The children were waiting for us.

ey! sorry I havent written, I have been busy. Wednesday and Thursday we went to a camp called Akwang. We did 2 children's programs each day, one near the school and one a bit further in the bush with younger kids. The second day we went to a village about 4 kilos deeper into the bush behind Akwang camp, it was called Acado. They said that we were the first visitors they have had there, as fars as white people working presenting the gospel, although there is a church. They meet under a mango tree.

Saturday and Sunday we traveled an hour away to Padibe. The church is a "building" made of stick and covered with tarps (barely covered.) THe children were not mobilized when we got there around 11:30 and they said they could mobilize them for the afternoon, so, we began a road trip to border of Sudan just for fun. (it was about 30 miles away, but on a dirt road that can be up the 3 hours.) We made it past the security check point of Uganda and after about 3 miles we would have been to the border but we got stuck in the mud for a second time and rain was coming so we decided to turn back.

The children were waiting for us and we did a program for about an hour and a half, it went well! When we returned the following day to do Sunday school many of the children had the crafts we made the day prior in hand. Sunday was good and I got to plow with the oxen for a little bit, it was neat to see, but hard work.

Today, monday, we will be delivering the mattresses! I am very excited! We've gotten 14 of them, which is about as many that can fit, in the small building! I will take many pictures, rex and melinda may have to take some because there are no lights inside and often time my pictures do not turn out light enough since the camera I have does not have a flash.

I'm not in a rush to spend the rest of the money because, I wouldn't want to make hasty decisions on how to spend it, and there is time to decide after the trip has sunk in and we've prayed about it more!

However, a couple of opportunities have presented themselves that I have been considering. One thing I have chosen, which there is a lengthy process in place to make sure it is official is there is a guy who is an orphan and has not finished high school because of lack of funds. Here's his story. He lives in the village of Padibe about an hours drive from any town. He is 20 years old and was made an orphan by the war (his parents were murdered.) He has 3 years left of Highschool but has not been able to pay for it because this years crop season has failed him.

It is difficult to support school fees here at the orphanage, because I can't pay for kids to go to school for one year because then these students will obviously expect it the year following and then that burden may fall back on Rex and Melinda, which would not be good. SO since this man named Bosco has only 3 years left, and he is far from this town, we can pay for the entire three years. which would cost about $75 each year. Once the process is finished and we can begin supporting him, I will transfer the money for the three years of school fees to Rex and Melinda to distribute.

Another thing I my be doing is helping to finish the new building of the orphanage. They were supposed to have been moved out of the rental building the 1st of August but have not had the funds to finish the new compound which is next door to the owners home. About $300 ( I think) can pay for the rest of the cement to finish the floors and inside of the walls so that they can move in. However, that does not cover paying men to work in doing so, but the labor here is the cheap part. When we deliver the mattresses today, Rex and I will be looking at the building and finishing and what not. I will let you know as soon as I figure all of that out.

Another thing that I just did, was donate $75 to the bakery, for supplies for their new building. The bakery is run by 3 Ugandan women, and their mission statement of the business is to support orphans and widows by tithing off the top of their business revenues. They would like to support 100 orphans to go to school by this time next year! The business has been working out of Rex and Melindas kitchen however, this week the new building and all of the supplies will be ready for them to move in which will increase the profits of their already thriving business! (Most of their business comes from 2 Large local Restaurants, and ALL of the NGO's in Kitgum town!) As I gave them the $75 offering during their business meeting (payday) I got to sit in on it. Already they have begun tithing towards their orphan cause of 10% of all their revenues which was $35. It is very exciting to LOCAL women, who will be able to support Orphans! There are more great things that the bakery is doing such as displaying necklaces and purses made by widows (who also take care of orphans) which will then be sold and ALL of the profits will go to those women! It is a very neat business enterprise! :)

Okay, well I will let you know how everything goes today! Oh yes, and also I will be buying clothe diapers and mailing them back when I get back to the U.S. with some of the funds to be used at the orphanage! People do not use diapers here to many times the babies will be sitting in the dirt barebottomed and pooping there as well, which as we all know is unsanitary and surely is a cause of sickness and worms! Clothe diapers will be a big help for this!

I love you and miss you, and will see you in less then a week! talk soon!

We are so excited to know that the babies will be getting mattresses, enough money came in to cover the costs of making the matresses, the left over funds will be used to get mosquito netting, clothes and possibly some bed frames. Katie has about a week left there, I am sure it will be hard to say goodbye.
Anne

Every kid deserves a bed, right?

HELP me buy beds for my African Orphan babies!! www.messageministries.net, follow the Beds for orphans link! There's a few pictures, they are so beautiful and every kid deserves a bed right? :) anything you can give can help, they're only $30 each! :)  So far we have collected $220 for beds. If you can help follow the link.

www.messageministries.net

Very excited to see what God will do!

I got started on the beds today! Praise the Lord, I will be able to deliver them myself, I'm pretty sure, BUT its costing more then we'd hoped so change the website, its $30 each, and that doesn't include the somethingthat I should give the tailors at the school that are  helping. Since we are in Kitgum, its impossible to find beds that have the plastic on them already, so by CHANCE, we found the material and  the tailors will be sewing the plastic on the mattresses. The mattresses alone cost $15 (this is one of the thinner types) and the material to cover them with costs 2.50 a yard, and you need 4 yards for each bed.. I purchased 10 already and I think that will be plenty but I'm sure the more the merrier.. (that means 19 or 20 beds  for 35 kids but the older kids share with their younger siblings anyway) and the babies share the beds. Otherwise if more money then necessary DOES come in, I can get more, or help them with something else.. clothes? Something useful. Anyway, I put it on my status on facebook and let a couple friends know so hopefully we'll get more in! Very excited to see what God will do! miss you much!
   

I'm Never Empty-handed When I'm There

Okay... a mattress is about $20.00, so anyone who wants to sacrifice a shopping trip and buy 1 or even put money to help buy 1, anything is better then nothing. I figure even just mattresses would be good because the mattresses could be put under the ACTUAL beds and then the mosquito net would still be covering them! (i would buy the plastic sheet thing to cover the mattresses, but i'm actually hoping I can get some like at the hospital that are made covered with plastic..I must ask)

If you want to donate toward mattresses you can go to messegeministries.net

So...yesterday, I woke up and went to the orphanage around 10. When I was on my way I ran into the owner

 

(The doctor is the owner, and the founder. ) who had said one of the babies had still been sick from Monday. (very sick with fever) When we went to see the baby -Atoo- he said she should go back to the hospital (she;d already been taken to the clinic TWICE and both times they said it was malaria..typical.) Anyway, so I brought her, I insisted to the doctor that it was not malaria and how she tested negative the day prior but had been treated AGAIN for malaria, and I told him perhaps it was a respiratory infection.. long story short he decided to treat her for infection, malaria, AND submit her into the malnutrition center because she weighed 5.8 kilos and should be 7.2. so that is where I was ALL day yesterday. I'm going back today to check on her because she was NOT wanting to eat yesterday, because that milk is different, better. 8 months old and 12 pounds... i weighed like 8.6 when i was born... crazy. I tell you, there were some SKINNY babies in there(at the malnutrition center)... . AND that hospital is HOPELESS, you have to TELL the doctors and nurses what to do...

Anyway so that was my day..at the hospital, again. lol I went back to the orphanage before I came home at like 6 and kissed the babies (i mean the 3 year olds hehe :)) they are learning!! I love them SO much, it kills me! I'm never emptied handed when I'm there cause we just switch off whose being held. :) you'd all love them SO much, I wish you could see just how easy it is to love them!

The Children are Beautiful

I wanted to answer some questions about the orphanage.  There  are  35 children  - most under the age of 3.  Some of their older siblings also live at the orphanage.  The orphanage is  a 3 bedroom home with an office and storage.  Out behind the house are 2 huts, one for  cooking the meals and  the other for a dining area ( there is no furniture they sit on the ground and eat.) 

There are  5 house mothers , 3 work during the day, and 1 at night, They switch off night shifts for a week at a time each.  The   orphanage is about 3 years old and was started by a Ugandan doctor at the local hospital. Ugandan doctors don't make very much , maybe around $300.00 per month.  

 

    

The children REALLY need beds

Hello all! The internet hasn't been working lately so I've not been able to write!

Everything here has been good. The passion movie showing went good, a couple hundred people showed up and one of the pastors translated through the ENTIRE thing in Acholi... crazy!

The children's stuff in Addea went better then we could have planned! We actually ended up doing programs for classes AT the government school! There are 7 grades and 4 classrooms. 3 classes meet outside under mango trees... I think uncle rex took some pictures so you will see, its just like you'd imagine. The kids listened very well, and we did a little craft for each class, and gave out candy. (each something different!) They liked it very much and it was the first time for many of them to color with markers and crayons... incredible right? We got to give an invitation as well and many came to the Lord but the main concern is with the follow up, so we invited all of the children to church and to bring their parents!

We went for three days and monday and tuesday we did 2 classes each day, today we did 4! One of the classes we did was the teenagers and that was neat because I got more of a chance to talk like anyone of us would about our testimony and the difficulties of being a teen. (except here it's different..) Many of the teens in the Classroom were abducted during the war and forced to be child soldiers.. crazy..

Oh yes, Florence is better so that is good, we finally convinced the doctors that it was NOT malaria anymore and they began treatment for infections (although they do not have any equipment to TEST for the infections, it was guesstimate.) Just wait til you see the pictures I got of the hospital...dang!

I saw the children at the orphanage again yesterday (they can't keep me away, lol, they're probably sick to death of me! :) the adults that is!) I was talking to one of the house mothers about the nutrition of the babies and why it is very important to be feeding the babies formula and what not. I was really just kind of pouring my heart out to her about the kids and how much I have already grown to love them, and taking good care of them. I think I made her feel a little uncomfortable because I started crying during it. She is 21... and was an orphan growing up, so she understnads the hardship of it! Its hard though because the resources are just not there, I am going to start praying about how I can raise money to help and what with! If anyone wants to help, let me know! The children REALLY need beds, they sleep on the cold hard floor, no mat or anything and THIS is another reason that so many of the kids are getting malaria, because they do not have a net over them since they are scattered on the floor everywhere. I don't think beds are very expensive, they aren't beds like we have here... they're like... I think pieces of foam, covered with a clothe.  Anyway, You say the word, and I can buy them beds!

I'm going to go out there today or tomorrow and spray all their bedding, and mosquito nets with this fabric bug spray that the lady where I got my shots CONVINCED me to buy, and I've not really used yet! lol SEE God knew! $10 not wasted!

okay well I love and miss you all very much!! Talk to you soon! Please let me know if you want to help financially with ANYTHING! love yas!