An April Update

Easter

Hakim painting an egg

Monday (one of the April birthday boys) and Frank

Some people have asked what we do here for Easter. In Uganda, Christians celebrate Easter by going to church in the morning, gathering together with family and friends and eating a very large lunch and dinner together. Last week at the homes, we celebrated April birthdays on Saturday with games, egg decorating, words of affirmation and cake. Then on Sunday, we had an Easter Sunday service and then gathered for a big lunch (and later dinner) of chicken, matoke (boiled and mashed bananas), rice, dodo (collared greens), and peanut sauce. The boys loved it! =-) We had a beautiful day together celebrating Christ and His resurrection!

Tortoises =-)

Ibra feeding Daisy and Mr Slow mushrooms

I have a love of anything that breathes. However, primarily due to the influence of my father and repeated trips to the reptile shop to purchase pets growing up, I have a special love of reptiles of any sort. Once, about two years ago, David was on a marshy farm when there was a turtle that people found swimming around. David waded on in and for the next hour attempted to catch me a pet turtle that he pre-named, “Mr Slow”. Unfortunately, the slippery little fellow got away. Since then, David has been looking for a turtle that he can get for me. A few weeks ago, as David was sitting in a traffic jam trying to drive out to the homes, a street vendor came up to the ministry van selling... tortoises! David bought me 3 so that they would not be lonely- Chip, Daisy and... Mr Slow. I thought it would  be best to share the tortoises and so we brought them out to Bombo for the boys! They have been a huge hit!

Ibra Mawanda has always been a boy that I can easily connect with, we both are introverted and love nature. Most Saturday's we have been going on, "nature walks" to see birds, monkeys, bugs even rat trails that Ibra points out with a lot of excitement. Before bringing the tortoises I had asked if he would be interested in having them as pets and helping to take care of them. He was very excited! The day that we brought them in, he walked for almost a mile to get a special kind of "turtle grass" that grows on a big hill by the boys homes. He dug up several bunches of it very carefully and then replanted them in the tortoises enclosure. He also discovered that the tortoises love mushrooms and has been giving it to them every day since his discovery! 

Reagan

Last week one of the boys in our homes named Reagan was climbing a mango tree when he jumped out of a low-hanging branch onto his friend. The friend, seeing him coming, stepped out of the way and Reagan ended up falling down and putting his weight on both of his wrists. Reagan's wrists immediately swelled up and looked disfigured, we rushed him to the hospital and found that he had dislocated bones in both of his wrists. They were able to set the bones and put him in casts but it was a very scary and painful ordeal for sweet little Reagan. The doctor says that Reagan will be in the casts for one and a half months. Please pray that he heals well and quickly and that God keeps him encouraged, it is hard for him to even be able to take care of himself with both of his hands in casts up to his elbows! 

 

When I first came to Africa, I was young and thought in extremely black and white terms. I had come to serve street children, and so street children I would serve! Since being here however, God has taught me so much about more about seeing the problem of street children from a broader perspective and to put more effort into working with Ugandan families to educate and empower them so that they can take better care of their children and prevent children from running to the streets. 

Reaching out to the women in our community

Our homes are situated in Kikubampagi, Kalule, Luwero District. We live in an area of Uganda with a high Muslim population where there is also a lot of which craft and poverty. The majority of our neighbors are illiterate and impoverished. We have begun working with individual families in our neighborhood but we have been wanting to do more for the spiritual needs of the women in our community. Several weeks ago we started a bible study for the women in our community. Each week the number continues to rise, and we currently have 60 women coming on a regular basis! We also have an increase in community members attending church on Sunday mornings and had several people from the community accept Christ last month.

Mending the Soul

Nora and Shannel the two trainers that did a terrific job!

Women at the conference

We were very blessed to have a Mending the Soul conference with the women in our community this month. 80 women from the community were able to attend and learn more of God's love for them and how to heal from abuse. I am also looking forward to my parents coming back into Uganda next month to spend time with David and I, our kids and for my wise mom to work with our caregivers. 

Margaret

Margaret

 

There is a sweet lady in our village named Margaret who was trying to provide all by herself for her children. Her mud hut was flooded several months ago and so we have been trying to help her and her family as we can including providing medical care for her family and education for her children (thank you to those of you sponsoring her family!) After talking with her about what she would be interested in doing, Margaret said she would like to be able to sew. We were able to purchase a sewing machine for her and she has begun tailoring lessons this week, making school uniforms for the children in our home school program and next African outfits for our boys, (they are going to look so cute!) In the end we will continue hiring her to help with outfits for the boys but she will also be able to provide tailoring services for people in the community as there is currently no close tailor!