Her Worn Eyes & My Ravaged Heart

First thing on the agenda this morning that I knew of was to visit a sick lady. At breakfast Brenda, the director of Helping Hands, told me that the woman was named Christine and was someone she has known now for many of the years she has been in Uganda. She also told me that Christine has AIDS. When I asked how she got it, Brenda told me that her husband had given it to her, but that he was no longer alive.
While in Africa I have come in contact with people who are HIV positive and possibly even unknowingly in contact with some who have AIDS. But I had never experienced what I did this morning.
We drove down the red African clay roads that are so distinct of the land here in East Africa. We drove until the road became so narrow that we had to get out of the car. As we began to slow down children gathered to watch the white people and shouted, "Mzungu! Mzungu!" which means: white person. It happens everywhere we go, children shouting "mzungu", adults stopping what they are doing to stare.
Christine was staying with her sister because she was not strong enough to care for herself, and as we approched the house i began to take in my surroundings which are very common to this land: mud huts and shacks were everywhere. Naked babies played in the dirt, women sat outside cooking over fires.
The house we came up to was no bigger than the bathroom in the house of my childhood. It was attached like a duplex to another home about the same size. Straw and tarp served as the roof and mud were the walls and floors.
We were welcomed into the home and I had to bend to get through the doorway. Inside was enough room for the five of us to sit down beside the cot on which Christine lay, her body lost under the blanket. This woman's state broke my heart. She was no more than skin and bones and could barely talk. This disease had ravaged her body, she did not have the strength to sit up on her own. She watched us with very tired eyes.
Brenda asked Christine if she had been eating but she said that she had not because her stomach hurt. And because of this she has not been taking her medicine. There is a medicine for HIV positive people that helps to control the disease of AIDS but it must be taken with food.
Brenda pulled a blouse out of her bag that she had brought as a present for Christine. Together the sister and another lady put the shirt on her. As they did this I could see the toll AIDS had taken on her body, so much so that I had to look away.
We encouraged her by speaking the gospel over her and reminding her that heaven was her home. We prayed over this sweet, slowly dying lady.
The scene before my eyes broke my heart.
Before we left Brenda asked if there was anything she could do for her. Her response? Please help my children.
This afternoon Brenda sent me out with a social worker of Helping Hands, a sweet Ugandan woman named Edith. Together Edith and I spent over two hours walking the streets of Busia. Our first stop was Busia's school to meet with one of Christine's children. We sat with Junior, who was in 9th grade, at a table outside the Headmaster's office and asked him some questions about the food they had at home. He told us that they only had a little flour. Out here they use flour to make a mashed potato like substance. It is their staple food and often the only meal they eat during the day. Christine has four children who live in a home maybe fifteen or twenty minutes walking distance from her sister's house.
Edith and I took Junior with us to do some shopping.

We bought petrol, cooking oil, beans, flour, charcoal, sardines, cabbage, tomatoes, a few onions, and soap. Edith told me that the amount of food we had given them would last them about a month. It all cost maybe twenty dollars at most.
The load became too heavy for the three of us to carry so we hired a bicycle taxi to take the heavier items to their home.
They were so grateful for the provision of food.

It was something that Brenda had promised Christine years ago as the disease of AIDS began to intensify: that she would look after her children.
As we had prayed with Christine before leaving her home earlier that day, she was sitting up by resting on the chest of her older sister who looked years younger than her diseased sister. The pain in her eyes was real as she held Christine.

I really have no words for today. I will never get the picture of Christine's tired eyes out of my head. I sit here writing this while listening to a Bethel Live song entitled "Our Father." The song says that it is our heart's cry to see God's will done on earth. I can say with a deep sorrow in my heart that some people have not made it through this whole blog post, others who cannot grasp the reality of poverty and injustice that occurs in so many places of this world unjustly think themselves that I am trying to guilt trip people by the words I have written. But none of it is dramatized. It is so real.
Is our heart's cry really to see God's will be done on the earth? His heart is for the poor, the abandoned, the hurting. There are so many verses in the Bible that show God's heart for the abandoned, the orphaned, the alienated. Jesus himself said that he did not come for the good or the healthy because they have no need for a Physician. He came for the needy, the poor, the broken. If our desire was to see His will done on earth it would not be turning a blind eye to the needy people of this world.

"Speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice." Proverbs 31:9

Boda Rides & Car Rides

Yesterday I was in Kampala with the Telman's. The night before we said our goodbyes at the airport to the group who had come, and now we were gearing up to head back to Mbira where the Telman's live and minister.
First thing on the agenda for the day? A boda ride to the store! What is a boda you ask? It's one of the words out here for motorcycle. It is one of the fastest ways of transportation in Uganda, especially in the capital. Where traffic is thick, the bodas weave their way through. They also tend to carry HUGE loads, way bigger than the machine itself. It kind of reminds me of an ant who carries well above their size. That's the way motorcycles are around here.
The Telman's daughter Amanda and I got on the back of one motorcycle and Mr. Telman got on the back of another. Women usually ride the motorcycles here sidesaddle because the majority them wear skirts, so they have a little foot rest just for women. But Amanda and I were both wearing ankle length skirts so it wasn't too hard to ride the motorcycle normally. I wasn't too sure how I felt about riding sidesaddle, seems a bit scary!
The ride was fun though, and pretty cheap. After that, we got all packed up in the car and began the process of heading back west to Mbira. It was a long process because we were also taking the national Pastor's wife from the Telman's church and her newborn baby, Lucas. He was born toward the end of August after some complications which caused him to go without oxygen for an hour. So he's been in the hospital on oxygen ever since. But his mom was VERY ready to get home. The Telman's were able to help that be a possibility. Yesterday we were able to gather the things that he needed to live at home: his own source of oxygen.
When we pulled up to the ministry site here in Mbira, it was close to 11 p.m. But a rush of screaming girls from the orphanage ran screaming to meet us. They were SO excited to see the Pastor's wife again. I began to see then what an impact she and her husband have made and are making in the orphans lives. They live on the property with them. To these girls, she is their mother figure. And they couldn't wait to have her back with them. It was such a sweet moment.
I'm so thankful that she was able to come home with her son. If not for the Telman's help, he might not even be alive right now because of all the extra help he needs. God is good!

Nurture Baby Home

Today I began my stay at Nurture Baby Home in Masaka, Uganda. Its a home for orphaned and abandoned babies and I'll be here until Sunday!

I've really been looking forward to my time spent here and what I would have a chance to learn. When I arrived the first thing I was able to do was meet the older children who were playing in the front yard. They acted so shy when i first got out of the van! Later that night they did not act that way though! 

After I put my things away I went into the baby room and I was immediately drawn to this one little boy. I ended up holding him for a long time. He is such a sweet little chubby, healthy looking baby with a big smile. Later on, at dinner, I asked one of the girls who works there what had happened to the baby who was malnourished and found tied up under his mother's bed. I had seen a video on the Internet with the founder of this baby home talking about that specific child's past..... I was told that it was the baby I has been loving on for like an hour. He was the one so malnourished, so mistreated. If I say that it hit me hard, that would be an understatement. It genuinely shocked me and made me want to cry. To think that he had been made to suffer that way rocked me. It also made me further realize the importance and need of ministries like Nurture Baby Home.  God has so much love for these children that He found a way for them to have a chance. I believe God is going to do big things in and through the life of that baby I held today. He has a great story already of being rescued and taken into the care of people who genuinely love him now because Christ first loved.

It also doesn't seem coincidental to me that the same baby who's story I had heard months ago was the one I unknowingly was drawn to. It truly touched me in a very real way. 

That's all for now.

Killer Storks

Today was my second full day in Uganda!
Finally, I'm over the worst of the jet lag. Its about 8:30pm and I don't feel like crashing. About this time last night I was soooo ready for bed. Time zone change is 7 hours ahead of you all in Eastern time zone.
After lunch today, we began our journey west of the capital. So I got to see a lot of the landscape of Uganda. Its interesting to me how different Uganda looks vs. Tanzania. And they are located so close to each other. Uganda is a country of rolling hills covered with green, tropical looking plants. I actually noticed a reed that grows commonly around here that looks like the plant from the Lorax... they must have come to Africa. The temperatures here are amazing! It hasnt been more than high 70s or low 80s since I've been here... but the sun is so strong!
There is also a stork here that is basically a vulture, they have HUGE bodies and really tall legs and beaks with a wing span of about six feet. They are massive and super creepy looking. I'm hoping I can see one long enough to grab my camera to show you.
This picture was taken along our journey at the Equator line!!

So I got to stand in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Pretty cool!
For the next two weeks I am in a small village called Mbira. The missionaries live in a house on the same property as the orphanage. They have about 80 children! I got to see the kids tonight and tried to say hello, but they were really shy. I am excited to learn  more about the ministry here, and look forward to being able to share more pictures and stories with you!
Bye for now.