June 22

Hi, this is Kayla and Erika! First of all, we want to wish our Dads a happy Father’s Day! Today, we think we got to experience the “real Uganda” when we visited Ebeneezer Orphanage. It was very impactful. The orphanage is run by Mother Mary, an amazing woman who is the caretaker of all 37 children. A reformed Muslim, Mother Mary has taken all of the children from the streets and other impoverished situations and built a home to care for them. She is a living testament to faith in action, and God’s will is blazing like wildfire through her life. Her faith is perhaps the greatest faith we’ve ever seen, and to hear her story was such a blessing, and so awe-inspiring. When we got there, the children ran to greet us and were very excited that we were there. We had brought them Beanie Babies, 2 bags of rice, snacks, and foam craft stickers which they loved to stick on their faces. We all connected with at least one orphan, and played basketball, soccer/football, clapping games, took photos, and read books. Their poverty was obvious in well-used clothing, and their finances depend on timely donations. Their company was both heart-wrenching and joyful. They have such deep passion for the Lord and really shared their love with us when they sang two songs for us. The first was to thank us and then their song thanked God for providing for them. They sang about times without food or security, and how they put their faith in the Lord, for all that matters is that He knows their future. During that song, the kids poured their hearts out to the Lord and worshipped with greater intensity than we may have ever experienced. That was an amazing moment, to witness their closeness with the Lord and there weren’t many dry eyes in the house.

Dale again

As the girls said, yesterday we began to see what Uganda is really like. And from a physical, earthly perspective, it is not pretty. As a matter of fact, it is frighteningly ugly.

We started the morning by going to the Omega Healing Center for church. Before anyone makes the same mistake that I did and I think several others did as well, the OHC is not a hospital. The “healing” refers to healing of the soul. In order to get there, we went out Entebbe Road towards the airport, and suddenly Michael (our bus driver) turns off onto a narrow, severely rutted dirt track. Up until that point we had stayed on 2 or 3 major thoroughfares – paved and lined with relatively decent shops. We had noticed that almost all of the roads leading off of these thoroughfares were dirt, and had an inkling that what was down there was not pretty, but seeing the real poverty made literally took my breath away. Some of the dwellings could loosely be called buildings in that they are made of brick and mortar, but that is all they are made of. No electricity, no plumbing, no doors, no windows, dirt floors, very sparse furniture if any. For many of the others, their homes would be generously described as shacks. I saw a family of at least 4 in a shack that was a patchwork of sheets of metal and wood about 8’ square. The whole dwelling – 8’ square. Along either side of the street and coming down in between some of the dwellings are “streams”. They are streams of sewage and garbage.

There is absolutely no thought of any creature comforts, and yet… I saw a woman standing in front of her dwelling sweeping. The broom is a bundle of sticks. She is sweeping the dirt, tidying up. They have nothing – less than nothing – and yet there are people that still maintain the dignity to try to keep their home clean. I saw many women washing clothes in whatever container was available. Considering the poverty, the people always look good. Their clothes do not come off the racks at Nordstroms or Macys, in fact most of them are probably 2nd or 3rd or 4th hand, but they’re well kept, they’re clean, they’re mended. I saw women walking towards the church for service that looked great, and yet they were coming out of this terrible poverty.

The church itself is a fairly large complex – apparently about 7 acres – with several different buildings on it. The actual service is held in one that most in the US would classify as a barn. Very well kept, but I noticed that the framework holding up the corrugated tin roof was made up of poles. There are a few light bulbs hanging, but most of the lighting came from “skylights” in the roof and gaps at the tops of the walls. The service was similar to what we experienced the night before, but with a little more structure. I’m fairly certain that most of the congregation was dressed in the finest clothes they have.

Mzungus stand out everywhere here. The kids in particular get really excited. At one point while we were singing, a little girl of about 5 came in and started hugging Kayla. And would not let go. She just wanted to keep holding on. I think Kayla is the ultimate Mzungu in their eyes – being fair and blonde, she seems to be the one that they gravitate to first. I suppose the hierarchy goes Kayla, Erika & Sam, Katie, then the rest of us! About halfway through the service, Michael came in and asked if anyone wanted to go to the Sunday School. The girls all left, and the guys all stayed for the remainder of the service.

Apparently the ladies arrival in Sunday School caused a near riot. All teaching came to a very abrupt stop as the kids swarmed them. They wanted to touch their skin, to hold their hands, to touch their hair. Katie said they were absolutely fascinated by the folds of skin on her elbow, for some reason.

After church we came back to the guest house, some changed into more casual clothes went down to Mama Mumbasa’s for lunch then went over the Palace. There we loaded up some of the beanie babies, foam stickers and a couple of soccer and basketballs that we had brought, as well as some large bags of rice and corn, some cookies and other foodstuffs that our trip has funded. Then it was off to the orphanage.

Again out Entebbe road, but this was a little different. The dirt road that we turned off onto had a bunch of goats wandering around, but the buildings that it backed appeared to be relatively nice, almost what you would see in a poor neighborhood in the States. We arrived at the orphanage – it was surrounded by a wall, had a nice clean gate and the driveway was more or less paved. Once inside their little compound, everything looked very clean and well maintained.

And then the kids started coming out. At first there was a little shyness, but they quickly started to move towards the girls, and soon were going around introducing themselves to all of us. The kids range from Esther aged 2 (more on her in a moment) up through some kids that are actually more helpers for Mother Mary – high school age although they’ve grown up in her care. They were polite, perhaps a little apprehensive since they rarely encounter Mzungu’s, but they warmed quickly.

All of them had closely shorn hair except Esther. She was a little doll! Cherubic little face and her lighter colored hair was done up in ultra cute corn rows. I’m sure you’ll see some pics of her. At our departure I think every last one of us wanted to have them hand her up through the window and take her home with us.

My personal encounter was with Steven. I’m pretty sure “Steven” is one of very few English words he knows, if not the only one. I would guess he is around 8. After hanging out with the kids for a few minutes, they asked everyone to sit down, to listen to Mother Mary’s story and get ready to give them what we had brought. I sat in one of the ubiquitous plastic stacking chairs. Our girls were surrounded by the children, as were Branden and even most of the boys in our group. There were also a bunch of the folks from KIU along with us and the children were hanging on them as well. Dale? Well, they’d come up and shake my hand and introduce themselves, but I don’t think they’re used to people my size, and definitely not Mzungus my size. As we sat down, however, Steven came over and sat down on the ground between my legs. I tried to see if he wanted to sit on my lap, but he wasn’t interested in that. He seemed happy to just sit there and lean up against my leg. During a prayer, I reached down and held his hands. At the end of the prayer, he didn’t want to let go. He’d keep himself curled up and I’d pick him up and swing him – he was eating it up! The rest of our time he’d move off somewhere else, like when they were handing out cookies, but he’d always migrate back to me. Just prior to our departure, they were lining everyone up for a picture and of course Dale had to be at the back with the tall people. As everyone was trying to get lined up, Steven moved away from the other kids and came over to stand in front of me. There was no way he was going to be in the picture that way, so I picked him up. I really hope we got some good pictures from of that. The departure was heart breaking. He came up to me as we were getting on the bus, and just didn’t want to let go of my hands. Just recounting this story brings the tears back.

Yes, folks, this little boy stole my heart. I love him dearly and it was heart breaking to have to leave. As we debriefed last night, I was trying to explain to everyone that the whole visit was a combination of my heart shattering while at the same time feeling enormous joy and blessing. These children have no idea of the impact they have had on our lives. I cannot think of a more meaningful Father’s Day experience.

Okay, thanks for indulging me. Back to the group experience. When we were introducing ourselves yesterday, there was a very audible gasp from everyone when Ken told them that he was 61 years old. Afterwards we were told that the average life expectancy in Uganda is 48, so I suppose to a certain extent he is Methuselah! Shoot, even I’m passed the average here.

My description of the orphanage itself is misleading. Yes, they currently have a very nice place, but they still have very little furniture. Mother Mary operates pretty much on a month-month basis. I was told that it costs approximately $500 per month to operate – can you imagine raising 37 kids on $500 per month? If the money runs out, she’ll likely be evicted again, something that has happened several times and from places nowhere near as nice as this. Eternal Impact and UFC supply much of their resources. Schools over here are not free – if a child is to attend school it must be paid for. The cost – by American standards – is a pittance. To educate a child from primary though a Bachelors degree from the University takes approximately $7,500. For 16 years of education!

So why am I telling you this? Ken made a comment that conveyed my feelings as well last night. We have to DO something. If all we do is to come over here for a couple of weeks and look at their lives, minister to them, share the gospel with them and then go back to our homes in the US, to our lives, it becomes nothing more than the Christian version of a Disney adventure. This experience – and I suspect our trip to Gulu will be even more impactful – tells me that we have to do more. Whether it involves sponsoring children, conducting fund raising for the orphanage or some other organization, perhaps committing to future missions work (no I’m not talking about me at this point! ) or whatever, there must be follow up to this. It cannot be some kind of strange vacation experience.

Oh yeah – Nick made it through the entire day without hurling yesterday! Made it through the entire day with the team, and I think he even ate! Thanks to all for your prayers.

And now for some comments from Ken.

Good morning, it is Ken or is it Methuselah? Dale who is a young guy - not yet 50 – he and I are easily the two oldest individuals that we have encountered, but that is not the subject of this update. As some of you know, I have a passion/love for kids, in particular, young adults.

The KIU kids are such an inspiration for all of us. They do love the Lord with all their hearts minds and souls, not just on “church day” but in every day. The fact is, every day is “church day” for them. These awesome young adults are the future of Africa. In the USA Christianity seems to be under constant attack. The trend is to remove God from just about everything. Our constitution guaranteed freedom of religion! Somehow that has been distorted to freedom from religion. While we in our country seem to be running away from God, here in East Africa, these young KIU students, the future of Africa, are running as fast as they can toward God. Their passion for the Lord is “awe” inspiring. I want that passion!

Now, on to our awesome young adults, Sam, Kayla, Alex, Erica, Nick & Cameron. They are so impressive, not just to me but to the KIU students as well! Our kids, as I like to call them, are developing close relationships with these college students. We all agree that just about everyone who meets our teenage kids are awed by their the maturity and knowledge of the Lord. We hear ohs & ahs when they introduce themselves as 15, 16, 17 & 18 year olds!

Dale's back - The trailer for tomorrow's post includes our visit to a slum area close to KIU and our first school assembly this afternoon. Tune in tomorrow for more!