Another cold night alone…

Wow!! I really need to get better at this blog thing....I can't believe the last one I wrote was in March!! Sorry everyone! I'll give you a short update on what's going on in my life now.
I am no longer in Uganda. I left on July 2nd and flew to South Africa where I am completing my bible college internship with Emmanuel Press which is a ministry that does a correspondence discipleship program in prisons, schools and communities in many countries around the world. My lovely hosts have also given me the opportunity to spend the past two weeks doing a short term missions trip with a local organization called Hands at Work. This organization comes alongside local woman to empower them and give them the resources to help the poorest of the poor children in their communities by providing meals, education and basic healthcare.

I realize I have so much to catch you up on but here are some thoughts from the past few weeks.

Tonight as I relax after a very busy two weeks serving alongside Hands at Work my heart is troubled with the realization that the children that I visited in the communities of South Africa are spending another cold night alone. Many of these children that I met come from very terrible families, families where love is held back and in a sense is rationed as perishable substance, families where something that is considered as a precious gift to you and I is left hungry in the corner of a one room house with tear streaked cheeks, families where one meal a day is hard to come by, families where fathers are not present and when they are bring vial abuse to the ones they were meant to protect.

These children are our children. As they experience another cold night alone in a community in the middle of Africa it is our job to stand up and reach out our hand of help, it is our job to fall to our knees and pray for their protection and healing, it is our job to not forget, it is our job to not turn our head in fear but rather stand square to the challenge of raising the next generation of Africa!

Are you ready for the challenge?

 

Happy day!

It’s been about a month and a half since my last blog update…time goes by so quickly here in Uganda!!

I thought I would take some time to talk about what my day to day life looks like as I’m serving at the babies homes of Watoto. Each month we are told which one of the three homes we will be serving at for that month. It’s always an anxious week leading up to when we find out where we will be the next month with excitement for the future and also worry in our hearts with the possibility of being moved away from the friends and children that you have built relationships with over the past month. I have been very fortunate on my trip to be able to stay in Suubi and Gulu for four months each and am now in Kampala for the time being. Being in each of these places for such a long time has given me plenty of time to build relationships that will last forever and I’m so very thankful for that!!  

As a volunteer in the babies home we are asked to be the extra hands in order to give the nannies more time to bond and take care of the children, they are their primary caregivers after all. Our daily tasks can vary significantly depending on which room we are placed in and also on the amount of help there is that day. I can do anything from washing bottles and dishes, to cleaning toys, feeding and bathing children, to playing games with the toddlers, singing songs, taking babies for walks, to taking pictures of each baby in the home for their files, ect. Each day is very different and always full of excitement and plenty of noise! Hahaha!

I think my favorite age group would have to be the toddlers. While I was in Gulu I was given the task to specifically work in the toddler until to help the nannies bring some order to the chaos of having over 20 children ages 2-5 all in one unit. I helped to implement some activities that were created by other volunteers to help keep the children busy while also helping them to develop the necessary motor skills and basic educational skills that a toddler should learn at this age. One of the activities that I enjoyed doing with the children the most would be water play. At the beginning of my four months in Gulu we did not have pools at the babies home so we would fill up eight laundry tubs and bring them out onto the grass. These children would always love to chase after “mommy Jaclyn” with cups of water as I’m trying to take pictures of them having fun! It would always end with me being soaking wet!! Hahaha! Just recently they installed three little kiddy pools for the children to play in! This has truly been such a blessing! The children are having so much fun as well as learning how to swim. They also built a big play set in the shape of a ship, installed swing sets and other play equipment! Our children are having so much fun with all of these new additions we are so blessed!  

I love what I’m doing here with Watoto. I love being able to be a part of the lives of the children in their care. Most of these babies won’t remember who I am when they grow up but I know they will remember being loved. Here are some pictures of some of the children I’m able to love each and every day I hope you are able to in some way feel connected to these precious children.

 Silly faces at childrens church with the toddlers on a Sunday!

 Fun times by the pool!

I love surprise hugs from behind!

Be blessed!
Jaclyn

A new appreciation for life.

I never thought that my time here in Uganda this year would ever look like this. I thought my time would be spent exclusively working with the Watoto babies home which was more than enough for me because those children give me so much joy. But God has blessed me so much more and has given me so many more opportunities to which I am so grateful for.

My last blog touches on the book drive project that I’ve started because of the need I saw at one school about 40 mins outside of Kampala. I have been working with North Ward School in my home town to raise books and money to help start a library in this school and many others.

On January 6^th my brother and his girlfriend traveled from Canada to visit me for two weeks and were more than happy to transport five hockey bags full of books that I would then distribute to various schools here in Uganda. Thank you so much Levi and Camille for this great gift, without your wiliness to bring these books over this would have been impossible.

Last week I met with the Gulu district educational director to see which school in this area would need the books the most and with little hesitation he named one off. This school is filled with about 100 students and is held in a mud hut that the parents of the surrounding village took the time and energy to build for their children. I also asked him what was most needed in terms of supplies and he basically said they have nothing. With the money raised by North Ward School I went out and bought the teachers note books to do lesson plans, pens, pencils, erasers, chalk, notebooks for the students and binders for administration purposes. The educational director then said we could go on Monday to visit the school, meet the parents and talk to them about donating books to help educate their students. So this past Monday I went to visit the school. It was about an hour drive on a road that leads out of town and then about a half hour drive from the main road down a very small path into the village. The drive down the path was really amazing, I was able to see very many children out playing, fetching water and working in the fields with their families. As the road got more and more overgrown by bush the director said we are nearly there. Then off in the distance I saw this big mud hut that looked like it could be a community hall for the village. As I stared at this building that looked like it could collapse any moment he said “There it is. That’s our school.” I knew I would be going to see a school that was in great need of supplies but to come to a school that was in great need of a building almost made me break down and cry.

As we pulled beside the school people surrounded our car to welcome us and as I stepped out of the truck I had many hands outstretched to welcome me to their school. After a few minutes we were asked to come into to the school and I was given one of the three chairs in front of many students and many more parents. As I sat down the entire room filled with a beautiful song of welcome. As the ladies cried out it took everything in me to stop the tears from falling.

These people have so much joy yet so little of everything else. Their joy seeps through them in song, through their smiles and through their beautiful eyes.

They spent a few moments introducing the key people who made this school happen, including the teachers, the builders and then the man that donated the land that the school sits on. This was all being explained in Acholi so one of the men I went with so generously translated it all for me. And then something I was not expecting to happen, he asked me to step forward and tell the people who I was and what I was here to do. And so as I stood to my feet the whole group erupted in song once again and then I began to speak to the group. As I spoke I realised I needed to pause as the translator tried to follow my words. This was such a new and very interesting experience for me, something I will never ever forget.

Once I finished speaking to the group I went out of the school and brought in all the supplies that were purchased and as I handed them over to the head teacher my heart filled with so much joy knowing that they would be used to do so much good in the lives of those children.

I was then given the opportunity to spend some time with the students as the directors spoke with the parents about formal matters concerning the school. These children just lite up my world! Their faces were so bright and filled with so much joy and happiness. I knew in my heart that many of them have little to no possessions and most of them have experienced going to bed hungry on many occasions but the only thing that mattered to them in that moment was having fun, making silly faces and making a new friend.

I will be going back to this school in the coming weeks to deliver the books that were donated by the students of North Ward School. I cannot wait to see the faces of the children and teachers as they see the great gift that we have for them. These books will change the lives of these people and these people will and have already changed my life!

Thank you so much North Ward School for your help to make this dream of mine come true. I can’t wait to see what else we can do for countless schools in this beautiful country Uganda.  

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!!

Wow! I can’t believe it’s 2013. What a year to remember!! God has done so much in my life this past year and what a great privilege it was to be able to ring in the coming year of great potential right here in Uganda. 

This Christmas season was very different for me. Being away from family seemed like such a strange concept but it was such a life changing experience for me and I am so thankful that I experienced a Christmas here in Uganda. As the days approached I found myself longing for snow to fall from the sky as I sat outside the babies home in the scorching Ugandan sun. But that longing quickly subsided when I looked into the eyes of the beautiful children that were playing in front of me. I thought to myself how much of a blessing it was for me to be able to carry these babies in my arms on Christmas morning and wish them a Merry Christmas the way a mother would to her own children. The opportunity to do this made my heart leap with joy.

As Christmas day started my mind was never far from my family back home although I still missed them a great deal this subsided when I was on my way to the babies home. I saw many children sitting outside of their mud huts with no new toys, no families around and no one to wish them a merry Christmas. It reminded me once again what the reason for this season is and that is the birth of my Savior Jesus Christ. As my heart broke for those children I was reminded that Jesus came for them, to be the father to the fatherless and to be the hope for the hopeless. It is because He came to this earth that these children have hope.

I was also extremely blessed to be able to host three children from the Watoto children’s village for four days over Christmas. The other volunteers and I got to act like mommies to these children and spoil them on Christmas morning. Having these children stay with us was one of the most amazing, humbling, exhausting, and wonderful things I’ve ever done. During the time we had these children we still worked at the babies home so in the mornings we got the children ready to come with us and then when we finished our shifts we brought them home and cooked dinner, bathed and then put them to sleep. Christmas day was so special, after our shift at the babies home we brought the children home and I made a roast chicken dinner for 13 people. Having the dining room full of people made it really feel like Christmas!! Just before dinner we got the children to open all their gifts! It was so much fun to see their eyes as they unwrapped each gift.

Although I was away from my family this Christmas celebrating it here in Uganda was the greatest experience of my life! I would not change it for anything. I made memories this Christmas season that I will never, ever forget!

This is my life :)

So much has happened since my last blog update and I’m not too sure where to start or if it’s even possible for me to actually put into words my day to day life that I find so much joy in. I was moved at the end of October to the babies home in Gulu where I visited the month before and wrote about in my last blog. Living here and working at this babies home has been such a great experience. I’ve been specifically working with the toddler unit nannies and unit heads along with one other volunteer to help bring some organization to the chaos that comes with raising 25 children ranging from 1 year to 5 years old all together in one room!! We’ve been trying to implement a schedule that was created by one of the past volunteers as well as come up with more activates and a routine to keep the children occupied and having fun as they are raised by their loving nannies. Having this role has been such a blessing for me as it has given me the opportunity to become more involved in the upbringing of these children which gives me so much joy and fulfillment! I feel so blessed on a daily basis (even when I have five toddlers all running in different directions as I call them in for lunch time!! hahaha).

Apart from what I’ve been doing with the babies home I have also started a bit of a project with North Ward School back home in Paris which is actually where I went to elementary school. This project was birthed out of a need I saw when I visited a village school a few months ago. This school had over one hundred students in a tiny building with dirt floors and walls that you could see through because of the cracks in the wood. As the teacher showed me around to each classroom I was so moved by the joy in each of the beautiful and welcoming smiles directed at me. The teacher showed me the library that the school had which consisted of just over ten books. This brought tears to my eyes as I remembered my schools days and the excitement we all had when we were able to go to the library and pick from hundreds of books. When I went home I was left with the burning thought that these children deserve to have books to choose from that will take them on adventures through castles, up in the clouds as they become pilots, or as a knight defeating the dragon!! As I was telling my parents about this over skype we came up with the idea to talk to North Ward School in Paris to try to start a book drive to raise money and books to provide this school with a library. I was in constant contact with Mrs. Conners, one of the teachers from North Ward, and decided to over a few weeks skype with each class in the school to answer questions that the students had about Uganda and the children here and to also share with them about this need. We came up with the idea to ask students and parents to donate a book rather than give their teachers Christmas gifts. This has very quickly developed into a very big project where currently we have about 700 books raised and over $1000 for shipping to get the books here. I am still currently working with Mrs. Conners to iron out a few bumps we are facing with shipping costs and to come up with the best way to start this library at this school but it is defiantly happening and I am so grateful for the support of the students, teachers and parents of North Ward School in Paris. Without their support this dream to provide these children with books would not be possible!

Please join with me to pray for guidance and wisdom as to how to most affectively provide a library for this school and the many others that I hope to provide a library for here in Uganda. Also pray for the finances and resources that will be so needed.

Missing you all very much and hope you are all doing well.

Jaclyn

Ps. I have many pictures of this school on my facebook page. Please feel free to view them there.

A trip to Gulu.

Last week I was very privileged to be able to go to Gulu for five days. Gulu is about a five hour drive up in the northern parts of Uganda and is one of the areas that were hit very hard with the Joseph Kony war. Watoto has a babies home as well as a children’s village in Gulu. Many of the workers and children in some way were affected by the calamity that Joseph Kony and his army caused.

On the drive up to Gulu we passed many rural African villages that consisted of a few mud huts grouped together in a circle and a big meeting area where I assume the families do their cooking.

The babies home in Gulu is amazing and very beautiful. It has been built around a village where the local people live in these mud huts. Many times the children from those houses would come up to the fence and say hello to the babies and greet us. I spoke to one group of young girls on Uganda’s Independence Day. It was such a blessing to be able to speak to them and learn a little bit about their lives through broken English.

This is a picture of our babies waiting for some visitors to come by!! So cute eh?!?

One of the children that come past had a toy doll wrapped around their backs like the Ugandan mother do with their children. This made me laugh because I pictured children from home pushing their toy dolls in a mini buggy. I guess all children are the same, playing copycat with their mom’s and wanting to be just like mommy early on in life.

This made me want to give the Ugandan baby carrying a try. So after a lesson from one of the nannies and her continued reassurance that the baby wasn’t going to fall off my back I gave it a try! And to be honest it was so comfortable!! I think when I have children this is how I will carry them around!

Another great thing that I got to see in Gulu was Watoto’s Living Hope Center. Living Hope is a ministry that Watoto runs to give hope to vulnerable woman most of whom suffer from HIV or AIDS. Many of these women in the Gulu Living Hope were also directly affected by the Joseph Kony War. These women are given a job either sewing clothes, stuffed animals, dolls and other items, making G-nut butter, or making feminine hygiene products so that girls can stay in school.

Each woman that comes through the Living Hope program are given the opportunity to continue their education, go through a discipleship program and are even offered free day care for their children while they work. As we were toured around to each room we were welcomed by the woman with huge cheers! I was almost brought to tears by the joy that radiated from these women who not long ago had no hope or future! I am so thankful for the opportunity to have met these women!

My time in Gulu was such a blessing! I got to meet so many beautiful people and experience such a real sense of joy in an area that was so recently torn apart by one man and his deep hatred towards these people. He has not won! I have seen that God has restored joy, hope and peace into their lives and invited them into His family.

“You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done.”
Psalm 92:4

Missing you all!
With love,
Jaclyn

To the market we go!

Going to the market is always an interesting experience. We walk for about thirty minutes through a typical African village down steep hills on roads that have been washed out by rain storms leaving very uneven ground. I love walking to the market not only because it means I get to see the friends I’ve made with the people who sell me my fruit and veggies but also because of the children we get to see and talk with along the way down. One of the volunteers called our trek to the market “the white persons parade” because the whole way down we have children as well as adults calling out to us and we exchange waves as we walk down the middle of the red dirt path. We also have children running from their houses to come and hold our hands and walk with us for part of the way, once we exchange our names and ask how old they are they are usually on their way back to their home to continue doing whatever they had just left.

This one little girl nearing the end of the thirty minute walk to the market is my favorite. There is so much joy and passion in this little girl that it can sometimes bring tears to my eyes. She stands on a little hill out front of her house which is a very little brick building that is probably only big enough to fit a bed or two. The cooking, bathing and playing all happen out front of their house. Each time we walk past this precious little girls house she comes running to the edge of the hill and frantically waves to us with both hand flailing as much as possible. As we continue to walk past her she runs to the other edge of the hill where her house is and waves until we are out of sight. We love this girl. Joy can be seen all over this beautiful little child. Here’s a picture of her, you can just barely see her because we were quite a ways down the road but she was still waving to us.

On another trip to the market a little while ago we came across two little children playing on a hill. They had an old jerry can with a very, very old rope attached to it and they were running down the hill taking turns pulling each other as fast as they could. Part way down their rope became disconnected from the sled. We tried to help them re attach the rope as they stood stiff as a board watching our every move. They were so afraid of us that they didn’t even say a word. Once we fixed their contraption we said goodbye and continued on our way. I’m sure as soon as we were out of sight those children continued to run up and down that hill having so much fun with the little they had. I think about these children and how they were able to find such fun in items that I would have considered trash and it convicts my heart because I take so much for granted.

I want to be like these children and find such joy in the little things. I want to be able to have fun without needing to spend a penny.

Until the next time we go to the market...