Projects and Children

Jump rope with the girls.

Lira has been wonderful. I have taken my camera out for the second time, and actually took more than 10 photos. All the girls on the trip are really good photographers, so I have been mildly intimidated to bust mine out. I have to laugh because I look at my camera and I have taken it through the ringer. 3 times to Italy, 8 times to Africa, 2 broken lenses, broken plates, and lost pieces. I remember for the longest time I had a pice of tape on the bottom to keep dust from going into it while I was in Africa. I would tell everyone that I was putting the tape on there as a theft deterrent; no one wants to steal a camera that is taped together. It was really actually holding it together. I eventually replaced the plate, but I bet there is more dust in there than you would find under a refrigerator. still, it takes quite nice photos... Its all in the eye anyways. 

Gene and Eddie are machines, they have been digging like crazy, and constantly asking me what they can be doing. The girls have been doing a great job with the children and the Mums devotionals in the morning. I have been very impressed with everyone. Amy has been sharing her testimony, which has been very difficult for her. I am proud of her for being so strong. We have been doing bible classes with the children where we touch on being a child of God, being free from sin forever, how God listens to us, how God heals our hearts. The children get out of school so late that if we start the lessons we would not finish before dark. So, we have been given permission to pull the children out of school early for two days. We send Robert over to the school, and have him pick up the children on the bus. 

Stephanie Davis took a great picture I had to share. 

I remember being young; standing on the side of the road with my brothers and sisters waiting for the bus. We would complain about how the bus took so long to get us to school. When I see how much these children light up when they talk about getting on a bus to come home from school it makes me feel, again, like I have been spoiled by the world. How many times can I be taught this lesson? How can I better appreciate everything that God has blessed me with? I did walk to school some when I was little, but I have never been so excited to just be on a bus as these children are. How different we are when a simple ride in a vehicle is the high point of our day. In conversation I would ask them how their day was, and they would say, “I had a good day, I rode the bus from school”. Never would I have said that. Bringing that rabbit trail back, we did a back to back teaching on saturday so that we could finish the curriculum this week without taking the children out of school early more than two days.

Today was Sunday, We had church with the kids out in the shade of one of the houses. Bruce talked about keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and spoke about when Jesus walked on water to catch up with the disciples. Peter wanted to walk out to him, and Jesus told him to come, but when he came close his eyes went off of Jesus and he began to sink. “Do you sometimes take your eyes off God? When you take your eyes off God, what happens? You sink.” We rolled the church time into another lesson from our curriculum. Afterward, some of the team went back to the hotel to freshen up, and change out of their church clothes. When everyone came back we got to spend some time with the children. Again, I got to take out my camera and snap some shots. I did some things here and there, but for the most part, Sunday was Sunday and everyone enjoyed each other’s company. I called my friend Urs Klauser from “God Helps Uganda” and invited him over so that I could say hi. It was very nice to talk to him. I was able to give him a card for Engineering Missionaries International so that he could use them for some engineering. Around 2:00pm we started gearing up for distributing clothes to the children. There was some stress and some heat in the back room as clothes were getting figured out. Knowing which kids are in which homes is always a challenge, but the girls took care of most.... all the work for that. The boys found some other stuff to do. 

Sharon with her nails freshly painted.

Our pit latrines are moving exceptionally slowly.  Having Henry as our foreman is nice, but he can be a little distracted.  We have contracted him to dig the Pit Latrine, but at the pace he and his workers are going, it will not be finished by the time we are gone.  Dr. Peter came by to see us and mentioned that he knew people who could dig through the ground that we are chipping through much faster than our crew is, and would be happy to bring them if we wanted. I told him that he needed to talk to Henry to see if that would be okay.  Turns out Henry contracted with the men who are digging right now, and he says that we would still have to pay the full amount on their contract if we decided not to use them.  So the dilemma becomes, do we let the slow workers slug it out and leave the project for Henry to finish after we are gone?  Or do we bring bigger guys in, complete the work on time and pay a little more money?  Since we donated $2,000.00 dollars of our budget unexpectedly in Seta on the pump, we are starting to feel the pocket strings tighten a little.  I know that God will work it out.  I told Dr. Peter to bring his guys, and will try to reason with Henry tomorrow.

What a wonderful concept. 

We brought on our new guys. When they showed up, one of the existing workers went to report them to the labor bureau. I didn't know they had a labor bureau... I had Henry call them off so that we could work out the situation. I reasoned with hem and decided we would pay them 12,000 shillings per day for their work instead of the contracted stone pit of death. The new workers work very hard and take less breaks than the last guys. Peter told us not to pay them too much because they are drunks; they will just spend it on alcohol. Bruce goes out every day and gives them some of his jerky and dried fruit to give them a little protein and sugar. We made sure that they had good drinking water, and even gave them goggles so they don't get a ton of rocks in their eyes. They have been chipping out the rock for the last few days and are almost to 5 feet. They told us that once we get to 3 feet, it would be dirt, and then it was 4 feet. Now it is 5 feet; still ridiculous hard rock. This is proving to be a hard pit for them to dig. The other workers we have been using to fill in low places in the orphanage, and transplanting grass. Gene has been keeping them busy in his own quest to stay as busy as possible; which reminds me, could you please pray that everything goes smoothly for his company back home? Seems that everything goes wrong when he leaves. 

We purchased several trees. I made a stop at the nursery that I had visited three months ago and bought more Avocado, Orange, Mango, Papaya, Guava, and Lemon trees. I must have had about 30 trees in all. We decided that we would have the children and the Mums have a huge part in planting them. It was really quite fun. When we have our small group time with the kids, we decided to split off and let the children dig the holes, and plant the trees. When they were finished, I had each of the children touch a leaf of the tree, and close their eyes as I prayed that it would grow strong, tall, and that it would bear much fruit. 

Trees ready for planting

We have had another water tower built with a 1500 liter tank placed on it where the elevation is the greatest. We dug trench and laid pipe throughout the orphanage running back down to the kitchen. there are now two hand-washing stations, one where the new pit latrines are, and where the older bathrooms are. We finished it today, filling the tank and testing the lines. Francis the cook now has a tap with a hose that can reach all of his stoves. 

We have replaced all the broken windows at the orphanage. Some of the panes have been fractured for a long time. When I was here building the Wall, I took measurements for all the windows. The plan was to replace all the broken windows with plexi-glass. but we ended up only being able to replace a few with that. We went into town and found a glass supplier and gave him dimensions for new windows and had him cut single pane windows. Gene, Bruce, and Agri (one of the first orphans from a CLM orphanage) went around re-glazing the windows in place. 

Bruce helping Mum Tabitha plant a tree.

We have now decided to jump into another project. In the uppermost corner where our new water tower is, we decided to make a boys bathing area. The Mums have been complaining that they boys are not bathing, so we are on a mission to make the boys want to bathe. We poured a pad of concrete that has a nice easy slope which we will section off with brick walls that are chest level. I am actually fascinated with outdoor showers. I think there is something about bathing outside that feeds my soul. I have done a fair amount of it, but never during the day. If I could be guaranteed a mosquito free outdoor bathing experience, I think I would do it more often, but it is what it is. We are hoping that the boys will want to bathe more now that they have a nice area to bathe. 

Our children’s ministry has been good, I have a group of boys that are a little timid, so getting them to talk is always a challenge, but I love them so much I don't care. I love it when they talk to me even if it is so little. We have been making crafts, and helping them fill our their memory books. 

I have to apologize for not sending more updates. This has been a very different trip for me. I didn't know specifically why God sent me this time. God has used me, but I have not felt as useful as I always seem to feel. God is revealing it to me very slowly. I can’t underestimate the impact that coming back over and over has on the children. If for no other specific purpose, that purpose alone is more than enough.