Christmas Blessings

I have a dear friend with a very sweet heart.  She and her husband wanted to do something for the children I work with, so she gave the orphans an unforgettable Christmas. 

They donated money for me to buy each of them a new set of clothes, shoes, a notebook, a pencil, and a toy.  So Sylvia split up the money and set out to buy the gifts.  She went to get the clothes (we both knew that they would charge more if I came because I’m white) and I got the pencils, notebooks, and toys.  I got some wrapping paper, wrapped up the toys, and packed them into bags to deliver the next day.  I felt like Santa Clause.

Before I continue, I want you to know that this never happens for these kids.  When I say never I mean NEVER.  The majority of Ugandan children don’t get gifts at Christmas. 

I wanted to make it really special for them, so I also got some balloons, soda, lollipops, and cookies.   

We decided to do “Christmas” a week before Christmas for various reasons, so on the 18^th I came with all the goods.  We went into the teacher’s office, put their clothes/gifts in piles with their name on top, put out the yummies, and blew up some balloons.  While we were setting up Sylvia was so excited.  She said, “This never happens!  I’ve never seen anything like this in my life!”  We told the kids that the teacher’s office was off limits for the afternoon, which obviously sparked their interest.  However, not enough to have any idea what was behind it’s doors.  After lunch Sylvia told each of them to bathe and put on their nicest clothes.  Okay, now they were seriously curious. 

We lined them up and told them to close their eyes.  We opened the door and while they walked in we sang “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.”  Oh the joy, oh the excitement, oh the…confusion.  It took them a few seconds to realize what was happening because, like I said, this has never happened.  As they opened their gifts and put on their new clothes, squeals of excitement entered the room.  Smiles were not scarce:)

After the madness was over, Godfrey said, “We need to thank the Lord.”  So we did.  We sang a worship song and then all prayed thanking Him for the donors and thanking Him for such an incredible blessing this Christmas.  Even with material gifts, they remember to keep Christ at the center. 

The actual Christmas here was very different from what I am used to.  Christmas morning came and there was no tree, no presents, but happy hearts.  We went to church for a Christmas day service and stayed all day spending time with people.  We ate a lot of food…they sure know how to eat.  Chicken and soda are the main food groups during Christmas.  Hey, I’m not complaining!  In the evening we packed into the car and headed home.  After dinner we just hung out (my grandma-self did a puzzle with them) and then went to bed.  For the most part, it was like a regular Sunday.  The day after Christmas in Uganda is Boxing Day, which is the day you give gifts.  However, the people I work with are not the upper class of Uganda, therefore there are little to no gifts given.  But don’t get me wrong, lots of love was passed around. :)

All in all, Christmas here has reminded me that it is really not about gifts at all.  It’s not about getting “Christmas cheer” or in the “Christmas spirit.”  It’s about loving others and loving our great Lord.  This year I noticed that Christmas was a sad day for God.  It was the day He sacrificed His only Son to come to earth and take on the lowly form of a human.  He also knew that one day soon, the Son He sent would die a criminal’s death.  Realizing this, it made me all the more humble and grateful to the Lord for Christmas.  His sacrifice is our joy.  Thank you dear Lord.

Recent Events (for the lack of more poetic language)

My life has been but anything but boring here.  Two weeks ago I went to the annual worship night, which is a night where tens of thousands of people pack a stadium in Kampala (capital city) and worship the Lord from 6pm-6am.  We sang and sang and sang and danced and danced and danced for hours and hours.  And surprisingly enough, it didn’t get old as I expected it would (but I must admit that I was not dancing at 4am…). It was such a privilege to go and literally worship with the nations for an entire night.  I remember at around 2am or so I glanced around me and saw people everywhere praising God with their entire being.  I cannot even explain the rush I felt!

We got back to Mutungo at around 6:30 so I just slept there and stayed all of Saturday since there were rehearsals for the school’s speech day.  Speech day was Sunday and oh. my. gosh. SO fun!  Speech day isn’t as it sounds…it is actually a day where the kids put on skits, songs, and dances for their parents and anyone else who comes.  They were so excited!  They put on their little African costumes and got jiggy with it.  It was a bittersweet day for me, because it was the last day I saw all of them (holiday started the following day for 2 months).  Nevertheless we had so much fun.  I taught the teachers and some of them the cha- cha slide and they decided that they wanted to include it in the performance, so we did!  Something that is different here: when someone performs a song or dance and someone in the audience likes it, they walk (or dance) up to you and give you money.  It is usually just a coin, but the children love it.  More money for sweets! Well when I danced all these people came up to me and gave me money haha.  It was a new experience for them to see a muzungu dancing.  Oh the money I would have reeled in if I had danced Baganda(the booty shaking dance I was talking about)!  Regrets regrets…

 

                                        

 

 The young ones had a fashion show                   

                                                                                       A few students about to do a tribal dance

So I have a lot to blog about…hope you aren’t getting bored!  Next item on the agenda: my trip to Western Uganda.  I kinda tagged along with the pastor, Sylvia, and Godfrey.  The pastor went to visit his mother who lives deep village, and Sylvia went to visit her sons (a long and sad story of why she cannot be with them).  It was about a 6 hour drive, and I learned that Ugandan road trips are much different than American.  First of all, there is one road, no exits, no bathrooms.  When you have to go to the bathroom, you stop on the road and find a bush (better than the hole that we usually have to use).  Next, when you stop for fast food it is really fast.  So we are driving through middle of nowhere Africa when we pull into a small town of shops and such.  I see a bunch of men in blue shirts with numbers on the back rush to our car and throw their hands in our windows with food.  You pick what you want, pay them and then go on your way.  The food is usually grasshoppers in a bag, corn, or chicken on a stick (like a stick from the tree).  Saying the food is sketchy is an understatement but for we were so hungry that shoot we ate it! I am happy to say that it was okay and all is well with our stomachs:)  Lastly, it was absolutely beautiful and simply breathtaking.  There was green EVERYWHERE.  All around us was nature- hills, trees, grass, and animals.  Throughout the ride I saw chimpanzees, zebras, monkeys, and birds I had never seen before.  Might as well have been a safari!  I popped in my Ipod to add a soundtrack to the beauty around me and felt like I was in a dream.  Music seriously takes anything to a new level.

                  A snap of Western Uganda                                        A Chimpanzee(baby underneath)

Our first stop was in Fort Portral to see his late brother’s wife and children (his brother passed away about a month ago).  It was cold!  We are on the equator and I had to wrap up in a blanket, say what?  Ugandans are some of the sweetest people, I love meeting more and more of them.  We slept there and then in the morning we headed to Mabaale to visit his mother.  His mother seriously lives in the village.  All those African pictures you see of people getting water from wells, living in mud huts, carrying babies on their backs and things on their heads- yep that was how it was here.  Such raw African living.  I loved it.  His mother and those who live with her don’t speak much English, but I was one of the first, if not the first white person they had ever seen.  So despite the fact that we couldn’t communicate much, we loved being around each other!  We went to the well to wash the car (which had gotten quite muddy at this point) and people walking would just stop and stare at me.  I of course, in turn, would just smile and wave at them.  They got so excited that muzungu waved at them haha.  The next day they wanted to take us to the village market so we went and once again I was the center of attention.  One guy even shouted out that the market was just upgraded because a white person came. Haha oh the thrills of being white…

                                        

 The next day we went to visit Sylvia’s 2 boys who are 10 and 11.  I would share the story of why she cannot be with them, but she shared with me in confidentiality so I don’t think she would appreciate it if I spread it on the World Wide Web.  It was sad because I don’t think she has seen them in at least a year, and she only got to spend a few hours with them.  After that we headed home and knowing that it was hard for her to leave made my heart so heavy.  When we had been driving for a while she pulled me over to her and said that she was so sad to leave them but was reminded of God’s goodness and found joy in that.  She is literally the strongest woman I know.

Yesterday when I came to church I found that one of the orphans has malaria.  He is so so sick and I found out that he had no medicine because Sylvia couldn’t afford it.  The medicine was 25,000 shillings (ten dollars).  Your donations really do make a difference.  Even the smallest donation of ten dollars can help in some big way such as that.  Because the donations I have received I was able to provide sweet Rodrick with medicine.  Please pray that he would improve.  Also please continue to share with others the need here and donate what God has placed on your heart so that we can build the teachers housing.  Thank you to everyone who has selflessly given so far, God bless!