LUNCH UNDER A TENT

Today started with a trip out to Idudi to meet Andrew Wambi, a pastor who has started a school and church. He is not a part of Tree of Life but he is mentored by our two pastors, Wilson and James. Andrew did not know we were coming but he was so accommodating and thankful we had come. He first shared with us how the school came about and then led us to the school so we could meet his students and the teachers. The kids came out and sat so quietly. The school is only Nursery through P4 so the faces of the kids were all so stinking cute…AGAIN! Seems they get cuter every day! He had five of the kids who are a part of their choir sing for us. What sweet voices they had. Then unbeknownst to us Andrew took us to the new farm they had bought to build their new school on. To get there we drove down roads that barely qualify as roads. The van barely fit between the bushes. He was so excited about this piece of property and what he was planning to do. Afterwards we were blessed to go to his house and meet his wife and two children; his two year old daughter Faith and his 3 month old son, Israel. In between all this, we went and visited with Rehema and her extended family. Danny, this is the young girl you told me about whose father just recently passed away of AIDS. Her mother had already died previously and this precious 5 year old is now parentless. It was a sweet, but somewhat awkward moment. I told them that we were there as an extension of you Danny. We prayed over the family for strength and let them know that people half a world away were praying for them. But we also felt that we were imposing on their grief. Rehema’s sister came in wailing. I asked Andrew if it was appropriate for me to go to her. He said yes and so I did. I held her for quite awhile and let her cry for her loss. And then we started talking. She told me about her family and her children. The sadness she felt was so raw. My heart just broke for her. Death is so common here and yet the loss is felt just as strongly.

When we came back to the Mum Jaimie, Liz and I came to our room and just sat under our mosquito net and relaxed. We talked about things we had done in life and about how this trip was impacting us. We then decided we were hungry and so we ordered spring rolls. They were delivered right to our room and so we proceeded to eat lunch under our make shift tent. They were yummy – in fact the best food I’ve had at the Mum yet. Haji continues to eat fish and chips unless he changes it up a little and has chips and fish!

We then went to the kid’s house this afternoon to see the kids. Tomorrow we are headed to Jinja to take Aloko Paul to a doctor to look at his ears. He’s been suffering from ear infections for years and Jaimie is passionate about getting him looked at. So we are picking him up at Phil’s tomorrow and heading in. We had sweet Moses Okere translate for us so he would not think we were taking him to nowhere land tomorrow. We will all head to Bulubandi in the morning to finish up some things and then Judy will stay behind to finish what we don’t get done, and then will work with Julie in the afternoon. In the evening we are all heading to Sol Café for a Current event trivia game. I am sure I will not win… but I am going to give it the good old college try. Tonight when I get back to the room I am going to cram!!! If anyone knows anything that has happened in the past week or so worldwide, an email would be helpful. But only email me. The rest of the team is on their own!!! I wish I could communicate better with the little boy I sponsor at Phils. He has looked so sad these last few times I have been there. He always comes to me with a hug but that huge smile of his has been missing. I did have Moses ask if he was feeling OK and he said yes. So next time I go I will be trying to get to the bottom of it. He just is making me sad cause he is sad. Debbie and Greg if you are reading this, I have bought him a Ugandan soccer outfit (shorts and a shirt) to give you for him to wear on his flight home. I have no idea what size to tell you so I bought something I am hoping will fit him. He loves soccer so I thought it might be appropriate. He really hasn’t grown much since last year. Still as cute as can be. I just need to see his smile. I am missing that spark that he has! We left there and drove back out to Musana to see if we could find Haji’s camera. He thought he had left it there last night. As we got close to the school we ran into Haril. He very kindly got out of the car that was taking him into town and went back with us. We had a great time talking with him. He was telling us of his first trip to America…Colorado in the winter. Hearing him tell us of the layers of clothing he had on, I couldn’t decide weather to laugh or cry. I hate to be cold. So I could definitely sympathize. To deal with a new culture and be freezing at the same time – not sure that was fair. He was talking about the moving doors, the size of the malls, the grocery stores and that they have everything in them; it was so interesting for us to hear Haril talk about adjusting to culture from another perspective. Now we are back at the Mum waiting for dinner. They are back on Uganda time though my stomach is on US time. I am hungry!!! So I am ready to eat and go to sleep. I am serious about trivia facts. I will be forever thankful for any emails that may come my way. And in all seriousness… I will NOT be sharing. Just for once I want these young people to think I know something!!! I love you all. Sue