I. Am. Here!!! Sometimes I can’t believe that after all the planning, the waiting, the excitement, the anticipation, I am here. Its been almost two weeks since this new life adventure of living in Uganda started and here I am, sitting in my little room on Friday, 2pm, trying to think of a way to sum up the past two weeks in just a few short paragraphs. I tend to procrastinate writing blogs, I find it hard to put into words the feelings and emotions that come with living thousands of miles away from your first home in a different culture. I can easier show you photos of what it looks like, and capture the emotions on the faces of the people here, and hope that somehow you will get a glimpse of the ‘beautiful chaos’ that has become my life here.
My first week was a refreshing mixture of relaxation, visiting friends, and meeting new ones. It just feels like home, like I could finally take a deep breath and know without doubt that this is where I am meant to be. This is my home. I spent time moving into my new home, organizing and cleaning everything, buying a fridge (yeah, there was no fridge!), meeting my new roommate, Erica, visiting the babies home that I volunteered in the last time I lived here, eating lots of matooke (green plantain bananas that are mashed and steamed), spending two days inWatoto Suubi Village with Silvester and his family in House 121 and C9, celebrating birthdays and so much more.
In Uganda, pouring water on someone on their birthday is one of the common gifts.
A Charcoal Stove (After Use)
I can’t sum up the amount of peace I have here, my heart feels so much at rest. Of course there are challenges like nights of cooking on a charcoal stove outside on the porch with a flashlight when there’s no electricity to power up the burner, washing all laundry by hand, having no car of your own to just go somewhere whenever you need or want to…but even with these challenges, I wouldn’t change a thing and I wouldn’t chose to live somewhere else, this is where I forever belong. Yes, there are dangers of living here like disease and robbery, but isn’t it like that all over the world? Where you live now? I have no doubt that this is where I am supposed to be.
Now its getting to be the end of my second week here. This week was a bit of a different story than the first week. I knew that Monday would be my first day at Raising Up Hope for Uganda. Erica and I were told to show up at 10am at the boys home and we would have our meeting with our current supervisor William. Raising Up Hope is one ministry with several projects going on within. They have a Boys Home and a Girls Home which is exactly what it sounds like. These homes house roughly 20 kids at the moment each from the slums or street and provide them with a good education, food, a home, a house mom, a place of safety, and a family. During the day these kids go off to school and come home in the evening. During the day, the Boys Home also serves as a Day Care and School for kids in our community who would be sitting or working in bars with their relatives cause they can’t afford the fees for schools. So they come here and are taken out of dangerous situations that they would otherwise be involved in if not for the RUHU School. The school stops at the end of 6th grade. There are two main teachers who are there every day. Imagine a school being run by only two teachers. This is where a lot of help is needed. Raising Up Hope also does ministry in the slums in Kampala and is raising funds to start building a Village of Hope for the kids with its own school and sense of community and family. There are two homes built so far but still so much more to do. There is also a safe house where kids from the slums who aren’t ready for school and need time to adjust to life come to. On Monday we enter the gate and are greeted by a dozen huge smiles and hugs. The kids grab onto our hands and don’t let go. They lead us to the back of the home where the classrooms start. We look into a classroom of about 40 small kids sitting on the floor who seconds ago were so intently focused on their lesson but are now running and screaming for the door to attack us with hugs and handshakes and “How are you? What’s your name?” We have completely disrupted the classroom but there’s smiles and laughter all around.
Our Class
The teacher then leads us to the next classroom of about 25 students in the 4th grade. She looks at us and says “Do you want to teach now?”. Erica and I look at each other blankly and somehow find ourselves in the front of the classroom with all eyes on us. We have not even the slightest idea of what to do or teach but somehow we make it through the day singing lots and lots of songs, playing hang man, teaching them John 3:16, singing some more, and telling stories. At the end of the day we were exhausted and overwhelmed. I had no idea how I was going to do this everyday, and quite honestly I didn’t really enjoy the day. Being thrown into something that big and not being prepared is scary, at least for me. I like to have things planned out and organized, and this was definitely anything but that.
My Roommate Erica and one of our students Juliet (Two Best friends)
The next day we are told to be prepared to teach again in the morning and that in the afternoon we would be heading to the safe house. We enter the school gate again but this time are greeted with “Auntie Kate! Auntie Erica!” The sound of that is so sweet to my ears. These kids are so full of joy and thankfulness no matter what their circumstance is outside of this small school. They are happy. I believe their futures are bright and so full of hope. And I pray they grow to believe that too. How can I be selfish and think to myself that I can’t do this because its too much for me, when these kids need truth and love spoken into their lives.
Baby Jordan
We head to the Safe House and I meet an 18 year old mama who just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Saturday. I bathe him and dress him and cuddle him, watching his sweet baby yawns come and go. God is so present in these moments, like I can feel Him sitting right there with us. His mama tells me about her life as I also tell her about mine. She tells me she loves being a mom, that its one of the best gifts. What an inspiring thing to hear from this young mama.
Wednesday I have a day of rest, as the first two days have been long and tiring. Thursday William takes us to the beginnings of the Village of Hope. It is BEAUTIFUL. The views are breathtaking. This place is definitely going to be a place of hope and restoration. We help them plant beans, or try our best to. Gardening is definitely done differently here than in the USA.
Village of Hope
Elle, Erica and I trying to plant beans.
Going into week three, I feel more determined. I will not let Satan knock me down and tell me I am not able. God never sets us up for failure. And it can only get better from here. I know God has put people in my life to help me through the hard times and celebrate with me in the good times and everything in between. He’s building friendships and establishing long term relationships. He is making me free. And He is teaching me how to love this beautiful chaos we call life.
Some of the Kids at School
Someone wants come to school too.
