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!