Village Blog

We piled back into the van, and headed down the hill a little further.  We found the grandfather of Costa, who is sponsored by the Hett family.  Amy Hett came on our first Uganda trip in 2010, and God caused an immediate connection between her and Costa.  The grandfather led us through the paths to their house, where we found her waiting to see what Amy had sent this time.  She loved looking through the new pictures of her American family.  The little plastic photo album was a great idea!  It will be cherished by Costa for years!

The child we met that day was Silver.  We didn't need to check our list to know he was sponsored by Bob & Kathy Camey, because he came down the hill wearing a Chicago Blackhawks t-shirt which they had sent him before.  (Trying to get a little boy to love hockey who has never seen an ice rink??)  To find him, we had to go quite a distance (first by van, then by foot) to the next village, Zaire.  We ended up at the pitch (soccer field) where the Juna Amagara schools have their games, as we met Silver and his older sister and brother, who are his caregivers.  With two new t-shirts, we joked that he would be the best dressed boy in the village!  His brother really wanted to express his appreciation for the Camey's as he has seen a significant improvement in Silver's education and performance in school since attending Juna Amagara's school, as a result of their sponsorship.  They are really proud of him, and we were too!

We ended the day enjoying fellowship with some JAM staff members who stayed in the guest house with us.  Lynate, one of JAM's first sponsored children, and a current ABIDE student, excitedly volunteered to be our cook in Kishanje when she heard Max's mom was coming for a visit.  She did an excellent job preparing delicious meals for Lisa and I (and the other people in the house).  Remember, when I say cooking, I mean with no electricity or gas, but rather firewood or charcoal.  Not to mention, the "running" water she used, was water that was fetched by some high school boys who filled heavy jugs, carried them quite a distance up the hill, and dumped them in a large tank outside, near the roof. Needless to say, it isn't exactly an easy job!  Thanks Lynate, you were a blessing!