Not ready for 'good byes'

For the most part, this past week was spent at Smile. It by far seemed like the longest week here thus far.  Monday seemed like Tuesday, Tuesday like Wednesday and so on.  The older kids who are sponsored and attend primary school in town were only in school for about half the week due to activities going on and the teacher have been on strike on Thursday and Friday all across Uganda. The teachers do not think they are paid enough and demand higher pay or else they will not teach. Kind of reminds me of America’s education. One afternoon I started making bracelets with one of the staff members and some of the older girls wanted to learn how so I taught them. We made bracelets the whole afternoon and just talked outside the clinic. It was a good bonding experience with the older girls since they are in school until 4:30ish every day, and I do not get to see them a lot. Brenda making a bracelet

Thursday afternoon we left Smile a little early again to preach at a prison. This time we taught 33 men about the Armor of God. This coming week we are suppose to preach at prison with 400 men. With only 4 women and Pastor Amos, this seems a little intimidating so keep us in your prayers about sharing the gospel to the men. Pastor also wants us to visit the men in Kampala who are waiting to be executed. Sounds scary at first, but he shared that many of the men have repented and are devoted Christians now. I think it would be a great experience if we could do that when we travel to Kampala for debriefing. The last couple of years I have thought that prison ministry sound “cool” but was way too scared to ever enter a prison. After doing it here, I think it would be something to pursue once I am back in the states. One thing that has stuck me in the last week is how many ministries the churches here are involved in! The churches that we have attended have less than 150 people in the congregation but have lots of ministry opportunities. One thing we learned about Pastor Amos on our way back from the prison is that he is the first Ugandan that we have met that does not like Obama!  He said he would like to meet Obama so that he can tell him “Repent, repent, repent.” We all got a good laugh. Obama’s grandfather’s village is only an hour away (in Kenya) we have been told. The people here think Obama was born in Kenya so many things have his face on it here.

What has gone on at Smile this week?  Many of the staff members just have not been feeling well and one even was in the hospital with typhoid.  The teachers who did teach gave tests on Monday. Teacher Ruth is 21 years old. She is trying to earn money to be able to go to college so she works at Smile with the P2 class which I believe is equivalent to about 2^nd grade even though she does not have a degree in teaching and does not want to go to college to teacher. However, she is the most dedicated out of the 3 teachers in teaching. I helped her grade a math test she had given. The highest any kid got was 73%. Very few even earned 50% rating. She was a little discouraged because she had taught the kids the information and warned them to study but the results were not the greatest.  

There is a lot of stoning that goes on at Smile. What I mean by stoning is the kids take rocks and throw them at other kids in close range that have made them angry or because some kids think it is funny. Many times the rocks hit the kids and it hurts them but sometimes the rocks penetrate the skin and get stuck in the skin. The kids then come (bawling) to the clinic and we have to cut it out. Well yesterday (Friday), there were two young gentleman around 20 years of age outside the fence who wanted to talk to me because I am a young, white female. I told them that I was busy taking care of the kids. This is the first time this has happened so kind of a weird experience. I went back to playing with the kids, but David, who is such a sweet kid that I have had the priviledge of taking to TASO (the Aids Support Organization) a few times, walked over to me and said ‘Kim they are stoning over there.’ I was thinking in my head “ok what kids are throwing rocks at each other now?” I asked him which ones and he pointed to the two men who tried to talk to me. I asked him if they had thrown rocks at him. And he nodded his head. I went and got the watchman of Smile, Dawson, and Andrew,  another man who works at Smile. There also was a lady who was there with the men who came and reported the stoning too. Andrew and Dawson caught one of the men and took him inside the gates. The children gathered around David and this young man and started laughing at the guy. The guy kept telling the kids in Swahili to leave but Andrew told them to watch. Andrew made the man kneel before David and ask him for forgiveness. He was very humiliated, but really his punishment could have been a lot worse! The kids then followed the man to the gate and were chanting something at him in Swahili. I think it was very good for the kids to see what happens when you stone someone and to teach about not getting retaliation.

Other interesting things that happened were one of the little boys and a girl were caught having sex in the field again. Can only imagine what he sees at home. Also another kid shoved one of his friends and his friend's front teeth were knocked loose. We are just waiting on funding before he will have them removed. We are pretty sure these are permanent teeth too. :(

 Eric is doing even better this week. I think he is hitting less, and even gives me and baby Sam kisses. I am teaching him to be gentle with little kids especially baby Sam since he will be like a big brother to Sam. We watched the Lion King with the kids last night and Eric was laughing a lot a the beginning before he fell asleep. He also has been better about pooping outside and not on the floor. Except he has not been taught to wipe yet and therefore last night before the movie I had a poop streak on my shirt. I still love him very much. Once he fell asleep last night, I carried him outside and had a little talk with him about God's love. I told him that even though his father was not nice to him, God will be his loving father for forever. I have never wanted a kid to know God's unconditional love for them more than I have for Eric. 

  I pray that his past can bring him closer to God rather than turning him away from God. 

 I just want to thank everyone who has been praying in general, but especially about my transition back to home in a few weeks. I feel a lot more at peace about my first weeks back in America and how busy I will be but please keep praying because it is working!!

Dani and I kissing Ocheyn

Sisterly love

These are the homes the kids make for fun

Palo

Getting lunch ready

My handsome son

David

Moses and his little sister

Prayer Request:

Health of the staff at smile and our hotel, and us of course

Our last full week at Smile :( Use the time we have left how God wants us to use it.

The kids...I pray that they may remember us for God's love that poured out through us and that God may have used the time we have had and will have this week to help atleast one child get to know Him better.

God will continue to draw us closer to him in the last few days we have.

Get the heart racing...

This past Sunday through Wednesday we took a little break from Smile and traveled to Jinja for a few days of relaxation and fun on the Nile. Monday, Michelle and I bungee jumped above the Nile. They have different types of bungee jumping including stunts and water touch where you “touch” the Nile River or in my case get fully submerged before  being flung back up again. Since it was our first jump ever they wouldn’t let us do any tricks or let me do a back flip off the edge.  I was really excited about it and not really nervous until the cord was attached to me…then I was scared to death especially when my toes were hanging off the edge. They tell you not to look down and just look at the beautiful scenery and jump into the scenery.

Monday was also Laura’s birthday so we went into Jinja  to a place called Ozzie’s which has American food.  We ordered her a cinnamon roll and put candles on it since she doesn’t like cake.

Tuesday, Michelle and I bungee jumped again. This time I was still a little nervous but I actually kept my eyes open for this jump and enjoyed it a lot more! After jumping we boarded the bus to go white water rafting. We practiced flipping and getting into the boat in still water before we went down the river just in case we tipped.  We went down some class V rapids (that is the biggest rapids you can raft down) and had not tipped once….then the last rapid came and it was a 4.5 and we tipped. I later found out that Stacy and Michelle had told the guide that it was ok to tip us on our lunch break after Laura and I had told him to do everything he could not to tip us. Not sure if he tried to flip us or not but I am trying not to hold it against them (sarcastically). It was just a little scary for me at first but once the rapids and big waves passed we just floated down the Nile River.

Flipping

Waves crashing over us but not flipping! We are strong women :)

sunset on the Nile..view from where we stayed

Wednesday we said good bye to Laura and Michelle.  This is the time when all of us would have left if some of us had not asked for an extension. It is crazy how fast time has gone!! I can’t believe in 3 weeks I will be home already. Thursday and Friday were spent at Smile. Thursday I had to buy some supplies for baby Sam so I walked alone to smile. Everyday when I walk to smile I see these yellow flowers that remind me of home. I picked one and just thought about the girls who had just left and how my time here was short yet I would love to just see my family for even an hour.

Then Amonde (one of the smile kids) was walking down the road. He grabbed the flower out of my hand and held onto my hand and we walked to Smile. Amonde had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and actually is in the clinic a lot because he has a wound on his leg. He usually fears me and the clinic but it was great for him to grab my hand. It was almost as if God was saying “Kim, you are only here for 3 more weeks so make the best of it.” It is really weird because most of the time it does not seem like I am in Africa, thousands of miles away from home. It almost seems as if I am just in a different state with no ability to drive to see my family. Africa really does feel like home most of the time. The kids were pretty crazy on Thursday though. I don’t know if it was because they had not seen us in awhile or just because they wanted to beat  each other up.  Friday they seemed to be a little bit calmer. Eric is doing a lot better!! He actually roams away from me but always knows where to find me if he needs me. I also was holding him and he said ‘hi’ a few times. I think this is the first English word I have heard him say. Later he pointed at me and said ‘mama’.  It was one of the sweetest things. He also was wearing a pink shirt on Friday so I told him how handsome he was in pink J I am just amazed every week at how much progress he makes and how God shows his faithfulness.

“What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Luke 18:27

Eric and I

He is so happy! I just love his smile!

Last team photo :(

Its is suppose to say Iowa

NW

This little guy is missing his Michelle

Prayer requests:

Pray that I can enjoy the last few weeks at Smile and with my team. I have begun to stress about all the things I have to do when I get back including stuff for nursing and for campus ministry, and I don’t want it to take away from enjoying the last few weeks here.

Pray for my sister Alli as she is at Rocky Mountain High ( a youth conference).

Pray that God can continue to use us the last few weeks we are here.

Pray God would give us wisdom. Sometimes people hint to us about things they need or want so pray God would give us wisdom on how to help these people whether it be financially or through encouraging words.

Smiles at Smile

During the week I am having so much fun at Smile and pretty exhausted by the end of the day so I try to write on the weekends. However, when I sit down to write I don’t know what to write. .. not because there isn’t anything to write about but because there is so much to write about…Do I write about how many times I got puked on this week or how or how Eric made my day? Do I give all the details about our hike up Tororo Rock? Do I tell all the miraculous things God does every day and how I am reminded of his faithfulness?  Well I will try to remember everything and cover everything even if it is briefly. Last Sunday was a day of cultural differences. To make long story short we thought we were going to one pastor’s church and ended up at another one and there was a lot of miscommunication. In the end it was all good and it was a good learning experience for all of us but at the time it was very frustrating. It was probably the first time and only time so far that I thought “When am I leaving this country?” They prepared us in training at Northwestern that this day would come but I never thought it would.  At 4am on Monday, Bri and Amanda left for home. At the beginning of the week there was a lot of confusion about mine and Meghann’s role in the clinic now that Bri was gone and Grace wasn’t back yet. By Friday things were better and we were able to work more as a team of nurses. Monday we went with Pastor Andrew to Busia which is about a 45 minute drive from Tororo and very close to Kenya.  Wednesday we climbed Tororo Rock. We took about 15 kids and some of the adults from Smile along with us. The natives have commented in the past at how we Americans walk so fast and they like to enjoy their walks so we thought this would be the same for climbing the rock. However, it was not. They practically sprinted up some of it. We all made it though! When we got to the top we could see all of Tororo. The view was awesome!  I also am thankful that we did not see a single snake. This was probably my biggest fear for the climb. I knew I would eventually make it to the top but I knew I would freak out if I saw a snake.

Sunday we also walked around the Rock a little and saw some monkeys! It reminded me of my little sister Alli J    

Thursday we left Smile a little early and went with Pastor Amos to a women’s prison. There were 16 women in the prison serving time from as small as stealing up to murder. The women were very nice and I really saw God work. We did not have a lot of things planned before going but God spoke through us to the women and I know the words coming out of my mouth were not my own but God’s. One day this week I was kind of frustrated and I walked out of the clinic and Eric was there with the biggest smile on his face. He came running to me. It totally made my day. Then I was thinking about how him running to me made me so happy and how much happier God is when we run to him. He embraces our hug and just holds us in his arms after we have strayed away from him. Another awesome thing about God is we are never too big to sit in his lap J Sometimes when the kids are filled with pee, puke, or poop it is really hard to want to hug and hold them because they smell. But God loves on us even when we are covered from head to toe in filth from our sin. God still deeply loves us through all the junk and WANTS to hold us. This has given me more motivation to hold the kids when they are covered in poop and smell so horrible. Last night we watched Madagascar 2 with the kids at Smile. Eric was sitting on my lap but then started to whine because the girl in front of him kept moving so he could not see the movie anymore. I took him out so he would not distract the other kids.  As we were walking back, it was lightening out in the distance. He ooh’d and aww’d at the sky and was pointing to things and grunting (since he doesn’t really talk) with a smile on his face. I walked slowly while holding him and shared with him that God had made all of these things. I told him how big and wonderful God was and that God made him too. He is only 3 and probably does not understand English too much, but I just pray he can at least see the love of God. I really wish I could take him home and teach him more about God and how to be a man one day.  I have seen a lot of improvement in him this week as far as venturing out to play with others and hitting kids less when they are sitting on my lap. He also has been very smiley and has become a little bit of a tease at times. The little things he does reminds me daily of God’s love.  does not understand English too much, but I just pray he can at least see the love of God. I really wish I could take him home and teach him more about God and how to be a man one day.  I have seen a lot of improvement in him this week as far as venturing out to play with others and hitting kids less when they are sitting on my lap. He also has been very smiley and has become a little bit of a tease at times. The little things he does reminds me daily of God’s love.

Eric-Doesn't he just make you want to smile too?

These two girls were just too cute that I had to put them on my blog :)

Here I am in my goma before the invitation practicing carrying gifts

Prayer requests:

 Safe Travels to Jinja and for Michelle and Laura back to the United States

Continue to see God work at Smile

Wisdom on who to help financially

For my sister and all the other high school students who are traveling to Rocky Mountain High. Pray God can give them wisdom about their futures.

Where has the time gone?

Sunday we went to Bison village where most of the Smile kids live and three of the teachers live. Teacher Teddy served us a meal at about 1pm, Budesta served us a meal at about 2pm and Teacher Selvia served us a meal at 3:30ish. Here is a picture of the meal at Teddy’s  AFTER we had eaten…..didnt even make a dent.

All three meals were this size or may have even gotten bigger with each meal…at least it seemed that way!  Later that night we went to Agnus and Jeffrey’s house. They are apart of the small group bible study that Bri has been attending and go to the church we have attended 2 out of our 3 Sundays here so far. They were a very lovely couple. Monday night we took some of the staff at Smile out for supper at a nice restaurant. We entertained them by singing some American songs…it started out with me and another girl singing  “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood (other joined in too) and they thought that was our national anthem. Therefore, we had to sing them our national anthem. None of us are the best of singers and it was at a pretty nice hotel/restaurant…they probably think Americans are crazy. We were going to try to shoot off fireworks too but didn’t get the ok with the police and Pastor Ruth yet.  Tuesday Meghann arrived J She will be here for 6 months so pray she have the endurance and energy to stay here for the 6 months.  Thursday, Meghann and I took 2 kids from Smile to The AIDS Support Organization (TASO).  They just need to have their medication refilled. While I was waiting for the medication to be dispensed I was thinking about the little girl who had just been given to Smile when we arrived. She is HIV positive like the two boys we took but she looked absolutely miserable when we arrived but now that she is on medication she smiles, she has energy, and is VERY cuddly J She is 3 years old but she looks like she is 1 so hopefully now that she is on medication she will start to grow too J  Thursday was a great day because the rice packages from Feed My Starving Chidren arrived! The government has had it in storage for the last half year and we were not allowed to touch it so it is an answer to prayers that we received the rice on Thursday. The kids flocked the trucks when they came into the grounds. It was so great to see the kids yelling “Rice, rice” as the trucks entered. It was so precious and kind of broke my  heart that they were so excited about rice..something I would not be excited about. But God is faithful and loyal. Friday was a crazy day…a bunch of people from Iowa came and hung out with the kids during the day and two people taught CPR and first aid to all the staff members.  It was very interesting  to see them teach CPR with American Heart Association videos for America…a lot of things were not relevant to Uganda and I hope it did not offend the staff. The rest of the group just loved on the children and attempted to set up stations in which some kids played games, some sang, and some received crowds. This did not stay organized very long once they hauled out the stickers for the crowns.  I was overwhelmed by the children demanding they have another sticker and we could see it on the groups face that they had created chaos. They also gave ever child a shirt to wear.  This process went a little better because we first organized them into rows and had 5 kids go get a shirt at a time. It was great to see new clothes on the kids and for some kids it was the first time I saw clothing on them. However, some parent take the new clothes and sell them in the market or keep the clothes until Christmas and give them to the children as gifts. I pray the kids still have their clothes on Monday. Eric has become a little pistol.  He has been going to other people this week but still would rather be by himself than play with the other kids. To get him over this stage I have brought him to the big cement pad where the kids have nursery class and eat, but sat right next to him. He will crawl into my lap and I will hug him and put him next to me again. He then either find another person on my team to sit on or lays his head on my lap then. But if any other kid even touches me he slaps them.  We are not suppose to tap their hands and he just smiles at me when I tell him ‘no.’ He does share his water though…He attempted to let Palo have a drink the other day and almost drowned the poor baby because he tilted the bottle too much.  Oh Eric…so cute but naughty! But aren’t most 3 year olds?  Saturday we attended an introduction. It really is hard to explain all the details of the ceremony other than it lasts about 6 hours and is kind of like a proposal yet a formal introduction of the bride to be’s parents to the groom to be’s parents. The groom was from Norway and only 4 of his relatives came so they recruited our team to be his “sisters.” We got all dressed up in the African dress and everything. It was an interesting thing to see but very long at times.  Bri and Amanda leave on Monday so pray for the their transitions back to home.  I cant believe my time here is almost half over. It is bitter sweet feeling...kind of miss things at home yet I love the children so much.  I'm really enjoying my new roommate Meghann yet excited to have my new roommates at school too...I am really nervous about starting the school year for many different reasons so pray that the transition home goes well and school and be something I look forward to instead of dread. We also were not able to get a safari booked so next weekend we will be white water rafting instead.

Malaria, My new little man, and Memories

o in my last blog post I spoke too soon about the great health…I came down with some little bug last Saturday and Sunday, but was full of energy by Monday. Tuesday, however, two of my team member came down with malaria and could not keep anything down (not even water) so Wednesday we started them on IV drips to hydrate them and administer their medications. I did not go to Smile at all on Wednesday and only half a day on Thursday as I watched the IVs around the clock. Wednesday I ran (literally sometimes) doing tasks for the sick girls to make them feel better including running across the street to pick up containers for stool samples. This was a fun task as the girls had to somehow get stool into a container that is smaller than a Tylenol bottle. We used different objects that were no longer needed to accomplish it J The whole time though I was thinking of how we would do it in America and how we could potentially create a false positive result using the materials we used for the girls because the objects were not sterile/clean materials.  Both were negative for worms and bacteria which was good to hear. The girls are now feeling better...not 100% yet but are slowly gaining their strength.  God really gave me self-control during this time and allowed me to put others needs above my own wants.  I also got a lot of time with God during when I felt ill and when I took care of the girls which was very much needed! I read through the genealogy of Abram and just saw how God planned everything out for Abram’s life and just makes me excited for what God has in store for my life. Pastor Ruth shared her testimony and how God used her past life experiences and turned them into good. She shared that if God had shared with her in 1988 (a great year!) when she got saved what she would be doing today (many ministries, on school board, ect.) and his vision for Smile she would not have believe him and maybe would not have taken the leaps of faith that she did.  Even thought I am excited to know what God is going to do in my life, I think it will be more rewarding to not know it all right now, but look back on time and see how He has been faithful.

Diana and Bri

Back: Laura, Dani, me, Michelle, Stacy

Front: Amanda and Bri

Diana and I

There was a cat in the hotel one day and it reminded me of my cat at homee dont see many cats here

I really miss a washer! We have to do all our washing by hand and then hang them to dry and hope it doesn't rain

OUR WALKS TO SMILE...it is about a 20-30 minute walk and it is always a beautiful one with some random things happening along the way....

Animals just roaming around freely

Many people

Flowers that resemble the ones across the road from my house

different crops being grown

More animals..these are tied to bushes

The vast amount of green

One of the villages

Daphenie and baby Sam

Baby Sam! Isn't he adorable?

Dani...this where some of the kids wait to get into the clinic

These are some beds that sick kids may sleep on

The clinic

Ester is one of the nurses....she loves photos :)

Salema is the lab technician/nurse

Simon! He is so loveable

Monday, Diana left to go back to Kampala so we said good bye to her. Friday, a new boy by the name of Eric came to Smile for the first time and he will be staying there until he is old enough to live on his own. Eric is 3 years old and has been beaten so severally by his father that he does not talk anymore.  I saw him off and on for the first couple hours that he was there but then Doris, who works in the office at Smile, came to the clinic with Eric on her saying that he was burning up. I sat him down on my lap even though he smelled of urine and took his temperature. We tested his blood and he had malaria. While we were for the results though, I sat there looking at this little boy’s face. It showed brokenness and hurt. I sat there holding back tears thinking about what this boy may have been through and how he could be scarred for life. The only thing that could erase that is God’s love. But how do you show and tell about God’s love to a 3 year old? I just held him and read him a story to try to show him love.  I then took a picture of the little guy.

He looks so sad but then I showed him the picture of himself and he smiled!!

The first smile we had seen on h is face since he came. I loved on the little guy the rest of the day and found out he is very ticklish and actually got a small giggle out of him. When it was time for me to leave for the night I did not want to leave him but knew I had to leave. I put him down, hugged him and told him God and I love him, and walked away. Eric began crying as I walked away. I motioned for him to come back to me. He ran to me and I picked him up and hugged him again and told him I loved him again and then gave him to a high school aged boy and told him it was Eric’s first day and he needed extra loving tonight.  The boy took him and tried to soothe him by walking around with him but I could still faintly hear him crying as we left the grounds. It was hard leaving but I knew God would take care of him.  Later that night we had some praise and worship time with the older kids who stay at Smile and then watched Kung Fu Panda.  

I know you cant see anything but you can hear the kids praising God!

Two of the older kids after supper

Some of the kids put chalk on their face one day to make them look white

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Prayer requests: 

That God would work everything out that needs to be worked out so that Feed My Starving Children would partner with Smile again to provide food for the children.

Sponsorship of the children…getting it advertised and for people to sponsor the kids so they can go to school.

Eric, and other kids who have been abused,  can know of God’s love despite their awful past

Health of the team…No more malaria!