Good fruit

We go to church at ORA (Orphans, Refugees Aid International) often and then spend time after church loving on the kids.

(singing "This Little Light of Mine")

This is Peace and her son, Levi. She leads worship and teaches the children.

All the children speak Lugbara, so it is a great place to practice our language on the first grade level where we are.

One of the kids' favorite things to do after church is climb the large mango tree on the property.

LOTS of kids like to climb it.

Can you see Kylie up in the top branches?

Here, I'm zoomed in.

Karis and Caleb also like to climb.

The trunk is rather large, so this is how the children have to get
into the tree.

Most of the orphans are pros at it.

This tree could bless these children more than being just a place to climb, but they are missing out on the best part…the fruit.

This particular tree bears so much fruit, it would be enough for all the children to eat as much as they like with still enough to give to families around the base, and STILL have hundreds to sell.

This is what the children are eating instead.

The mango has just started developing at this stage and it's very bitter, but they will climb up, pick them, throw them down to their friends, and soon, everyone is eating a very small, bitter, green mango.

It broke my heart.

Then I heard God saying, "Kathryn, you do the same thing."

"Not me, Lord. I like my food ripe and sweet."

"Kathryn, I try to bless you and I want to give you good things, but you are not patient to wait for them. You take things into your own hands, push me out, and decide that you know what is best. When you do this, you miss out on ME, and you can't be a blessing to others."

I was even more heartsick.

He is right. I'm not patient. I need to grow where I am and not wish for a quick escape. I need to rejoice in my struggles. He is stretching me through the waiting process.

"He acts for the one who waits for Him." - Isaiah 64:4

A couple of quotes from the retreat reminded me of all I still have to learn.

"God has no problems, only plans. There is no panic in heaven." - Corrie ten Boom

"I am here by God's appointment, in His keeping, under His training, for HIS time." – Andrew Murray

God wants us to trust Him one step at a time. He wants us to "outlive our lives." And He wants to not only give us good fruit, He wants us to share good fruit with others.

"I am the Vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in Me, and I in Him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing." - John 15:5

No hovering...anywhere

I have yet to see a mother in Africa hovering over her children. There probably are some, but I haven't seen them.

I talked to a woman the other day and when I asked her about the ages of her children at home, she said that they were 2 and 3.

I said, "Who stays with them?"

She said, "Oh, they are old enough to manage."

What??

I'm hoping they manage with other siblings or cousins.

That tends to be the model around here. If a girl is 4 1/2 or 5, they are old enough to start caring for younger children.

I watch a mother every Sunday leave her 5 month old with a young girl. This week, the girl looked to be about 6. The baby was naked and wrapped in a beach towel on the young girl's back.

The mother went off to get water at the bore hole. When the young girl wanted to climb a tree with the rest of the kids, another girl, who looked a bit younger, took the infant.

Think about how we operate in America with our newborn babies. We spend so much time with them, we know their habits and their cries. This newborn boy is with a different girl every time I see him. They don't know his cries and habits.

Maybe this is why African children are so tough. They grow up without this constant care from one person, and they learn to adapt and not be so whiny, like some of us probably were as children. But please know that I am aware that some mothers do spend more time with their children. This was just the instance I saw today.

At the church service (this was at the ORA base - where some orphans and foster children come to church) we attended this last Sunday, I watched this one boy for about 30 minutes do things that would have had any mother hovering, but there was no one around to take care of him.

He entered church after having peed in his pink shorts, and it was still running down his leg.

He went and sat on a drum that one of the boys was beating, getting the drum a little wet.

Then, he wanted to hold the Bible story book, and he set the spine of the book right onto his wet shorts. When the Bible study teacher took it from him, she didn't even seem to care or notice that it was a bit damp.

When we went outside to play afterward, I saw him standing with his shorts pulled down just enough to let his private parts hang out, and he was peeing down the front of his shorts...again, and down his leg, with his hand getting terribly wet.

THEN, he went and picked up a small mango off the ground to eat. He picked it up with the dry hand, but then it slipped to the ground, and he grabbed it a second time with his wet hand, and he bit into the mango.

THEN, with part of the mango innards exposed, he thought of a better idea. He would take it with him while he played.

He pried open his small, wet pocket on these little-girl shorts and stuffed it in before he ran off to swing and play in the dirt.

I'm sure you can figure I was cringing, but I was also sad.

There was no one to change his shorts.
There was no one to wash his hands.
There was no one to clean off his mango.
There was no one to teach him about the sanitary way to take care of food.

Sadly, all I did was tell him in Lugbara (as I saw the urine running down his hand, shorts, and leg), "You need to wash your hands." The water tank is dry because it is dry season, so I didn't even know where to tell him to go to wash his hands. I guess I was hoping he knew.

My children and your children are blessed to have parents who take the time to raise them not only in the admonition of the Lord, but also in the healthier ways of the world.

We Americans could probably hover a little less and teach a little more independence to our children, but I know if we are over-doing it, it's because we love them and worry about them.

A lesson for us all is that we should trust the Lord to take care of our children. That's what I'm praying for that boy I saw today.

Life in the Big City

I wanted to title this blog "City Mouse, Country Mouse," but oh well.

We had a lot of fun in Kampala, and got to do some new things as a family.

My sweet friend, Natalie, that arranged travel for us one year ago to the Houston airport used to live in Kampala as a journeyman. She returned with some friends to work on a new project they are starting.

Their project is a children's home for kids who are too old to remain in an orphanage. They found a house-mother, and they have six children right now (5 boys and 1 girl). They have room for 25, so they are really excited about the possibilities.

Kylie and Karis went to the home with the team from America to play with the little girl, since she always has boys around. Doug, Caleb, and I met up with them half way through their time when they went to the mall to buy shoes for their school uniforms. They kids were so excited!

The only girl is in this picture on the left. Isn't she beautiful?

Earlier that day, all of us went to an orphanage for children ages birth to 3. We were not allowed to take pictures, so you will just have to use your imagination.

The reason we went to this particular orphanage is because one of the ladies adopted her daughter from there 9 years ago when conditions were less than satisfactory. She wanted to check on the conditions today.

Thankfully, the place was cleaner, nicer, and there was a lot of good stuff going on. Of course, there is always room for improvement.

When we first arrived, I explained to Caleb what an orphanage was, and he looked at me and said, "Are we taking one home?" Natalie, who had heard our conversation, said, "Caleb, that is an appropriate response after hearing what an orphanage is." And how true that is. There are over 2 million orphans in Uganda that need homes.

All of the infants (and there were WAY too many...although, ONE is too many) were in individual cribs, but we were told not to hold them. I didn't understand, but I didn't ask questions.

(As a side note, we heard of a mother who came to the gate and just threw her newborn on the ground and walked away. I had the pleasure of being with that young girl in the three year old room, and she is a delight to be around. I was told that she is one of the blessed ones. Many women who don't want their children, literally throw them in the garbage. Let's not talk about that anymore...)

Doug was sequestered to haul wood after some time with me and Natalie in the 3-year old room, and my three children preferred the 6-9 month old room.

We stayed for about 4 hours and played with the children. We were not allowed to have them sit in our laps or hold them, and that was difficult for all of us. It was explained that you can do those things when they are out in the yard, but when they have designated "class time," they need to act like "students."

After about 3 hours, the children in the room Kylie was in got baths. They lined up about 12 tubs outside on the sidewalk, filled them with water, waited for them to warm up in the sun, and then 12 of the kids had an adult sit with them and bathe them. Kylie loved this. She had a little girl that was her favorite all day, and I was pretty sure she was going to ask to take her home at the end of the day.

It was something my family needed to do, but it was also very heart-breaking to think about these kids without families.

Thankfully, we get to spend every Sunday with these guys.


















They are some of the kids at ORA, in the foster care system in Arua, and we love them. (They even have a "Kathryn" and a "Doug" in the group).


Doug and I had a date night while we were in the "big city," and that was so nice. Jan and Lynn, the friends we went on vacation with over Christmas, kept the kids for us. The kids had so much fun, they didn't want us to come home.

Speaking of "big city," here's a little comparison of things between Kampala and Arua. Many similar things can be seen in both places, but there are a few that can't.

Like this:

Kampala (big-city stuff)

Arua

Kampala (kids going through the trash - although we do have this in Arua, too)

Arua (a different kind of "kid" going through trash - although I'll bet Kampala has this, too)

(Check out the pregnant goat!!)

Kampala traffic jam - cars and motorcycles

Arua traffic jam - people and animals

Or...not much traffic at all.

This last snapshot I took last week in Arua. The amount of dust in the air during hot season is amazing.

My mother just thinks she is a bad house keeper because she rarely dusts.

We live with our doors and windows open, so you can imagine the dust problem in our home.

Mom, if you want to feel good about your house-keeping skills, you are free to come for a visit!

ORA church

While our friends from New Zealand were here, they invited us out to join them for church at the base where they live. They have since gone back home, but we have great memories from their family and from church.

Sam plays music on his guitar, but it’s Peace who leads the worship. She is a 16-year old girl, and the oldest member of the church, now that Sam and Kim are no longer there.

There is more life and worship in this church than any other church in town.

I didn’t take videos the first few times I went because I keep forgetting I have that capability on my camera, but I remember last time because I saw my friend Melissa taking video.

I had taken a bunch of pictures of the “worship band,” before, but I had never gotten them in action. There are some very small boys playing some of the drums. Felix, the runner, even plays, but the fact that they can do great things without ever practicing or knowing what songs Peace is going to sing, they are amazing to me.

I love the movement , the dancing, and the excitement. I’m now glad I didn’t film the first few times I went to the base because I like dancing along with the kids a whole lot more than I do filming.

My kids really enjoy singing and dancing. These pictures aren't the best because I was taking into the sun, but I just wanted you to see their smiles.

LeeJay, Caleb, Karis

Zak, Kylie

This is a picture of the boy's hand that I referred to in an earlier post. He had 3rd degree burns and his mom had wrapped them in rabbit fur. This is him 3 weeks ago. Praise God for His healing powers.

I'm hoping these links work. These are just pieces of songs I recorded, but you can still see and feel the energy.

I'm going around

Allelujah

I belong to Jesus

drums

My apologies for the songs all being cut, but I didn’t know how much memory I had on the camera, so I kept trying to conserve memory space for other things.

A visit to ORA

We went to ORA (Orphans Refugees Aid) today for a birthday party for Leejay, who turned 5

and his sister, Lucy, who turned 2.

Their family is from New Zealand, and they work for the ORA organization here in Arua. It provides foster care for orphans instead of having an orphanage.

They live in a house on the base with no electricity, no running water, no oven, one small sink, and a long drop toilet, etc. (and they are truly happy, blessed people) They are amazing.

They are here for just a little while longer. They came for about 6 months to check on everything that they had built and organized three years ago.

Look at this beautiful mural Kim painted inside the piat three years ago.

Kim is also a nurse, and wouldn't you know it? Caleb needed some attention today. He seems to be drawn to nurses...

I wish you could see some of the wounds Kim has treated here and kids she has helped. One boy last week came with severe burns on his arm that his mother had wrapped in rabbit fur. It took her hours to clean the fur out of the wound. Here's what she wrote about it:

"So many kids around here die from burns like these that are either not treated or inappropriately treated with traditional local village beliefs, like covering them with dead animal skin or urinating on them (yes you read that right. There is a belief by some people in this culture that if you urinate on a burn regularly it will heal it!!!) There are also many kids that have badly disfigured limbs or huge lumpy scars from burns that were not treated properly. So to know I am making a difference in at least Jonahs wee life makes every moment of our time here worthwhile."

If you want to see a "during" and "after" photo, look here, and scroll down past the giraffe and lion pictures, and you'll see the picture. She is an amazing lady.

All the children got together inside the piat to play a game.

During the scavenger hunt, I only thought it was a little crazy, until...

I realized that Sam (Lucy and Leejay's dad) put one of the clues on himself!

I've definitely never seen that before.

The kids loved tackling him.

Sam is very handy. He built this swing set last month. Over 100 children come each weekend and hang out on their compound, so it gives the kids something to do.

He also designed a jeri can shower so his wife can have a shower instead of having to cup water over her head from a basin. This is a guy who truly knows how to love his wife.

I hope they will return again soon to check on ORA. They are a sweet family, and we love having them around.

...Plus, New Zealanders have such a cool accent! :)