was half asleep so I wasn't able to fully appreciate the amazingess of being on a double decker in London.

When we got to the hotel I crashed and woke up at 7:30. Impressive. I went back to bed and woke up an hour later and showered and packed and then went out to breakfast with some of the team. It was nice to walk around a little bit in the daylight and have a good non-airplane meal. And as good as the food in Uganda was, it was nice to have variety in London. We checked out of the room at noon and headed to the airport.

Nothing much exciting happened there. I went through security per usual and it was no big deal. I did some shopping (bought a London 2012 shirt and mug for 22pounds, kind of expensive, but I felt like buying those and I'm glad I did) and then went to the boarding gate. On the way there we saw yet another famous person. This time Ryan or whoever actually talked to them. It turned out to be Jeremih or something who doesn't necessarily sound like a real great guy but they were excited and got a picture with him because he's famous. And he was on our plane to Chi-town. IDK. Then when I was getting ready to board I was pulled over by security and told that I was nominated for a bag check. They made it sound like I won the lottery or something. So the checked my bag (but didn't do a really good job, I must say. Not that I had anything to hide, but the check wasn't very thorough) and gave me a pat down and let me go. And then we had a plane ride which was fine and not quite as exciting because I'd been on so many recently.

When we got there we went through customs and security. America is a lot harder to get into than Uganda or England, but having a USA passport made it fairly easy to get by. Mr. Bowman took us home in the bus and my family was there to meet me. We stopped at Gina's for italian ice and then went home, looked at souvenirs, told stories, stayed up until midnight and slept until noon, and that was it.

In London and the plane rides and when I was home at first I didn't feel homesick for Uganda at all because I was tired of all the traveling and just wanted to be home. But then when I was home .......

7/12 - Tuesday

The last day, which was sad. =( We got picked up around 10 and the guys went to a slum called Kisenyi with some of the API staff and the girls went to the Hope House with Gina, Amanda, and Abby. It was a really precious time. All of the women are former prostitutes and are all HIV+. All of them have children except for the youngest, Annette, who was 18. We all went around and introduced ourselves and then the ladies shared as much about themselves as they were comfortable sharing. The first two shared that they were HIV+ and praised God that their children were negative! It was amazing! None of the other women shared about their HIV status and none of them directly said they used to be in prostitution, but hearing their stories was just incredible. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. Some of us shared about ourselves. Mrs. Dodgson and Gibbons shared about themselves and it was very powerful. After all that, we prayed, sang, and I bought some jewelry for myself and some friends. Ruth wrote about this experience here and you can see some pictures as well. After we left we stopped to do a money exchange and some people bought tea and coffee.

We met the guys for lunch at Steers and there was a very present silence about the guys. The slum they went to was apparently about a thousand times worse than Kivulu and what they guys saw really shook them up. I'm anxious to read Andy's post about the experience. (Some photos are here, but they don't do the place full justice. It's just a glimpse.) Please look at those links, it's so powerful.

I don't know how to go on and continue talking about our day, because the prostitutes and slums are such serious issues, but I must.

For lunch I had a Hawaiian pizza which was delicious. We hung around outside the restaurant for a while (I don't know why) which bugged me because I wanted to see the boys. Honestly, I had such an unexpectedly great time with them yesterday and didn't know I would be able to see them again! How I love those boys. When we (finally) got there I just chilled with them and took lots of pictures on my nice camera. Oh, my heart. I miss them sooo badly. I did the gangster fist bump with Abdul and Junior had to make sure I remembered how to count in Lugandan. I hated leaving, the time with them was too short.

After saying our goodbyes we headed back to the Cottages and after hearing the older Abdul's (guy who helps run the street program) testimony we filled out a survey for API and then had an hour to chillax before our team meeting. Despite Kampala living up to it's reputation of having black-outs, I took a shower and then went down to the meeting. Everyone took time to share, so it was good to have the ability to hear people's hearts. I was trying not to cry because, well, Uganda has an uncanny ability to make me cry because I love it so much and did not want to leave. Our time there was too short. After the meeting I packed up and was in bed at 11:30. Crazy how it just ... ended.

One of the many sad things I saw were scadoodles of posters that read: Jobs in America, Jobs in Japan, Jobs in Denmark, Europe. Free Transportation and a number to call. There were hundreds of these all over Kampala. They were scams to get people ensnared in prostitution and other things. It was sickening to see.

7/11 - Monday

Today was kind of a wonderful, long, amazing day. We got picked up around 10a, but because the taxis were on strike that day we took boda bodas (dangerous motorcycles)!! I rode with Mrs. Dodgson. The legal limit is one driver and one passenger, but no one follows traffic laws so we had two people on the boda boda. I was on the back and IT WAS AWESOME!!!! It was a little scary at first because I was in the back (and my leg burned on the muffler-thingy) and the road was super bumpy at first, but then I got used to it and it was fun! Our boda driver was racing with Andy and Joe's, of course we won. =) Mrs. Dodgson said, "I want to live" a few times, it was pretty funny because the driver just basically laughed and went a little faster.

not us on these bodas =)

When we got to the slums, it wasn't as I thought it would be, but as I was able to take it all in it was pretty horrible living conditions. When we got there we met the street kids and started to clean out the church and stuff, but I ended up not doing too much because I got distracted with hanging out with the boys and learning how to count in Lugandan. Amazing how something as simple as emu, bbiri, ssatu, nya, taano, mukaaga, musaanvu, munaana, mwenda, kumi can make such a big difference.

Meanwhile, the guys were putting up a basketball hoop for the kids. It's really great because it will give them something to do when the programs aren't going on instead of gambling and that sort of thing. Not good. After the hoop was up we went out for lunch. As we were walking through the slum Jonny told David to go in front and that he would hold up the back, and for everyone to stick together. Greg asked, "is it really that bad?" "Yeah." That made me perk up more. It was just a really rough area, and not a place I would want to be alone in. So many men there. Not a safe place.

After lunch we walked a ways (on a hugely full stomach, up hills. Almost needed someone to roll me. just kidding.) to get to a football pitch where we met up with the kids and played football. Except for the fact that I didn't , so I did face painting with the kids! It was really fun! One kid wanted the USA flag on his face, and pretty soon I had a lot of kids coming to me fore USA and Uganda color themed drawings. Especially Abdul, I did like two snakes, a heart, and a flower, and he already had three flags on his face. He's so cool. Lots of fun times. It's interesting, though. He's sixteen but I would have pegged him as thirteen, and there's a thirteen year old that I thought was ten. These guys just look younger than they are.

Aferwards we walked back to the slum and did part of the program for them and left shortly afterwards. We took bodas to the Kivulu Home. I was with Mrs. Dodgson again and this ride was a lot more scary. Or adventuresome, I guess. There was a lot more traffic because taxis were getting off strike. We were all over the place and went through red lights (which is normal, but still) and my leg got skimmed by something. And we were on a two lane road and on the middle line almost getting killed a lot. It was pretty awesome. I guess ignorance has its perks because there's a lot of things that I should have been worried about but didn't even think about. Craziness.

At the home we ate dinner and then I started getting jewelry from the boys. So sweet. A necklace and bracelet from Sadic, two bracelets from Drissa,

"Are you coming back to Uganda?" "I don't know." I wanted to make a necklace for you, but because today was a school day I couldn't. Here are two bracelets. Can I put them on you?"

and one from someone else. I gave my address and email to some of them and took pictures with them. We also did fire poi with them, but before that there was a dance party. I hafta say, these Ugandans can groove like no one else. Boy, can those guys rock it! And Abby and David did salsa dancing. It was awesome. Shortly afterwards we said our good-byes and came home in a taxi.

When we had our brief meeting that night, Jonny shared that when the boy mentioned here who talked to Mrs. Gibbons was being placed into a family (which didn't work out), the API staff checked up on him and found out that men were gambling on how much we could drink, and when he was drunk they handed him over to local prostitutes. I couldn't believe it. The whole evening I was playing with him and joking around and arm wrestling and making faces and having staring contests and he did not act like a kid who has gone through that kind of life. It's heartbreaking. I don't even know how to react to knowing about these injustices, much less to personally know people children who were the target of these horrors.  It's so hard. I. Don't. Want. To. Leave. This. Place.

7/10 - Sunday

Today was super long. We got picked up around 9:45a by Steven, Abby, Amanda, and Gina (some of the API staff) to go to the Watoto church. It was really big - there was a HUGE line of people waiting to get in, and security, too! The worship was really powerful, listening to people sing the words and understanding it in a different context was just amazing to listen to. These people know how to worship and love God in a way I can't, because they have such a different experience than I do. I don't really know how to explain it. But I cried during the service if that tells ya anything. (There was a lot of crying going on during this trip.)

Afterwards we went to Garden City for lunch. I had sweet and sour chicken, which was delicious. The Garden City was sort of an American mall type, which bugged me. I didn't go all the way to Uganda just to get more America! If you didn't know, I'm not a huge fan of the American culture/society and was quite glad to be gone from it for a few weeks. =/ Regardless.

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Then we went to a craft market near the National Theatre. It was super awesome to do that! I learned how to bargain for myself and it was great! =) I ♥ it so much. (I hope I made you proud, Grandma!) I got a lot of gifts and stuff for family and friends, which was awesome. I got four scarves, one bracelet, one necklace, one purse, one painting, two picture frames, and two bottle openers for 101,000= (about $50). Not bad, I think. Wish I had gotten more, but we had to leave and I didn't have many more shillings.

We came back to the Cottages to change (except for me, because all my clothes were dirty) and went to the Grace boys home. The home has about 50 boys living that ... A LOT. It's a big building, but not super nice. The bedrooms hold about four to five triple decker bunk beds, have thing mattresses, and no mosquito nets. There is no silverware, which was hard for me to deal with. It's so hard to realize that people live like that, but then to realize that they came from the streets which was a LOT worse makes the situation all the more real.

We played football with them in Kivulu at a pitch. It was interesting because people would just walk through or drive their bodas, and there are lots of dogs and chickens and ducks and goats chillin. Yeah. And creepy guys with cheesy smiles that say "I want you." (The smiles, not the guys.) So creepy. Thankfully no other guys were weird and flirty like that. I also tried some grilled corn and it was delicious! So addicting. Then we went back to Grace home and did our program for the boys and had dinner. While serving it up I spilled boiling broth on myself. That was a bit painful, so I held it under the tap and then just held a glass bottle of mountain dew to cool it down. Ick ick ick ick ick. It BURNED!

After dinner Dave and Greg did the fire poi again which was sweet and then we left. The day was so long, but so good. Looking back, it's amazing how much we did in one day. I think a series of events happens over a course of like three days but as I'm going over my journal entries I find out it all happened in one day! So awesome that we were able to do so much in such a short amount of time.

7/9 - Saturday

**I blogged about today here, so this is basically copied from the Uganda team blog.

Yo! It’s Rebecca.

Personally, I’m starting to not mind being dirty. It’s actually kind of fun. Which is probably a good thing because in Kampala we have been getting super dirty. Especially yesterday. But since I’m talking about today I’ll just stick on that topic. We got picked up around 9:45ish by the API team and the boys. We went straight to their new land in Bombo and split into two groups to work. One group worked on the foundation for the kitchen building, and the other group went more into the bushy land to clear the weeds from the Casava garden/orchard area. I should tell you, these are not puny American weeds. This was serious weeding, like weeds and things that were as tall as we are and thick. (If you couldn’t tell, I was on this team.) Feel free to ask your students to weed when we get home and just tell them that it’s super easy compared to Uganda, but don’t tell them I told you to. =) We used the hoes (which I am a fan of) and slashers and it looked so much better when we were done and was super helpful to API.  Afterwards we headed back to the main area and helped finish the foundation by placing rocks down over the cement slab.

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After a quick snack, we headed back into Kampala to the Kivulu Home where the boys live. It was super nice and fun to chill with them in their own setting. We had a delicious lunch (but more about how amazing the food is later) and then put on a program for them. Greg opened with two songs, and then we (Dave, Clara, Joe, Ryan, Hannah, and myself) put on a modern day version of the Good Samaritan. It was super fun. Then Mrs. Gibbons told the story of the lost sheep. Afterwards I heard that it was really powerful for the kids, which is wonderful. Then we closed with a few songs, one led by Sadic who is 14 and plays the guitar really well.  It was a really great experience to worship with them and have some fun, too. Whenever we worship with the people here, it’s just an amazing experience.

Despues del program, we went to play football/soccer at a local field. It was Americans vs Ugandans, and Americans won 3-2. It was a super sweet game, though. Americans were bigger but the Ugandans we probably better, so it was all good. =) I didn’t play, but I watched and took pictures. The field was on a hill so we had a beautiful view of the city and I was able to confirm that African sunsets are basically amazing beyond words. After the game we went back to the house and left to come back to the guest housing.

On the more personal side, coming to Uganda is simply the most awesome thing I have ever been able to do. God has opened so many doors to get me/us here, and being able to interact with the kids who have such a genuine and inspiring faith has been an amazing experience. Also, with all the things that could have gone wrong, I’m so thankful to have had really good safety and health so far! If you could see the traffic, you’d know what I’d mean. And besides not having any protein for a few days and feeling crummy and realizing that protein really is good for you, I’ve been fabulously healthy and with no jet lag. Woo hoo! Speaking of food, this stuff is amazing. I think rice and potatoes and goat stew is my new thing. I just miss milk. Anyway. I guess all I have left to say is that there is so much I can’t say in one little blog post, and I hope what I did say made a little bit of sense. Sooo, yeah. =)

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Love you all! Thanks for your prayers.

Rebecca

7/8 - Friday

Today we woke up and at at 8:30a, and then got picked up around 9ish by the A Perfect Injustice team and the boys from the Kivulu home. I guess I should write down the different ministries so that I can mention groups of kids and remember who they are. API has a street kids ministry that meets in the Kivulu (that 'K' is pronounced like a 'ch') slum. They have sixteen boys that used to be in that program that live in the Kivulu Home. The home used to be in the slum, but they moved it out for safety reasons but kept the name. They are currently renting a home where the boys live but have bought a new property in Bombo where they will move. They are going to build a second home to house an addition sixteen boys. Another thing to say is that having the boys in the home is sort of the last step. Ideally they want to boys to be in homes of their own, but if it's not possible then they join the Kivulu home. The other program that API has is the Hope House which reaches out to former prostitutes, all of whom are HIV+.

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{Oh! Before I get to the main stuff from the day, before we got picked up Ashley started washing our clothes in the shower with a bar of soap. Going rugged here, folks. I finished washing my stuff later, but seriously, it was ridiculous. Our bathroom flooded and we had clothes line hanging up all through our room. Classic. Should've gotten a pictures. But it took like umpteen days to dry so it was kind of a fail and I ended up paying for them to be washed and dried anyway.}

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We went over to their new property in Bombo to help with the work to get it open sooner. A couple of the boys had been there before, but a lot of them hadn't. It was fun to be able to be their with them and experience it together. Most people did brick tossing to get bricks from by the house to by the foundation of the toilet house, but I was leveling ground by the toilets. I had never done that before, so it was fun! (For the record, I am now a huge fan of hoes!) I worked with Mrs. Gibbons, and it was cool to talk with her. Relating to that, she told me about how one of the kids who was 13 had lost his parents. His dad had been killed by a taxi and his mom had been hung. Can you imagine that happening to such a young kid? I cannot fathom. But the amazing thing is, he seems so well cared for and counseled and loved and he just seems so happy. He's the entertainer, the funny one, the one who seems to make friends with everyone. I can't imagine having that disposition if I had had that background. It's all God.

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We had a yummy lunch of takeout chicken and chips, and biscuits. After lunch we went back to work digging holes for banana trees. It was hard work, but the boys there are beastly and didn't leave a lot for me to do. After we finished with the holes we walked through the bushy area on the land to go to where the second house is going to be built. It was cool to walk around a bit and get to the off-the-beaten-path areas a bit. Afterwards we went back to the Cottages and I went swimming because we got back around 4:30 which was pretty decent. Then I basically just chilled out. It was good. Side note: I felt really good today! No health issues or anything ... woo hoo!

7/7 - Thursday

Today has been a roller coaster of emotions. I didn't feel good this morning so I didn't eat much breakfast. I just popped a pill and rested until it was time to go. (I mostly packed last night because we left Jinja and came to Kampala today.) First we went to get our money exchanged. I did a $50 and a $20 and got 169,000= (shillings). Then we went to the source of the Nile. At this point I wasn't feeling well again, but went on the boat ride. It was pretty cool, and we saw a bunch of monkeys and birds and some 4-foot lizard things. Massive. There were lots of people fishing and stuff in these little tiny boats - if it were me I would have capsized in ten minutes ... no idea how they did it. (The Nile smelled and sounded like the Swamp exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo, if you want to go and experience it.)

After the Nile, we went shopping and I bought a plaque, a picture frame, and a candle holder for family. I paid a total of 44,000= for that (roughly $20). It was fun to walk around and see the different shops and all the cool stuff that was for sale. It was really sad though when a teenage-looking kid approached me and told me he was hungry and asked for food. I told him I didn't have anything for him, but it was really hard mentally. It's weird, in Chicago I just assume that everyone wants drug money and is out to get me, but I feel more like people in Uganda are legitimately hungry and in need. That's a wrong attitude to have towards the people in Chicago, because I'm sure many of them are legitimately in need, but, I don't know, it's something to wrestle with. What's the difference between beggars in Chi-town and beggars in Uganda, and why do I feel differently about them and what needs to change?

Afterwards we went out for lunch, though I was not very hungry. Then we walked through the market place, lost Joan and Dave, and reunited at the bus right when I was feeling severely dehydrated. I didn't drink a lot yesterday, which impacted me a lot. The market place is such a different experience. I don't really even know how to describe it. There's so much going on at once, so many people walking around, trying to sell things. So many goods. There's the meat section, the veggie section, and then lots of other goods. There's the chicken area. There's so much garbage and grossness all over the place. I can't imagine all the diseases in that area with the people, the bugs, the garbage, the food, the animals. It's such a different world.

random shot in Kampala .. not where we stayed

We got back to the guest house and packed up. I popped another pill and rested until we left. The ride was uncomfortable because I was in the pullout seat and had trouble sleeping. We finally got to the Ta Cottages and I'm sharing a room with Ashley. We were in one room, but there wasn't electricity or running water or something and the room wasn't fully ready so they switched us over to another room. For dinner we met with the API staff and it was good to hear about them and what they do. I started to feel bad during dinner (chills, headache, general exhaustion) so came up to the room. I talked with Jeb who is awesome and figures the traveling and being in a different society helps with the ill feeling, along with not having enough vitamins, supplements, and PROTEIN. Ugh. I didn't bring any of that stuff so I'm using Ashley's peanut butter and other stuff. So glad for her. I'm going to hit the hay now and get a good nights rest and hopefully be able to work tomorrow. We'll see. I'm kinda nervous about it because I'm not feeling well and frankly I'm not a city person so being in the city and doing hard work and not feeling well is just not a good combo. We'll see.

7/6 - Wednesday

Yesterday morning I got up, ate, showered, braided my hair, and all that jazz. The kids and a few vans came to pick us up at 11a. We headed to the Kingfisher Resort to go swimming with the kids. It was sooo nice! The kids loved it and it was super fun! There was a little pool with a slide down to another little pool, and then a tunnel to another bigger pool. It was really cool because yesterday the kids were able to bring us into their world with the murder of Charlie and Gertrude, and today we were able to bring them into our world with the pool experience. In Uganda, people don't spend a lot of money on leisure time, so this was totally new to them and oh-so-fun to do! I would take kids down the slides and try not to get splashed by them. I would take kids on my back and go into the deep area and walk around with them. We even created a whirlpool for them which was fun! So many memories for them. Mercy (lady who works there) even used Val's swimsuit and got in the water for a while! She had so much fun!

We had lunch there, but they ran out of pork and I didn't want fish, so I just got the chips. Kathy came as lunch was finishing so I stayed and visited with her. It was great to listen to her share about how she started Redeemer and hear her stories about the kids. I got to talk with her more in the van , which was awesome!

When we got back to Redeemer Dave did his fire poi thing which was sweet. I got some great pictures of it. Then we had dinner and said out goodbyes, which included giving the kids VBS shirts and telling them about the money raised for buying dinner tables. We were also there for their worship and prayer time. It. Was. AMAZING. Gloria led worship, and knowing her background made it all the more incredible. Then we said our goodbyes after taking a group picture and left. 

It was really sad to leave, because I spent three of some of the greatest days with them. It's hard leaving if you don't know if they are ever going to see you again, but it's encouraging that all but six of the kids are spoken for. Eleven of them are probably going to be in the same community! How awesome is that?! And four brothers are going to be adopted together, Michael and Joanne are being adopted together, and Nicholas and Akyram are being adopted together! Love that people are stepping up and bringing home siblings TOGETHER. So encouraging.

7/5 - Tuesday

This morning I woke up at almost 8a! =O Breakfast, and then Ruth did my hair. On the way to the Redeemer House we stopped to pick up chickens and kerosene. Some of the kids were in school, but most of them were there. After socializing a bit, we started playing some games. Duck, duck, goose, a ball game, and Red Rover (a couple kids got hurt with that one!). The kids were SUPER exhausted today, and I had a couple fall asleep on me. It was so sweet. Apparently the anti-worm medicine they take every 3mo. makes them drowsy. Lunch was around 3ish and was delish as always. We always have fruit, rice, beans, potatoes, etc.

After lunch it was time to start dinner. As in, the chickens previously purchased, Charlie & Gertrude, were going to be slaughtered. By Dave and Ashley. While the water was boiling, they were being tortured by Noah and the kids. Then the neck feathers were plucked. =O I couldn't watch so I gave Hannah my camera. I peeked a couple times, though. Even though it was so gross, it was SO cool, in a weird, sick sort of way. Dave killed Charlie and then Ashley killed Gertrude. And both of the roosters ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. Literally. The did it for like a minute before they eventually died. There was much blood, especially since Ashley kinda jumped back so she got blood on herself a lot when Gertrude dropped. So yeah, that was pretty much super gross. And the kids were running around with the heads and breaking toes and peeling skin off the feet. Slightly disrespectful towards the deceased.

Another really cool thing that happened was that, well, Nicholas and Akyram are getting adopted by a family in Valparaiso! They knew Deb Steiner, so they sent over a couple books and pictures for the boys with Jeb. The books were actually read by the family! Jeb gave his book to Akyram first, before Nicholas was home from school. His face just LIT up and he had this HUGE smile plastered on his face. It was so AMAZING. When Nicholas got home from school Akyram ran to him and was jabbering excitedly in Lugandan and pulling him over to his book. Then Jeb gave him his book! He wasn't quite as ecstatic as Akyram, but he was happy! And all the kids were clustered around and listening to the book. It was awesome!

Before dinner we learned to make the chapatis. (Flour, salt, water, veggies, oil for cooking. So delicious. Dinner was amazing. I love Ugandan food. But, BEFORE dinner Greg did the fire poi for the kids. (Side note: it gets dark really early here. ) They LOVED it! Seriously, seeing the boys faces looking eagerly at the show and their eyes light up was great. There's no words to describe it and no pictures either because it was too dark to make photos. After dinner we helped with dishes and then left. Another side note: When it gets dark, it gets DARK. There were some lights in the house, but not many and they only used a couple of candles and flashlights. It was a so different atmosphere than what I'm used to, but so cool.

Personally, I'm starting to care less and less about the level of filth and different bathroom arrangements and all that. I don't know why, just getting used to it, I guess. I LOVE it here. I'm missing everything already and I don't want to leave the country or the people. I just am finding something really beautiful here, the simpleness of their life. The simpleness of their faith. I love the relational community so much more than America's fast-paced, task oriented community. I'm not looking forward to returning to the US because it will be so easy to fall back into the "normal". And I don't want that.

Ooooo, and not speaking of sickness, Joanne is doing better, it seems! And Michael was pretty feverish yesterday and this morning, but when we gave him medicine his fever lightened. Yay! When Natasha woke up from sleeping she was all sweaty and not looking good, either, but she ended up being okay.
Couple of differences I've noticed is that Ugandans aren't big on hand towels, napkins, or tissue.