Week 17- Tangible Growth

Week 17- Tangible Growth

Tuesday 30/4/13

Today we visited the baby’s home. It was a very simple day which mostly consisted of cleaning.

Wednesday 1/5/13

Today we went to God’s Grace where we as the 360 class donated food and other essentials to the orphanage. We raised about 500’000 shillings which is equivalent to around $200 and with that we were able to buy enough food and other items that would last the 120 kids about a month. On Tuesday South, Thomas and Miriam bought the items we made on our list, last week and on top of our budget people donated on top of that. The things we bought were 50kg sacks of rice, beans and potio, soap, nappies, bibles, toothbrushes & paste, baby bathing basins and many more things. The kids were so happy and I spent my time there playing simple games in the dirt like nots and crosses and then helped feed the babies porridge (There are photos on face book). Then we were blessed with a concert by the kids dancing and singing songs in a rehearsed dance. It was really special and the children were really good. I can describe everything down to a t but I can’t describe the atmosphere, the energy of the day, it was simply very special.

Thursday 2/5/13

Today my team East went back to God’s Grace on our Ministry day. We got to play with the kids for a bit in the morning and then Callie, Winfred, Miriam, Joseph, Sherly, a helper from Gods Grace and myself took some the really sick babies, toddlers and one boy to the hospital for a check up. We had about 10 kid’s altogether so we were holding a baby almost all the time. We waited for about half an hour before we were seen and given a brief examination before seeing an actual doctor; thankfully it was all free as Malgo Hospital is public. The examination man then decided that all of the kids would need a blood test and that meant that I would have to take one of the babies in, I feel sick just writing about it now. The boy I had was three but was anaemic so his thigh was as thick as my wrist and his wrist smaller than two of my fingers (I’m not kidding one bit so as you can see I was wondering how and where they were planning to take blood from. I was sitting with Winnie feeling queasy and I said she might have to take him in because if you didn’t know I hate needles I feel sick just thinking about them. Winfred went in first and to my relief it was just a finger prick were they take a drop of blood on a glass microscope piece and look for whatever straight away, but it was still hard. So I walked in sitting the boy on the chair as the woman got herself ready. I tried not to look as much as possible while I held his arms and hands. He had no idea what was going on and was so chill you might think he was stoned. Anyway she took his finger and pricked and he erupted in the loudest scream I might have ever heard. His arms went flying and here I am standing in shock and the doctor saying “Quick grab his arms” so I snapped out of my frozen daze and grabbed his arms so she could take the blood. It was all over within a minute or two and there I was carrying out this howling bag of bones with a cotton bud on his finger. It was very awful and I think it was the closest I have felt to crying for my time here. I realised that it was a very tangible expression of my adult hood because instead of me being the one taken in for a needle, I was taking a kid in, I was the responsible rock that that little boy had for comfort. I had to control my feelings and rise to the occasion because he depended on me I had to simply depend on God that I could keep it all together; and thankfully I did and after some parental swaying and reassuring words he did stop crying, but he just lay there exhausted from the ordeal crying silently on my shoulder. So that was defiantly a very big and hard moment for me here.

Also there was a man with a premature baby whose mother had died. He was apparently planning to leave his daughter there, but Winfred intervened and told him to go to Bulrushes as the baby would probably die before the Hospital did anything about it. I gave him 10’000shillings for transport and then on our way out Winfred saw the Boda Boda man who had taken them and reported that everything went well, so a very successful intervention indeed.

We waited for about an hour after woods with their test results that thankfully showed no signs of anything bad. We went into the doctor’s office after about an hour of waiting and were basically told that these kids were sick from very simple things because of their poor diet. I don’t want to go to deep into the conversation but it wasn’t one with a happy ending. We then took the kids back to God’s Grace and we were pretty drained emotionally and physically. We then went to Fidodo’s for lunch and pretty sure signed out.

Friday 3/5/13

Today in class we wrote encouragement notes to people, which was really fun but also sad as some people didn’t get any and everyone wrote at least one. So even though I got heaps I learnt a tiny aspect in the big picture of finding our self worth in Jesus. It’s really hard to find that balance of meeting Jesus half way, letting him do his thing but also knowing what is your responsibility in the relationship. We then went to the markets at lunch and after classes in which I purchased some things for my Dad and his family. Got some good deals and bought my mum a hippo. Then after that we went out for pork with Peter and Joseph which was fantastic. Going out for pork in Uganda is a big thing like going to the pub if you know what I mean. We had a really fun night and it was really good being able to eat some fair dinkum meat.

Saturday 4/5/13

Today we helped out at south with some landscaping to help them get ready for their big opening tomorrow. We laid turf, lifted bricks, swept, cleared dirt and rubbish, had some small mud fights and a lot of dirty fun. We then changed as best we could for church.

Sunday 5/5/13

We were serving at South today; we lifted blocks, moved stuff, picked up rubbish, greeted people, moved chairs and I guess a lot of other random things. There were way more people than the one service could handle which was great and at the end it rained so I guess you could say God held the day off.

Monday 6/5/13

Today we celebrated the Mexican day of the dead Sinco de Mayo hosted by Natalie and Thomas. We had a Mexican lunch which was very nice and new for me. We then had to draw the Chupacobra which is apparently a mystical monster in Mexico that eats goat’s blood. Then we had to catch the chicken to win the day, which is a chocolate. Anyway it was really fun. Then we went to Calvin and Shirley’s for dinner were we feasted and had a really nice crazy time. Lots of fun and adventure today.

So that has been our week I was meant to write it on time but our power was off and as you will read tomorrow we go to Subii, so many apologies and lots of Love, from Jack in Africa.