Yesterday in Kampala, upon realizing that it was already almost 4PM (we had left our house at 10AM) we wondered where our day had gone. . .
"The taxi ate it," our dear friend Kelsie explained.
Apparently leaving Entebbe any later than around 8AM is not a good idea. It happened to be the hottest day in Uganda we had experienced to date, and we spent half of it in an over-crowded (about 17 people in a vehicle the size of a mini-van), non-airconditioned taxi-van. At least 20 minutes of the travel time was spent at a dead stop, engine off, bumper-to-bumper, only a few miles from our destination--but in all reality about 30 more minutes of travel time.
We spent our day at the Naguru Children's Remand Home, which is basically a children's prison. It is a sort of holding place for kids who have committed crimes, such as beating up someone for no reason or setting arson to a building to murder or something as worse as that, and are awaiting their court date. While some of them are actually guilty, others have been sent there by parents or relatives who no longer had a place for them or wanted them. One sad aspect about the Ugandan culture is that they have little to no respect for the children. Especially when a widowed man or a divorced man remarries a woman, the woman will have no compassion for her husbands kids. Most of the time the step-children will get beaten until bloody without reason, starved and often times thrown out on the streets. What we have seen and heard about the cases at the Remand Home is that many of the children are in there as a result of being a step-child. The step-mother would despise her husbands kids so much that she would make up a false accusation about the children so that they can be sent away and not have the guilt of throwing them out on the streets.
There are 118 kids currently residing in the Remand Home, only 11 of which are girls. We were able to purchase 4 board games (Ludo--a treasured African game that is very similar to our game of 'Sorry'), 4 decks of cards, and 2 bright red soccer balls to bring to the kids. We spent all afternoon hanging out with the kids, forming relationships and getting to know them. It was quite a wonderful experience, and we were sure by the time we left that we would be back perhaps twice a month, but maybe more, to continue to minister to these broken children.
We were also able to visit 3 babies' homes this week, one of which we learned facilitates international adoptions...get excited Bethany!!! This is the Ssanyo Babies' Home, in Kampala. We were able to meet several of the workers and the head administrator at the home, as well as a few Mzungus from Southern California! We met a wonderful young Christian woman named Jenny, who came to Uganda on her own and has said she has had no real 'comradery' since she's been here, as she knows no fellow-American believing friends. We became quite attached to the children there--Stacie befriended the ornery child, as usual :) Sharon was her name. She screamed loudly and violently while leaning over the short wall separating us from the napping room, and did so until Stacie finally pulled her over the wall and into her arms. Emmanuel was the next child to try this routine--which worked, on AmyRose. And now she is permanently attached to the most beautiful little boy she has ever seen, who, by the way, she would like to see adopted into the States some day (hint, hint). We also arrived there just in time for "poty time" where all the kids who were being poty trained, a total of about 14 kids, lined up in a row and sat on their poty chairs...probably one of the most precious things we had seen all day!! We also were able to hold all the newly born babies and feed them warm-bottled milk. This was very touching and difficult because the babies only get touched four times a day-the times for feeding. Many of the babies eyes were crusted shut, probably just from crying and not being attended to.
We were able to visit Abba Home and New Life School this week as well, and got to love on our sponsor kids, Kato, Wasswa, and Zion, as well as give our American friend Devin a tour of the facility. He has mentioned possibly wanting to raise funds for another home on the campus. (Praise God!)
This morning we are sitting in possibly one of our favorite places EVER--Kelsie and Travis' :) Nak is writing a special someone a letter, and we are sipping on coffee w/ the best 'aero-frothed' creamer you've ever had in your life, topped with ground cinnamon. This is accompanied with baked oatmeal, and Jars of Clay's hidden track on their self-titled album playing in the background. We are getting ready to go to House Church where we will have fellowship and a pot-luck lunch afterwards, and are pretty sure that life does not get much better than this. . . :)
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Jesus in the Villages and ...STARBUCKS
Kato Vicent and Wasswa Ben are officially enrolled at New Life Boarding school! And night guard Lawrence's youngest son Zion will God-willing be enrolled as of this coming Monday. Praise God for provision and hearts for Uganda :)
We met a young Ugandan man named Geoffrey a couple weeks ago, who approached us on Hill Rd. while on our walk home, and began speaking to us quite passionately about Jesus. Throughout this short intro-conversation Naka (Stacie) and MuMu(AmyRose) learned that Geoffrey is a Mormon. As it was becoming dark and JjaJja begins to worry if we are out past dark, we explained to Geoffrey that we must be getting home, but would love to meet up some time within the next week to discuss Scriptures. Naka and MuMu were able to meet with Geoff in the Entebbe Children's park this past Thursday and had quite the interesting, two-hour conversation about the Bible compared to the book of Mormon. Geoffrey was actually incredibly knowledgable about the Bible--probably more so than any Christian we have met. However, many of the things he said did NOT in fact, line up with Scripture as he claimed, but were actually misinterpretations of the Scripture. All in all it was quite an enlightening experience--overwhelming, because we felt a bit unlearned in the ways of the Bible--but enlightening all the same. We have scheduled to meet with Geoff on Mondays at 3pm, so please be praying that conversations will continue to be blessed and the Truth will be made known to all who are present.
Friday was a fun-filled day...we were able to have lunch at an Indian restaraunt in town with our new b.f.f.'s--Kelsey and Travis Harris (whom we met at John's shop at Upland) and from there we met up with Irish James. James is a professional golfer from Ireland, who has come to Uganda for four months and has been ministering to Ugandan golfers as well as doing some street evangelism. Nak, Mu, Ivan, James and Tom (Ugandan preacher/soldier) went throughout the villages of Chitoro speaking to various villagers--boda drivers, street vendors, and random women and children. The experience was quite unique as neither one of us had ever done such ministry, but it was neat to especially watch James witness to the villagers, as he has such knowledge and understanding of the Bible. He was able to share the gospel with a Muslim Boda driver, who was actually quite receptive, and said to us that although he could not 'change [his] religion' right away b/c he didn't know much about Christianity, he promised to study the Bible if we get him one that is Lugandan. Nak was able to lead a villager woman to Christ through the gospel and prayer.
Today was a day spent with the German girls we met a few weeks ago, and a night spent with AMAZING company.....We have become good friends with Kelsie and Travis Harris, who are missionaries from Georgia; Travis is a pilot and Kelsie teaches ballet to young girls in the area. We made homemade pizza and met some other missionary pilots who also came over for pizza night. And, Kelsie was gracious enough to let us use their computer (which i am currently typing on) to upload.......... pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have felt beyond blessed getting to know this wonderful couple.
Tomorrow is church at KPC which we are quite looking forward to, as well as running several errands while in Kampala. Keep following and commenting, we love to hear from you and appreciate your prayers and support!!!!
We met a young Ugandan man named Geoffrey a couple weeks ago, who approached us on Hill Rd. while on our walk home, and began speaking to us quite passionately about Jesus. Throughout this short intro-conversation Naka (Stacie) and MuMu(AmyRose) learned that Geoffrey is a Mormon. As it was becoming dark and JjaJja begins to worry if we are out past dark, we explained to Geoffrey that we must be getting home, but would love to meet up some time within the next week to discuss Scriptures. Naka and MuMu were able to meet with Geoff in the Entebbe Children's park this past Thursday and had quite the interesting, two-hour conversation about the Bible compared to the book of Mormon. Geoffrey was actually incredibly knowledgable about the Bible--probably more so than any Christian we have met. However, many of the things he said did NOT in fact, line up with Scripture as he claimed, but were actually misinterpretations of the Scripture. All in all it was quite an enlightening experience--overwhelming, because we felt a bit unlearned in the ways of the Bible--but enlightening all the same. We have scheduled to meet with Geoff on Mondays at 3pm, so please be praying that conversations will continue to be blessed and the Truth will be made known to all who are present.
Friday was a fun-filled day...we were able to have lunch at an Indian restaraunt in town with our new b.f.f.'s--Kelsey and Travis Harris (whom we met at John's shop at Upland) and from there we met up with Irish James. James is a professional golfer from Ireland, who has come to Uganda for four months and has been ministering to Ugandan golfers as well as doing some street evangelism. Nak, Mu, Ivan, James and Tom (Ugandan preacher/soldier) went throughout the villages of Chitoro speaking to various villagers--boda drivers, street vendors, and random women and children. The experience was quite unique as neither one of us had ever done such ministry, but it was neat to especially watch James witness to the villagers, as he has such knowledge and understanding of the Bible. He was able to share the gospel with a Muslim Boda driver, who was actually quite receptive, and said to us that although he could not 'change [his] religion' right away b/c he didn't know much about Christianity, he promised to study the Bible if we get him one that is Lugandan. Nak was able to lead a villager woman to Christ through the gospel and prayer.
Today was a day spent with the German girls we met a few weeks ago, and a night spent with AMAZING company.....We have become good friends with Kelsie and Travis Harris, who are missionaries from Georgia; Travis is a pilot and Kelsie teaches ballet to young girls in the area. We made homemade pizza and met some other missionary pilots who also came over for pizza night. And, Kelsie was gracious enough to let us use their computer (which i am currently typing on) to upload.......... pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have felt beyond blessed getting to know this wonderful couple.
Tomorrow is church at KPC which we are quite looking forward to, as well as running several errands while in Kampala. Keep following and commenting, we love to hear from you and appreciate your prayers and support!!!!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Mzungus and New Life
Since our return from the Islands we have run into several fellow Mzungus. We were able to attend KPC this past Sunday morning--Kampala Pentecostal Church--which also happens to be the home base for Watodo. Attending church there was INCREDIBLE. The worship was energetic and the choir/band sang many songs from Hillsong; and the pastor was sooo Spirit-led!!! He spoke on the passage in Genesis about Abraham offering up Isaac as a sacrifice and said to us as a church,
"God will always ask for what you love! So be careful what you fall in love with--because God will always want you to love Him more..."
It was a phenomonal sermon and Stacie and AmyRose both felt they had not been spiritually 'fed' in such a way in a very long time. We were also able to meet up with Matt and Brecka Arnett while at KPC. Brecka is an SBU graduate and old friend of AmyRose. They are missionaries just outside of Kampala and will be here for two years. We were quite excited to have an afternoon with not only a few fellow Americans, but born-again believers AND people who were even familiar to our part of the States!
We also ran into a young girl named Kelsie at our grocery story at Upland. She and her husband moved to Uganda just two weeks after being married! He is a pilot who works flying missionaries to various places. Kelsie was very pleased to meet us, as she apparently does not really have any female interaction. So God is continuing to bless us with meeting many new people!!
Also we have had the opportunity to get to know a couple German girls whom are both our age and will be here in Uganda until July just as we will be. We took them to New Life/Abba Home and one of them has now partnered with the Boarding School and will be volunteer preaching there.
Saturday we were able to go shopping for Kato Vicent and Wasswa Ben's school supplies, and yesterday we finally had Kato enrolled at New Life boarding school! He is excited to be there and we think he will do very well. His brother, however, is apparently still on the islands, and we have yet to see him--they say he should be back today... we'll see.
Tomorrow afternoon we are meeting with a young man who claims to be part-Mormon part-born again....haha we are not entirely sure what he believes, but we are meeting up with him to discuss it. So pray for wisdom and leading in the words we use!
And Friday we are accompanying James, a golfer missionary from Ireland, to do some street/village preaching. So we have a full week!! Praise God for all of the divine appointments we have had.
"God will always ask for what you love! So be careful what you fall in love with--because God will always want you to love Him more..."
It was a phenomonal sermon and Stacie and AmyRose both felt they had not been spiritually 'fed' in such a way in a very long time. We were also able to meet up with Matt and Brecka Arnett while at KPC. Brecka is an SBU graduate and old friend of AmyRose. They are missionaries just outside of Kampala and will be here for two years. We were quite excited to have an afternoon with not only a few fellow Americans, but born-again believers AND people who were even familiar to our part of the States!
We also ran into a young girl named Kelsie at our grocery story at Upland. She and her husband moved to Uganda just two weeks after being married! He is a pilot who works flying missionaries to various places. Kelsie was very pleased to meet us, as she apparently does not really have any female interaction. So God is continuing to bless us with meeting many new people!!
Also we have had the opportunity to get to know a couple German girls whom are both our age and will be here in Uganda until July just as we will be. We took them to New Life/Abba Home and one of them has now partnered with the Boarding School and will be volunteer preaching there.
Saturday we were able to go shopping for Kato Vicent and Wasswa Ben's school supplies, and yesterday we finally had Kato enrolled at New Life boarding school! He is excited to be there and we think he will do very well. His brother, however, is apparently still on the islands, and we have yet to see him--they say he should be back today... we'll see.
Tomorrow afternoon we are meeting with a young man who claims to be part-Mormon part-born again....haha we are not entirely sure what he believes, but we are meeting up with him to discuss it. So pray for wisdom and leading in the words we use!
And Friday we are accompanying James, a golfer missionary from Ireland, to do some street/village preaching. So we have a full week!! Praise God for all of the divine appointments we have had.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Eyeballs (The Islands Cont'd)
Due to the fear of having our faces eaten off by the giant African rats of the Islands, we did not have much sleep on night #1. In fact, we had no sleep at all. Our dear friend Samuel Mukesa had said to us the night before, "Be careful of the rats--you know, THEY LOVE WHITE FACES!!!"
Unbelievable.
The first rat scare happened shortly after our arrival, when AmyRose, Stacie, Devon and Ivan all sat in the twins' mother's home, about to take tea. We all heard a scuffling noise throughout the house, and when movement was noticed at our feet, Devon, our supposed "protector" jumped up and ran quickly out of the house....only to learn seconds later it was, in fact, the house DUCK and not a rat that was seated at his feet.
So after a restless night, the day was spent roaming the sunny island. The beaches were absolutely beautiful!!! Like no beaches we have ever seen. Rather than sand or rock on the shore, there were soft, smooth, white stones, bigger than a fist, that covered the shore and lake entirely. The homes were hut-like dwellings that were all situated along the shore, and the rest of the island was covered in green and rocks and of course, ant hills :) We went on a short hike up the island and spotted a monkey--the first we have seen out in the wild.
Most of the day was spent hiking, playing pool (Stacie is sadly, not the best pool player--but she was a good sport), admiring the beautiful water, and getting to know the islanders. Lunch was quite delicious. The twins' mother grilled tilapia for us--and AmyRose and Devon partook of their very first fish eyeball.
Quote of the day by Devon:
"So, should I carve my way around it, or just kind of pop it out?" (speaking of the fish eye ball he was about to eat)
Hahahahaha :) Ohhhh the memories.
Because of AmyRose's major allergen attack, after the eyeball lunch, she and Stacie stepped outside to get out of the dusty home. While enjoying a cold Coca-Cola, Divan (Devon + Ivan) came outside to approach us and said, "So--who will it be? AmyRose, or Stacie? We have been negotiated with the head-boss of the island for your hand in marriage--it has come down to 6 cows and half the island." Stacie and AmyRose were NOT impressed, and kindly informed Divan that as our PROTECTORS marrying us off for a few cows and acreage was a good way to get themselves fired.
We ended up eating two dinners at night, as we had apparently made a good impression on one of the kind islander women, who cooked us a SECOND entire meal of food. We ate quite well, but taking long or short calls ( going #1 or #2) became quite interesting, as there were not even squattie-potties, but rather a field of small bushes, where Mukesa informed us, "ok, so--to the right for a short call, and for a long call to the left." Good times. The event of the evening was most definitely marshmellow roasting. Devon had purchased several bags of very tasty strawberry & grape-flavored marshmellows, which we decided to roast over some open coals we borrowed from an Islander woman whom was roasting corn. At first mallow-roasters consited only of Stacie, AmyRose, Devon and Ivan--but soon the entire Island was huddled around this pot o' coals, completely in awe of the marshmellow roasting activity and the deliciousness treat that resulted. Next time, we'll definitely bring more mallows :)
Tuesday night was yet another sleepless evening, as the huts are placed about 1.5ft. apart from one another, so the night air is filled with loud voices from neighbors, angry goats, and pet hens. We were wakened at 4:00AM by the boat driver, and proceeded to wait on the shores of the Island for our Captain to board--as we watched 6 islander men gather around a radio blaring American rap music, while they smoked the reefer. They offered us some, of course, to which Stacie replied, "Ummm no thanks. I don't smoke that stuff. It's bad for you, you know. It kills brain cells, so they say."
At around 4:45AM we finally took off--the boat was quite empty this time around--the 5 of us, plus the captain and about 3 others. It was quite the chilly morning, being out on the water, under the moonlight. We thought we were travelling home on an empty boat, which was nice--but we soon realized that the more stops we made on various island--the more people--and cargo, we acquired. Soon, there were OVER FIFTY people and several tons of dead fish in our boat. Un-be-lievable.
Stacie had the opportunity to sit next to a sick young child, who began puking everywhere, and apparantly the mother told the vomiting child to next time be sure to vomit on the Muzungu sitting next to her, rather than herself.
Thankfully, AmyRose did not develop motion sickness during the trip home, so that definitely made the trip more bearable--besides the 50 people and dead fish, that is. And also the fact that she discovered the boat had a leak, due to a soaked left leg. AmyRose quickly patched said leak with chewed gum and a small patch of paper, to which dearest Ivan was quite impressed and replied, "Ahhh Rosie!! You are becoming African!"
We arrived safely back to Hill Road by 11:30AM on Wednesday morning, thankful to be home, but already looking forward to our next island adventure!!!
While on the islands, we were able to meet Mama Vincet (mother of twins) who is the Nurse of the Island. She lives in a hut-type home as the rest of the islanders do, and her tin roof, which has held up for 8 yrs. now----has several leaks in it. We will be looking around town for prices for more tin and supplies to repair the roof, and would LOVE if any of you blog-followers would be interested in helping to fund this project.
Unbelievable.
The first rat scare happened shortly after our arrival, when AmyRose, Stacie, Devon and Ivan all sat in the twins' mother's home, about to take tea. We all heard a scuffling noise throughout the house, and when movement was noticed at our feet, Devon, our supposed "protector" jumped up and ran quickly out of the house....only to learn seconds later it was, in fact, the house DUCK and not a rat that was seated at his feet.
So after a restless night, the day was spent roaming the sunny island. The beaches were absolutely beautiful!!! Like no beaches we have ever seen. Rather than sand or rock on the shore, there were soft, smooth, white stones, bigger than a fist, that covered the shore and lake entirely. The homes were hut-like dwellings that were all situated along the shore, and the rest of the island was covered in green and rocks and of course, ant hills :) We went on a short hike up the island and spotted a monkey--the first we have seen out in the wild.
Most of the day was spent hiking, playing pool (Stacie is sadly, not the best pool player--but she was a good sport), admiring the beautiful water, and getting to know the islanders. Lunch was quite delicious. The twins' mother grilled tilapia for us--and AmyRose and Devon partook of their very first fish eyeball.
Quote of the day by Devon:
"So, should I carve my way around it, or just kind of pop it out?" (speaking of the fish eye ball he was about to eat)
Hahahahaha :) Ohhhh the memories.
Because of AmyRose's major allergen attack, after the eyeball lunch, she and Stacie stepped outside to get out of the dusty home. While enjoying a cold Coca-Cola, Divan (Devon + Ivan) came outside to approach us and said, "So--who will it be? AmyRose, or Stacie? We have been negotiated with the head-boss of the island for your hand in marriage--it has come down to 6 cows and half the island." Stacie and AmyRose were NOT impressed, and kindly informed Divan that as our PROTECTORS marrying us off for a few cows and acreage was a good way to get themselves fired.
We ended up eating two dinners at night, as we had apparently made a good impression on one of the kind islander women, who cooked us a SECOND entire meal of food. We ate quite well, but taking long or short calls ( going #1 or #2) became quite interesting, as there were not even squattie-potties, but rather a field of small bushes, where Mukesa informed us, "ok, so--to the right for a short call, and for a long call to the left." Good times. The event of the evening was most definitely marshmellow roasting. Devon had purchased several bags of very tasty strawberry & grape-flavored marshmellows, which we decided to roast over some open coals we borrowed from an Islander woman whom was roasting corn. At first mallow-roasters consited only of Stacie, AmyRose, Devon and Ivan--but soon the entire Island was huddled around this pot o' coals, completely in awe of the marshmellow roasting activity and the deliciousness treat that resulted. Next time, we'll definitely bring more mallows :)
Tuesday night was yet another sleepless evening, as the huts are placed about 1.5ft. apart from one another, so the night air is filled with loud voices from neighbors, angry goats, and pet hens. We were wakened at 4:00AM by the boat driver, and proceeded to wait on the shores of the Island for our Captain to board--as we watched 6 islander men gather around a radio blaring American rap music, while they smoked the reefer. They offered us some, of course, to which Stacie replied, "Ummm no thanks. I don't smoke that stuff. It's bad for you, you know. It kills brain cells, so they say."
At around 4:45AM we finally took off--the boat was quite empty this time around--the 5 of us, plus the captain and about 3 others. It was quite the chilly morning, being out on the water, under the moonlight. We thought we were travelling home on an empty boat, which was nice--but we soon realized that the more stops we made on various island--the more people--and cargo, we acquired. Soon, there were OVER FIFTY people and several tons of dead fish in our boat. Un-be-lievable.
Stacie had the opportunity to sit next to a sick young child, who began puking everywhere, and apparantly the mother told the vomiting child to next time be sure to vomit on the Muzungu sitting next to her, rather than herself.
Thankfully, AmyRose did not develop motion sickness during the trip home, so that definitely made the trip more bearable--besides the 50 people and dead fish, that is. And also the fact that she discovered the boat had a leak, due to a soaked left leg. AmyRose quickly patched said leak with chewed gum and a small patch of paper, to which dearest Ivan was quite impressed and replied, "Ahhh Rosie!! You are becoming African!"
We arrived safely back to Hill Road by 11:30AM on Wednesday morning, thankful to be home, but already looking forward to our next island adventure!!!
While on the islands, we were able to meet Mama Vincet (mother of twins) who is the Nurse of the Island. She lives in a hut-type home as the rest of the islanders do, and her tin roof, which has held up for 8 yrs. now----has several leaks in it. We will be looking around town for prices for more tin and supplies to repair the roof, and would LOVE if any of you blog-followers would be interested in helping to fund this project.
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