Hi friends!
Hope you are all doing well :)
Sorry I haven’t gotten to update as often as I wanted… soooo I will summarize the past few weeks in a nutshell! This is gonna be long… so take a deep breath… and READ!
Walukuba School
Before working with these deaf children at Walukuba, I was afraid I would have a hard time communicating with them, let alone connecting with them and teaching them. But these kids were so welcoming right away. I instantly fell in love with them and just loved being there with them. We played games with them, sang songs with them, danced with them (those girls can dance!), and most of all LOVED on them. These kids are so encouraging because most of them are orphans or double orphans (they don’t have a dad or mom), and on top of that they can’t hear… yet they have so much joy! I was so blessed to spend those four days with them at their school and they definitely have a permanent place in my heart. We were really sad to leave them that last day, I think most of us cried :( But I am so thankful I got to build relationships with such amazing children. I’ll never forget Stella and her hugs! And this funny-laughing kid, Bwagu (which I learned later, means laughter!) And of course my little boy. I never even knew his name, but we had a special bond. :) I seriously considered bringing him home with me!
Spire Road School
We went and hung out with the blind students of Spire Road. We taught them songs and played games with them as well. I’ve never worked with blind students before… or deaf for that matter, but after working with these kids, I realized how much potential each one of these children have. They really aren’t as limited because of their vision as I thought. It was so encouraging to see them play games with us and sing with us. I quickly realized that they’re normal kids who don’t have to be treated any differently just because they’re blind. We had a talent show on our last day with them. These kids are so talented in singing and dancing! One of them, Joet (JJ), is an amazing musician and can play any song on the mini piano we got for him. He listened to this song on the computer, processed it within a minute, and played it right away! Amazing. And Matumba! He loves to sing. I’ll never forget him and his sweet voice. We were only at this school for a few days, so it was sad to leave them after just starting to build relationships with them. But hopefully the kids were able to see the love of Christ through us and remember our time with them.
Hope Academy
We spent the most time at this school, 6 days. Throughout this past week with them, I’ve really gotten to know some of them and their stories and situations they’re in. I’ve fallen in love with them, which made it that much harder to leave them on our last day (yesterday). I’m going to miss them so much! But I’m excited to see who and where they will be in the future. I hope that we’ve made some kind of impact on their lives and that this past week, they’ve experienced our God through our team. Yesterday was really cool, because we got to show the children a glimpse of who God is through a bible story and different verses for His different characteristics. It was an awesome opportunity, and many of us got to talk to the children about God through the activities we had. But man… when it was time to leave them yesterday, I think we were ALL tearing up. I definitely was… especially when Eve, a girl I connected with this past week, started getting watery-eyed. Throughout the day, she kept saying, “I am not happy that you are not coming back” and this made me really sad! But then I remembered what a fellow teammate, OC, said during quiet time that morning. That once we leave, it’s not over. God is at work with these children and His plan for them is so great and He loves them more than we ever will. This was such an encouragement to me and it gave me such great hope for these children and their futures and what God will do through them. And right when we were about to leave, Eve said, “You pray for me, and I pray for you.”
Yesu Yevazebwe! <3
By spending more time here in Uganda with the people and children here, we’re learning more about their culture and the stories that come with it. The other day during our class, several of the children used examples of their parents’ death during an activity we had. But they were so nonchalant about it. Riman, one of the kids, said he almost got kidnapped. I really didn’t know how to respond to these young children telling me bits of their stories, so I just prayed. The other day, Lori took us to her place and we met her neighbor, Sarah. Sarah is around 4 and she’s super shy. Lori explained why she was so shy later. She said that when Sarah was just an infant, her mother tried to kill her by flushing her down the toilet. I was shocked— not only b/c of the mother, but b/c things like that are so common here. Rita, one of our translators and new friends!, told us that child/human sacrifices are also common, even today. And then I thought of my students here and how things like that can happen to them any day. And my heart broke a little more for these people and this country. These aren’t just the headlines you see on the news… these are real-life stories of my friends. And I don’t know how to react, but to pray. Pray that they look to God during these times of trouble, to look to Him for comfort and protection. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
I’ll end with some prayer requests:
- for all the people and children we’ve met
- for the upcoming LAST week we have here, that God will provide us with the strength to finish strong
- for the children we’ll meet this next week
- for our trip back home!
Thanks, friends!
I’ll post some pics too.
LOVELOVELOVE<3
