Greetings, my friends and family!
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Thanks to all you BAMMers who called yesterday morning! It was so good to hear from you.
Things are going well. Our children and all the staff members are well today - lately that is a rarity. There is so much malaria in Uganda right now, in both adults and kids. I broke down and got a mosquito net last week - too many bites at night! Now I don't hear that infernal buzzing!!
I have attached 2 pictures of one of our boys, David. The first is when he first came with his guardian to "interview" for being able to be a part of the orphanage. The 2nd is David 3 weeks ago. The changes in these children is so amazing. Good food, good rest (they are in bed by 8:30 and up around 6), needed medical attention and good hygiene combine to give the results you see in David. Praise the Lord that He has given us (you and me!) the desire, money and ability to meet these children where they are at and help them get well and grow. Thank you all for your part in this.
This week, I had 2 of the girls come and want to read a book to me. They actually are identifying words and reading in English! Wow! What a change from the first weeks here. We need to get some more reading books - they are so eager to read and understand.
Last Thursday, I was walking out of my office at the orphanage and heard Auntie Betty asking the children to count in groups of 3s. As I came out, I saw they all had picked up rocks from the yard area and were putting their rocks into groupings of 3. Then she asked them to make groups of 5, and so on. It was wonderful to see them learning with manipulatives, even if those manipulatives were rocks! It's such a great picture of us using what we have...and of the teachers teaching using different styles of learning. All learning in Uganda is lecture - there is almost no other kind. So, seeing them learning in a hands on way was wonderful!
So, I have now gone through one pair of sandals. I had to buy some here - hopefully they will last. We walk everywhere (no car or other kind of vehicle), so shoes just wear out so much faster here than in the U.S. Wow.
Last night, I made guacamole (for the 3rd time here) for the family (not the orphans - didn't have that much avacado). They absolutely love it. We had it with chapati - the tortilla-like bread they make here. Betty made the chapati and we all ate. For lunch yesterday, we had rice and g-nut sauce (cold)....think cold peanut butter soup and you'll have an idea what it tastes like :-). The rice has to be picked through for small rocks (that look like rice). Yesterday they didn't do such a great job on the picking through, so I had about 5 stones in my rice - you chew very gently here, as you could break a tooth very easily!
We have had many people come from the town and hope to have their children at the orphanage, or ask for food, or clothing or whatever. It's so hard sometimes to say no, but we have to set the boundaries or we would have no money to feed and clothe the orphans we have. Just this morning, before coming to Budaka, we had to meet with a woman (one of our employees) and tell her she could not bring her 3 girls to eat with us as we have to have enough for our kids. It was so hard, but we know she has money to feed her family (we pay her, of course), so we had to insist that her girls stay at home for their meals. It's so hard in the midst of poverty here...
We have begun a ministry training class on Sunday afternoons - anyone who is interested in serving in any way in the church is required to come and meet with us once a week for an hour. We started with really basic stuff - why serve? what kinds of service is there? keeping your relationship with Jesus current, etc. After the first week, we now have 3 other churches that are sending their ministry people to learn with us. We had 20 total with us for the class yesterday.
This email is getting long, but wanted to say one more thing: thank you again for all that you are sacrificing in giving to the ministry with these children and adults in Budaka! God is using each of the gifts to meet needs and bless people here, including Rogers, his family and myself. We all say THANK YOU! And, with Paul, we believe that "...God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:19)
Be blessed!
Laurie
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