the art of the bucket bath

For those of you who may be bucket bath naive, we thought we would document for you the art of taking a bucket bath.

Step one, fill your bucket about 1/4 full with water from the jerry can sitting outside of your hut, placed there oh so nicely everyday by the workers.

Step two, carry your bucket along with your towel, toiletry bag, and clean clothing to the latrine/bathing area.

Step three, hang said belongings on the few nails on the door of the bathing stall (using extra caution to secure them well- especially if they happen to be of white color)

Step four, scoop the water out with the cup and rinse off the first layer of dirt.

Step five, lather with soap (one would normally do this without clothing on but because Hannah's parents will likely be reading this blog and it is a family friendly blog, we opted for clothing on for demonstration purposes).

Step six, repeat steps four and five multiple times, concentrating on the areas normally closest to the red dirt of Uganda aka the feet.

Step seven, attempt to put on clean clothes without them falling in the wet/dirty floor.

:)

Our thanks to the lovely Hannah Bingham for the free use of her modeling skills for this learning experience.

You've got mail

"Hey Tanya, you've got mail!" were the first words I heard this morning as I came to breakfast. Mail? Yup, from one of the children! He had it "delivered" this morning as he came by to school. How much did I delight in reading this beautiful letter this morning?!! It was from Joel, one of the young boys, who wrote of how he loved me, how he is glad we are here, and how he is praying for me and our team (actually it was more like, "Hello Tanya. I love you so much. You are friend. I am prayer for you. I will prayer for you in America too, and with your families..."). The children LOVE to write us little letters and notes and are always asking us to spell our names for them.

Yesterday and today have been fun-filled packed days of teaching and playing with the kids. Yesterday I taught an object lesson on hand-washing using glitter. I had the children each place their hands in glitter as they came in and then had a rousing game of simon says and as you can imagine the glitter was everywhere! When I started the lesson and asked what if all those pieces of glitter were germs, you should have seen them start scrambling to wipe it off their faces and clothes! It was perfect!

Abbie has taught on dreams and what big dreams and plans the Lord has for them and today she will be finishing that lesson by having them draw a picture of their dreams for the future. I can't wait to see what they draw! Abbie has also taught a bunch of the children a chant/song about our mighty God and it is fabulous to hear the children singing from across the compound!

Hannah has given some of the children cards made by children in the US and had the children here make cards to send back to the US with us. It was priceless to see what they children wrote to one another! What little ministers of the Gospel we have!

Donna led the children in making personalized bookmarks and again I was amazed! What creativity and personality shown through their crafts! And so many added special meaningful scripture to their bookmarks. It was again very moving!

We've been enjoying fellowship with the staff here and today I just led a bible study for the house moms. What a taxing job they have in caring for so many children and it was a blessing to spend time with them, encouraging them, hearing their concerns, and praying for them. They are very much and an encouragement to me as they selflessly serve these children.

We continue to enjoy scrumptious food and today for lunch had quite the spread- rice, beans, spaghetti (what?!!), fried potatoes, chipote (woohoo!), watermelon, cooked cabbage and goat. So good! Good thing Abbie and I have been able to run a few miles on some of the mornings here are the Village to burn off some of those calories!

Thanks again for praying for us! I'm trying to work on pictures, but the dang computer is fighting me today! Hopefully soon!

The fighter, the compassion-filled, and the practical

The fighter, the compassion-filled, and the practical

How does one react when having the realities of war and evil thrown in your face in the haunting eyes of orphaned and abandoned children? In having some time of reflecting and sharing on our experiences in the refugee camps a few days ago, we realized that we can react in a variety of ways. For some this time, a sense of anger and fight welled up- a desire to fight hard against the enemy and the injustice and evil that he brings. For others, an almost overwhelming sense of compassion and heartache wells up as the emotional reality of what these children endure slams us in the face. And still others focus on the practical- what step can I take next to end this tragedy and bring about God’s Kingdom here for these little children?

And although seemingly very different, these responses all have one thing in common- we each respond in our different ways because we have asked to have the heart of the King. And the King fights for His children with holy and just anger, His heart breaks for His hurting children, and He uses everyday, ordinary people to make the practical steps necessary to care for His beloved. Cindy shared with us that when that task, the practical aspect of caring for the children, seems to big, too overwhelming, she thinks about their individual faces and is reminded that she is doing all of this for them….one step at a time.

Join us in the fight for these precious children, one child at a time. www.villageofhopeuganda.com

Pics and a call for snack mix

Here are the pictures I promised earlier:

-Cindy and Abbie having a lighthearted conversation about spiritual warfare and the state of the people in northern Uganda

-Rose and Cindy (directors and founder of Village of Hope) modeling the tie dye aprons the child mothers are making (anyone want one? :) )

-Our group on the new Land (minus the pyramid I wanted everyone to make..sigh).

-Two of the blessed children in the refugee camp we visited last night (I wanted to sneak them in the van and take them to the Village with us!)

SNACK MIX REQUEST:

Dear Kathleen Blazey from Aldersgate UM,

Our team is in dire straits. Yesterday we ate the last of the snack mix you made for Abbie and we are unsure of how we will continue on now. We dread our trip home without the mix to sustain us through the trials and tribulations of the 18 to 24-hr trip as it had sustained us on our journey here and we can not imagine the sorrow in the upcoming days as more and more time passes without the delight of the snack mix each day. We would like to request a few bags to be overnited to the Village in order to avoid such catastrophic consequences. But if for some reason plan A falls through, we will settle for plan B which is snack mix available to us upon the arrival back on American soil. Thank you.

Sincerely,

The Ugandan team currently in snack mix mourning

A day of mending

We are back at the Village today after a busy, adventure-filled two day trip to the town of Gulu. We left the Village Monday morning and drove the two hours north to Gulu, stopping at the new 50 acre plot of land that was purchased 1 ½ years ago that will eventually be a second Village (Hopefully the picture of our group on the Land will be posted soon. I wanted to make a pyramid but no one else would ablige J ). We continued on to where some of the child mothers are learning to tye dye fabrics and make beautiful bags, scarves, aprons, etc with the fabrics (some of you may be recipients of their talented work J ). While the fabrics were beautiful, the eyes of the child mothers were sad and lifeless. These young women have been victims of rape by rebel soldiers and had become pregnant as a result and you can see in their eyes the effects of trauma and rejection they have sustained. But God can take the worst of messes and transform them into beautiful things and He certainly has done that in the beautiful babies He’s created out of that trauma. Our prayers are that that same beauty is felt and becomes real to the mothers too as they embrace the Love of the Father.

That evening we went to our first IDP (refugee) camp to visit some of the children who are still displaced. This camp had very young children and it’s always a bit harder to visit the young ones as they are visibly so much more vulnerable. The children sang for us and we were blessed to praise the King of Kings right along with them! The enemy clearly did not like what was happening and one of the women there began exhibiting signs of demonic influence. Cindy, Abbie and I and several other women began praying over her and after a time, she was delivered and set free. Yay Jesus! (And for those of you who doubt that satan is working still today, let me assure you, he is very much alive and well).

Tuesday we met up with a dear friend of mine, Lindsey, who is also in Uganda. She is in her third summer of doing a 6-week teacher exchange here in Gulu and our team was super excited to hang out with her all day. We took bata batas (hopefully a photo will follow) on a 45 minute trip to the school where she has taught the past two summers. It was lots of fun and we extra blessed in receiving a dust facial during the ride J. Our dear Hannah exhibited the dust in it’s fullness on her rather pale skin J

That evening we visited the second IDP camp and again the children were quite young and it was all I could do not to sob as my heart broke for their situation. I realized, though, that the Lord placed us with them for that small amount of time “for such a time as this” and so we took advantage of it and sang and prayed with the children and what a blessing it was! I also got to meet several of the children my family and friends are sponsoring and so I’m excited to share photos and stories with you all!

Today our team is tired –physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And so we are planning for a day of slightly less activity and prayerful mending of our hearts and minds. We have a few fun things planned to do with the children here and we want to bless them. I have a handwashing lesson and toothbrushing lesson to teach – oh how the nurse in me is thrilled with this!

Thanks for continuing to cover us in prayer. Our team can truly feel your prayers and God’s presence is thick and tangible despite the enemy’s attempts to thwart His great plans. “Greater is He that is in us than he who is in the world”! Can I get a “woot woot” on that?!!!

pictures!!

The first picture is our new hut...cement floors and solar powered electricity (gasp!)! No more worrying about termites eating through any luggage accidently left on the previously pressed dung (aka cow poop).

The second is the kids lined up on the road into the Village as we drove in....singing "Welcome welcome we love you..."... Ahhh, so great!

The next picture is me and Caesar. Caesar is a beautiful young boy who my sister and little nephew Noah have been praying for so this is to let them know that he is an actual person!

The last picture is our team!! We are standing on the beautiful shores of Lake Victoria. Donna, Abbie, Tanya and Hannah (left to right).

Spoiled without a plan B

Greetings from the Village!! I know some of you are waiting eagerly to hear from us and we've been so busy I haven't had time to blog. I'm working on pictures, but it's slow going. (Who can blame it though..I'm typing from a solar powered computer on a modem internet card in a hut in the middle of the bush in Uganda! Crazy!)

Here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve done so far:

We arrived Friday night, tired, but in good spirits. Stayed overnight in a quaint little “beach front" hotel overlooking Lake Victoria, woke up Saturday and made the 5-6 hour journey to the Village of Hope. We made several along the road stops to pick up various food items such as pineapple, mangos, and of course, live chickens which we just had for lunch today (well, they were no longer live, of course :) )

As we drove into the Village, I immediately welled up with tears as the children lined the road and were singing "Welcome, welcome we love you...". I got to hug all 154 of them when we stopped and it was glorious! Our team got a walking tour of the Village and again I was overcome with emotion at the progress since last September- a solar-powered water pump (no more little fingers pinched while pumping water from the well!), the start of the secondary school building, another house for the children (named Victory!), new cement huts for us instead of the former mud huts and of course, 100 or so more children living on this Land in freedom!

Today we had church or “prayer” as the Acholi call it. Another wonderful time of simplistic worship of the King with singing and dancing and a beautiful message on forgiveness. So simple, yet so powerful!

Our time here so far as well as our travel to get here has been nothing but absolutely stellar and we've been spoiled by the King of Kings in so many ways already. He just seems to want to keep pouring His love and blessings out on us. Imagine that! In the material sense, the blessings have come in the form of our “bedroom” now being a cement hut vs the former mud hut- goodbye pressed dung (aka cow poop) floors, goodbye not being able to set things on the ground for fear of termite investation, and hello spacious hut equipped with solar powered electricity and even a light switch (gasp!). It truly looks more like a mini-vacation dwelling than a hut (but no worries, we still have the pit latrines and the bucket baths).

In a deeper sense, I've been learning how much the Lord delights in spoiling us when we don't have a plan B, when we trust Him completely, even when it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for Abbie who formerly has experienced severe motion sickness and vomiting whenever she flies to still heed the Lord's call to come on this trip and in doing that, experience a complete healing of any trace of motion sickness. It doesn’t make sense that a place that houses 150 former child soldiers or “wives” of soldiers who have been brutalized in horrendous ways is a now a place of great, almost tangible, peace. It doesn’t make sense that the faces of these children now shine with a pure and radiant joy.

But then again, it doesn’t make sense that the Creator of the universe stepped into humanity, taking on flesh and bone and enduring the Cross on our behalf either. Good thing it doesn’t all have to “make sense”.

Thanks for all your prayers and support! They are definitely being felt in very tangible ways!

ps. sorry for the delay in posting. Internet issues! Will try to post more frequently in the future!

Spoiled without a plan B

Greetings from the Village!! I know some of you are waiting eagerly to hear from us and we've been so busy I haven't had time to blog. I'm working on pictures, but it's slow going. (Who can blame it though..I'm typing from a solar powered computer on a modem internet card in a hut in the middle of the bush in Uganda! Crazy!)

Here’s a quick rundown of what we’ve done so far:

We arrived Friday night, tired, but in good spirits. Stayed overnight in a quaint little “beach front" hotel overlooking Lake Victoria, woke up Saturday and made the 5-6 hour journey to the Village of Hope. We made several along the road stops to pick up various food items such as pineapple, mangos, and of course, live chickens which we just had for lunch today (well, they were no longer live, of course :) )

As we drove into the Village, I immediately welled up with tears as the children lined the road and were singing "Welcome, welcome we love you...". I got to hug all 154 of them when we stopped and it was glorious! Our team got a walking tour of the Village and again I was overcome with emotion at the progress since last September- a solar-powered water pump (no more little fingers pinched while pumping water from the well!), the start of the secondary school building, another house for the children (named Victory!), new cement huts for us instead of the former mud huts and of course, 100 or so more children living on this Land in freedom!

Today we had church or “prayer” as the Acholi call it. Another wonderful time of simplistic worship of the King with singing and dancing and a beautiful message on forgiveness. So simple, yet so powerful!

Our time here so far as well as our travel to get here has been nothing but absolutely stellar and we've been spoiled by the King of Kings in so many ways already. He just seems to want to keep pouring His love and blessings out on us. Imagine that! In the material sense, the blessings have come in the form of our “bedroom” now being a cement hut vs the former mud hut- goodbye pressed dung (aka cow poop) floors, goodbye not being able to set things on the ground for fear of termite investation, and hello spacious hut equipped with solar powered electricity and even a light switch (gasp!). It truly looks more like a mini-vacation dwelling than a hut (but no worries, we still have the pit latrines and the bucket baths).

In a deeper sense, I've been learning how much the Lord delights in spoiling us when we don't have a plan B, when we trust Him completely, even when it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for Abbie who formerly has experienced severe motion sickness and vomiting whenever she flies to still heed the Lord's call to come on this trip and in doing that, experience a complete healing of any trace of motion sickness. It doesn’t make sense that a place that houses 150 former child soldiers or “wives” of soldiers who have been brutalized in horrendous ways is a now a place of great, almost tangible, peace. It doesn’t make sense that the faces of these children now shine with a pure and radiant joy.

But then again, it doesn’t make sense that the Creator of the universe stepped into humanity, taking on flesh and bone and enduring the Cross on our behalf either. Good thing it doesn’t all have to “make sense”.

Thanks for all your prayers and support! They are definitely being felt in very tangible ways!

ps. sorry for the delay in posting. Internet issues! Will try to post more frequently in the future!

Countdown to Africa adventure, take III (June 2011)

This is my unsuccessful attempt at photographing myself amidst the myriad of supplies ya'll have donated (I finally gave up and just took a photo of two of the full bags). Once again I am humbled and in awe of the crazy generosity all of you have shown in supporting the children with material supplies, finances, and prayer. Without all of your support, this third (yes THIRD!!) trip to see the Village of Hope children would be, well, essentially pretty lame to put it bluntly!

So thanks again for supporting the children and our team. There have been several prophetic words given to this all-female-no-Y-chromosomes-allowed team regarding this trip and we are all pretty dang excited to see what the Lord does this time around! We have several things prepared to do with and teach the kids, but as always, we leave the final agenda to the One much smarter than all of our neurons put together!

Stay tuned for updates and hopefully pictures (beware of the sheen aka perspiration effect on our faces, however. It is only several degrees off the equator, after all). There are rumors of a dance/music competition to be held while we are there- for the children, of course, not for this rhythmically-challenged white girl or her comrades :)- so sit back and enjoy another adventure with us as we depart in two days!