The Green House Orphanage

Kampala, Uganda; Saturday, May 30





I have to tell you about a brother and sister named Kevin and Catherine. He is 24. She is 21. Their parents died and left them as orphans. Kevin received a full scholarship to attend Liberty University in Virginia and has just graduated and is coming back to Uganda on Monday. Three years ago, Kevin looked around and realized that there were other orphans that needed care, so he and his sister began to take them in. At age 18, Catherine had become a mother to these children and their head caretaker, as Kevin returned to Liberty to study. Over the past three years, the number of orphans has reached a total of 68. The ages range from 3 months up to the lower teens. Catherine, a child herself, is now mother to 68! The only income they receive is from the part time job that Kevin has at school, which he balances with being a fulltime student. This brother and sister decided together that they would give their lives to these 68 children until they are grown and can provide for themselves. Their courage is a great challenge to me…

The children only get to eat once a day, around 3 or 4pm. She serves them tea in the morning to hold them over until then. And then lets them play in the afternoon until bed, in hopes that they will fall asleep before they realize their hunger pains and ask her for more.

For $100USD we were able to buy a wide variety of food for all of the children and give them a meal that would nourish their little bodies. Catherine, knowing each child intimately, cried throughout the meal because she couldn’t remember the last time she saw them enjoy eating so much…

When we first arrived, I was standing in the courtyard and a little girl in pink & white waddled up to me from across the way and hugged both of my legs. My heart melted! I scooped her up and held her until lunch was served. Her name is Shakira. At lunch, I watched as she ate three platefuls of food. When I picked her up again, her little belly was so full. And she held tightly onto a sippy cup full of orange soda, another rare treat. She wouldn’t let me take it from her little hands. So she fell asleep in my arms, gripping her prized possession.

Julie has a friend back home named Susan who hand designed special teddy bears with the wordless book sewn onto them for these orphans. We were blessed as we passed out the bears and watched the children…they were elated! When those teddy bears were in their arms, they all slipped into their imaginary worlds as they began to talk to the bears like any child would.

Before we left, Dale asked Catherine to share her story with us. Through her tears, she described what it has been like for her, day in and day out. She doesn’t know where the next bar of soap will come from. She washes all their clothes by hand. She makes all their food. She is mom to 68! But they all respect her. They love her. She is their stability. Catherine gets her strength from the Lord. But her situation is desperate. She needs help. She is carrying a burden that is far too great for such a young girl. We were able to pray for her and encourage her as best we could. And as we left, we hugged her and the children good-bye. With the needs so great, our few hours there seems like nothing. But to have her smile for one day, to lift her spirits for one day, to encourage her on one more day, is what God called us to Africa to do.

As I watched Shakira and the others, I wondered who they would become. Maybe the next Catherine, maybe the next President of Uganda, maybe the next great missionary… So Kevin and Catherine’s commitment to these children does matter. Our few hours with them does matter. When we do what God has called us to do, we have to trust that He has the rest under his sovereign control…

The Acholi Tribe

Gulu, Uganda; Thursday, May 28



We drove a few miles outside of Gulu to an Acholi Village that had just returned to claim its land after being forced to leave one of the IDP Camps. They are in the process of starting over. Nothing was left, so all of their huts had to be rebuilt. A temporary wood schoolroom was built so the children could begin their education. The villagers were taught to make bricks, so a small schoolhouse is being built in order to promote the education of the tribe’s children. Education is the pivotal point for survival.

World Help has donated 1 pig to this particular village in order for it to give birth to piglets. One piglet can be sold for 100,000 shillings, which will provide the funds to send one child from the tribe to school for one year.

This village had a lot of children. And one thing I have discovered about these trips is that the children love to see themselves on the LCD screen on my camera. So I joined them in the shade of the mango trees and began photographing their beautiful little faces. But I noticed with these children that they didn’t recognize their faces, which leads me to believe that they probably have never seen themselves. So as I photographed, they began to understand. It was them! And then the laughter broke out. I will never forget this moment, as their shrieks filled the air for those fifteen minutes. If just for that short time, I could bring joy into their lives, then my purpose is complete.

Good Shepherd Vocational School

Gulu, Uganda; Wednesday, May 27



Our five-hour drive from Kampala landed us in the heart of Gulu at the Good Shepherd Vocational School. Alex, the Head Master of Destiny and the visionary for Good Shepherd, gave us a tour of the grounds. The students who attend this school have been affected by AIDS or rescued from Kony’s army. Since the students have either been too poor/sick or trapped in the Bush with the LRA, they have not received an education. This school gives them an opportunity to live. It gives them a second chance. They are taught one vocation for six months in order to equip them for a job in welding, sewing, or hairdressing. Most of the students live in distant villages and walk several hours to get to the school each day. Their determination has developed in them a hope that cannot be crushed by their diseases, painful memories, or current monetary situation.

How can that be? How can a widowed woman with AIDS, who has several children, no job and no money have hope? How can she sing and dance and smile the way she does? I have seen these people’s reason for despair. If there was ever a dark moment on this trip, it was in the stories of these Gulu people. Unfair tragedy has ruined their lives and left deep scares. What do they have to hope for?

But I saw a light in them that shone brighter than the sun, where fear was not welcomed. As I sat in a stuffy wooden meetinghouse, my chest tightened and I could not hold back the tears as I watched these men and women praise God with all of their being. Their songs were filled with hope and grace and mercy. Their feet kicked up dust that filled the small house as they danced and jumped and lifted up their hands. Their smiles grew as tears fell from their eyes. These people have found their hope in Jesus, the very thing that I myself have done. It is through this one relationship that life is sustained and redeemed. If anyone would have a reason to reject Jesus, it would be these people. But they have seen Jesus for what he truly is, the Savior of the World.

IDP Camps

Gulu, Uganda; Wednesday, May 27






We woke up early to travel up country to Northern Uganda. We traded in our van for two Land Rovers. This stretch of road, from Kampala to Gulu, is one of the most dangerous. To give you an accurate picture, take away the pavement, yellow lines and all of the rules and add in people/biking on both sides of the road along with motorcycles seating two/three people and loaded down with merchandise and about a million crazy drivers. BUT we had the best driver in all of Uganda. His name is Hassan. He has been driving these roads for over 26 years, leading tour groups for people from all over the world.

I spent most of my time during that drive looking out the window, soaking in this country. As we got closer to Gulu, I began to notice a change. The villages on the sides of the road looked different. Hasan told me why…

When the war broke out in Northern Uganda, the villages in the Bush became extremely vulnerable because there was no protection from Kony. The LRA began attacking villages at night, killing the parents with machetes and forcing the children into the Bush, claming them as child soldiers. Once captured in the Bush, the children would be terrified into completing many horrendous acts against each other in order to break them. If they did not comply, they would be killed. But once they were broken, they were turned into killing machines. This is the tragic history of Northern Uganda that has received so much attention, explained further in the Documentary, Invisible Children.

In response to these night attacks, the government constructed camps for villagers to take refuge in that were protected by the UN. Terrified villagers flooded into these camps, known as IDP Camps {Internally Displaced People Camps}, and they soon became over crowded and poverty stricken. Diseases spread and hunger reigned. Looking back, the number of internally displaced persons is estimated at 1.4 million.

Now, the government is forcing the camps to be evacuated. Court rulings are determining where the people groups are to go. Some villages are receiving their old land back if there are still relatives from that tribe that can identify the location and prove its heritage. The villagers are hesitant to return to their demolished villages, because they are still embedded with the fear that the war will return.

What I saw out of my window was the remains of the IDP Camps, with the last of its displaced people, waiting for their verdict…

Cutway Slums

Kampala, Uganda; Tuesday, May 26






In the valley, on the outskirts of Kampala, lies Cutway. Neither words nor photographs can paint a just picture. The smells are what define these slums. Just imagine over 1 million people living in extreme poverty, with houses jammed together, and endless trash piles along the open sewage ditches. I have traveled to a lot of poverty stricken communities, but this was something else. We arrived in the late afternoon, after the rainstorm. Since Cutway lies in the valley, all of the runoff from the rain mixes with the sewage and garbage and settles in the alleys.

Before I knew it, we were walking through the slums, jumping over trash piles and lakes of runoff water. We had arrangements to deliver food to six women there and to visit their houses. As these women led us through the maze-like slums, they walked proudly. They considered it a blessing for us to be in their home and didn’t mind our mud caked shoes on their floor. “It can be washed!” they insisted, beckoning us into the darkness of their home. I still felt bad. Washed? How can anything here be washed? One woman lived in a tiny two-room house with her husband and their six children, two of which live at Destiny.

I was humbled, standing there with my muddy shoes on her dirty floor, in her cramped house, being treated as an honored guest. The room was really dark, except for the daylight leaking in through a small window. There was no electricity. She smiled up at Kristen, Dale and I. We smiled back, and my heart hurt for her. But her faith still stands. We prayed for her and her family and encouraged her to draw close to Jesus. We delivered the food we bought and she sent us away with a kiss. It is easy to be discouraged after leaving a place like Cutway. Because the fact is that I am now here, sitting in a clean hotel room, and they are still there, in a dirty house in complete darkness. But God is sovereign still…and what we cannot do for her, He has already done.

Destiny Children’s Home

Kampala, Uganda; Tuesday, May 26







We drove up into the mountains to Destiny Children’s Home where 1,200 children have taken refuge from the dangerous city slums and the grasp of the LRA {Lord’s Resistance Army}. The LRA, led by a wicked man named Joseph Kony, is a guerilla army based in Northern Uganda who engaged in armed rebellion against the Ugandan government. They have killed thousands and displaced millions. Kony and his rebels are now hiding in the Bush between the Congo and Sudan, continually crossing the boarder to escape capture.

Originally, Destiny Children’s Home was to be built in Gulu for the hundreds of children displaced/orphaned by the LRA. But after assessing the situation, World Help believed that the Home would be a prime target for Kony and his rebels. They did not want to put the children in such close proximity to him in fear that they would be killed/abducted. So 700 of these children from Gulu were placed at Destiny, some six hours away from Kony’s reach.

The Head Master of Destiny, John Michael, partnered with World Help and the Rock to continue to build the necessary facilities from the money that our students raised. John Michael invited us to Uganda to dedicate the finished building, which was a dorm facility to house 200 boys. He informed us that from the 1,200 children, 20% have parents that don’t have enough money to take care of them, 20% are half orphans, and 60% are complete orphans.

As our vans pulled up to the protected community tucked away in the lush mountains, the iron gates opened. We walked under the terrace and before us, lining the long driveway, were hundreds of children in uniforms waving and welcoming us in. We were led to the front of the boys’ dorm, where all of the children waited patiently on the hillside. To our surprise, they had prepared a welcome ceremony that included tribal song/dance. It really takes your breath away when you think about all of the tragedy and pain they’ve experienced in their short little lives, and how in light of it all they sing to the Lord with everything they have left. And if their courage doesn’t bring you to tears, the words that they sing will.

We finished the ceremony, opened the new dorms, and stood back as 200 boys flooded into the facility. Shrieks, shrills and laughter filled the air as I made my way into one of the rooms. Little smiling faces surrounded me as I scanned the area, packed with bunk beds. I asked one of the boys if he wanted a photo with his bed…in which I immediately had twenty new requests. They all wanted a photo on their bed. And as I was photographing them striking poses, giggling and jumping around, I realized that this was the only property they “owned.” This little space, this little mattress, this little pile of sheets was theirs. It was in this moment, photographing orphans, that demonstrated for me the weight of what our students at the Rock had done and the impact that one person can have in the life of another. And it reaffirmed for me that I serve a loving God who cares about the 200 so much that he would send people from the other side of the world to share this moment and provide for these needs.

Before we left, we surprised the children with ice cream. John Michael told us they only get ice cream once a year so this was a really big treat. I have never seen such smiles! Their eyes lit up with excitement and the classrooms broke out in cheers. These children were beyond ecstatic. We passed out all 1,200 ice cream containers and watched in amazement as some shoveled it down, some savored it as long as they could, some put it in their book bags for later and some just held it. Some even washed out the plastic container when they were done just to keep it…

The Good Samaritan Center

Kampala, Uganda; Monday, May 25








We spent yesterday in Buddo, a rural community right outside of Kampala, at a home stay for students whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS called, The Good Samaritan Center. This center offers education and medical care to the poorest of families in six communities. A total of 1,600 children were admitted to the Good Samaritan School who were either affected by HIV/AIDS, domestic problems exposing the children to danger, or the war torn region of Northern Uganda.

The school currently lacks piped water, textbooks, chalk, lab equipment, pens/pencils, exam papers, registration fees for final exams, extra curricular training, and several other academic concerns. The school Head Master took us on a tour of the half finished facility, which provides dorm rooms for girls. In Africa, girls at 15 years old are expected to get married, which can lead to neglect, abuse and HIV/AIDS. This school is taking a stand against this practice. They are giving these girls a hope and a future through solid education, proper care and Biblical teaching that shows them their true worth. Raising up these beautiful young girls and protecting them from the dangers of being on their own in the city is revolutionary.

We were able to meet these children {about 1,200 of them!} face to face, and it was incredible. They welcomed us to their country with traditional song and dance and greetings from the Head Master and all of the School Teachers. Our team brought new school paper and pens/pencils. Since they lack paper most of the year, the school walls are lined with paintings/diagrams/learning material so the children can sit in front of it to learn. Children will often be seen sitting there, studying the information, unable to write it down to take home to study.

The school is continuing its construction as new dorms for the boys are being built, along with a dining hall and kitchen. All of the construction work is done by hand {hand made bricks, hand made/poured cement} by a small number of men, which is why it is taking so long to build. But every day the staff and children pray, and God keeps answering their prayers. The stories of God's provision in the lives of the school staff in order to provide this safe place for these orphaned children continues to amaze me…

Inspiration

Saturday, May 23

I am so excited to share with you the incredible opportunity I have to travel to Uganda, Africa this week. The youth group I volunteer with at McLean Bible Church, called the Rock, raised money during a New Years Eve event called ‘New Years AID 2008.’ The students at the Rock raised a total of $151,000 dollars to build five orphanages for children orphaned by HIV.

Our small team from the Rock Student Ministries has been preparing to go to Kampala, Uganda to dedicate the orphanages that we raised money for and to work with the children who live there. We fly out tonight. We will be in Africa from May 23rd-June 1st, working with a Christian organization called World Help International. We expect to spend time in several orphanages and visit a refugee camp along the Sudan-Uganda border. This year is the fifteenth anniversary since the mass genocide took place and we hope to lend a hand to our partners from World Help as they continue to be God’s light in Africa.

{what lies ahead in Africa}

-Every 10 seconds one person dies of AIDS and another 2 are infected.

-Every 15 seconds, another child becomes an AIDS orphan in Africa.

-Every year, 2,102,400 more children are orphaned in Africa alone.

-More than 1/4 of the developing world’s people live in poverty, 1/3 of which live less than $1/day.

{recommended movies to watch}

-Invisible Children

-Hotel Rwanda

-Blood Diamond