Lira (Pam's blog)

Pam’s Blog:
As Karlie shared with you, 10 of us loaded up a bus and headed for Liar early Tuesday morning of this week. Being on the roads is quite a hair raising experience here in Uganda but God has provided a very wonderful, safe bus driver, Robert, who has driven us every where the last three weeks. We are in Northern Uganda which was about a 5 hour drive from Seeta. There is a orphanage here, as well, run by Christian Life Ministries. They do not get as many visitors up here so the team we came with from the US always tries to make a point to come up and bring needed items as well as lead mum’s bible studies, bible school for the kids and do a building project. Our construction team consists of 4 men, which Steve and Kirk are part of (Bruce & Adam are the other two for those that know them). They have been working on expanding the building that serves as a kitchen for the orphanage. They are adding stoves that will continue to be fueled by fire and wood. The kitchen will have better ventilation and help the cook, Francis, not have so much smoke around him while he works. The team has been enjoying working alongside local Ugandan construction workers. The rest of our team, 7 women, which Karlie, Kristin, & I are part of, have been leading mum’s bible study in the mornings and VBS for the kids in the afternoon. I had the privilege of teaching about Ruth (my personal favorite of women of the Bible) and Karlie and Kristin taught the kids about David & Goliath yesterday. Needless to say, we are pooped out each night by the time we get back to our guest house. This guest house is right across the street from the orphanage and is so convenient to come back and forth from. The whole staff is so friendly and taking very good care of us.

This orphanage is very different in many ways from the one in Seeta. The most obvious difference is that there are only 110 kids and 9 mums here versus 900 kids and 64 mums down south. So, we noticed it is more calm and quiet here. The mums here are very young and all of them are young enough to be my daughters. Their ages range from 20 - 29 years old and two of the mums have been here 5 years. Can you imagine raising 12 children ages 5 - 17 years old when you are a child yourself? Because of the war that this area experienced not too many years ago, a few of these mums were brought out of refugee camps to come work at the orphanage. Just today after our luncheon for them here at our guest house, we heard many tearful testimonies of these young girls and the hardships they’ve experienced during and after the war. Many have lost dreams of going to university because of finances. It is $1,000 to attend for a year, but the average annual income here in Uganda is $1,800, which I’m sure the mums don’t even come close to making. Many are responsible for providing tuition for younger siblings making it harder to save for their own education (all grades have a tuition - no free public education). It was heart wrenching to realize these young women haven’t had the opportunity to have a mom raise them, love them, and teach them. They just were thrown into adulthood at a very young age. I just want to scoop them all up, bring them home, and be their mom. After three days with them, they have just begun to warm up to us. I think they are a bit more skeptical of outsiders and have seemed more shut down because of what they have witnessed in their lives. But, again, at the end of each of their testimonies, they gave glory to God for providing them mum jobs. They are thankful for the food, shelter, and small pay check they receive because they know it could be worse.

Wow! what is my worse day back in America? Do I have to worry about getting sick from malaria (which many of the mums and children have), or even Typhoid which they are starting to see here, or do I need to worry about the stub toe I have that has gotten so infected because I don’t have the proper bandages or ointment to put on and I live in dirt, or will my flip flops hold up a whole year until the Muzungus (white people) come back with more, or the one dress I own has a broken zipper and is getting to short because I’m growing too tall, or the football (soccer) I got from the team last year lasted only a couple months because I play all the time with my friends on dirt, or . . . it goes on and on! But these Ugandans still find joy in the small things. Things that make them smile: mums getting their very own gift bags of shavers, lotions, fingernail polish, underwear, towels, soap, etc. or gently used skirts from team members (they let us know if they have their eye on a particular skirt of ours), or just sitting down and talking with them (they like this best). What makes the kids smile: coloring with crayons that we brought for them, cutting with scissors (which they don’t have here), playing soccer with team members and if a conventional football is not around, the boys make a ball from many plastic sacks wound up together or an old sock stuffed with trash, seeing their image in a picture we just took on a digital camera (they don’t have mirrors) and they love just hanging out and holding hands with us. Today it struck me how creative these kids get with so little. I saw two little girls playing chinese jump rope with plastic sacks stretched really tight and tied together. They were having a blast together. It made my heart happy. I better close, it is 10:30 pm Uganda time. I’ll go to sleep with a smile on my face as I reflect on my day and am thankful, once again, that I’m here!!!!

-Pam