All I want for Christmas is shoes and socks....

Every year near christmas when I hear the song "Christmas shoes" by NewSong my eyes mist with tears at the simple gift that a pair of shoes can make.  Living in the village of Uganda, a simple pair of shoes can be a life saving gift.
 

What is on the christmas list for the children in your life?  Toys? A new game system? What if your child just wanted a pair of shoes and socks so they don't have to travel the rocky, mud covered roads in their bare feet to get to school?  Or bust open their toes while playing futbol?
 

I currently have 60 little brown eyed cuties with this one simple request... a pair of shoes and socks for christmas.  But for one of these children to ask their parents for a good pair of shoes that won't fall apart after the first time of being worn, it is more than many of these parents make in a month.  It would mean a sacrifice of food and all the basic needs for the entire family.
 

Hannington and I have worked out a deal with Bata shoes in Kampala to come to the village (2 hours away), measure these little feet, and bring shoes and socks the next day.  This is not only assisting the families and children in the village but also the local businesses.  These shoes are high quality and will be a treasured gift to the children.
 

As much as we would like to do this, we can't do it on our own... we need your help... will you help us put shoes and socks on these little feet?  Will you provide Christmas shoes?
 

$25 will provide one child with shoes and socks
$100 will provide for 4  children
$1500 will provide for all 60 children
$3000 will provide for  all our current children plus the ones starting in February as our enrollment for the new school year will double to 120 children
 

A friend recently sent me a message wishing she could teach her children to be grateful for the simple things of life like the children I was blogging about.  Most American chIldren could care less about clothes or shoes but those are the greatest desires  for these children.  Christmas time is a great time to teach others about giving rather than receiving.   Let this Christmas be a time when the children in your life reach out to a child in need to provide Christmas shoes!
 

One last story that made needing shoes evident in my mind... the P1 class was learning about the local Uganda currency... their highest note is 50, 000 UGX or about $20 US.  One of the older boys was looking at the actual paper note and I asked what he would do with that if it were his... he thought for a moment...then his eyes lit up and he said... I would buy new shoes!
 

Please partner with us by making an online donation at..https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/InTheFieldMinistriesITFM/donate2.html ... put in the comment line "Christmas Shoes".  The goal is to have someone from Bata come to campus on November 26th to measure feet and give the shoes out before the school year ends on November 29th.  We can only do this if these little feet are sponsored for Christmas shoes!

Mpola Mpola

In Luganda this means "slowly, slowly"... which is a perfect description of our day as well as life in Uganda.  Life on Molokai prepared me somewhat for this ... but this is moving it to the next level.  Take today for example... had to run some errands today and get some supplies from Kampala... here was our time table....

6am ... take the cat out... make coffee and breakfast... get ready... load the car... and wait for Jospehine to come to work to drop Sheba off with....  Hannington visits with Mulongo and the crew to see how the countertops are coming along... John walks up to the top of the property to inspect where they are starting a house
8am... leave the house and drive almost an hour and a half to get a generator... once there they had to pick out a decently made generator... test it out... find the right oil and prime the fuel... dikker on the price... and then wrap it in a box and load it into the truck. (Morning coffee set in and I need to go to the potty but only urinals were found)
10:45... head to the bank to pull out money for the supplies we had to buy... Hannington and Kimberly went in while John and I sat in the truck... there were only 2 people in front of them in line but it took almost 40 minutes (and I really needed to find a potty but the outside toilets were in process of being cleaned) 
11:30... leaving bank headed to XingXing furniture store...get stuck in traffic behind the presidents motorcade... finally get to the store...we are dropped off to find furniture for the administrator office while Hannington gets a boda to find some hardware...cooking pots for the new school kitchen... and hire a big flat bed truck to take back desks and chairs for the new classrooms, furniture for my office and other big furniture... waited for them to find cardboard to wrap the furniture ( and I finally found an inside potty to use and even though it was a squatty potty I could wait no longer)
1pm... go by with the flat bed truck to pick up three sets of welded bunkbeds for our workers who are currently sleeping on the floor of the shop and then head to Oasis mall where there was very little security compared to the past few visits... Hannington dropped us and the car off... hires a boda to go to three locations looking for furniture and supplies while we had lunch ... walked over to Garden city,.. found ink cartridges for the printer...office supplies...airtime for phones ... looked at appliances for the new house the walked back over to Oasis to grocery shop at Nakumatt...find Hannington... met with the manager of Bata shoes for Christmas shoes for the little ones ... had ice cream... and went back to Nakumatt to pick up cold items
5:45pm...  by this time traffic is getting really bad...took us almost two hours to get Kgas for the cook stove... then run by Tuskers to pick up dinner... and head home...
10:30pm... arrive back to Nabisooto

We had no idea that it would take us this long but thankful we are  home safe and sound.

Family dynamics.... following Rosemary

Since Kimberly has been here I have had a walking buddy to cruise around the village. So we have been walking daily visiting with families in the village. Friday night we walked over to Rosemary's house... the 9 year old that we took to Kampala.
Rosemary lives in a mud hut with her mother, grandmother and two younger sisters... Paulina (4 to 5 years of age) and Teopista (almost 2).

(Ages are really difficult here as birthdates are not recorded and due to malnutrition children are much smaller than their American counterparts. Many time when we ask how old a child is there is much confusion and they ultimately guess.)







The mother has epilepsy and has difficulty taking care of her girls. Just recently she had an episode and fell into the cooking fire burning her hand quite badly. She has been receiving medical treatment at the clinic and the hand is healing but still she is in pain and it looks really bad.





Rosemary (P1) and Paulina (baby class) attend Integrity Primary School which ultimately gives them hope for a brighter future. The goal is to break the cycle of poverty that these children currently live in. The only way of doing this is to provide a good education and the love of Jesus! Because the school is close to where they live, in the case of an episode with their mother they are close enough to run home.
As we walked up to the house the older two girls were out preparing the beans for their supper so I sat down and helped them. The mother and grandmother are very grateful for taking Rosemary to Kampala and continually bow and thank us. While I was helping the girls, the grandmother brought up stools for Hannington and Kimberly to sit on as customary for their culture. Kimberly took pictures of the “new” chicken coop as well as Teopista (the baby).



The mother didn't believe that the camera actually captured the image so we took several pictures of her to show her that they were different. Her expression is priceless.

 

Today the girls were at church without their mom or grandma... all dressed up in the best clothes they have. Many of these children have 1 “nice” church outfit that gets worn until it is thread bare. Even when the zipper won't go up or buttons won't button... they still wear it unzipped or unbuttoned. Clothes are expensive and hard to come by!

These children are so very precious and not like some of the children that greet us with “give me ____” . They have very humble hearts and quiet spirits. I pray that they will continue to grow to follow Him in all they do and that they will follow wherever He leads!

The "new" chicken coop.  Rosemary's house looks about the same ... it is just on the ground!

The inside of the chicken coop

Picture from Saturday's home visit to Mamma Jordan's house.

This little lady captured my heart!  So precious!

Arms filled... Heart blessed!

“Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all- he is the greatest.” Luke 9:48

After being in the village for almost two months, I have realized that part of me being here is to assist the school but the majority is to be His hands and feet to the people here.

Children were precious to Jesus during His earthly ministry. Numerous times he referred to how children were to be treated.
 

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” - Matthew 19:14

Children in Uganda are born to work. The mindset in the village is the more children you have the more hands you have to dig dirt and work around the house. Very little time is given to spending time with the children. There are even parents that refuse to send their children to school because it takes away the work that is done around the house.

This is very different from my view of children and what God's word says about these precious little ones. In my mind, to be His hands and feet, is to hold, comfort, and love on these little ones. I can't seem to go any where in the village without having at least one little hand to hold. Church on Sunday, normally finds my lap and arms filled with little ones... and normally by the end of the three hour service, several of the little ones have had a good rest.

Jesus made time for the children... he wasn't afraid to touch them and bless them... he also offered pretty severe consequences for those that caused these little ones to stumble.

“And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.”- Mark 9:42

Out for a morning walk

Kimberly and I headed out after breakfast this morning to find one of the girls that Kimberly had not seen in the week she had been here. 



Mamma Kimberly holding baby Mary... Jordan's youngest sister!  Such a cutie!

As we walked... we stopped at different houses and visited with the families... after each stop, we gained a few more children in our entourage so that by the time we headed back we had 10+ children to return to their houses! 


Jordan and Harriet playing with Mamma Kimberly's umbrella.  These two joined us for most of the walk.

I guess I have made a name for myself in the village because everywhere we walked... people would come to their door saying "Angela"... and the children would come running to hold my hand.  A couple of times it became an all out slapping war as to who would hold my hand and who just hung on by a finger!





This little one... was timid of the "muzungus"
when we walked up but within moments
she was in my arms and wanted to follow when we were leaving!

Waving good bye!

A typical mud house in the village.

Life in Nabisooto, UGANDA... PART 1

In response to the "adopt a classroom" post a week or so ago, I have had a couple of groups of American school children interested in learning more about life in the village.  So I am going to post a series of life in the village.  These will be from the perspective of the children here.  Part 1 will be basic information and then in the future will shadow certain children.

 

If you are reading this info for the first time and desire to help... here are some ways you too can help...

@sponsor a child through icn.net and search for Uganda... or message me and I will hand pick a child for you!  It is less than 40 $ a month to provide schooling, meals, healthcare, and supplies for a child.... less than one cup of coffee per day!

@invest in a project...currently we are building a kitchen to serve meals out of but there is always a project to be done... donations can be made through In the Field ministries and they are tax deductible (inthefieldministries.org).  Will be posting a list of projects soon.

@adopt a classroom... I posted a list that was needed of supplies and such.  Have heard that sending the packages from the US is quite costly so a couple of cost saving ideas...remove the extra packaging and pack things in ziplocs...send them through USPS as cheap as possible as there is no reason to expedite...send them down with someone coming to visit or for some things sending money through ITFM and we can get certain things in country.

@we are looking for willing hands and hearts to come down on short term mission projects... would love to have doctors and dentists to provide medical care... teachers to help the local teachers wiith ideas... builders or carpenters...musicians...pastors...and the list could go on and on...  if you have a willing heart the Lord can use you!

 

Now onto the regularly scheduled post... Life in the Village part one...

 

Uganda is a land locked country on the continent of Africa. 
It is right on the equator and has 2 seasons... wet and dry.  Wet season runs from August to November.  Temperatures range in the 70's to 80's year round.  If it gets below 72, you will find us in heavy coats or sweaters and boots because we think it is COLD.

The view of the village from the school veranda.  The poles will be the walls of the new kitchen.

Our village of Nabisooto is up above a swamp. We have lots of mosquitos especially during rainy season.  Due to all these mosquitos we are told to sleep inside nets at night. If we don't, we end up very sick with malaria.  Our houses are built out of mud bricks and dirt floors. 

Mamma Vencencia's current "kitchen" making school lunches

Our school is Integrity Primary School and it currently has four classes ... baby (ages 3~4), middle (5-6) and top class (6-7) and P1. Our school day as a Top class and P1 student goes from 7am to 4pm... the younger siblings in baby and middle class go home at 1pm.  At school we learn how to write and spell...we learn our numbers and how to count... we also learn basic hygiene skills to keep ourselves clean like washing our hands with soap and brushing our teeth.  Lunch is from 1 to 2 pm and we eat porridge.   Mamma Vencencia is our school cook and her kitchen is a campfire under a lean to to keep the rain off.  A new kitchen to serve more children is currently being built.

Numbers in Luganda

 

 

 

The language we speak is known as Luganda but we learn English at school.  After school we do chores... some of our chores include getting water from the bore hole in the middle of the village... digging dirt for planting food... sweeping the dirt inside of the house and the compound around the house... washing our clothes in a tub... and moving the goats and cows to a new location for them to eat.

Playing futbol at recess

 

 

 

 

 

When we are not in school or doing chores we like to play futbol (American soccer) for the boys or net ball for the girls...or play with our friends.  We walk everywhere we go as very few people have a vehicle in the village so riding in a car is a real treat! Most of us have grown up here and never been outside of Busunju.



Eating lunch at school... porridge and cassava



Working on building the new kitchen

This is our hand washing station... we just learned how to use soap and clean the dirt from under our nails



We write our daily assignments from the board into our notebooks.  Today we are learning about healthy foods to eat.

We are waiting on the porch outside of the clinic to brush our teeth. 

We love to brush our teeth!! 



In part two we will look at some of our favorites!

Rosemary's day out of the village

It has been a long day and my brain is kind of fuzzy but while the thoughts of the day are  fresh on my mind I thought I would write. 

Imagine you are a nine year old girl who has grown up in a mud brick hut in a village where your main job is to care for your younger siblings due to mom having seizures  and no dad in the picture.  Because of ITFM, mom is getting medical care and the school js close enough for Rosemary and the younger sibling to go to school but still be nearby in case of an emergency.

This morning before leaving for Kampala to do supply shopping and price checking for the school kitchen, Aunt Kimberly had Hannington walk over for permission from the mother to take Rosemary on a field trip.  Once permission was granted, Rosemary was sent home to change from her school clothes to church clothes and she appeared back on our porch in a white little dress...probably size 3T on her 9 year old little body.  Being quiet by nature she looked rather unsure about what we were doing but didn't say anything.  Before we left we introduced her to deoderent and sparkly lotion and had  Nurse Josephine come over to show her how to use the toilet in the apartment so that she would be familiar with the ones in town... very different from a pit latrine.

 

So besides the toilet... here are some other firsts...
@first car ride

@first experience of air conditioning...the sweet child was wrapped in a blanket on the carride and the AC wasn't even really working

@first time out of Busunju

@first time in Kampala

@first time seeing all the traffic and large buildings that come with the city

@first time on an escalator

@first time seeing sculptures of animals and being very timid as she didn't know what it was

@first time in a store with stuffed animals bigger than her and shopping carts that she could push and ride in

@first time seeing shelves of food and all she could do is point to her mouth and say yom...yom

@first time looking at all the items on the store shelves and being able to say in English what she was familiar with

@first time in a restaurant and she ate her chicken and rice like there was no tomorrow
@first time enjoying french fries...ketchup...soda with ice...and ice cream...

This list could go on and on... but there is nothing like seeing the excitement in a child's eyes over the things that we take for granted.  Throughtout the day as I was  holding her hand or as she slept in my arms as we drove back to the village, my heart was filled with the blessing of this sweet child knowing that it is moments like this that I am here for.  Moments that will impact eternity and give these children a hope and a future.  My heart truly yearns to be a wife and a mother but for this moment, the God of the universe has allowed me to assist in mothering one of His precious little ones!