January 4

“It’s about the journey-mine and yours-and the lives we can touch, the legacy we can leave, and the world we can change for the better.” --Tony Dungy

Today was hard. I was expecting it to be very “National Geographic”, but I wasn’t prepared for it to jump off the page and wrap its arms around my waist. When we arrived at the Karamajong village, hundreds of the dirtiest, most pitiful looking kids I’ve ever seen swarmed around us. Little children caring babies on their backs were everywhere. Filthy children were reaching out their hands for candy and stickers. The Karamajong are the outcasts, the untouchable people that live on a hillside in Jinja, Uganda. These children are either totally orphaned or they live with a mother trying to find work in town or an old grandmother. If it weren’t for Amazima ministries, most of these children wouldn’t be alive. They get one meal a day, beans and rice, and if they don’t have a container(an empty plastic margarine or whipped crème bowl) with them, they can’t get any food. I saw little children sobbing because someone had taken their food bowl…their ticket to the one meal for the day. I was in the food line with three siblings, holding a toddler for a little girl who was carrying a baby and three food bowls. One half-naked, screaming toddler got separated from his older siblings holding his food bowl out for someone, anyone to fill it. I took it out of his hand and got it filled for him….he didn’t smile or respond. He grabbed it and rushed off…I guess before some bigger kid could take it. I saw one child drop his metal bowl because the steaming food had heated it, making it too hot to hold. Talk about despair…. this child was panic-stricken. But Amy rushed over, picked up what was left and carried it for him down the hill. Can you imagine thinking you’ve just lost your one opportunity to eat? What a hopeless place. What more can be done to help? Wrapping my brain around the problem is overwhelming. At least they are surviving for now…all because a 20 year old American girl saw a need and didn’t ignore it.
In contrast to the village, Caanan Children’s Home where we went this afternoon was filled with hope and Christ’s love. Only the orphanage children were there today, so most of the faces we saw were happy ones. Pastor Isaac, the man who started the orphanage and his wife Rebecca, have rescued hundreds of children from the streets for many years. Most of these children had been severely abused and neglected. Isaac has a miraculous testimony of how God rescued him from a firing squad during Idi Amin’s rule and later smuggled him into Kenya for a few years. Isaac believes he heard God’s voice telling him that one day, he would be the father to the fatherless. 30 years later, he has a thriving ministry where all the children are believers. We toured the orphanage property, where I bought a hand made musical intrument (can’t wait to carry that all the way home) called a “dungu” from an old man on a dirt path. He played a song and I was hooked. It costs 15,000 shillings; about $7….a good month’s pay for him. We saw young men making bricks for a wall they are building around the property. We saw their sweet potato garden and the new girls’ dorm they are building to replace the one that suspiciously burned down in September. When we returned to their pavilion, Isaac shared his testimony while we ate lunch. After lunch, we washed the children’s feet and fitted them for new shoes. I understand now why that simple, Biblical act is so meaningful. And it’s very humbling to wash REALLY dirty feet. The children were so excited. We also gave them candy bags and the clothes and new sports equipment we brought from the U.S. 17 year old Daniel proudly wore his Briarwood Soccer Club jersey. I told him it came from a mom on our soccer team and he hugged and hugged and hugged me. There is such gratefulness for simple things. The little children even saved the ziplock bag that their craft came in. Our team also donated enough money to purchase new mattresses for all the girls. I thought Isaac was going to bust as our guys unloaded them from the truck. Before we left, Mandi, Josh and Britt played the guitar and sang worship songs for everyone and we prayed over Isaac, Rebecca, the workers and all the children. It was a great afternoon. Isaac hugged each of us (let me tell you, Ugandans are huggers!) and told us what a blessing we were. I told him it was the other way around. ..they had blessed me. Good way to end the day