Just another day in Africa...

Seriously, when will I learn to not skip a day of blogging??

So last Saturday when we were in Soroti, three of us were in the car while the other three went into a store. Joseph (the native Ugandan who takes care of us) pointed at someone on the street and said, "Hey, another Mzungu!" I looked up and realized it was Amelia - a woman from the States who teaches English in a village 20 minutes north of our village who we had been tyring to connect with since we arrived. I jumped out of the van as quickly as I could and we got to chat with her for a little bit and exchange numbers.

So on Monday, she came to visit us in our village and stay the night with us. Amelia is an amazing source of wisdom and information on Uganda and its culture, not to mention a powerful woman of God. She sat in on our meeting with the pastors and leaders of the village and helped up communicate with them soo much more clearly than we would have by ourselves and also helped us to understand which ideas would work and which would not. Luckily, we were able to provide her with something too - we got to spend time praying and singing and fellowshipping together - something she has missed doing with other Americans for over a month now! She'll be back again tomorrow to spend the weekend with us and we're all so excited to get to see her again :)

So yesterday, we finally got to dive in to the a lot of our work. Heather and I went down to the care point to see all of our orphans getting fed and also to start providing first aid to the kids. Like our last trip, we were swamped with precious children who had all kinds of dirty, infected, uncared for wounds. One of my goals for the trip was to train the disciplers (the adults who look after the children as they're being fed) on providing first aid. Yesterday, they were busy at the beginning but came over to watch what we were doing later on in the hour. I had been a little concerned that they didn't seem very interested in learning and was also trying to figure out how I would get them to sit and listen to what we had to say! But when we were finished for the day, Joseph, one of the disciplers asked us, "So are you still going to teach us to do this soon?"

I was pretty excited that they were asking to learn - definitely an answer to prayers. So today, Heather and I did some demonstration for them and then they both got to work on their own and did a really good job! I'm so excited to see them learn more, care for the kids in this new way, and to take this over as their own thing :) Eyalama Yesu!

Brian and I (mostly Brian) also started working on starting up a soccer league to build community between the kids here. It turns out they've actually had a league before but it kind of feel apart because of a lack of organization and funding and resources. So there were eight teams in place, all with coaches and Pastor Sam was willing to be the point person in charge of all of it. Once again, it was definitely God going before us and making a path, preparing leaders before we got here - something we prayed over and over before we left. So eyalama Yesu - again!

It's a pretty interesting experience to be a female Mzungu over here. Women here are not honored and respected in the way that they should be, but Mzungus are honored and idolized in a way that they should not be. It seems like the men and older boys don't really know how to treat me.

As I would sit with the group of elders or teach the soccer coaches first aid, they were attentive and respectful and seemed very appreciative of the work I want to do. But as I was providing first aid for some of the soccer boys yesterday after a game, I had a crowd of about twenty boys and men surrounding me and watching me (talk about pressureee). I could tell they were talking about me several times and I don't think they were complimenting my excellent nursing skills - I would hear a sentence with "Mzungu" in it and then all of them would start laughing. It was a pretty awkward and intimidating situation and I really had no idea how to react to what was going on - from one extreme to the other.

I definitely haven't processed what all of that means yet or how I should behave and interact with the men here. But I know the men and boys of this village need prayer - that they would be men rooted in the Word of God, leaders who honor women, care for their wives and children, work hard, and protect the most vulnerable around them. So would you join me in praying for them?

Thanks guys, miss you and love you all!

Sorry, no pictures today but I'll try to get some good ones for tomorrow :)

Keep praying,
Caitlin