In September 2009, my church, The River, adopted the village of Kapelebyong, Uganda for the next five years. I was blessed to be one of 19 people that went on the first trip to visit our village and was impacted in a more powerful way than I could have ever imagined. After being in the country for about a week, I wrote in my journal, “I had never planned on coming back here after this trip, but now I have such a strong desire to, I’m not sure I could stay away!” God certainly used that trip to minister to me and I’m blessed and excited to return there in July. Six of us from that trip are returning for a month of service this summer, from July 20 to August 20.
Since my church has chosen to adopt this village, we have created a five year plan that will guide our work and time. Our overall goal is to lead and support the people of Kapelebyong to become self-sustaining; so that they will reach out and support other villages. There are many different ways we will work at this goal, mainly through equipping specific leaders in different areas and building community within the village. Two men from our church spent the month of May working on a 6-acre community garden; the villagers took pride and ownership in the garden, working diligently on this garden and their own gardens. We hope to see this same kind of success and excitement in other future projects including teaching income-generating activities, starting a soccer league for the kids, and creating small groups where villagers can pray for each other and bear each other’s burdens.
On my January trip, we would frequently have people come to us and ask us to pray for them or their children. One woman brought us a tiny little 10 pound baby (pictured above) – she had been caring for her sweet niece since her sister had died. “Little Peanut” (our nickname for her) would rarely eat food and when she did, it would make her sick. As I held this precious life in my arms, I could not stop crying. She looked so lifeless and sick, all I could do was hold her and pray that the Lord would heal her. We found out later that this baby was actually a toddler – 2 ½ years old and weighing only TEN pounds.
Later in the week, our group took a donation from the extra spending money we brought with us. We collected almost $700 between us to provide medical care for some of the orphans in the village. When our Little Peanut was taken to the health clinic, they found that she had a vitamin deficiency that was preventing her from absorbing food properly. We paid for her visit and TEN DOLLARS worth of vitamins – that was all it took to correct her problem and help her to start gaining weight. Uganda is a place of great need but also of great opportunity – it takes so little to significantly change their lives.
The six of us returning in July have each chosen a specific area to serve. I graduated in May with my nursing degree, and am happy to use my education for these people I have come to love. While I am there, much of my role will be health-care oriented. I’ll be evaluating the biggest medical needs of the community – the preventable diseases they have, the need for shoes to protect from injury, antibiotics, accessing the nearest health clinic, etc – and then finding ways to work at those needs. One of the things I am most excited about doing is setting up a system for assessing the health of our church’s sponsored orphans as they receive their food each day. Our goal will be to get treatment for those children who are in need and to document each child’s medical history in order to ensure that their health is improving.
As I prepare to leave next month, there are a few ways I’m asking for your involvement.
1. My biggest request is that you would pray for me. Please pray that my heart, body, and mind would be prepared for the work God has for me.
2. Please consider supporting one day of my trip there for $120.00. My total cost will be $3,500.00, going toward my plane ticket, lodging, food, and medical supplies for the community. If you cannot give this amount, know that any size donation will make a difference.
3. You are invited to come to our commissioning on July 18th at 10am at the River: 302 Academy Street on Bronson Park in Kalamazoo.
4. You can write me notes or emails of encouragement to take along with me. I will also be able to check my email a few times while I am gone, and will be updating this blog periodically.
Thank you for all of your prayers and support. Please feel free to contact with me with any questions you might have, I would love to tell you more!
Caitlin
