Sunday in the Village

Sunday was eventful for us. We attended church at David and Sarah's village. It was humbling that they set up chairs for us while they all sat on wooden benches. The building was a crude structure with a dirt floor, but as you can see, they had hung beautiful cloths at the altar area to honor God. There was a long time of worshiping thru music. Most of it was in their native language, but some were in English so we joined in. Then, David gave a wonderful message from Isaiah 6 about being prepared and ready when God sends us.

After the service, we handed out some of the clothes we brought from our Fairview kids for the African children. It was like Christmas in March for them! They were so thrilled to get the new things!
It was quite a process handing out the clothing, as they were so eager to get something 'new'! They thanked and thanked us and the adults were overwhelmed at the Mazungu's (white man's) love for their children. We are the ones who were blessed!

We wanted to take this picture so the kids of Fairview could see the African children in their new shirts! Now there will be a piece of Fairview, Oklahoma running around the villages outside Jinja Uganda!

We went to the village of Masese in the afternoon to take medicine, and nothing could have prepared us for the conditions there. It is said here that even the poor villages consider Masese poor. Some of the children had no clothes on at all and all of them swarmed us. We had kids holding on to every finger. We couldn't imagine people could actually live there if we hadn't seen it for our own eyes. Many of the children were sick and so the medicine was a blessing to them.

Justin made the mistake of letting one of the boys hang from his arm. They quickly flocked to he and Trent. The guys soon found out 2 boys on each arm was way too much for them! We were told that then men in this village don't work. The kids are expected to make beer for them and the guys are drunk before noon. The women and children do all the work. They even send the kids into town to beg along the streets. To say it was sad was an understatement.

From the village we went to an orphanage for HIV kids. The conditions there were good compared to the village, however knowing the kid's medical issues was heartbreaking. This little guy, Kevin, was 7 months old and had just returned from the hospital for malnutrition and bowel problems. He has only been with them a couple of months. He is SO tiny, all of the clothes were hanging off him. There were wonderful 'Aunties' working there caring for them. What a special ministry they have! The kids are truly loved and told of God as they grow up. There were kids from tiny babies to age 13.

This little guy was having great fun playing a game pushing Jodi around and then she would turn around and get him! He about lost his britches many times and was laughing so hard! It was good medicine for our souls hearing his laughter! Once again, our eyes and hearts were opened to what we saw and experienced here.

Posted by Brenda