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Special Missions Edition:  April 22, 2005

Part 2

 

April 16, 2005 (Saturday) 
 

Today was the orphan get together.  They meet once a month or so on a Saturday.  Each has to wear a red shirt to get into the meeting because everyone wants to be an orphan and kids who aren't orphans try to slip in too.

It was such a treat to meet new orphans and reconnect with those we had met on previous trips. Some of us had lists of orphans to meet and greet for our friends at home who are sponsors.  We had a wild time of getting together with them... taking their pictures and telling them about their sponsors.

We were able to take part in the distribution of goats, mattresses, mosquito nets etc.  Angela was able to sponsor three new orphans.  Linda met her nineteen orphans and sponsored a few more.  Mae found a sweet little girl to sponsor.  Louaine fell in love with a few more.  Donnie met and made friends with several new orphans.  I think Hope4kids has close to 500 orphans at this time.  We all had such a special time with them and felt the day was a great success.  After the meeting and distribution of gifts we passed out bars of soap to everybody and fed them and their guardians.  In the afternoon we watched the original Passion movie and enjoyed being together.

April 16, 2005 (Saturday) cont.

Today was Linda's birthday.  Pastor Wilbur's wife and some of the other women planned a surprise party for her at Pastor Wilbur's house.  They put up decorations and brought in a cake and other goodies and had a real celebration.  As you can see the kids wanted in on the party too and were all watching through the window.

April 17, 2005 (Sunday)

 

Today Louaine and Robert were invited to a rural church run by Pastor Peter.  

They were so impressed with the worship, especially the young children involved in the worship as the girl in the photo.  After the service they were invited to Pastor Peter's home.  Louaine is shown here with his family.  

After church we all went to the farm again for lunch.  The kids in the area all waited patiently outside the gazebo for us to finish lunch so they could see what we were going to do next.  We organized stations within the gazebo.  

We had the kids line up and let them inside five at a time.  Once inside they received beanie babies, clothing, toys & sweets.  It was so orderly and went so well we decided this would be the way to distribute gifts from now on.

Sometimes it can get a bit chaotic if the children fear there is not enough for everyone.  Once they realized the children in the back of the line would receive the same gifts as the children in the front they were very patient.

April 18, 2005 (Monday)
 

Today has been a busy day!  We all tried to wrap up projects and to spend as much time with the children as we could.

Robert worked with his apprentices and started them on assembling and installing the ceiling fans.

I sent a photo of a man digging a pit by hand.  This will be 30 feet deep by the time he finishes!  It is a waste pit for the clinic.  The ground is extremely hard so he pounds a metal rod into the ground then bends it to break up the soil.  It is a tedious and hot job!

We checked on Godfrey's house & Pastor Protus's house.  We were hoping they would be completed before we left.  They were mudding Godfrey's house and would begin mudding Protus's tomorrow.  Hopefully someone from July's team will take pictures of the finished homes.
 

When it came time to say goodbye to the children it was heartbreaking.  

We wondered who would see to it that these kids get to the clinic when they are sick.  Who would watch over their progress in school?  Who will comfort them when they lose their mommies to AIDS?  Who will protect them?  

The children were as heartbroken as we were.  One of the boys told me, "Last time when you left I couldn't sleep the whole night".  Then he burst into tears.  We were crying.  The children were crying.  It was very difficult to leave.  They will always remain in our hearts and prayers. 

 

April 19, 2005 (Tuesday)
 

We are in Nairobi.  We leave for Amsterdam in about 4 hours and hopefully will sleep all the way.  Tomorrow morning we will hang around the airport in Amsterdam and then head to the US.  Those of us arriving in Phoenix will be there about 1:30 pm on Wednesday.

Although we are all anxious to return to our homes and families it was through many tears that we said goodbye to our friends in Uganda.  I will be doing a wrap up of the trip when I return to Phoenix.  So keep watching the website for more exciting pictures.

We are all well and are looking forward to seeing all of you soon.

Thank you for your prayers and partnership.  

--  Rachel

Uganda 2005 - Final Web Update
 

This will wrap up our April Uganda trip.  

We left the hotel early in the morning, taking a five hour bus ride to Entebbe.  We stopped at the mouth of the Nile along the route and had our traditional meal of chicken on a stick.  

After 44-48 hours we have all arrived home safely.  

Thank you for your prayers and support for the team.  We had such a fabulous team!  It was an honor to work alongside each member.

  
We're Home! (April 21, 2005 - Thursday)
An email from Rachel Cinader
 

Hi from Arizona.  

We arrived home yesterday afternoon after 44 hours of travel!  We're a bit tired but okay.  What a time we had in Uganda!  I hope you all have kept up with the website.  I just sent the last photos and text this morning so David should get it on in the next day or so.  

Here are some extra photos that I didn't send to the website.  

I did meet all the orphans on my list and have pictures for those of you who sent gifts of money showing you how I spent it.  

On Sunday we were told we could invite guests to the hotel for dinner that night.  Robert and I had had two of our girls for dinner earlier in the week so wanted to invite the rest Sunday night.  It was difficult to choose which kids to invite.  We wanted them all there but Tom said the hotel could not hold all the kids Robert & I claim as our own.  So we kept our list to six kids.   The pastor told us to discretely ask our guest and tell them to show up at his house by 6:30 and he would transport them by bus to the hotel. The team had invited 25 guests in all.  Well, in small communities word always gets out somehow.  The pastor walked out of his house to find a mass of people claiming to have been invited to the hotel for dinner!  He boarded those whom he knew for sure had been invited and then filled the bus with a few more.  Not everyone got to go but he did show up with 40 kids and some adults!  We were so glad that our six kids made it.  We sat them all at our table and put rings on their fingers.  Someone passed out wedding bubbles.  When our little group got in line for the buffet someone pointed to a little girl who joined us and asked, "Rachel, is she one of yours?"  I said, "I don't think so."  One of the kids spoke up and said,

"She's Akello Alice".  OH.  Yes she is one of ours!  Now we had seven guests!  None had been out to dinner before so we had to show them what to do.  I gave them a choice of using silverware or their hands to eat.  They all chose to eat with their hands.  It was such a treat for everyone to be there.  I'm sure they will always remember that night.  

After dinner the kids burst into laughter.  When I asked what was so funny one pointed to three-year-old Michael and said, "He has to go pooh pooh."  So we all headed to our hotel room.  We showed the kids how to use the toilet.  They were fascinated with it.  They all used it.  Then I showed them the sink and how to wash their hands.  When they finished wiping their hands on Robert's white towel it was pretty black.  

They had never seen themselves in a mirror and kept looking at themselves and smiling.  We had gift bags made up for each of them so I had to scramble to make one up for Akello.  She was so shy and cute and was so happy to become part of our group.  As we were walking down the hallway with our seven children I asked Robert, "Don't you think it would be fun to take all these kids to our house in Iowa?  Wouldn't we be a sight walking downtown to the Grand?"  He agreed it would be pretty incredible.  Each time gets harder to leave them there.  

Thanks for all your prayers and for supporting our kids.  

Love you, Rachel