Mary, I love you

When I found out about Rafiki Africa Ministries last October I fell in love with the kids even before I had met them. One in particular, Mary, has been on me and my family’s heart since the beginning. She is eight years old and has Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy. She was so beautiful in those pictures and I just couldn’t wait to hold her in my arms. When packing, me and my mom (an elementary special needs teacher of twenty-something years) couldn’t help but think of Mary’s needs. I was constantly asking my mom for tips and coming to watch her work in her class room to better understand how to help her. We packed some Velcro symbols with us and even found a walker to donate. Although the walker and wheelchairs didn’t make it over here, I did. And I was so excited to be able to help her. I spent even up to the last hours driving to the airport going over with my mom about how to help teach Mary. For some reason God placed this desire in me to want to help her so bad. When I arrived at my new home for the next three months I felt really sad and empty to learn Mary had been sent to a special needs boarding school just weeks before I had gotten here. I was really disappointed but I trusted that Joseph and Sara wouldn’t send her to just any boarding school. And I trusted that God was taking care of her. And how much better can God help her than I could. When the kids pray at night they try to go through each name of everyone in  the house occasionally they would forget me or one of the other kids (and I don’t blame them! There is a lot of people to remember!) But that doesn’t matter because when they remembered to thank God for Mary it would make my heart glow. I longed to meet her and every time they spoke of Mary my heart would miss this girl I have never met before.

Then yesterday came. I knew that today I would see Mary, play with her, kiss her, hug her, and laugh with her. But I was so anxious. The other children’s homes that we had visited were very understaffed, dirty, had poor resources and little learning could take place there because of the sheer number of kids. I remembered Katalemua from a few weeks back. How the kids dressed in dirty clothes. How the classes had such a wide range of abilities and disabilities that virtually nothing could be taught that didn’t leave someone behind. And my stomach was in knots. I woke up really early that morning because I couldn’t sleep. What if Mary was in a place like that? What if she got lost in the system and she wasn’t being loved on or getting special attention. That morning I held back the anxious tears as I took the kids to school. I knew that no matter what conditions Mary was living in my job today was to love. To love her and the other kids and to love the staff and to be joyous and thankful. The long car ride there I prayed so hard for her. I was so scared and I could do nothing else.

We pulled into the quiet compound called The Elizabeth Home, and instantly I felt relief. It was quiet. There was a huge plot of land with grass! GREEN grass! I haven’t seen a lawn like this since I left the states. And there was a little boy in a red shirt – I later learned his name is Colin – and a smiling teacher was helping him use his walker. The other kids were inside in class. There was no screaming children dressed in rags. No abandoned groups of kids running around throwing things. This place was paradise. As we took a short tour of the four separate houses where the kids slept and bathed my soul lifted higher an higher. I was so relieved. The rooms had paint! Beautiful colors on the walls. I haven’t seen paint on the walls since I’ve been here either. The floors were clean, each bed had fresh sheets and mosquito nets. And the GRASS! It was amazing. They could play outside on the grass and not worry about scraped knees and hard falls. There were a couple of turkeys walking around. Some goats. And a big garden in the back with fruits and pigs! The place was so clean they even bathe the pigs! I heard Sara tell Momma Esther that Mary was outside so I sneaked away from the group and Esther and I searched for Mary. When I saw her I started crying for joy. This must be a tiny taste of what Dawn and John Patterson will feel when they come to Uganda later this week to adopt their boy from another orphanage. I had just been waiting to meet this sweet girl for over 8 months and she was finally here. Right in front of me. The one my family and I have been praying for! I kissed her and hugged her and my heart was at peace. Mary is in the best place I’ve ever seen in Uganda. Her smile warmed me all the way to my toes. And I felt such an overwhelming peace. She plopped into my lap and laid her head against my chest. And I just cried and laughed. I’ve never felt like this before. I was so happy. I still don’t understand the love I have for Mary but why ask questions. Love never makes since anyways. She smiled at me as we held both of our hands together and she looked me in the eyes. Her joy seemed to overflow onto me and soon we were both laughing.

There are about 20 kids. They have house moms (most are widows) who stay in the homes at night and I saw at least 7 teachers – a ratio much better than any organization I’ve seen here. The staff is trained and the kids are so well behaved.  The kids push each other’s wheelchairs, feed one another, play together and share crayons together. I thank God for this place. I am so glad Mary is there to get all the help she needs and get love from everyone too. I know that the kids and the staff at Rafiki miss her very much and every time they speak of Mary I’m tempted to be sad but Mary is filled with joy where she is. God has protected and provided for her in so many ways. I hope to be back in the Elizabeth home to love on her and the other kids some more! One day wasn’t enough.

This is the huge yard and colorful houses! This place was amazing!

Momma Esther and "rock man"

This is Grace. Taylor fell in love with her. She is 16 and she has an incredible story. She has a four year old baby because someone in her family raped her. But she is in this beautiful place now and she is safe. Continue to pray for her because I think that something that horrific is hard to forget no matter how functional your brain may be. Pray for her family and thank God that we got to meet her and love her. She was just a glowing girl.

Laura and Mary

Beautiful Mary

The kids all got together and sang songs to us. They even welcomed us with a traditional African tribal dance with grass skirts. It was so fun! they had a blast and thought it was so funny when all of us Mzugus put on the grass skirts and tried to dance for them!

Me and Mary. She is so smiley!

The older boys "shading" a picture!

Henry is on the left and the other boy I never caught his name but they are the oldest and so sweet!
and in font of me is Joseph. He was a delight!

Taylor with Grace again. And as you can see this room is so big
and perfect for all these amazing kids to play and learn!

Me and the older boys again. We became quite good friends :)

Comfort and another girl named Mary were helping wash off the tables and sweep the floors! they were such good helpers the whole time.

Shading pictures with the kids! This day was amazing.

Me and Immaculate playing a three legged race game! The huge lawn is great for games! We all played a relay type game with the kids involving 3 legged races, tossing tennis balls, hopping on one leg, and running! The kids loved it so much!

Here is one of the boys' rooms! Isnt it just so clean and nice?! I was so happy that these kids were getting the very best.

Sara and Mary! So sweet!

It was so fun hanging out in the gazebo with all the kids!

Pray for these kids. Pray for Mary. Thank God for the Elizabeth Home and pray that He will bless it so much.

Kids with special needs just have a certain kind of joy unlike any other. Their joy is so pure and innocent and the Lord looks down at them and He smiles. They don’t feel sorry for themselves and neither does God. They have a purpose just like me and you. Thank you Jesus for them. For all they teach us about your goodness and grace. And thank you for this day. It has been the most rewarding and precious day that I’ve had. Thank you Jesus for being so sweet to me and to Mary.

Mary, I love you.

Laura and the kids :)

Laura is awesome! She brought so many creative things and activities for the kids to do! I’m excited because I’m kinda obsessed with doing activities with the kids also! When I was here alone I did about two each day! So I’m happy that we share a love of activities! And her kindergarten teacher skills are much appreciated! I think she’s really bringing balance to our team and she has a wonderfully creative mind! Pray for her and thank God for her love of kids and her willingness to come here and serve.

This is uncle Moses is the Mets shirt and baby
Emma playing the part of Moses in the Bible.
Hes sitting in our banana basket and I think
Bianca is suppose to be Miriam. Haha Good
times during Kids Devotional!

 

Evening devotional is always an event! Especially if Uncle Moses is translating. We are going through a big book with a bunch of bible stories in it with pictures. Each of the Aunties take turns reading the book and someone else translates it into Luganda to make sure they understand it. What’s great is Uncle Moses goes all out when telling these stories. He uses props and the kids as characters and it’s just fun to get them involved. And it works! These kids really are learning and remembering what’s being told even if at the time it looks like everyone’s just laughing or picking their noses. Before story time Moses and Godfrey get out the drums and we dance and sing really loud for 20 mins or so! It gets really hot in that small living room. Yesterday during dance time little Esther clung to my body! She had both arms around me and one leg curling around mine while I tried to dance! Haha I leaned down and told her to dance you need both legs but she would not stop. She kept looking up at me smiling and struggling to put the one free leg around me! I couldn’t help but laugh out loud! Sometimes she just makes my day! It’s so nice to see those beautiful moments! Also during the actual story time Auntie Jen was reading and everyone was quiet and I hear “Auntie Jess-ka! Auntie Jess-ka” in a loud whisper. I look up and Brenda has huge genuine smile at me and waving a huge happy wave my way as if she just noticed I was in the room! All this in the middle of story time! I feel so loved! It made my night! Everyday God gives us things to laugh about and things to marvel at. I think in Africa it’s not that God gives me more but that I’ve just become more aware of them. I pray my awareness of these moments won’t lessen when I go home. And I pray God gives you eyes to see and ears to hear them wherever you are too! Sorry if that is cheesy! But life is so miraculous! I hope you see it too.

Pictures of last weeks Chicken adventures!

Chicken fun before!
(Shes in the bushes)

During
(Jen, Taylor, Bianca plucking
the feathers)

After!
That's my tiny piece of chicken
on the left.

 Bianca says she will never look at a chicken the same ever again. But I thought it was delicious!

Jerom...you gotta love him.

Momma Esther lining up the kids for races across the driveway!

Don and little Esther pretending her sock is
a cake!

We taught them duck duck goose! They absolutely love it!

Joel and Carol! Joel claims he's just itching his
nose...but I have my doubts. Haha I love Joel.

Jen and Bianca with Don and Cocus!

Me and Brenda

Carol kissing Jen!  sigh...I'm gonna miss those kisses so much!

The girls love to draw in the sand pile. Esther was drawing me and my family with Jesus the other
day! she is so sweet!

Laura reading to the kids! She is so great!! They actually listen when she reads!
How does she do it!!!?!

 

Off to church with 20 in our 8 passenger van! The funny thing is that this wasn’t even the time we got pulled over. A week before we had 9 in the van and the police gave Moses a ticket and took his license. We were afraid Moses wouldn’t get his license back because when they actually follow protocol and take the persons permit it usually gets lost and its really hard to get another. But luckily the next day it was still there!

Project day this week was so amazing! We went to a small church and orphanage called Living Grace in Naabingo. We did manual labor for the first time. It was nice to do something different. I believe that relationships are the most important thing but sometimes fulfilling a physical need first opens the doors for a relational need someone has. That’s a lot of the reason I want to be a nurse. Anyway we hauled concrete from one area to the top of this roof to build an extension onto the side of the orphanage and we moved bricks to make an oven thing outside. Before they were cooking over an open flame and losing a lot of energy. The man in charge of the project, Herman, was so thankful for us he kept saying that if we get nothing from this trip, if nothing makes sense the whole time we are in Africa just know that today we have blessed his heart by being there. He was so thankful and really kind hearted! And his wife Anne was so happy and thankful too! It was great to get a chance to help these guys with some hard work that needed to be done. If we weren’t there it would’ve taken so much longer! After that day my shoulders were so sore it was difficult to write on the chalkboard at the New Creation school.

We filled the jerry cans with cement and passed them down our assembly line and up to the roof! Hard work!

the view from the Living Grace orphanage

People here are so thankful. It’s something you notice really fast. The first night I was here we went around and said payer requests and everyone was just thanking God for life, for protection, for jobs. And even now all the Ugandans say thanks to God rather than ask for things. It’s so awesome. That reminds me today Godfrey saw me cleaning his windows and said “OH MY GOD! Auntie Jess-ka…Oh my goodness!” and I was really confused thinking I wasn’t supposed to be doing this or something. Was I breaking some cultural rule?! And then he said “may God suffocate you with blessings!” I never heard it quite like that before but he was so thankful! I love having people around me who are continually thankful for others and for God. It is such an example for me!

 

Anyway when we were done with construction work we split into groups and went into the village door to door telling the people about Christ and asking if we could pray for them. I was in a group with Saidel and Richie. Godfrey and another guy from the church were our translators. We prayed for so many families. They were so welcoming to our prayers and when the village found out we were praying many came up to us and asked us to pray. We met a 68 year old woman who was so joyous and loving to us. She told us of how thankful she was that we were doing this because God had been so faithful in her life and she wanted more people to know about Him. She told us her story that her son had died but that if it hadn’t been for God she wouldn’t have been able to get through it. We also prayed/talked to a family whose Father was in Sudan and they were worried about him getting home safe. We prayed over many teens in the village all stressed and looking for jobs to support their families. The other teams had some awesome stories to tell too. Taylor and Jen got to pray over a Muslim woman. How cool is that? Not many Muslims would let a couple of Christian girls pray for them! Bianca and Laura talked to a witch doctor. They said he was really knowledgeable about the bible and were challenging them with questions like “well if Jesus’ own followers betrayed him then why would we trust him?” and he claimed Jesus was a witch doctor himself because he turned water into wine. They said the Holy Spirit really spoke through them and in the end they got to pray over him which is also unbelievable.  And they said they spoke to some women who wanted to put their faith in Jesus but their husbands weren’t Christian and they were afraid it would ruin their marriage or beak up their families. I just wanted to tell you all this so you can be praying for each person we met and that God will reach them. With a witchdoctor in the village I know there are a lot of barriers up against the Spirit and the word reaching these people. It will be hard but God is stronger and prayer works so please keep paying for them.

There was a man working with us hauling concrete whose name was Shane. He is 36 and from Australia and he spends his winters in Uganda volunteering anywhere he is needed. He doesn’t know the Lord and later Mamma Esther brought up that there are so many people who come and volunteer and do good things and give and give...but they just won’t receive Jesus. She thought it was so peculiar. But I think Taylor’s Devotional the other night explained a lot. She read the passage in John 12 about Mary washing Jesus’ feet with the expensive perfume. Mary’s motivation for serving Christ in this way was out of pure thankfulness and love for him. She knew Jesus was worth more and she wanted to honor him with all she had. Taylor’s BSM director said there are 3 motivations for serving others. 1) Self-you serve others because it makes you feel good. 2) Good-if you do good something else good will happen. Kinda like a karma thing. Or 3) the cross-you serve others because there are needs you can meet for someone but there are also needs only Jesus can meet and then you tell them His message. Please pray for every one of us who came to Uganda this summer, myself included, that we would serve being motivated by the cross alone and not selfish reasons. It’s hard to separate our self from the picture sometimes because when you are helping people it does feel good. And a lot of times good things do follow. But our only motivation for being here should be Christ, who first served us. Pray for Shane also. Thank the Lord for his servant heart and pray that he can know Jesus.

Monday Saidel and I did another medical clinic. A few minutes before we were going to leave, we found out some other medical team came just a few days before so we didn’t want to give medicine on top of medicine to them. So Sherry made a few phone calls and and hour or so later we had our new location. The medical team’s motto is T.I.A. (This is Africa) so be flexible! Haha how fitting! We set up at this one school in the slums of a town I can’t pronounce. It was so awesome because the teachers would come up to us with huge smiles and even the grown men would laugh and hug me telling me how thankful they were for us to come to them. And the kids were so so happy to see us…well some of them were. Haha I had at least five kids who were so afraid of me and wouldn’t even let me take their temperature. I’m told that a lot of the scary stories kids tell their friends or siblings actually revolve around Mzungus. Or even parents will say “If you don’t eat your pocho the Mzugus will come and eat you!” and since it was a poor area a lot of kids have never seen a white person, let alone a doctor. But the majority of the kids were so happy to see us and were climbing on me and playing with my hair within minutes.

Our main mode of transportation! These are Boda Bodas. They are like motorcycle taxis!

so much traffic!!

This is deworming line at the school! I think about 500 people saw the doctor that day!
Many of them have never gotten to see one ever!

They did a welcoming dance for all of us with drums and everything! I love Africa.

For our project day on Tuesday we went to Sanyu Babies Home. We weren’t allowed to take pictures because in the past people had made websites with the pictures getting money for a fake orphanage. So it was understandable but I was so disappointed because the babies were so precious and I love them so much. Sanyu has 50 to 60 babies at any time and they are from 0 to four years old. The babies come to Sanyu many different ways. A lot of them were left at the hospital-Sara says there’s even a section in the hospitals just for unclaimed babies. Also babies are left at trashcans around hospitals so they have guards constantly walking around to prevent it. Some babies are left in latrines (holes in the ground for toilets) and some are abandoned at police stations or at Sanyu’s door step. Abortion is illegal in Uganda and because of poverty a lot of women feel they can’t take care of a baby. A lot of the babies are in critical condition and need to be nursed back to health for months and they are given a name and birthday because no one knows anything about them. Sanyu is one of the only international adopting orphanages in Uganda. Uganda is really against international adoptions and only allow something like 200 a year. And Sanyu does the majority of these. Toddlers and babies are sometimes adopted out within weeks of arrival which is great! Because like many children’s organizations here they are very understaffed and the orphanage itself is in poor condition. It was such a blessing to feed, change, and rock these babies to sleep. I was in tears a lot of the day though. Just seeing how tiny they were and how they have no one at all-no mommy or daddy to care for them individually- it broke my heart. We worked with the toddlers too who were misbehaving so much to get our attention. And for fun we sat out on the street and watched bodas, busses, and cars go by for an hour instead of playing on a playground L It was hard and my heart hurt for them the moment I walked through the doors. Its just hard. I’m so thankful for the Rafiki home because it really is a family. The kids get to live and grow in an atmosphere filled with love and genuine trust and it’s not institutionalized like Sanyu can be where no one gets really the individual attention or love that they need. Please pray for Sanyu Babies Home. For the workers there and for the kids. Also pray for one baby that was very very malnourished and no one even knew her assigned name. 

 

Wednesday was my stay at home with the kids day! We did lots of fun things!

 

Sweet picture of Bianca and Emma!

I played with tennis balls with Don and Carol

These are trays filled with rice that the kids trace their letters and numbers with! If they did good then they got a sticker!

Don, Emma, Carol and Me with our sticker faces!

baby abby trying to eat a mango! :)

Emma was so cuddly that day because he was feeling sick but now he is better

Snack time! with Esther, Jerom, and Cocus!

Fauziya, Esther and Carol

Annet is so expressive! i have so many pictures of her looking so
thoughtful or so mad! haha She's great!

Emma!

Me and Esther

We are playing a story time game! Each of the kids gets a card and they have to make up a story about the animal on their card! Joel's story was about a Chimp! Carol thought it was really funny!

Uncle Saidel reading bedtime devotions!

 Thursday was an eventful day. It was my day at Little Rina Nursery and Primary School. It went so well. I taught P3 ages 7 to 10. At first I taught about leaves! We got a real leaf outside to label. They liked that a lot. I’m figuring out that teachers here really don’t do hands on activities with kids and so anything interactive is sooo fun for them. I don’t know if I said this before but the way kids learn here is by complete memorization and copying. The teacher will lay the book in the middle and say copy this page and it takes them about 40 mins. But Thursday wasn’t a typical day for them. They were practicing for a performance on Friday. It was really cool! I talked to the teacher a lot who was telling me that music and performance is really important to Ugandans and I could tell! The rest of the day they just practiced singing the songs and performing a skit about angles and demons that they were going to act out in front of the whole school. I taught them the song “Jesus let us come to know you, Let us see you face to face…” they loved it! And incorporated it into their act!

 

After school we came home and slaughtered two chickens. It was so gross. Me and Saidel were given the knives because Moses said we are nurses so we should be able to handle it! But I figured since I’m gonna be here a while after the team leaves I might have other chances. So BIANCA volunteered!! Haha by the way the chicken is completely alive when you cut it – no breaking it’s neck first or anything like that (that would waste time) and there’s no chopping with a butcher knife involved (we use the same knife used for cutting potatoes and we have to saw)! So Bianca is super brave! She sawed for a good bit screaming the whole time and then handed it off to me to finish the job. It was crazy!! and I didn't make a sound :) I decided not to show you the pictures/video of this cultural experience in case you are eating or something. So then Saidel did his chicken easily and we plucked, cleaned, and dissected it….sorry this is probably way more information than you wanted to know!

After that we ate dinner and went to pick up Laura from the airport! She’s working with us too this summer! Her bags were lost but we’re praying she gets them soon! She is just great! The kids love her! She is a kindergarten teacher in Minneapolis and she is so sweet! I’m pumped to have her here with us! Actually she and I will be taking the same plane back together to London! Anyways please pray for her and her ministry here and for her family!

Sorry this post was so long! But I just wanted to let you know that everyone is feeling better now but continue to pray for our health. Also I did get to find out what happened to the boy with a mass on his tongue. It was cancer and they found another tumor in his chest but that one was outside of the wall so its not as bad. The doctors are giving him Chemo on his tongue hoping to make it less vascular so they can safely remove it! so that's great news! Thanks for your prayers!

Please pray for our team and for Laura to feel at home quickly!