More Babies!

We made an impromptu stop at the oldest baby house in Kampala, so we could deliver baby afghans made by a friend from church. Thanks Donna!!! These babies will feel the love behind each stitch!

Thank you MCC!

For all my Mennonite friends and family who give faithfully to MCC, here are some photos of your dollars at work.....

During the once-a-month HIV Support Group, MCC sends a truck full of food rations for the caregivers of children/youth that are HIV+

They each get one bag of beans, one bag of maize flour, one bag of baking flour, and one bottle of oil.

These women were gushing with gratitude! They all told me to "greet MCC and give them my love" (too cute!) So on behalf of all the women from Mengo AIDS Clinic in Kampala Uganda "THANK YOU" to all of you who have donated to MCCs general budget.....you never know where your dollars may end up....

....in the hands of these children who have HIV! MCC gives them shillings for their transportation to the HIV Support Group.

MCC is also the one who provides the funds for their tea break...

I got a chance to address the tent of caregivers and at the word "Mennonite" the crowd went wild! Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has left it's mark on these people's hearts!

A HUGE Thankyou to the Landis family (our good friends from Alaska) for providing the funds for the first building and now also for the expansion/new addition being built...

With Dr Edith in front of the construction site...still just clearing the area, but after 6mths of waiting, they finally got the building permits to move forward! (She got the good news the day before we saw her. Should be completed by the end of February! :)

HIV Children's Outreach

Once a month, the Mengo Aids Clinic in Kampala has an outreach day where children & youth with HIV come for a support group. God timed it perfectly that we were in town on that Sat! 

We led the kids in songs, games & a short devotional.

They loved the bubbles & balloons!

Ally & Reba joined the youth support group, where the teens with HIV shared their struggles.

The children are required to come with a caregiver, who also goto a support group and have a sort of training inservice on how to care for their child with HIV. If you notice, it's not a "parent" support group, because most of these kids don't have parents.....the caregivers are often grandmothers or aunties.

The families are also served tea (this week with a boiled egg, banana & bread). 

The best part of the day was just giving the kids some TLC!

A glimpse of home...the good ole Midwest getting some representation at the AIDs clinic! "Woot! Woot!" (A shout out to my brother & sister in law who live in Ohio)

Everywhere we go Jonas makes a new "best friend".....HIV makes no difference to him! Both boys are 10 and love soccer....nothing else matters!

Musana Camps Summary

In spite of the ants, spiders, bats, cold showers, no showers (we had to wait for them to pump water from the creek into the cisterns), the itchy rash that Anissa & Ally got, a few sicknesses & one injury among our team, we had an AMAZING time at Camp. God is definitely in that place! You can feel His presence everywhere! The baptism ceremony was an emotionally powerful experience, as well as outdoor worship with African drums. The children's outreach day was a highlight! our team loves working with kids! It was great to spend time with the Sparks, share meals in their home, pray with them, play with their beautiful children and see a small snapshot of what their life is like (in the 7 dys we were there, they had to make 2 emergency trips into Kampala--one for Eva, one for a staff member who chopped through his finger with a machete! Praise the Lord, the doctor was able to save his finger!) We loved the fellowship with the staff and forming new friendships (we had one particularly fun night around the campfire singing songs, playing games, and laughing our wads off!!)  We had sweet team devotions every morning & evening. Although it is impossible to put into words all the emotions we felt that week, here are a few more descriptions that help capture our time at camp:

Incredible stars, breathtaking views, God's air conditioning (there was a constant cool breeze), an on-going chorus of birds & bugs filling the air, becoming one with nature (sometimes too literally), "Be still and know that I am God", full hearts, awed by God.