Street Kids and Rain....

So yesterday we fed the street kids. and it was GREAT! the kids were so organized and we were able to give out 70 bags of food. meaning we fed 70 kids. And i had at least 10 or 20 of the kids come up to me afterwards and thank me for the food and asked for God to bless me. I think this was what hit me the most. Little children that live on the streets, with hardly enough food to stay alive. are asking God to bless me. They want Him to take care of me. Shouldn't i be asking God to bless them? Thats how great the people here are. Even the children have a faith in God under the worst of circumstances. I love it!

And also, As many of you know i sometimes get really wrapped up in helping people and i take on too much and am not able to fulfill on my own what is required of me. And always when i getting overwhelmed someone steps in to help and it works out even better if i had tried to do it myself.

Well,  we have a guard named David who is one of the greatest people i know. I would trust him with my life (o wait i already do every night)

Anyways, He and our cook Sam have been helping me with feeding the street kids and i just took it for granted. until yesterday, i realized just how important their help is. Because feeding the kids is quite a lengthy process let me give you an insight. First we buy around 5 kilos of beans. and 9 kilos of rice. You then sort through the beans because when you buy them they often have rocks and sticks in them. which can take about 20 minutes to sort through. And then, since i tend to forget to buy the beans throughout the week i have to buy the dried beans and they take about 6 hours to cook. then you have to time it right to make the rice to be done when the beans are done. and there is also a onion, tomatoe, and greenpepper sauce that you make to put in the beans once they are finished.

David and Sam packing the bags with rice and beans

So if i want to be on top of things i try to get the beans soaking before i go to church. Now, this hardly actually happens and what ends up happening is that David has already planned, without telling me, to wake up and get the beans ready and on the stove and get the rice all prepared and buy the time i get home from church he is already chopping the vegetables to prepare for the sauce. And everything needs to be prepared in plenty of time to finish by 7 when we go and feed the kids.
So i end up wander into the kitchen a few times and say, David, is there anything that i need to do? and he laughs at me and says, nope, got it taken care of. And then around 3 our cook Sam shows up, and although it is not written anywhere in his job description he helps David to cook the beans and prepare the rice. Now, it wasn't until yesterday that it hit me why they were putting so much time and effort into helping me. i realized, it wasn't that they were actually Helping me... they were helping the street kids. They wanted them to have food that night just as much, or maybe even more, than i did. And they had the knowledge and skills to make sure it happened. I just provided the opportunity for them to do it.



I think my favorite thing is that i often hear David talking to Sam saying, "No Sam, we have to make the beans as if we were making it for ourselves. I want to eat what we are feeding the kids. They should get the best" Thats when i realized, I have the greatest people around me. People who share my same desires! And are just wanting to help people. They are the greatest!

oh... and we got stuck in a massive downpour of rain on the way home from FHE. That was pretty entertaining .. i think my skirt got about 2 inches added to it by the rain :)

i kinda just look super sweaty....

David was wet with us, but he changed SUPER fast

Sam was so scared we were going to get him wet....

The ending and beginning....

So my team for the last two months has gone home and although they did give me a headache, i am finding that i often miss them. They were so much fun and we were so small at the end that we really got to know eachother well and i miss their loud voices in the hallways! Here's a quick snap shot of the fun times we had. 

We were so happy about chocolate chip cookies :) 

Jordan loved this find in the clothes donation bin.....

Now that the team is gone Samantha is here to keep me company, and we are so incredibly busy. We are meeting with potential partners all the time and there is so much work to be done in Mbale its incredible.

Shaky face pictures... 

Sam's shaky face... The kids loved it!

We have been working on a passion fruit garden with HASNN ( the HIV/Aids group) and we have FINALLY found some land for to begin. The cool thing about this garden is that it will be a demonstration garden. We have many many members, and so in a few weeks we will begin teaching them how to plant and grow passion fruit. Then once they have finished a planting, and we have harvested some of the fruit, we will teach them how to sell them in the market and all that jazz. And then when they “graduate” from the program we will give them a few seedlings for them to start their own passion fruit garden and begin making themselves more sustainable. I am so excited about this. It has been in the making for 2 months or so. Its great to see it finally come about.

On our way to check out some land.... love these guys!

The health clinic has run into some tough spots… the grant that we were counting on for the medications hasn’t been secured and we may not be able to rely on it for our medication funds. Which is a REALY BIG loss, so we are scraping together to try and find some funding. We are also still trying to find the funds for the staff to get paid their money for the work that they have done, which is turning out to be harder than expected. One thing that I am learning more and more about development work is that it is always a battle. You have to be willing to fight. There is a lot of risks when you are trying to make big changes and often times things don’t turn out the way you had planned. And it sometimes takes longer to get it going that you would like.  

It makes me reflect on why im here. Why is it worth sitting in front of a computer all the time searching for grants, and digging money from my own bank account to help get the health clinic medication, and then trek up the steepest hill known to man to get it to these people living in a remote village.  I mean they live in these small mud huts, with no electricity or running water. Where they have to walk at least a kilometer to get to the water source on the mountain to fill up their 10 liter jerrycan with less than clear water and hike back to provide water to their family for the day?  Sometimes i think its because i feel i am so blessed that i have an obligation to give back. Or I want to help them to better their lives because that is just what i have always wanted to do. Or because I have the resources to help. But the truth is, they give me happiness! Eventhough its tough, and some days i feel severely overwhelmed, the days of feeling overwhelmed don't even come close to the days that i see the happiness in a persons eye because they have been able to get the health care they need. Or the excitment when we tell the HASNN woman that we are doing a passion fruit garden and they start jumping up and down and doing the xena call :) i love it!
There is a happiness that fills my heart that can't be filled anywhere else! i love it! 

I remember having a conversation with my grandpa once where he talked about how people go and do humanitairan projects and most of the time they do it because they want to have the warm fuzzy's and they want to say that they did something good. I understand a little bit about where they are coming from. But when you live with the people and get to know them, and feel their hardships, and see their sorrows and pains, those warm fuzzy's mean so much more! its not a temporary feeling, it changes your heart. I

t doesn't just make it feel good, it makes you different, and you want to help others, not just build them a building, or give them food, but to help provide REAL change, because its the real change that keeps my heart filled with happiness!

making the kids porridge in the rain

joseph attacked me and i fell over :) 

We made them porridge, they were so excited!

My horrid attempt at dancing...

Letters from Esther

So, Last week as we were finding a new place to live, and helping one of our volunteers to get healthy so she could go back to America, i was feeling a little bit stressed :) ok a lot bit stressed. It seemed that all the things i was trying to do weren't helping and i didn't know if I had to energy to keep going. Not to sound dramatic, i was just tired, emotionally and physically. But like everyone does, you just pick yourself back up and keep walking.  And as i thought about the things that happened and the stresses in my life i looked at the incredible people around me. And thought about the things that they go through on a DAILY basis.

I was talking to a woman that I get my pictures printed off at almost every week, I walked in and we did the usual hello, how are you? I'm ok how are you? but this time instead of saying im fine i said " life is ok, really stressful but it will be ok." to which she asked the details and i told her. Not thinking that i was trying to throw a pity party but it kinda started sounding that way and i was given the proper sympathy. When i asked her how she was she said. I'm ok, i prodded her to find out why she was just ok, and not fine. to which she casually mentioned the two of her brothers got into accidents and are in intensive care in Kampala.... i obviously felt horrible for talking about my problems and yet  the way she told me about her struggles it was so matter of fact. with no need for sympathy. It was just a fact of life. I realized just how much struggles a typical Ugandan goes through and once again was humbled by the strength of the people here. I sit and complain to anyone that will listen about my petty struggles and frustrations, while the people here who are really struggling keep quiet, and work hard to provide for their families. They have such an inner courage that amazes me and they don't even realize it!

Such a cute model :) 

Sweet Simon, i caught him making his own kite.
 He is such an incredibly happy kid,
who can always put a smile on your face and heart!

I was in church on sunday and an 18 year old girl wrote this letter in my notebook. She was one of the few that didn't know all of my stresses and frustrations, but i think somehow she knew... it goes like this.

Beyond the horizon, you hear a horn calling from a far awaking you to a new sense of responsibility. Sincerely you feel your bones are too weak to stand and as you continue thinking a few words cross your mind from an old song once sung. 

"Set your heart towards danger, Set your mind towards victory. 

Step follows Step

Courage follows Courage "

And then a new strength awakes you and there you are cammy, the Journey does not matter it is the first step that is the hardest.

One of the MANY non finished homes in Mbale

How does an 18 year old have such wise words? This instantly calmed my heart and it has been something that i think about each day when i start to feel overwhelmed. This wonderful girl Esther knows about trials, knows about struggles, and most importantly, knows how to keep going. That is one of the precious gems about the people here. No matter the struggles, not matter the stress, or fear, or heartache, They know how to keep going. and that gives them the strength they need. So I am going to try and keep the same code. To keep going, not matter the trials, no matter how hard the road. it will turn out all right in the end. 

Laundry Day

He wanted to make sure he was in the picture. Such a sweet kid!!

Only source of water for the Bunabuyoka Village