01-27-10
Well, I am writing my last Uganda journal from the comfort of my living room, sipping coffee in the early morning hours, trying to break through the fog of jet lag. I think this is my last Uganda journal, but in reality, the trip will effect me for a long, long time so I bet that I will find myself remembering more stories to share.
But before I forget details, I want to share about our last day out in the field near Luwero. Luwero is in central Uganda and we drove a couple hours back up into the mountains from where we were staying in Kampala. It’s hard to describe just how beautiful that area is. Mountains, rolling hills, banana groves, towering trees, it is lush and green. The people are still living in poverty there but World Vision has been very active in that area for a long time, versus up in Gulu where they are just starting their work in the ADPs. You can see the difference in the conditions of the housing, water wells and even the friendliness of the children. They are very open and not shy, ready for a hug or handshake. The children in the Gulu area were much more reserved and hesitant, not having interacted with white people nearly as much.
Outside of Luwero, we first went to a farmer’s home high in the mountains. We drove on four-wheel drive roads for miles, bumping our way along. The farmer’s name was Moses and he was so happy to see us. He invited us all into his home. It was a brick and mud home with a tin roof. One of the nicer homes we had seen or been in. Actually had a couch inside much to my surprise. He told us how one of his children is a sponsored child and World Vision had helped him start his farm by giving him coffee seedlings to start growing coffee. He has been working hard for years and now has several acres of banana, mango and coffee trees. I told him how much I love coffee and how excited I was to see a coffee tree. That stopped him dead in his tracks, "You have never seen a coffee tree?" He asked in astonishment and then proceeded to turn to the whole group, laughing, and proclaimed, "This Madame has never seen a coffee tree!" He thought that was hysterical. After he showed us his beautiful coffee trees, covered with beans, we walked on to the banana grove. He asked me, "Have you ever seen bananas?" I was happy to say I had! J Moses gave us a grand tour of his farm, over and over telling how World Vision had trained him to farm and helped him start with seedlings. He was so very thankful for their help. He can now send all of his children to school, some of his older children are even able to go to boarding school for a very good education. Everything he makes goes to his children’s schooling. He and his wife work tirelessly for their children to attend good schools. Again, I was so moved by the deep love and care that these people have for their children.
We left Moses’ farm and continued on to see a bore hole. A bore hole is a well that World Vision has drilled for the communities and in the dry season it doesn’t dry up like their other wells. This bore hole serves at least 300 people in the community. If not for this source of water, they would travel miles every day for water. The people in this community over and over expressed their gratitude to World Vision for their water. It’s humbling to see how grateful these people are just for water. Something we take for granted every day when we turn on our faucets at home.
We drove on to a school where we met teachers and community workers that work with the children. They are mostly volunteers that look in on the families and children. These people are part of the CCC—Community Care Coordinators. As World Vision is able to phase out of that area eventually, these precious people will take over advocating for families. Their leader conveyed that they have learned to look at the needs as though they are their own need. To not ignore the needs in the community and to love the children as if they were their own. It was a very moving thing to see the care these volunteers have for the children.
After lunch, we had one more stop to make. It was the perfect ending to all of our visits. We went to a school to see the children perform skits, dancing and music. The children are on break right now until February so all of the children that came, walked miles just to perform for us, many of their parents coming as well. We packed out the school and then watched about an hour of skits that the older children perform called "Sarah’s Choice." They are skits about peer pressure, smoking, obeying parents, etc. I thought it was so amazing that in this little public school, the chalkboard was covered with Bible verses and after many of the skits, the narrator explained that the Bible taught the principles they were acting out. The kids sometimes travel to area communities to perform and teach lessons through the skits. They did a very good job. I had the privilege of holding the CUTEST baby girl through most of the skits. Her mother was watching me like a hawk but let me play with her. It made my day!
After the skits, we moved outside to see the dancing and singing. They are just such smooth, fluid dancers! The World Vision staff told us that one of the girls that was dancing was actually deaf. She just watched the other girls very carefully since she couldn’t hear the music. World Vision provides special education for her to accommodate her hearing loss. Toward the end of the dancing, the kids came to us and pulled us into the dance. This is when things got really interesting, let me tell you! Watching a bunch of us uncoordinated white people trying to shake a move with those kids was hysterical. The mothers sitting on the sidelines watching were weeping they were laughing so hard. I think they enjoyed that WAY too much! But so did we…it was really funny.
So that was the end of our visits. It was hard to leave and know we wouldn’t see these precious people again. I will never forget their "Alleluia, He’s my Savior" ringing in my ears, listening to them worship. I will never forget their huge smiles and welcoming handshakes. And I will never forget the distended bellies and hungry eyes, the widows caring for orphans, the children who are head of their homes. There is an amazing work being done there, but there are so many more yet to reach. I hope you will consider being a part of the hope brought to Uganda. Go to my website, click on the World Vision logo on the bottom of my home page. That will take you to my World Vision page and you can click the link to go right to World Vision and sponsor. You won’t regret bringing hope to a child!
