October 19, 2010

The last four weeks have really flown by. I can’t believe I leave out of Entebbe tonight. It has been a wonderful trip. It was great to see all the kids again, and also be a part of a few ministries. For example: Thursday feeding program, Mercy Ministries, and a number of other first for me these past few weeks.

On Saturday I went and picked up two of the older girls from Lords Meade. So I took Barbara and Solomi shopping for a few hours. We picked up some essential things that they needed and then or course we had to get a few things for fun. J It was great spending a few hours with just those two girls. We then met up with Amanda and Kaylee for lunch. I had called in the morning and made a 2:30pm appointment for us. So after lunch Amanda, Kaylee, John Fulk, and I went BUNGEE JUMPING over the Nile River. What an adrenaline rush!!! Almost all of the missionaries came and watched us. We all had a great time spending our last few days together.

Sunday was a difficult day. Most of the Lords Meade kids came for church. I asked them to come since it was my last Sunday. So 16 out of the 20 kids came. The kids in church sang two of my favorite songs for me. I could sit there and listen to the kids sing all day. After church Amanda, Kaylee and I all had dinner with the Lords Meade kids. I spent most of the afternoon with them. It was great to see them, but always tough saying goodbyes to them. I have a great relationship with those kids, so it makes it hard on me and on some of them as well. After these kids all went back to school, I went and played ping-pong with some of the older boys. Because of when the kids get back from school at night, and because of others things, this was our first opportunity and last to play. So we went and played for a couple hours. I really was trying to cram in as much with the kids as I could before leaving.

What I didn’t know until Sunday evening, was Sunday right before lunch, a man showed up with a 5 month old daughter and a 2 year old son. Both kids had been beaten by sugar cane. It was awful. The dad is kind of crazy, and the mom is REALLY crazy. He wanted to get the kids to safety before the mom returned. They had another baby which was the oldest. When this baby was 3 months old, the mom put it down the latrine (Ugandan toilets) and killed the baby. Then a few days ago, she took the 5 month old little girl and threw her in the trash. The 2 year old was beaten; his eye was swollen and had scars. It just breaks your heart. I did see the kids on Sunday, but I was there Monday morning. We don’t really have room to take them in, but we are trying to figure out how to make it work. There is also a system that you have to go though; you just can’t take them in. Our social worker has to go to their village and see what the living conditions are and check out a few other things, so she went and did that Monday. On Sunday, one of our workers took both kids home with him that night and then he brought the kids back Monday morning. The dad actually came back and was waiting at the gate. As of Monday night, everything still wasn’t squared away, so the little baby stayed with someone on the compound and the little boy went home with one of our workers. Everyone is trying to make it work that we can take them in.

Late Sunday night I realized I had to get up early to be able to see the teens before they went to school. I wanted to say goodbye to them. By 8am a lot had already happened. One of the house moms who was on leave called Aunt Amy to let her know that her sister passed away during child birth. A few hours later Amy gets a call from Auntie Christine (house mom) asks if we can take the baby. A baby had survived but the mom had not. So now there is a possibility of having another baby. It is so hard, you don’t want to turn anybody away, but sometimes, there is just not enough room. There are many other reasons as well, but it is so hard to see these kids who have parents that don’t want them, or the mom that passed during birth.

Being at an orphanage is such a blessing to me, but there are definitely some hard times as well. In the 4 times I have been at the orphanage I have never been there when kids got dropped off. It just breaks your heart to see what parents are capable of doing to their kids. It makes absolutely no sense to me. Don’t you just wish you could help them all?? I know I do.

I am leaving Entebbe tonight and headed back to the states. Thank you all for your prayers and support to me while I was at GSF. Please continue to keep GSF in your prayers. The kids have exams coming up. This is basically the end of their year. Also please be praying for these three possible new kids. Pray that the money and the space will be available to help these kids. Thanks for following along with my emails and being a part of my journey here to Uganda. I know there were sad stories, as well as some funny ones. I feel so blessed to have so many friends that are interested in the work that I am able to do here in Uganda, at GSF.

For those of you, who didn’t know I put a ton of pictures on my face book page, so please look at them when you have time.

Goodbye for now from Good Shepherds Fold Orphanage, Uganda East Africa.