Here are a couple amazing stories that we have gotten to be a part of this past week. On Wendsday we went to the slum with Frontline Ministries. While we were there our friend John Mark noticed a baby laying with his mother that didn't look good at all. The baby is 10 months old and has measles. This wouldn't be a big deal in Canada, we would probably take care of the child at home until they recover, or worst case seneario we would have to drive to the hospital and wait an hour to get in. This mother wouldn't even consider going to the hospital because for one, how would she get there, and for two she wouldn't be admitted once she was there anyways. When John Mark saw the baby he made a call to the hospital he works at and arranged for her to be admitted. We had just been at the hospital the day before, so we were shocked to hear that she had been admitted so fast. This hospital is insanely busy. But once she got to the hospital she didn't have anything for herself or the baby, the hospital doesn't supply anything. So we were able to go through our suitcases of donations from YOU! I picked out some blankets, baby p.j.'s, snacks, towel, and cloth. It was just amazing to actually pick something out to send and bless this mother. Thank you all so much for your generous gifts and donations, it has been amazing to be able to bless the people here, I only wish you could all be here with us.
Today we went to the drop in center again that Peace for Children in Africa has. Andrea and I were able to watch the older boys play football and had a great chat with Freddy the whole time. The people here LOVE to talk. They talk about where they went to school, where they grew up, what they do for work, the infrastructer of the city, how to help things improve, and of course they ask lots of questions about us. While we watched football (soccer) Ruth went with John Mark to buy food for the center, it was an incredible experience for her, I'm jealous! They went to a very busy down town market and bought enough rice for at least a month, some veggies, and MEAT!!!!! This was the most exciting thing for them to have meat for the kids. These kids NEVER get to eat meat, they were SO excited! We also bought a little stove and two huge cooking pots. Once we all got back to the centre we started the cooking and did lots of playing with the kids. The main point of the centre is to show the kids the love of Jesus. They also want to give them a bit of their childhood back, living on the streets doesn't allow a person to be childish for long at all. Something John Mark said really stuck me, he said he loved bringing his friends into the slums because it gives the kids something to dream about, something to aspire to.
Otherwise their dreams are very small, if they never see anything but the slum, how are they supposed to aspire to be anything outside of the slum? When we first got back from watching football I saw three girls hesitantly hanging around by the entrance gate. I asked them if I could put nail polish on for them. Who knew that a simple bottle of nail polish would make such a difference in someones life. From that first moment the girls just attached themselves to me and i was more than happy to spend the day with them. We played the "cup game" I'm sure many of you played it at camp growing up. One girl drew a picture of me to take home, so cute! Then we did a skit for everyone and taught them "My God is so Big". I was so happy to teach them this song. By the end I was feeling very emotional because these kids are just going back into such a desperate situation. But to know that they have this safe place to come, and that they can hear the gospel, the TRUTH, that is my peace. That's the only reason I was able to leave today. Two of the girls had never been there before and they met with the social worker today and filled in all the info. I'm praying that they will come back again and again. I'm praying that these kids would know that my God is their God, he is so in love with them and I'm praying that they will reach out and accept him. Please pray for the kids at PCA, especially the girls Nanteza Irene, Nawgwa Chrezer, and Rehema. My heart breaks especially for them because girls can have such a hard time living in these conditions. These girls actually live with their grandmother but they are not in school because she can't afford it. I would like to be able to pay their school fees. It is about 450$ per year per child. It would make such a difference in their lives, to be off the streets, to be given the chance at a future! Since I'm here I can go to their schools to pay the fees to avoid any confusion with the funds. Please please help me in this, I can't do it alone! If you donate here on my blog we can access the money and help change these girls lives forever. I'm so excited about all these opportunities coming up.
I can't remember if I've already blogged about Mbazira, but he's another opportunity that has come up. He is a young man desperatly wanting to preach the Word of God, but isn't able to get the training. We exchanged contact info and I'm praying that we can somehow get him into a good school. Tomorrow we go to Kamengo! I can't express how excited I am about all this. I could seriously just live here, it's so great, I love it! Thank you all SO so much for being involved with this. Please keep praying for us. Today no one got sick or hurt, this was amazing, thank you for praying! I can't remember if I've blogged about my toe. I cut it pretty bad, but so far it is clean and healing well. Pray for all these people that we are meeting, that we would have wisdom with the funds we are sharing here, and mostly for the people's hearts. That they would know how much God loves them, and that their hope would only be in Him.
