Cornerstone Orphanage has 27 kids from 2yrs through 11yrs. These children are so loving. They stole our hearts the first night we met them. They were so excited when they heard we were coming. They don’t get visitors often so they couldn’t wait for us to come. When the children saw the first glimpse of us they all ran as hard as they could and wrapped their little arms around us. We have been here for 3 weeks now and they still do this every time we walk through the door. We eat all of our meals there with them, we do devotions at night then send them off to bed and then we go pray for each one before they go to sleep. We have two artist on our team and they teach art everyday for an hour. These kids have never done anything like this. They started painting Thursday. They have never held a paint brush before. The Friday before the crusades started we took them outside the orphanage and played games with them for 2 hours. We taught them how to do relay races, red light green light (which was hard bc there aren’t any stop lights here), Simon says and other games. This week we took them to pick up trash around town. They love picking up trash. They just love being outside with us. These kids are amazing and they all have been through so much. Four of the kids are siblings. 2 girls and 2 boys. They lived in a village about 20 min from here. They have different fathers that they have never met (nobody knows who the fathers are) and their mom killed herself leaving these four kids completely on their own. The youngest is around 2 but nobody knows for sure how old he is and the oldest is 8 or 9. The oldest became the mom to the other 3. She cooked for them and took care of them the best an 8 year old could. She has scares on the back of her hands from getting boiling water on her from cooking. The village did not take care of these kids at all. They were completely on their own. Even if they wanted to they had no money to feed four extra mouths. When the pastors from Cornerstone heard about these kids they went and got them. The youngest was 5 days from dying the doctor said. He was sick. He has AIDS. His sister took care of him the best she could but what can an 8yrs old do. Now they are safe and happy. The oldest is learning how to be a child again and the two middle children are happy and healthy and the youngest is doing good. We pray over him all the time. I believe God will heal him! He is smaller than most 2yrs olds but I believe he will be a happy, healthy, strong man of God one day. Cornerstone is a life changer for all the kids here. This is a safe place. They all get healthy meals 3 times a day, education, LOVE and they are learning about God. God is the center. The contacts here are totally focused on Him. They are committed to listening to His direction. They have amazing hearts for Him and His will for these precious children. Please keep these kids, contacts, teachers and all the workers at the orphanage in your prayers. Please pray for safety and protection. Elections are coming up in March and it gets very bloody in Uganda during this time. They expect it to start heating up soon and the targets are Christians. So please pray that God covers them with His protection during these next few months. I know God has a plan for each one of them. These kids are so blessed. There are so many kids here that don’t get taken care of, will never have an education, barely get enough food to eat, don’t experience love and many don’t have a clue who Jesus is. I know God is moving here in Budaka. I believe the Orphanage will grow to house so many more kids. God is moving and He has so many more little lives to change. He loves these children and I believe they will grow up knowing God and will be so in love with Him.
