I am home. :)
(This is a more detailed look at my first few days here, which I sent out in an email).
Today's the day we are supposed to head to the slums for about 4 hours. So far I've met 3 sets of kids, beautiful kids! The first set was at our home, Sanyu Babies home, it was so fun watching Chelsea get mobbed by babies, one on her back, one pulling on her hair, 2 in her lap... it was great. Dinner time was very entertaining, you'll see a few mellow babies, who would be clean if you were just feeding them, but they get just as messy because of their neighbor food slingers. I walked away with quite a bit of mash all over my pants as well.
The second set was the street kids that attend Calvary Chapel-Kampala (yes, Charlie- I'm going to a Calvary Chapel almost every weekend this month!) Several kids fall asleep all throughout the service but it's the one place they really feel safe enough to do that, so it's good. At first I was pretty sick from my malaria meds but it passed after about 45 minutes and I was better able to participate in songs and hanging out with the kids afterwards. We played card games and hangman and they had fun with our sunglasses and cameras. After that they had a meal provided for them, as well as clean shirts and a bar of soap. I fell in love with this little boy named Edwin, who I was helping sound out words; he was working on Genesis in English so you had to give him a lot of credit trying to sound out those Bible names.
The 3rd set was Saturday afternoon we took a taxi out to Ssenge (small village where African Hearts has their boys home) and once we were as far as the taxi would take us we got on boda-boda's (motorbikes) and that was a fun experience! The sky was getting very heavy, but I felt cooled off for the first time that day, and as we arrived near the home, we were hit with the first fat drops of rain, and no sooner were we under the porch roof the sky just unleashed the most amazing rainstorm. It was so beautiful!!!!!!!!!! We were met warmly by all the staff and children grabbing our hands and pulling us inside. It was a fun afternoon with no power but just enough natural light to play uno and memory and toy cars. I love these boys! Marina, one of the staff members, took me to her room and showed me pictures of before and after the boys were rescued, such a difference- light in their eyes and food in their tummies! She also told me of some of the heartbreaking stories of the boys who ran away because their addiction was so strong.
We've met some amazing people from different teams and our guesthouse roomies. So many people here to adopt, one amazing girl from New Zealand- she's a lawyer working at the refugee camp, Jess, our AH leader... these people give so much, they are so energizing to be around.
Thanks for all your continued prayers and support. LOVE TO ALL.
