Mbale, Uganda

It's been a while since I have last updated. I'm sorry! I have very limited access to the Internet but the past week has been amazing. We have been interacting with a larger orphanage/school by the name of Impact Ministries. It's called home for about 250 students (many walking for several miles) all striving for an education. The school itself isn't in the best of shape, but we spent two days with the kids repainting and adding a little color to the classrooms. Needless to say...the kids LOVED it. It was a good little project to get us started and today all the children invited us to their big "back to school" party. The danced and sang songs and they prepared us a hot meal. Afterwords the kids got their daily meal but as we began serving the rice and meat (they got feed a great meal since the occasion) but we soon realized not all the kids would eat. Limited food means limited mouths to feed. At the end we realized there were 31 mouths to feed but that was all the food Impact had, so the poor kids just put there head down and walk away with their dirty dish. It's sad because death and hunger isn't anything new to these people. It simply woven into everyday life in Uganda.


Every now and then, I have to tell myself I'm not living in a dream or some obscure world. Yesterday was one of those days. We meet a man named Michael about 3 weeks ago. He and several others started a local NGO here in Mbale called Christian Faith In Action International (CFAI) designed to touch the untouchable, and to reach the unreachable. They have been supporting a small village up in Mt. Elgon and yesterday we decided to go with them and do a full on site assessment of the village of Bunabuyoka, in the Manafea district on the border of Uganda and Kenya. Four of us from HELP and six from CFAI all somehow fit in a small taki for 1 1/2 hours on the wonderful roads of Uganda and hiked a couple hours through the beautiful jungles of Mt. Elgon. Passing through the small villages are the most incredible thing. The side path led us to a cliff where we continued on and somehow made it to Bunabuyoka. CFAI informed us of our arrival and the whole village was there in the church and welcomed us with a 4 hour presentation of song and dance and gave gratitude for our long treck. It soon came to our attention that us four were the first white people to ever have visited the village. There was a special spirit of unity there and I instantly fell in love. We then broke off into groups and discussed the needs and challenges the people face every day. Once again, water was a problem. No access to medicine, the school was made of mud, and the lack of new farming techniques causes major economic challenges. Despite everything, they worship our every move and fed us their dinner, which I know left some people with nothing to eat. They begged for knowledge of new skills and ways to educate their children. When we left, they said "if you cannot do anything to help us, just please pray for us." That's the life here. It's hard to know where to start because the needs just flow from every direction. We have several project proposals lined up as a team. We will be starting some Health and sanitation classes at a local medical clinic and I'm heading a project with Dane to find a solution to the water issues in the Namatala slum just outside Mbale. We have found some great partners but have learned there is so much to development and one project research can take so much time. But were excited for what we have lined up. Each day is an adventure.


Thank you again for your support from Uganda!