Uganda Trip - Day 4

Today's notes from my girls...

Friday, Dec. 3 -

I can't believe it's already Friday! The time is flying by so far, although I am REALLY missing Steve & the girls. I thought of them this morning when they were at our Co-Op's Christmas party. It was the first party I had to miss, which made me sad, but I know they had a great time with their Nanny. Their sweet letters to me everyday are so encouraging - something I look forward to every morning!

Today was a very emotional day for us all. We left about 8:30 this morning and got home about 7:30 this evening. We drove and walked all over Lira looking for the orphans in the villages they are currently living in.

First we met Innocent - a sweet little hard working boy who loved to play soccer...

Children in the villages typically have to work very hard helping out around their houses/huts, walking for miles to fetch water, cooking, taking care of siblings, etc. They also have no toys to play with so they make up their own games with old tires, used water bottles or broken storage containers. Their ideas were very clever. My cousin, Scott, owns Fair Trade Sports - a company that makes great quality sports equipment in third world countries and they donate a large portion of their profits to charity. He donated 5 soccer balls for me to give to the kids in the villages to play with. I gave the first ball to Innocent and the kids in his village. It was so awesome to see them smile when they received their ball and to watch them run around and play soccer. It wasn't food or clothes but it brought them laughter and joy which I think is just as important.



We enjoyed visiting with the people that lived in Innocent's village. Derk and Helmut even had a little fun trying out one of the villager's bicycles. Everyone cracked up laughing and said, "Look at the Muzungu!" (Muzungu is Ugandan for white man from the West.)

The next village was on the other side of Lira. This is video I shot as we were driving through the main part of Lira...

The next orphan is featured below in the blue shorts. His name is Kizito and he is the 5th born to a family of six. The people he lives with brews their own form of beer which we could totally smell as soon as we opened our van door. The stinch was awful! You can see the thick gooey substance in the yellow tubs in some of the pictures below. When the kids can't find anything to eat, they will go drink a cup of that stuff. You'll also see a small "pond" of what looks to be water; however, it is the runoff from the beer and you will often times see the kids playing in it. Everyone was so sweet at this village - I hated to see them living that way when they could spend their time planting crops or taking care of cattle. Before we left, our little orphan boy went and put on his best blue shirt to show he was glad to be leaving soon to go live at Calo Me Lare.

We also gave the kids at this village a soccer ball donated by Fair Trade Sports. They loved it as soccer is HUGE in Uganda. All the kids loved soccer and it's a sport they could all participate in. The pictures of these kids just break my heart. They could have so much potential if just given the chance.

The last village we went to was actually an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) Camp and the same location where Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) attacked and killed over 300 innocent people on February 21, 2004. The attack is now known as the Barlonyo Massacre.

When we first arrived at the camp, we saw a little boy that had several wounds on his legs. He said he had fallen off his bike but his wounds looked awful and were totally infected. They were even being swarmed and eaten on by flies. Kelley remembered I had a first aid kit in my backpack so she treated his wounds with ointment and bandaids. If only these people had the simplest things like first aid kits, their injuries could be treated sooner and not get infected.

One survivor of the Barlonyo Attack, Dickens, was a seven month old baby boy who was thrown across his hut. One of the LRA rebels did this in an attempt to bang his head and kill the boy. Amazingly, he survived but you can still see the scar on his head today. Both of his parents were killed in the massacre and he is one of the orphans that will be living at Calo Me Lare. We are believing God has big plans for this boy to have survived that horrific day and still be alive today.

Another survivor was a man named Moses Ogwang. He now oversees the IDP Camp and tries to help those in need. He narrowly escaped being killed himself by hiding behind some boxes of produce. He has an amazing testimony and it's awesome that he has done so much good from such an evil act of terror. (You can read more about Moses and the Barlonyo attack here.)

Lydia...

Monica...

Alex...

Brother of Alex...

The next little orphan we met was a boy named Dickens. Both of his parents were killed in the Barlonyo Attack when his family's hut was burned to the ground. Dickens was an infant at the time and was being carried on his brother's back. When the fires started, the elderly people told all the children to run away. Fortunately, Dicken's life was spared. He is very close to his brother and we originally were only planning on accepting Dickens into Calo Me Lare because our age requirements are between 4 and 6. However, Dicken's brother started to cry when he learned his brother would be leaving him. That broke our hearts and we knew we couldn't separate them. So we picked up an extra orphan today :-)

It was a good day today - can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!