Mzungu, Mzungu!!

June 6th

Well, i left off on Wednesday and today is now Sunday. Since then we have had the opportunity to do a lot. On Thursday, we started off in the morning by going to a babies home with all orphaned babies. Right when we walked in and the doors open, we all had about 30 big brown eyes glued on us as the one's who were able to walk or crawl ran to us and literally started to climb up us wanting to be held. I ended up with about 4 children on me at a couple points. One of each leg, one on my back, and one holding my hand. Probably my favorite moment was when i had one baby sitting in my lap looking at me, i would put my hand on his back as i dipped him down slowly. We did this for about 20 minutes and every time without fail when i would dip him down he would burst out in laughter. I have become convinced that one of my favorite sounds is a child's laughter. I feel like it could never get old me to; knowing that i brought a little bit of joy to that orphaned child's life that day. I want to bring them all home with me.

That afternoon we went to Remand home which is a juvenile prison. It's a place for both boys and girls who have either committed crimes or more often the case, were dropped off because their family's didn't want them or they were wrongfully convinced. One teenage boy was wrongfully accused of a crime when he was at home. He was sitting outside playing cards with some friends and the police who did not want to deal with the trouble of these children just assumed they were up to no good and arrested them. How horrible that an innocent boy who just happened to be living in a poor and crime filled community in Uganda is wrongfully accused. His life is going to be forever different now. However, Remand home offers them hope. Hope that they will one day return home, hope that there are people that care about them, and most importantly hope in salvation through Jesus Christ.

Every weekend we have free, so yesterday we went to Jinja which is the source of the Nile river in Uganda! It was so special to see and to be able go on a boat ride in the Nile. Not a normal Saturday activity at home! It is one of the most beautiful places ever and after the boat ride we all sat for a couple hours on huge rocks that were right by the edge of the Nile and where Lake Victoria meet.

Today, we went to Watoto Church which i have always wanted to visit ever since i saw the Watoto children's choir in Orlando. They support about 2,000 children and these children travel the world, all of which are orphans, and sing and raise money for school fees. This choir has given life to the orphans. The church was fairly westernized, even though it was blazing hot in there, which is not very unusual. It was super special to be a part of especially because i found out that the Watoto Children's Choir was in Orlando last night and this morning! Crazy!!

We are off to Rakai, Uganda next Tuesday through Sunday. We are going to be building a house for one of the Empower A Child sponsor children as well as a couple other things. Rakai is where AIDS began to spread in Uganda and is one of the cities that is stricken with the most poverty. It will definitely be eye opening.

"Religion that God our Father accepts are pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep one's self from being polluted by the world." James 1:27