This month we are sleeping in our tents, there’s no running water, no electricity, except for in the main office and only during certain hours of the day. Our showers are bucket showers and our toilet is a hole in the ground. We are an hour and a half from the city, kind of in the middle of nowhere. Exactly where I have been wanting to be since I left the US. Here in Uganda we are working with the refugees that are coming from South Sudan and Congo.
My first day out in the field (in the settlements) I was by myself with someone from the organization we are working with and we went from home to home praying for people. It was one of the best days of my entire trip. Children all gathering around wondering why I was there. I was able to take their photos and see them laugh at themselves when I showed them the photo. So much joy even in the hard times. Being here is heartbreaking. Walking through the village and seeing the malnourished children, mother’s asking me to pray over their babies that have malaria or other illnesses/diseases. Children without shoes, dressed in clothes with holes in them, or no clothes at all. A mother asking me to pray for her husband who won’t buy medicine for their newborn baby who has a rash because he would rather spend money on drugs/alcohol. An elderly woman who came to Uganda all alone because all eight of her sons were murdered in front of her. There’s a war going on and I don’t know about you, but I had no idea. Refugees come each and every day, there are thousands of them are here.
Each day some of us are given the opportunity to go out in the field and work with the women that are apart of the program the organization has set up. They work specifically with child mothers and young women, teaching them different life skills. They are taught sewing, baking, how to make liquid soap, they offer counseling sessions, they have a music and drama program, a sports ministry, they provide hygiene essentials for the women, they teach sex education, they taught a group about Ebola and how to try and prevent getting it, business skills, they are trying to help equip these girls to be able to live on their own and provide for themselves, not just here in Uganda, but also if they ever return to their home country.
Today I was given the opportunity to go to the reception center for all of the new refugees that come in. This is where they are registered and they stay until they are given a plot of land for themselves to live on. There are children who have come all by themselves and there are children who have come with a family member. We went into the tent where the children gather, they do different activities with the children because everything that happened and the trauma that they have experienced impacts them. They aren’t currently in school, but they do activities (coloring/drawing) with them to show the parents (those that are there) that there is hope for their children, they aren’t a lost cause, they do have potential. The guy leading told me that because of everything the children are afraid and that is why some would stand outside the tent but as soon as you asked them to come inside and join us they would run away. That is why they are working with the children, to let them know that this is a safe place, they encourage the parents to tell their children that as well. We sang with the children and than we got to spend time with them. Ashley and I were there and afterwords I joked with her about our different teaching styles. She was over there singing the ABC’s with them and in my group we were throwing teddy bears at each other. What can I say, I blame my Dad lol But, they really enjoyed it, I probably threw teddy bears back and forth with them for at least 30 minutes.
This is why I’m here. This is why I came on the World Race, to share the love of Jesus no matter what that looks like. Whether it’s just having fun with children to take their minds off of everything they have gone through, praying over them even though they might not know what we are saying, just being there and spending time with them. They are such beautiful children and they are HIS children.
Yesterday I turned 24, never in my life would I have imagined that I would be spending a birthday in another country. It’s a dream though. All of my life I have wanted to come to Africa and never would I have thought that dream would come true. Thank you to everyone who has helped me get here.
I am still fundraising, I am $1800 away from being fully funded! For my birthday I am asking that people would please consider donating $24. You can donate through venmo: Carlyy95 or straight through my blog by clicking the donate button!
