Hello from Uganda!
I am here sitting in a place called “Suubi House” in Kampala where I have made my home for the next month! We are blessed to have running water and bunk beds, and even pet chickens that try to make their way into the house. To say this is an incredible experience would be an understatement. I am living a new life, in a new place, and with beautiful new people.
Our travel days were rough! We flew our first 8 hours and arrived in Amsterdam, only to have to jump on the next 8-hour flight to Uganda. (You were considered blessed if you even got to take a nap on either one.) We arrived in Uganda and were greeted by our hosts, Godfrey and Sara. Sara came to Uganda on a mission trip years ago, and felt the Lord telling her this would be her home. Sara’s nickname her entire life was “Suubi” and that word here means hope. When Sara first visited Uganda she would see the word Suubi everywhere, and she knew the Lord was going to somehow use her to bring hope to the people of Uganda.
She later met Godfrey, and just like every other beautiful love story…they knew they wanted to be together and were married almost a year ago.
I wish I could explain their story as beautifully as Sara did, but you have to know that every moment was so beautifully ordained by God. They prayed for a home, and the Lord provided one they knew at the moment they couldn’t afford. Sara wanted to use her home to bring hope to the people of Uganda, but she wasn’t sure yet of what the Lord wanted to do.
Godfrey called Sara one day and told her she had to come meet a girl named Vanessa that he had found behind a counter where he was eating lunch. Vanessa had special needs.
Children with special needs in Uganda are not treated the way you see children in America are treated. There are so many different programs like “Partners Club, “FHL football league”, and “Special Olympics” in America that give these beautiful children the opportunity to be loved on and accepted despite any disability they may have.
In Uganda things are different and horribly wrong. Children with special needs are viewed as a curse, and are not often welcomed outside of their house. Some of them are even chained in the house so no one ever knows they exist. The mothers of these incredible children are viewed as if they have done something wrong to have received a child with disabilities. Many fathers even leave the mother to raise the children by herself, because they believe their child to be a curse.
Then came Suubi… hope for these children and mothers who would otherwise have been left hopeless. A daycare facility where these children and mothers could actually leave their house without being judged or condemned. A place where the children could learn and grow, and the mothers could be taught ways to care for them. A place where the love of Jesus would radiate, captivate, and illuminate the hearts of these children and their mothers. I know with all my heart everyone who enters Suubi house receives hope that they have not yet known.
This
Is
Where
I
Live
Now
WHAT?!?!?!
Sorry… I just had to add that in there.
Tomorrow we start our first day of ministry at Suubi house and we were all given our different roles when we arrived here in Uganda. I’m super excited because we came to Suubi house as it has just started taking off the ground! My job here at Suubi is to actually plan out the days and what the children will be doing, as well as crafting ministry with the moms and running the social media accounts. TO SAY I AM EXCITED ABOUT THIS WOULDN’T EVEN MATCH UP TO HOW I AM FEELING RIGHT NOW.
It is so beautiful how the Lord orchestrated my life and prepared me for this next season. In being a preschool teacher I taught children the basics and was given recourses to help them grow, and now I can use those resources to help the children of Suubi house as well as provide hope and love through Jesus Christ!
So, now I would say we wait until tomorrow… but that’s not how we roll. We have pushed a van out of the dirt, shooed away chickens and goats, and prayed with people who don’t believe in Jesus. We have woken up early and ran the streets of Uganda, hiked to the top of a spire of a mosque and seen all of Kampala, and worshipped alongside other believers in a new and meaningful way. I have already changed from someone who just wants to watch Netflix, to someone who desires to go out and explore (especially if that means playing toss with a young boy covered in dirt only using a bottle cap.)
Adventure is all around us… but it’s up to us to step outside and find it.
Until next time, Muzungus!
