It's Been a While

I haven’t written because I don’t know what to write. Should I tell you what we have been doing? Should I tell you our most recent developments for projects and improvements we are working on for St. Jude’s and Purse of Hope? Should I tell you what God is opening up in our personal growth and spiritual development?

The needs at St. Judes are becoming more and more clear to us and they are overwhelming. We have a new petition for you. Ask everyone you know. This is extremely important and the future of St. Judes will not be okay without it. St. Judes needs prayer. They need prayer for the administration and staff. We need a new head mama with energy and education to come take over Mama Filda’s spot. We need to hire a new nurse who can concentrate on and take awesome care of the nursery and the kindergarteners. We need a reliably liaisons to take responsibility for all the sponsorships we are finding for the children of St. Judes and in the community.  We know that the material needs are endless and the most important thing we want from St. Judes is for each and every staff, caretakers, administration, and teacher to be motivated and passionate to teach and love and care for the children at St. Judes. THIS CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED THROUGH GOD. So we ask for your prayers in this area.

The only thing I really miss: washing machines. Dryers. Dryer sheet smell. Everything I put on, even after double, triple, quadruple washing it, smells AWFUL. Now I better understand why all my children at St. Judes can’t seem to get clean dry clothes put on them. Its nearly impossible for me.

This week has been action-packed so far. This is probably mostly due to the fact that Jen is already half-way done with her time here and trying to squeeze every possible activity into each day. Its great though because we have been exploring tons of new opportunities and meeting new people so I am happy its all working out how it is. Yesterday we moved! Into our house, finally. Then we spent the morning at St. Judes and during the afternoon we went to Saint Monica’s tailoring center because the older girls there were learning to cook and cater and they need visitors to come and test the food and let them practice their waitressing skills. It was fun. After we were served each of the girls had to walk in one by one in front of all the visitors, parents, and faculty, and do a spin and show their nails and be graded on personal hygiene and presentation. It was kind of disturbing and we mostly just felt really bad for the girls. After we left Saint Monica’s we went to town for light bulbs and water and then did a little unpacking. At 8 we went over to the purse of hope girls house and watched Mrs. Doubtfire. Super cute. During the movie it started to storm, so we hadn’t to walk a long distance at 10:30 to find a boda.

Today, we went to St. Judes with Scovia and Juliette the two most wonderful girls ever and they taught us a lot about taking good, culturally sensitive care of the babies. We were floored with their ability to take care of the babies so well with the simple resources they were provided with. We took them out for soda’s after and got to talk to them about future planning for their own lives and how they could continue the volunteer after we are gone and even go on someday to get jobs with them after they go to university.

We have been dreaming up a huge new action for St. Jude’s: sponsoring a nurse. The one they have now only has time to be with the special needs kids but our kids have the flu, and colds, and pneumonia, and ringworm and skin infections and we need someone with them everyday administering medicine and then we need the caretakers to be adamant about administering the medicine at the correct times throughout the day. So were going to assist the nurse during her visit tomorrow morning and then working on getting a salary to pay for another nurse to come in take care of our babies. Other projects we are working on: partnerships between our college and high school to have volunteer opportunities to come and volunteer, making a volunteer guideline for future volunteers to come, making systems for organizing and finding the kids clothes, and spending time every day with the social worker to help her stay updated and on top of everything. Jackie, the social worker, is so educated and helpful and energetic and we want her to be so involved with everything we want done but instead of burdening her we first want to take as much of the work burden off of her so she has time and energy to help us make major changes and meet bigger needs.

Tomorrow is thanksgiving! We are so excited and planning a great day with the purse of Hope girls and Kelsey and baking whatever might be possible to make here.

It's Been a While

I haven’t written because I don’t know what to write. Should I tell you what we have been doing? Should I tell you our most recent developments for projects and improvements we are working on for St. Jude’s and Purse of Hope? Should I tell you what God is opening up in our personal growth and spiritual development?

The needs at St. Judes are becoming more and more clear to us and they are overwhelming. We have a new petition for you. Ask everyone you know. This is extremely important and the future of St. Judes will not be okay without it. St. Judes needs prayer. They need prayer for the administration and staff. We need a new head mama with energy and education to come take over Mama Filda’s spot. We need to hire a new nurse who can concentrate on and take awesome care of the nursery and the kindergarteners. We need a reliably liaisons to take responsibility for all the sponsorships we are finding for the children of St. Judes and in the community.  We know that the material needs are endless and the most important thing we want from St. Judes is for each and every staff, caretakers, administration, and teacher to be motivated and passionate to teach and love and care for the children at St. Judes. THIS CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED THROUGH GOD. So we ask for your prayers in this area.

The only thing I really miss: washing machines. Dryers. Dryer sheet smell. Everything I put on, even after double, triple, quadruple washing it, smells AWFUL. Now I better understand why all my children at St. Judes can’t seem to get clean dry clothes put on them. Its nearly impossible for me.

This week has been action-packed so far. This is probably mostly due to the fact that Jen is already half-way done with her time here and trying to squeeze every possible activity into each day. Its great though because we have been exploring tons of new opportunities and meeting new people so I am happy its all working out how it is. Yesterday we moved! Into our house, finally. Then we spent the morning at St. Judes and during the afternoon we went to Saint Monica’s tailoring center because the older girls there were learning to cook and cater and they need visitors to come and test the food and let them practice their waitressing skills. It was fun. After we were served each of the girls had to walk in one by one in front of all the visitors, parents, and faculty, and do a spin and show their nails and be graded on personal hygiene and presentation. It was kind of disturbing and we mostly just felt really bad for the girls. After we left Saint Monica’s we went to town for light bulbs and water and then did a little unpacking. At 8 we went over to the purse of hope girls house and watched Mrs. Doubtfire. Super cute. During the movie it started to storm, so we hadn’t to walk a long distance at 10:30 to find a boda.

Today, we went to St. Judes with Scovia and Juliette the two most wonderful girls ever and they taught us a lot about taking good, culturally sensitive care of the babies. We were floored with their ability to take care of the babies so well with the simple resources they were provided with. We took them out for soda’s after and got to talk to them about future planning for their own lives and how they could continue the volunteer after we are gone and even go on someday to get jobs with them after they go to university.

We have been dreaming up a huge new action for St. Jude’s: sponsoring a nurse. The one they have now only has time to be with the special needs kids but our kids have the flu, and colds, and pneumonia, and ringworm and skin infections and we need someone with them everyday administering medicine and then we need the caretakers to be adamant about administering the medicine at the correct times throughout the day. So were going to assist the nurse during her visit tomorrow morning and then working on getting a salary to pay for another nurse to come in take care of our babies. Other projects we are working on: partnerships between our college and high school to have volunteer opportunities to come and volunteer, making a volunteer guideline for future volunteers to come, making systems for organizing and finding the kids clothes, and spending time every day with the social worker to help her stay updated and on top of everything. Jackie, the social worker, is so educated and helpful and energetic and we want her to be so involved with everything we want done but instead of burdening her we first want to take as much of the work burden off of her so she has time and energy to help us make major changes and meet bigger needs.

Tomorrow is thanksgiving! We are so excited and planning a great day with the purse of Hope girls and Kelsey and baking whatever might be possible to make here.

Tailored Tuesdays Teaching Toddlers

My body is still pulsating from my day at the children’s home. I had my hands full today – literally – holding multiple children at a time. And I like the older ones so these were not light babies. My muscles must be getting a lot stronger. It was a little drizzly today and the children were very grouchy and teary today. We had a lot of tears. Lauren and Jordan went to go help out in special needs for a while so I was by myself with the toddlers and their mama’s. I’m noticing a lot more illness – fevers, coughing, and skin diseases. Do all babies have runny noses or just these ones because they are ill? Lauren and I are both fight sore throats, coughs, and nausea and we have a feeling the kids are playing a large part in that. Its worth it, SO worth it, but were trying to think of ways to stay precaution against getting ill ourselves (Jordan is so immune). I really wish I had a book about the common illness of African children so I could read up on what’s going on with them and how best to help. I think a nutritious diet would make a world of difference but from 1 year old they are eating only beans and posho for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Steven came and helped me a lot today again. He is so good with the kids and they love him so much. We talked a lot about the differences we see between Africa and America and what we like and don’t about both. He was able to be really honest with me about his distaste for most African men and their habits of laziness and drunkenness and abuse and debt. He was telling how he’s always trying to encourage his friends to save their money and be smart and take only one wife and have only the children they are able to provide for. His adopted father is Elio, the owner of St. Judes and Elio loves and respects and has given Steven so much. The most valuable thing Elio has given that I have seen so far is Stephen ability to process life correctly and handle his pain and life devastations in healthy ways. Steven works as a video editor when people need promotional videos or wedding video etc. He makes pretty good money, sometimes up to 200 a video. I told him in the U.S. a good promotional video can be charged up to $6000. That probably wasn’t very encouraging. He told me, if he can afford it, he wants to adopt one of the children from St. Judes someday. Every week he buys all of the children a treat out of his own money. Today they had these sweet cookies made out of banana that they loved. He told me all this as he rocked Regina (my favorite little precious one) to sleep.

A cute 10 year old named Jennifer came this morning and gave me a long letter illustrated with colorful pictures. She told me all about herself and her life in it and asked if we could be friends. It was very sweet and cute. I have 4 mosquito bites on my foot and they are itching bad. I got to talked to Jenevieve and Kelli and Meghan on skype today so my friendship cup was really filled up. 

Muddy Monday

Today was a good day at St. Judes. We spent the morning at Café Larem rewording the history for Gulu for the St. Judes website and fixing up the facebook page we made for them. We made it to the children’s home around noon. It was perfect timing because we got there just as the children were sitting down to eat and so we washed all their hands just in the nick of time before their food was ready (I guess the mama’s didn’t find that important today??!). As the children ate we grabbed the broom and pee rags and the bar soap and soapy hand water and scrubbed the concrete the babies sleep on. Then we got the plastic/straw mats they sleep on and scrub brushes and scrubbed off all the poop and washed out all the pee. The mama’s were happy we were helping and kept bringing us water and better scrub brushes. After we finished we were really pleased to see a couple of the mama’s giving their assigned children baths and we were happy to help get them dressed and off the toilets. Jordan even gave her first bath and threw away their waste from the potty training seats (she almost barfed). I got Regina in my arms as soon as she was clean and brushed and I was so happy to see them putting medicine on her neck and back for her exema.  I held Regina and Acen and Debra for about an hour each (I play favorites, and those are definitely them). One little boy about 10 came up with a song he had written in Lulo on a piece of paper and sang it to me. It was SOOO cute! This guy Stephen who I had talked to a little bit on past days came down and sat with me while I was holding Debra (she has the flu). Stephen is an adult who lived in the orphanage when he was growing up. He was really affected by the war and is now writing a book with a Professor at NYC called Under the African Sun (everyone should buy it). He’s flying to New York next month to have it published. We talked for like an hour or so and it was super awesome to get to know a native Ugandan who had been raised in the orphanage and is now so intellectual and ambitious and doing things with his life. I’m also so scared that these precious children I’m holding are all just going to become boda-boda drivers and destitute child house wives. But he was inspiring and seemed like a really cool guy which is hard to find here. They are mostly all lazy and drunkards, which is why all our NGO’s are help for women and children. The men are hopeless. I was thinking today about education and how lucky we are that even if we have nothing we have the opportunity to get a loan, go to school, get educated in a way that could really help people and earn enough money pay back the money we pay for our education and to live comfortably. America is so lucky! Anyway, it makes me want to go to Med School. I’m feeling those inclinations more and more lately, although I know I’m extremely fickle with my vocational plans so when God wants me to know what he has me doing, he’ll tell me.

Weekend Fun

This weekend was marvelous. Saturday we started the day at Larem Café, using free internet and sipping on some green tea. I got to read up on lot on OneMangoTree (check it out, seriously), KissesfromKatie (look at that one too), and get familiar with Twitter, all to get educated on my job before I start. I’m so excited that the first job I’ll have after college is a social media job in Gulu, Uganda. How cool is that. Anyway, at 11 o’clock we went with Lexi, a friend we ran into at Larem, to yoga at Ben and Holly’s house. Ben and Holly are super cool. They live in a beautiful house here in Gulu with 2 other families. They have lived here for 5 years and just adopted a precious little girl named A’Leah from St. Judes! Another couple in the house has 3 kids, all very young. The husband of the last couple in the house is an architect and designed the house that they live in. It is beautiful and simple and filled with African pillows and curtains and furniture – so cool! Anyway, Holly is an awesome yoga instructor and led about 9 of us through the practice. We ended around 12:30 and went to get lunch at San Kofa. Lexi was there, again, surprisingly, which was fun. After lunch we spent some down time in the room, showering and catching up. Then off to Purse of Hope! Good to see and be with the girls for a while. They sang for us and talked to us and we got to spend a lot of time with the aunties. We left with Kelsey to go to the market and get vegetables and drinks for dinner. Then after a quick stop back to the hotel (all through boda-boda) we went to John and Sean’s for an awesome time of fellowship and dinner and games. We talked incessantly about Bob Goff, and tons of other enlightening and interesting topics: kids with special needs, good books, twitter, Cairo, and cocaine. I find I like to listen so much more than I like to talk. Kelsey made homemade ravioli and veggies and salad. She is so inventive with the limited resources and gives us a lot of hope for what you can do with a kitchen and recipes from the internet.  

Sunday morning we walked to church at Watoto and I was really happy because they played a song that I had been wanted to hear the day before. I love when the Lord remembers me like that. After church we went to Kelsey’s and had a sweet time of fellowship and lunch. We ate and then listened to a sermon on podcast and then all talked about the sermon and how we can be more of a community and more vulnerable and it was such an awesome talk. Then we fell very organically into a great time of worship and prayer and more worship and more prayer. We were there doing that for over 4 hours. So awesome. I left feeling revived and rejuvenated and excited about Christ and what he has been doing and how lucky I am to know these people and… yeah.

I am ALWAYS light headed here. I can barely ever stand up with blacking out for at least a couple seconds. I eat enough, I drink enough, I sleep enough, and I don’t feel so affected by the heat, so its super weird.

I am about to give Chris the OK to extend my flight and I’m super excited and super nervous about it all at the same time. I worry about getting more malaria medicine, and about what will happen if/when I get malaria and Girardeau (the long-timers here say its UNAVOIDABLE if you’re staying as long as I am). I worry because the house I’m moving into apparently just doesn’t have power.  That sounds kind of awful. But its okay, and I’m still excited. I’m excited about my job and being able to continue working at St. Judes and with Purse of Hope. I’m excited for the opportunities I know I’m going to encounter.

After Sunday naptime (and a special phone conversation to my mother) Lauren and Jordan and I went to get Indian food, trying to avoid the crowd of expats at San Kofa. There again we can into Lexi and her roommate Naomi. God obviously has plans for us with Lexi because that was the third time we ran into her at a different restaurant at perfect timing for sitting down together. She hugely encouraged us at dinner by saying that our presence among the expats at changed the vibe of the community and that a lot of people were feeling more open and ready for true community with us there. She also shared a lot of really awesome, personal things about herself and her life and her spiritually so it was a really great time together. After dinner the 5 of us went back to the hotel room to share 2 beer bottles and fellowship. Really special. Now bed : ) goodnight  

Religion that is Pure and Faultless... James 1:27

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGyYsA62CxY&list=QL&playnext=1

This video is so inspiring.We also found our 34 babies who we love and now we trying to find a way to meet some basic needs for them. In reference to our previous post our hearts are breaking for these children. Many have bacterial skin infections and most are wearing soiled clothing for days in a row. We are currently working on purchasing reusable baby swim diapers, figuring that this is the best current solution. At this point the 3 of us plan to give the money to Jen to buy 35 diapers. She is leaving California on the 10th. We are asking if any of you have reusable diapers or know of friends who have some and are willing to donate. There will be other needs these children need met but this is the first one we are choosing to tackle. If you have any ideas about fundraising or companies that would be willing to donate please let us know. There are numerous medical, sanitation, and dental needs that we have noticed and will soon address. Our hope is to have a continued relationship with St. Judes Orphanage even after our departure from Uganda.

Lately

Monday morning we went to St. Judes Orphanage to see what kind of help we could offer. It was a huge compound. They walked us through the Special Needs buildings, then the secondary school, and then to the nursery. We felt we could be of most help with the littlest ones so we stayed there. There were 34 babies, from about 9 months up to 3 ½ sitting on concrete in the warm shade. The babies were so precious and we each found special ones immediately that we attached ourselves too. Mine was Regina, about 18 months and totally precious and wouldn’t leave my arms. They were all so content, rarely crying, and immediately scolded by the caretakers if they did.  After about an hour of holding and playing with them, we saw a puddle by Jordan’s foot. A few of them were starting to drift off to sleep on the concrete and with along naptime also came puddles of urine. Looking around we realized none of them had diapers on. As more and more started to fall asleep more and more puddles were created. In a short time the ground was covered in urine and they were all sleeping in it. We ourselves were also covered in it from the ones we were holding as they fell asleep. As soon as the last few had fallen asleep the caretaker went to go prepare bowls of beans and this white mash stuff called pocho. She woke them all up and put all 34 of them a table (no high chairs) to eat out of their bowls with their hands. I had a meeting with Halle (my boss) and we were all reeking of urine so we took off. We were pretty quiet for a long time after that experience. So badly we wanted to have washable, reusable diapers, baby wipes, tissues, and functioning baby clothes for these 34 toddlers. We also wrote down over lunch idea for starting them a website where people could donate and learn about volunteer opportunities they offer. They had a sweet set-up for volunteers but only 1 staying there as its so difficult to learn anything about St. Judes via the web. We are frustrated, but we are still brainstorming. We know this is a place with needs and we want to be there as much as possible, whether it means were soaked in urine or not.

After I talked to Halle, we were cleared to move into the One Mango Tree house. I was so excited to be living in a house again, with a kitchen, my own room and free rent. We packed up, checked out, and found our way there with little problems. Upon arrival we unpacked and got comfortable, a little mortified with the insect problem this house had and how much cleaning our rooms needed. But we moved in regardless. We went to the market to buy brooms, soap, sponges, and more to help us get comfortable. When we got home, darkness set it. The power was out in the house, as it was throughout the whole city. It turned off in the midst of a huge Thunderstorm (we

have them every night) but its rumored that it may be more because of corruption

than the storm. Anyway, it was dark, and Lauranne brought up the issue that

Gihanne, the production manager was coming that night and was going to need

a place to say. Then a few minutes later Halle called me remembering that Hillary

was going to be coming up next week and also needing a room. She asked if

maybe Lauren and Jordan could wait to move in until December. In the dark, I

moved my stuff into the tiny room in the boys quarters that Lauren and Jordan

were sharing. We slapped a slice of bread with our almond butter and had that

and apples for dinner, by the light of Laurens computer screen. After our slice

of bread, we attempted to wash our feet and then the 3 of us crawled into a bed

about the size of a full. We watched 13 going on 30 vowing to take sleeping pills

to e able to fall asleep that night. In the middle of the movie the rain came. First

in little drizzles and then in rain and hail and wind. It came in under our door and

through the window, covering our luggage and floor in rainwater. We attempted

to close the window but every time we tried to pull it in the wind would grab it

back and smack it against the side of the house. The storm was so loud and we

yelled at Lauren not to try anymore, scared the glass would shatter into her face.

Once she got it secure we used a hair tie to secure it and jumped back into bed,

Lauren and I freaked out by the shot-gun thunder (Jordan is so brave). Later the

girl who also sleeps in the boys quarters came home, cursing and yelling and

being a little too rambunctious for us. When she finally settled down we slept

through the night and in the morning tried to tip-toe out as not to wake anyone

through the paper-thin walls.

We decided we couldn’t stay. There just wasn’t enough room and we didn’t want

to overwhelm the people who already lived there. We wanted to wait until there

were more rooms available and we had the freedom to clean and organize to our

hearts desire. So we moved. Moving sucks, it was our 4th time in 2 weeks. Were

learning to shed off everything that’s not necessary and be appreciative because

back at the hotel we had power (on and off) and a fan and 2 beds instead of 1.

So we are back in the hotel and feeling blessed.

Thanks for sharing our adventure,

Martina

Days Go By

 Today, Tuesday, I got hired for a social media job with One Mango Tree! I am so excited. I’m not sure exactly everything it entails but I am loving how it sounds so far. I start Monday, learning the ropes! And I will let you know all about it when I know more.

We went to Baby Watoto and tried to volunteer. They wouldn’t let us! It was kind of nice that they were so strict and serious about volunteer processes and taking shifts with the kids but it was the first time we had experienced such difficulty in attempting to help out.

After we left their beautiful compound, we went to Café Javas and had Africa Tea. We met up with Greer, a friend of a friends who is in Uganda from Irvine working with the Judges to help make the court less corrupt. He recently graduated from Pepperdine law and told us a lot about Uganda and about his work here. That afternoon Jordan and I went to see the girls and Kelsey and Katie in Bwaise. When the drop in center was closing, Rabinah, the house mama, talked to the girls about the elections coming up in February. She told them not to get involved because it only leads to violence and death. I was amazed at their inability to even talk about it at the center because of how dirty politics are here. Then she prayed with them. They all started singing in Lugandan – together – acapella, and then as soon as they song ended they each prayed their own prayers,  all at the same time. The room was very loud with prayers in Lugandan. I just closed my eyes and felt the Spirit wash over the room. So powerful! After prayer many of the women left and it was just us and the 10 girls who live there. We watched Aladin! And had delicious homemade Ugandan dinner (pumpkin, rice&guac, and beans).  Jordan and I had a thrilling nighttime boda-boda ride home.

Wednesday was relaxed. We made our way over to exchange our broken plug converted, and then met up with Natasha at Café Java. After a few hourse we grabbed a boda-boda and went to Bwaise to see the girls. We watched their dancing lesson and relaxed, played cards. As soon as evening came we walked through the slum down to the stage to catch a boda-boda home. We ended the night by watching “A Philadelphia Story”.  It was brilliant.

Thursday we went to the Oweeno market. We went fabric shopping for good fabrics for the girls to make duvets and table clothes out of. Then we had lunch, our first real meal in a long time! We were alive again and went to see the girls. We took pictures of them sewing and the goods they have made so we can get them an internet site set up for their products. After pictures we went back to the hotel and edited pictures and emailed NGO’s and organizations about volunteering in Gulu and getting my flight extended (woohoo!). 

Friday was very calm too. We are preparing to get to Gulu tomorrow (Saturday) and start our life there so we just ran errands and edited pictures for the girls website and had one last morning at Café Javas. We prayed for more challenges so the power continually turned off all afternoon. But nothing seems like a problem here. Its pretty awesome.

Saturday was a crazy day. I felt like I was on drugs all day. We woke up at 6:30am, got picked up from the hotel and went to the bus station. We sat on the bus for an hour in the parking lot, then took another hour getting out of the city. We made it to Gulu around 2. On the bus this African man was walking up and down the isles preaching. It was great. When we arrived we took a cab to the hotel and negotiated a move in. we were bummed because it was more expensive than we thought and we could only get two beds. Lauren and Jordan unpacked while I tried to get rid of my headache. We took boda’s to Kelsey’s around 5 and stopped in the market on the way there to get avocados. The market was crazy! Its gross when markets smell like fish. Anyway, Kelsey’s was fun (she is the director of purse of hope, younger than me!) and we met a ton of Americans who are volunteering throughout Uganda. They were all super cool people. We made dinner together, and talked, and dressed up as Chilean cole miners (the ones that were just rescued).  I loved their house and their compound and their security guard. He was their favorite boda-boda driver and they just became friends and asked him to be their security guard. He practiced tai-quon doi while he guards. Its precious. We walked to the Invisible Children house around 8. It is about a 20 minute walk. Halfway there, it started to rain. Just a little at first and then, with 5 minutes still left at a sprint, we were slipping through the downpour. It was so fun. We showed up at the party, soaked, muddy, and sweaty but it was a great time.

Its Sunday morning. We found out last night that we can all move into the One Mango Tree house. Lauren and Jordan will pay less than they ever intended and I live for free. I hear its super cute a garden and warm water and great toilet so im super excited (most people have a hole in the ground).

I have finished all three of my books at this point. They were all so good! Same kind of different as me, Guernsey literary and potato peel society, and the glass castle.