Hello My Dearest Friends!
I have finally had time to sit down and try and put into words all that has happened within the last few months. A task that I assure you isn't easy! To attempt to sum up what life has been like this year is one of the hardest things I've wanted and been asked to do. So, if I'm a little scattered or unclear in any way my deepest apologies!
First and foremost I would like to thank ALL of you! My heart has been DEEPLY touched by all your support and love! I COULD NOT have made this trip without any of you! My words are not enough of a thank you but its the most I can offer you! SO THANK YOU!!
On April 10th in the evening we landed in Entebbe, Uganda and met with our now dear friend, Aron. Though he is a little embarrassed by it we took delight in listening to him the entire way "home". He shared with us the do's and don'ts of the country. What to expect and not to expect. And shared the best advice he could offer us. By the time we'd reached the house I had felt in good hands and that the next few months would be life changing. I hadn't ANY idea just how much so.
The first month we stayed in Kampala. 2 weeks at our now families house, Angela and Benum. They have 3 children total, one who was away at school and two that blessed us with their presence nightly. Their son was 10 and their little girl 4. Blessed doesn't even begin to express how we were treated. They let us stay there for free and paid for and cooked our meals nightly.
While we were here we worked a few days with Women and men who tested HIV positive. We also worked with an orphanage called God's Grace. Our goal was to love. Love on every person we encountered to our fullest compacity. Which came to be easy at each place, but especially God's Grace. We found 124 children with just 7 care takers. MANY, including babies, suffering from malnutrition and infections. The very first day I had one little girl who simply clung to me. The second I released her from my arms she would start to wale! The second day we arrived she ran to me with her friend who also would sob the second I let her go. As the newest girl cried (even as being held) I asked what was wrong, I was told "she always just cries. She needs to be quiet or leave this place." I asked if we could treat the wounds on her feet and I was ignored. Saddened by this my teammate, Tex, and I prayed over her. This is one story of many of the neglect and heartbreak we encountered the first few weeks.
Each teammate within those first couple weeks fell in love with one or more of those kids. Whitney and Anthony were no exception. A 2 month old baby was in this orphanages care. Whit with her nurturing heart she has went to her and rocked her. Her touch was startling to Baby Joy. "She was literally like a doll for the first hour or so" said Whit about holding Joy for the first time. Joy wasn't formular with human touch or what it meant to be cared for. As we were leaving Whit made Joy a promise to come back for her and adopt her. "The way she looked at me, it was like she understood every word. It was like she wasn't a two month old but an adult." As time went on and I spoke more with Whitney about Joy the more I too, and the team, fell in love with her. By week 3 of outreach I knew in my heart we were to go back for Joy. But I want to share more of the next 2 weeks before getting too far into Joy's story.
Week 3 and 4 we were in Kampala as well but no longer with Angela and Benum. Instead we hooked up with our friend Jonathan to build an aquapontics. This is a garden system that treats and takes care of itself but produces veggies at an alarming rate. Here we stayed with the orphans in our own rooms. When we arrived there wasn't any electricity and they had just gotten what is equal to our running water. The friends we made there were amazing. There are 12 children that live there, who sadly cant attend school so run around and play all day. They LOVED our water bottles and were the main source of their playing. These kids are sweet and adorable and I love each of them dearly. There we also met a 15 yr old man who worked with us building the aquapontics. His name is Denis and Ive NEVER seen someone work as hard as he did! He provides for his entire family, paying all their bills and also pays his school bills, which is $40 American BUT they average about $4 for a FULL days work! So its a LOT of money!! It was crazy to witness the level of struggle that was happening here.
The next few weeks were by far the hardest for me spiritually. We were off to Jinja (3 hrs away) for the remander of the trip. Or so we thought. As we packed and headed out the tears filled my eyes and over flowed my heart. I felt Kampala was where we were supposed to be but how could we just blow off all the plans we had in Jinja? And how do I share this with the team? I just probably don't wanna go because I fell in love with these people. Those were my thoughts. As we arrived I fought off my heartbreak. Within the next 2 days we found out that what plans we thought we had comes to find out, we didn't have at all! We literally had a month freed up! I was ready to re-pack and head to Kampala the moment Anthony gave us the news. Pitching the idea out to go back seemed perfect so there it was...pitched. After talking a little we prayed and felt as a team that 2wks in Jinja was what God had wanted from us. And the last 2 wks we'd head back to God's Grace.
We did just that. We filled in the first week in Jinja with random ministry. One day the girls did a maternity clinic. Which is where I discovered just how TERRIFIED of the medical field I am! haha that was ROUGH! We also did street walking and visited with another orphanage that one of our speakers founded, Cesta Nest (Streams of Mercy). In the second week we had planned a kids club for the neighborhood children. On day one we had 60 children and on the last day we had 110. It was EXHAUSTING but SO rewarding!! ages 4ish-18ish.... incredible! We did dances, skits, bible stories, games, songs, testimonies, prayers etc. Truly amazing.
The last 2 wks were the roughest since my mom passing. I have NEVER felt more emotionally drained (other than when mom died) in my entire life. We went back to the orphanage where it all started. It literally felt like we were arriving home as we pulled into Benum and Angela's. That was the refreshing part. The down side was we had a LOT of work to do with so short a time. While we visited Cesta Nest we found a new place to have Joy transferred to. The house was AMAZING she'd stay in and the people who'd be taking after her.... amazing! And apart of our goal was to have her moved there before we left. We knew it would be hard... we didn't realize how hard and why.
During the month and half on off days and free time Whitney and Anthony had been meeting and doing all they could to get the adoption process going. We kept running into hiccups but kept being able to overcome them due to God blessing us with more people who knew more answers. But the more we dug the more we started to question things. But not once did we question this was where we were meant to be.
Sunday came and we visited the children again for the first time. I was told by one of the kids all they had to eat was flour and water. Instantly our team decided we'd get them some rice for the week. Monday morning we brought them a big bag of rice and started to build 2 bedrooms for the boys. 30 plus boys were sleeping outside in the classroom on dirt and without misqueto nets (Malaria is HUGE over there and can be deadly if not treated in time.) We also built a laundry line to hang their clothes out on instead of laying them of the ground and a chicken coop and were sure to clean their sheets and bedrooms. Tuesday another organization brought 2 bags of rice for the kids and helped us with the projects above. Wednesday was the same. And then on Thursday we'd gotten back from lunch and one the kids came to me saying the older kids hadn't eaten. Confused as to why I had asked. They said "we ran outta food." Even more confused I went back to the kitchen and talked with the cook, who informed me that, indeed they'd "run outta food." Thinking this is impossible with all the food just delivered I went to Anthony and Tex overheard the news and went back to investigate. He found the food and then was told they were fasting. Confused as to what was happening and how the stories weren't adding up I decided to start asking questions. Im not gonna tell you how but just the info we discovered....
What we found out was that what basically happens is the person who runs the organization goes to kids parents and convinces them she can get them adopted by western people. What she doesn't tell them is that adoption through them isn't allowed at all. Then they will have the kids, esp the babies, be real thin and sickly so that when organizations go through they feel awful and because adoption isn't allowed all they can do is donate money. Then they will pocket the money and the children see none of it. They have found that babies bring in more care and money and so they've started to target them more. Hence why we are struggling to have Joy transferred. I was also shown 3rd degree burns that were done as punishment, they are not allowed to eat when being punished (2 babies were literally one DAY away from death), they are verbally abused daily and also caned if they ate food offered to them while they were being punished. The reason we cant just shut them down is because the kids who do have parents and thought they were giving their kids a better life will be arrested for abandonment and put into jail. And we don't want innocent people suffering for doing what they thought was best. And those who don't have parents will be left homeless. So, that's why I'm trying to go back there. I had a conversation with God and he told me that I must help one kid at a time and start with the most innocent.... which here is Joy.
This orphanage is the reason we were sent to Uganda. I have found my calling and that is the O.S.O... operation save the orphans. I plan on shutting down places like this and building new and better homes for these children. If you feel at all lead to help me in accomplishing this mission PLEASE talk to me! Whether finances or coming along and helping or just praying... however you can help PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO! These kids are the sweetest kids ever and are abused daily. I don't know how they are so wonderful! But Ive seen these things with my own eyes and I do need your help!! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUVE DONE ALREADY!! THANK YOU! PLEASE SHARE THIS!!!
In Love with Uganda,
Krista June
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