Uganda Trip - Day 3

Thursday, Dec. 2 -

Today's notes from my girls...

Psalm 139

1 You have searched me, LORD,

and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue

you, LORD, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!

Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

20 They speak of you with evil intent;

your adversaries misuse your name.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,

and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

22 I have nothing but hatred for them;

I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Today's word of the day was "Wow!". The poverty of those who live in the villages of Lira - wow. The overwhelming kindness and generosity of those who live here - wow. The openness of their hearts and their ability to give and receive love - wow. The resourcefulness of these people and their willingness to make the most of what they have - wow.

We began our day with a drive out to the orphanage. Project Hope Worldwide began building "Calo Me Lare" or "Village of Redemption" about six months ago. I can't even express in words what a great feeling it was to actually see it come to fruition.

I am pictured here with Sophie, one of Calo Me Lare's
house mothers. The children in the picture are local
villagers that came to see what we were doing.

The village will be built in phases and will eventually include 16 homes housing 8 children and 1 widowed mother in each house. It will also have a church, medical clinic, school, agriculture center, soccer fields and gardens. If everything goes as planned, Calo Me Lare should be open in January or February of 2011 and will welcome it's first 16 orphans and 3 house mothers. The homes will actually be divided into rooms and will have electricity and a kitchen with a stove, something practically unheard of in the villages in Lira.

Calo Me Lare is located about 3 1/2 miles outside of the main hustle and bustle of Lira and spans a little over 15 acres. It was such an amazing site to see the progress made so far and to actually see work being done. Workers were mixing cement, making bricks, building walls, and putting up a security fence. The village itself is not only a wonderful thing for the orphans, but it has created jobs for many of the local villagers to help them provide a better life for their families.

The first 16 orphans that will be moving into Calo Me Lare have already been hand-picked by Dennis, our Ugandan friend and a paid staff employee for PHWW. He has done an amazing job riding his motor bike and walking all over to villages within Lira to find the most needy orphans. Sadly, it's easy to find orphans within the area. There are so many due to parents dying of HIV/AIDS - but it was Dennis's job to find the most needy ones that could benefit from living at Calo Me Lare. These orphans are currently still living in their villages until the orphanage is completed. They typically are being raised by older siblings, grandparents, aunts or uncles. 

Our main focus for this trip is to actually go find these children, get their stories, take their pictures, and get video of their everyday lives so that when we get back to the states, we can spread the word that these children are available to be sponsored. For $120 a month, a child can be sponsored and the money will cover all their living, schooling and medical expenses. It will also help pay the salaries of the house mothers and will go towards continued building of Calo Me Lare. The $120 can also be split between 3 individuals, families, or businesses - making the donation come to $40 p/month. Orphan profiles will soon be made available on the Project Hope Worldwide website here.

As if being an orphan wasn't sad enough, they have a strong cultural stigma, are often looked down upon, and are made fun of by the other villagers. At a time when they need the most love, they are shunned and neglected. Calo Me Lare will provide these children with the love and support they need to develop important life skills that will help them succeed and become whomever they want to be. These children will now be given endless opportunities and, most importantly, will know that they do have value and worth.

So today was our first day to go to the villages and find the children. It's so amazing to me that these people live out in the middle of nowhere, yet they are very self-sufficient. That's not to say they have "great" lives, but they make the most of what they do have which is very, very little.

It was really hard to see the kids today in their poverty-stricken environment. Most all of them were barefoot, their feet calloused over. Their clothes were filthy dirty and torn to rags. Their eyes were jaundiced yellow and their little bellies puffed out from malnutrition. I just wanted to buy them all new clothes and shoes, give them baths in clean water, tend to their wounds, and stuff them with food until they couldn't eat any more!

One fun thing I got to do when I met the orphans was to give them a beaded bracelet that my girls made for them. It was neat to bring a part of them with me and give to the kids. The orphans smiled when we put the bracelets on their wrists - hopefully they knew that the bracelets were made with a lot of love :-)

Here's some of the orphans we met today. 

SHARON:

OLIVIA:

MIRIA: