A month later... oops...

Hmmm… I have really fallen behind! After not blogging for almost a month I have no idea where to start or what to say. I suppose I can attempt to do the highlights of the last two weeks in short and hope that is good enough and will not take up hours of both of our lives. J

                 Two weeks ago Thursday I was blessed enough to go back to God’s Grace, and what an experience that was.  Unlike the first time that I went this time I spent the whole day there and the experience, though still good, was completely different. In morning I found myself trying to teach a class of kindergarten children, I am not one who is good at teaching large groups and I likely never will be so that was interesting. After a short break my friend Miriam and I were back at it and very soon it became apparent that there was not a lot for us to do. Much to my delight I found myself with a little boy attached to my hip, where I went he followed. Very lethargic and not one to take part in the class we soon left to sit on our own. For quite some time I sat with my arms wrapped around this little one, rocking and humming.  It was after moving into the shade that I found out from one of the older girls that this little boy I was cuddling was not in fact a little boy at all but a little girl named Gloria.  Needless to say I was a bit surprised and I was not the only one. All of had thought that little Gloria was a boy. My guess is that she is around five and as the day went on my heart was completely stolen by this little girl.  It was quite clear due to how lethargic she was that little Gloria was sick, she had cuts on her ankles that I still worry will become infected and the orphanage was out of food so they were all fasting for the day  hoping for food tomorrow. More than once I asked Joseph and Shirley half in jest half seriously if I could take this little girl home. As expected the answer was no.  However this did not stop us from spending the rest of the day together. For much of the afternoon where ever I went Gloria was sure to follow. After sitting on the bus with her talking to Shirley, I was blessed to see some life come into her little brown eyes as she watched the other children play, eventually she began to crawl off my lap to run up and down the bus, then she would crawl back up and peer out the windows, then back down. When she began to laugh and talk a little I wondered how I could have ever thought she was a little boy. My heart was so full.  For all the good in my day at God’s Grace it was also probably one of the hardest days I have had yet. Ever since coming here I have been asking God to break my heart and then put it back together how he desires it to be. Well that day at the orphanage my heart broke. When you spend only half a day there you don’t see the poverty all that clearly, you are too busy being surrounded by little bodies that all want a piece of you. When you spend a full day and you stop to look around what you see takes your breath away as if you have just received a blow to the stomach.  They literally have nothing! When I say nothing I do not mean a Canadian nothing but a heart wrenching nothing. The home is small a filthy, the most common toy I saw while there on Thursday was a stick of wood, and the class rooms are mostly small shacks constructed out of warped old timbers with gaps between each one and a dirt floor.  When you have children hanging off of you and fighting over the chance to hold your hand just so they can get a bit of love it wrenches your heart in a way that can’t be described.  I could not help but wonder what kind of future these beautiful children will have. They have very few role models to teach them and raise them or to look up to, but yet where they are now is better than where they came from. Yet there is so little I can do. I can support the orphanage, I can buy their products in order to promote self-sustainability, and I can offer love when I visit but I have learned that there is so much that I would love to give them but cannot.  The hardest moment of the day came when we left.  I had to look into the eyes of Fiona, a little girl who I had come to love during my last visit, and say goodbye while tears pooled in her eyes. When I got to the bus I found that many little ones had climbed aboard, Gloria among them (my guess is that she is the one who lead them on in the first place). When they all came off there were many hugs but when Gloria came off it was straight to my side. She would not leave me and when we had to force her to go to her teacher it was amid many tears and screams. Again my heart felt as though it was breaking. One of the last things I remember as we drove away was her wailing.  It is even harder knowing that that was most likely the last time that I will be able to go to God’s Grace, however I am begging God that I will get another chance to go. If he says no though I will understand, more than likely that will just make leaving harder.

                 On a lighter note this week has been one of the best weeks of my life!!! We have been off since last Monday and never let it be said that us internationals don’t know how to make the best of time off! Monday we caught a ride out of the city and headed to Jinja, and the Nile River! It was AMAZING!!!  While Thomas went white water rafting Hannah, Emily, Jack, Callie, and Callie’s Mum who is visiting and I , went riding along the Nile. I still don’t like horses and for the beginning of the ride I was quite nervous but I did enjoy myself. The hostel where we stayed overlooked the river and the view was spectacular. When you think of the Nile being turned to blood by Moses it is cool and all but it does not really have that big of an impact.  When you see just how wide, deep and long it is the story gains substance and it just blows you away!  Before we went riding we had the chance to go downtown Jinja and it was so nice to be able to go for a walk unsupervised and not have to worry about it. The air was sweeter, and cleaner, there was virtually no traffic compared to Kampala, and when we walked downtown there were no people shouting mzungu at us. It was wonderful! 

                Wednesday, Thursday and Friday seven of us drove six hours from home for the thing we have all been looking forward to for the last four months, SAFARI!!! We arrived Wednesday  night and after lunch and a quick dip in the pool we headed out for our sunset game drive.  That was easily my favorite moment of the whole week. Thanks to Thomas and his brilliant mind we all ended up riding on the cargo rack on the roof of the bus not only for our night game drive but for the morning one the next day at six in the morning. It was amazing!!!  Thursday afternoon we had a boat launch down the river to see the falls which was also spectacular. I know I should be going on and on about everything but in 100% truthfulness there are no words that can describe everything. Even as we sat on the roof of the bus with dusk settling around us talking about Gods greatness and glory and singing worship songs I knew that I would never be able to adequately explain it all. Even the pictures can’t capture the amazingness of the moment knowing that I was surrounded not only by God and his gorgeous creation I was there with five friends that not even six months ago I had never even heard of but now cannot thank him enough for! We saw hippo’s, water buffalos ( to which I at one point started singing veggie tales with Emily), heart beasts, African cobs, and other dear like creatures, “pumbas” ( warthogs),giraffes, crocodiles, a hyena, jackal, a lioness, and my personal favorite tons of elephants! If you were to ask me what my favorite part of the trip was I would tell you that sitting on top of the bus while being almost charged by a bull elephant that was far taller than our seat on the carriage rack ranks pretty close to the top. My heart was beating pretty fast at the time but when I look back it is one of my favorite moments. J

                 Yesterday to cap off our amazing week Jack and Hannah organized Disney Day, and let me tell you it is one of the best holidays we have had yet!  We had an obstacle course through the elephant grave yard, painted with the colours of the wind,  had to find the “poisoned” apple, shared the mad hatters tea, and ended the night with watching Princess and the Frog. The best part though was the costumes. Each of us were put in teams of two and assigned a movie that we had to portray. We had Little mermaid, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, Pocahontas, and of course the Mad Hatter all in attendance for tea. All in all I have been supremely blessed by my loving father and I am so thankful for all he has done in my life.