Well, I have been in Budaka, Uganda about two weeks. This is a town about 30 minutes away from Mbale, Uganda (the third/fourth largest city in Uganda). We have the wonderful opportunity of working with Cornerstone (a local church, orphanage and school). God has been doing such amazing things here and we are honored to be the first World Race team to work with them.
Our primary ministry is to the orphanage. They about 24 kids (they can house about 30, but do not have the funds right now to do so). Some of the kids still have parents, but they are either too poor to properly take care of them and/or have AIDS. Every day we have breakfast with them at 7am (8am on the weekends), lunch at 1pm and dinner at 7pm. Every time we walk in, the kids mob us. It makes me feel soo loved. All 24 rush at us and hug us. After the first couple of times I had to ask our contact how the kids learned about hugs. I was told they taught the kids hugging and affection, it amazed me as the orphanage has only been open since February. The kids thrive on the attention and affection.
The culture here is very different from the U.S. Thankfully our contacts gave us a great cultural briefing, here is a bit of info:
-If someone “flashes” you, they mean that you missed there call
-You are sleeping with someone, when you stay in their house
-You are a good friends when you walk around holding hands (Chad & Tyler do not embrace this)
-If someone you know greets you, you must stop whatever you are doing and greet them back
-The general response to greetings such as how are you is fine, the general response to how was the night is
fine…fine is the general response to all questions 🙂
-You must address everyone with titles such as Auntie Lili or Sister Lili (can also be Pastor or Teacher)
-If you have an appointment at 1pm it is perfectly acceptable to arrive at 1:40pm
-Kids are served last and sit on the ground to eat (the orphanage reversed this)
-Its offensive to be direct about anything
-Their body language and facial expression say they are not interested but they are actually engaged with what
you are saying (figured this out in hut-to-hut ministry! Why aren’t they looking in our direction?!?)
Next week we are going to do hut-to-hut ministry and help out with the crusade. I am excited and hesitant, but I expect God to show up.
As of now I have decided not to take time out of ministry to do support raising. I still need to raise money before Oct 31st or I will be sent home. If you are considering helping me, please do so now! I love what I’m doing and I don’t want to miss out on how God is working here. I am currently at $9,061, thank you to everyone that has given!!! I still need about $2,000 to make my $11,000 deadline.
