We have been in Uganda for 7 days now, and we have already
learned so, so much about how to do life here!
We arrived in Jinja on Sunday and it was so great to finally
meet the Segner family face to face! All of the kids, 11 total, hit it off
right away, and they are having a great time doing life together. The Segner
family lives not far from the home that we are staying in, and there are
currently 3 interns working with Healing Faith who live in a different house,
just down the street from us. It is nice to have so many great places to walk
to when we need a change of scenery.
For our first 6 weeks we are staying in a tiny home. There
are two bedrooms, a bathroom and a living room/kitchenette combo room. That is
all. I keep thinking of the old country song, “Love Grows Best in Little
Houses”. It really has been a great place to be though. We are all together
playing, talking and getting along very well for the most part. Carter mentioned
just yesterday, “Halie and I haven’t fought once in Africa!” Of course today he
decided to change that and they were annoyed again with everything the other
one said and did. I guess it’s good to know that not everything has changed
here!
The kids are loving life, and they have adjusted so well.
Wren was throwing up on Monday, and Carter was on Wednesday, but each just had
upset tummies in the mornings, threw up a few times and then felt fine from
that point on. I am assuming it was simply nerves. Today my stomach is
churning, but that was a common occurrence in America as well. Halie may be
allergic to her mosquito net. Some mornings she wakes up with red, itchiness
around one or both eyes. We are hoping that as the nets air out, she will not
be as sensitive.
On Tuesday we did go into the village for the first time. It
was a children’s ministry day, so we were able to meet with some families,
gather a ton of children for songs, games and a Bible story, and do a health
check. After our activities, Jason began the very informal clinic. Mothers line
up with children and explain to Miriam, our translator, their child’s symptoms.
Miriam passes on the information to Jason and he does his best to give advice.
This day in particular there was a little baby with tiny bumps all over her
body that keep coming and going, a girl with a fever and stomach ache, a baby
whose mother thought she had a fever, a sweet little girl with an infection on
her toes that made the skin painful and cracked, and a man with a burnt leg,
among others.
Jason does an amazing job talking with the families about
what he sees and advises, but it is hard to not be able to treat each and every
ailment. Healing Faith is a malaria education, prevention and treatment
organization. It is registered in Uganda as such, and they are only allowed to
treat as they are permitted. This means that many conditions are beyond their
scope, and the families must take the initiative on their own to get to a
clinic for some things. There is help available, but to see the crying child
and not be able to help immediately is hard. Jason did a few malaria tests, and
all were negative.
As with any great ministry, the physical work being done is
not the whole of what Healing Faith does. Building and maintaining relationships
is the cornerstone of their work. Both
on our way into the village and on our way out, we stopped to meet with
families, check in on those that the Segners have worked with previously, and
even bought charcoal from one household. The more we can support those who are
working hard to support themselves, the better off the village will be.
At the very first home we were able to hand deliver a Baby
Kit that so many of you helped to provide. I was able to hold the new baby and
whisper sweet prayers over her as she slept in my arms. The baby kit will
provide her with 2 outfits, a blanket and a hat. The mother was extremely
grateful for the resource for her daughter.
At that same house, I was shocked to look next to me on the
bench and see Wren holding a baby rabbit. For those of you that don’t know,
Wren is my shy, always scared of everything, clinging to Mommy or Chloe kind of
child. Today though, she was all about this adventure. She was walking with
goats, chickens, roosters and rabbits all around her and she was happy to be
doing her own thing!
The animals have been a dream come true for my kids. Our
very first day at the Segner’s house, Jasmine came running around the corner
with 2 goats on leashes pulling her along. Out the back window, Brice and Halie
were feeding rabbits in the hutch, and all of the kids were chasing these
giant, ugly birds that are all over here. We have caught chameleons in the
village, and there are little geckos running on the walls all around our house.
The Segners have several dogs of all shapes and sizes that the kids love, and
at our home there are 2 dogs and one adorable puppy that have claimed us as
their own.
Each home is on a “compound”, so while there may be more
than one house, the property is secured either by a fence or a concrete wall as
well as a guard at the gate. It is so nice that the kids have such a large,
safe space to be in without us having to watch every single moment or worry
that they are wandering off or that anyone else is wandering in. When we first
left our compound to walk down the street, we assumed that our dogs were stuck
inside. We were about a block away though, when suddenly the dogs were walking
right beside us, barking at anyone who came near us. There must be a hole is
our fence somewhere, but it is such a blessing to have guard dogs that follow
us and then return home after we reach our destination.
Yesterday was our first day without power all day. Dave has
a Ugandan phone, but of course it wasn’t charged before the power went out, so
that was pretty useless. Fortunately, the modem for the internet at the interns’
house can run for a little while without power, so I was able to post to
facebook and check email.
Now, we are playing catch up to try to charge our devices
and then hopefully I can make a call to AT&T and find out why my phone is
not unlocked like they said it was before we left. When I live chatted with a
rep yesterday she said, “Your lines are suspended, we can’t unlock them now.
You needed to do that before you left the country.” I assured her that I have
every reason to believe that the process was completed prior to leaving. Her
response was, “Well, I don’t handle that issue, so you will have to call them
after 7am.” I have no idea what time zone she was referring to, but as soon as
Dave’s phone has some power, I will begin the process of finding that out. Once
I can get my phone unlocked, we will have wi-fi at home, and I will not have to
go to the intern’s house to use the internet. Oh, the trouble with technology!
Thank you for all of the love and support that you are
sending half way around the world. Even when I can’t check in on-line or throw
out a prayer request, I know that we are being lifted up each time we come to
mind. Our support system is the best!
We love you all!
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