cutest kids in the world? we found them!

Caleb and I have been living at Raising Up Hope For Uganda Orphanage for a week and we will be here until this coming Saturday. I am coming home in 10 days but still feel worlds away. I have fallen in love with 40 kids and I want them to have the world. Our mornings start at 8:00 when we walk down to the orphanage from the room we are staying in. 22 of the kids have left to go to school. (Last Saturday Patrick, the director, received a donation of $2,000 just in time and just enough money to pay school fees and register 22 kids to start school for the term which began Monday. The only problem is as of now there was only money to pay for this term). At the orphanage there are 20 kids who spend the day there because there was not enough money for all their fees. Additionally 20 other kids from the village come to the orphanage to spend the day. Their families don’t have money for school fees either, nor do they have enough money to feed their kids. So they come to the orphanage for the day and are fed lunch by the little there that we have. School takes place at the orphanage for those that are left behind. The children are separated by grade into little corners of the building to act like class rooms. No tables, no chairs, they sit on the ground. There are two “black boards” but last week we did not have chalk. Before Caleb and I came it was Patrick who taught at five different grades in one day. But sometimes he is not there either. So the kids sit in their areas reading from the few workbooks that are there trying to practice their English and math. While we have been at the orphanage Caleb and I spend our mornings teaching. But oh boy I am not such a good teacher. There are no things as lesson plans or books to follow or work sheets to hand out to the kids. But so desperately they want to learn. Even at the age of 6 the kids know that in school and education lies their hope. At lunch we have posho (maize flour) and beans. Sometimes we have rice and beans. Now there is enough food but sometimes they run out and wait in faith that God will provide (He always has). The orphanage is essentially a large house with two rooms for girls and one for boys. The rooms are stuffed with every bunk bed they own and kids share a bed with one or two others.

In the evenings when the school kids come home there is always a soccer game in the courtyard, the babies are running around laughing and hitting each other, and the girls are in their room putting on clothes. I guess kids are the same everywhere. But not so long ago their lives were entirely different. Some were living as street kids, born to prostitutes or forced to run away from home. Others lived with a step parent, forced to do all the work, rarely fed, and often beat. Each has a story, lives I can’t imagine looking at their smiles and laughter this evening. Then it is time for devotions. The boys bring out the drums and all the kids start to dance and sing and worship. They all start to pray, prayers of thanksgiving for what God has done and prayers of concern for the other kids still on the street tonight. Patrick shares a bible verse with them and then it is time for homework. Huddle around a candles the kids all bring out their books. Desperate to learn they teach each other and work together. For the kids who did not go to school today they bring me their notebooks saying ‘Auntie, please give me work.’ If only the kids in America who hate doing homework could see them tonight. 8:00 and it is time for another round of posho and beans. By now the babies have fallen asleep on top of us and it is starting to get cold. We finish dinner, say good night and promise we will be back in the morning.

And so we come back the next day. Each day sort of like the day before. Except in 5 days I leave. It was supposed to be two weeks to volunteer, to love some kids, but now I won’t be able to say goodbye and move on. I guess it has become my burden too. The orphanage has no money. Patrick is only 19 and they have only existed for 3 years. With hardly any financial support and no international connections I have to be that person. I told Patrick that I am going to set up an account for him in the US and work on finding sponsors for the kids using the profiles I have written on them. I may be getting myself too deep in, it is hard to emotionally step back from these kids. But I have seen the kids begging on the side of the road, I have seen where they have been. Their lives will never be the same now, they belong, they are loved and fed. I just want it to stay that way.

The beginning of the end

I finished my research, typed my thirty page report, spent a week back on the Sse Sse Islands presenting our projects, the program ended, everyone flew home, caleb and I traveled to the East with two of our friends (complete with getting stuck on a boat in the Nile River and riding in a seven passenger car with 16 people and a chicken), and now my dad and sister have come to Uganda. So that is about the last four weeks.

It was sad to see new friends leave and hard to hear about the excitement of returning to America... cheese, bagels, and efficiency... while Caleb and I are here for another month. But I don't want to leave yet, I don't feel ready and this will be a wonderful month.

Also, it is awesome to have my dad and sister here and to be taken care of a bit :) We (dad, Sarah, Caleb, and I) are going on a Safari to the northern part of Uganda.It feels like a vacation. Sarah and my dad are here for ten days and then Caleb and I are going to live at an orphanage for two weeks before we leave on June 9th.

We visited the orphanage yesterday... The director is 19 years old. An orphan himself he started this orphanage in 2007 and now has 40 kids living with him. There are more girls than boys because they are more often left on the streets. The kids sleep two or three to a bed and eat maize and beans. Sometimes they go without "but God provides". During school terms they take in 20 other children who have families but no food so they join this 'school'. 60 kids and two guys who have no training teach the classes. We were shown a single hallway that was divided in three were the different grades sit. Seemingly desperate but so joyful and hopeful. I can't wait to be there. I get to teach classes, hold babies, and help with book keeping. I want to bless them. It will be challenging I know. There are lots of plans for us (like cultivating land?!) but I know it will be a wonderful way to spend the end of our time in Uganda.

And in less than just a month I will be back in good ol America.