Just less than 5 weeks, I'll be boarding the long, tiresome airplane ride back to Uganda. The purpose of the trip is to have Debra Morris work with the children and the teachers at New Creation Centre, and to work with the Jjokolero AIDS & Orphans Village. My goal is to be able to present them with enough money, through donations, to purchase several more goats to really kick start their becoming self reliant. The lady is the picture with me is Jovita. Jovita is the woman who was the tailor that I contracted to make the uniforms for the school. She attends the church where my teachers are affiliated. She is a widow, her husband was killed by the rebels in the north, so she is trying to make a living raising her 2 small children. When Jovita and I went to town to purchase the material and thread, I found out she didn't have her own machine. I never dreamed she didn't own a machine. She can't afford her own machine, so she rents a small cubicle space about 4 feet by 4 feet. Really, it's that small! When all the beautiful uniforms were completed, I paid her the price she quoted me and asked how much of the money would she be able to keep. To my surprise she was only going to get 10% of the total cost of the uniforms. A small wage for the amount of work she put in. Jovita also informed me that she knew how to use the knitting machines that would make awesome sweaters for the children. Wanting to be sure that Jovita could take care of her two young boys, we were able to purchase her a used sewing machine from Japan and a knitting machine (apparently you cannot even buy a new machines in Uganda, unless you order it). Now Jovita is able to take in work and retain almost all her wages, except for the rental of electricity - she has no electricty or running water, just a roof over her head with cement floors. She's one of the lucky ones, she has cement floors!

Here is a picture of Jovita's home before Eddie (from our team in Jan.) and friends in Uganda came in a painted her dreary home to bright yellow. The bright color lifted everyone's spirit and lighten up the small 10x15 home, espeically since there are no windows. Jovita had been waiting to cheer up the place with paint, but of course didn't have any money for it. Eddie came up with the great idea of painting the home and what a blessing to see her face when it was finished.

CHILDREN OF NEW CREATION CENTRE
Here are a few of the students at New Creation Centre. The students are on break right now and will be returning to school next week. More pictures will arrive to be posted on this blog. As you can see their uniforms are uniforms are purple - meaning ROYALTY - These children are sons and daughters of the KING. Returning to Uganda next month, (June 20, 2006) we will have sweaters made in green with purple trim. The color green signifies new life. Believe it or not, it does get chilly in Uganda and they do where sweaters at time, especially during the rainy season, which is a lot of the time. Each child already received one free uniform, new underwear, socks and school backpack. The families had to provide the children with their closed toe shoes. Uniforms are big in Uganda. The children wear them proudly, showing they are enrolled in a school. Unlike many of the children who cannot afford the school fees. I'm excited that I will be taking Debra Morris, a 4th grade teacher from CrossRoad with me to Uganda next month. Debra has a sweet spirit and wants to teach at New Creation Centre and the teachers at the school are excited that an American is coming to show them new and exciting ways to teach!! Thank you Debra Morris for listening to God's call.

NEW CREATION CENTRE
God has opened up doors giving me the opportunity to provide free education for 27 refugee children from the warring country of Sudan. This children have fled with their families to the capital of Uganda - where they are treated as outcasts. Parents who cannot find employment because they are refugees, so money is extremely tight! Education is at the bottom of the list of needs for these refugees. I am blessed to have three beautiful Christian women to teach this children - who love and care for them and let them know that they are valued. The teachers teach the children the core subjects taught in Uganda as well as elective classes consisting of: Bible, Music, Crafts and PE. The teachers at New Creation Centre are: Zion (Head Teacher), Elizabeth (Administrator) and Teddy (Teacher's Assistant). I feel blessed to have these three young woman on staff - I know God personally handpicked each one.

GOT GOAT?
Can some goats and pigs make a difference in the lives of children who are orphaned in Uganda? You bet they can! I know of such a village, 17 miles outside the capital city of Uganda. Jjokolero is an AIDS & Orphans Village where most of the children are either being raised by older siblings or an elderly grandparent. Food is scarce and education is not available to all the childen because of expensive school fees. The children are the ones who suffer when their beloved mother and father die because they were infected with the deadly AIDS disease. Many of the children themselves have contacted the disease. The day I visited the village, I watched with tears in my eyes, as a nine year old girl's lifeless body wrapped in cloth was being carried from the trunk of the car - she had died the night before of AIDS. The picture of the dugged out grave is for her. She wasn't the first in her family and probably won't be the last in her family to die of AIDS. Uganda leading the way with great success with experimental drugs for AIDS is available if you can afford it. But not for children who don't have enough money for food each day. By purchasing exotic goats and pigs, this village of over 150 people would be able to be self sufficient. The villagers could sell the goat milk and the offspring of the animals. By starting a co-op business, the village could be self sufficient. There is an old saying: "you can give a man a fish, he eats for a day - but if you teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime". Giving out handouts, doesn't help anyone, evidentially the money runs dry and besides the people would rather work for their own livelihood. By purchasing animals for a village, they would be able to have the gratification that with a little help, they are taking care of themselves and their fellow villagers. What have you done in your life to make a difference in someone else's life. Are you willing to possibly give up your coffee latte each day for a month to purchase a goat, so a toddler can know what it's like not to go to bed hungry each night? Or are you willing to give up movies for a few months, so that a young child can attend school to better themselves? Or maybe you don't even have to give up anything - maybe you have money you are stockpiling away for that rainy day! Do you ever wonder that if you were to die today, what you would be remembered for? Your love of coffee, your knowledge of the most recent movies or your bank account. Did you make a difference in the life of someone outside your family. At my church, our motto is: "Loving People Into God's Kingdom". Loving is Great - don't get me wrong, but loving without actions, isn't real love. My pastor always says: "You are blessed to be a blessing". Have you blessed someone lately?

If you would have told me two years ago that I would be traveling 4 times to Uganda, Africa and twice to Haiti within an 18 month period - I would have told you - "you're nuts"! No way would I travel to a foreign country where I would be cooped up on a plane for over 30 hours with short breaks inbetween flights. A country where the local food delicacy is white flying ants (you eat while they are still alive and buzzing). But God got ahold of my life and I'll never be the same. Both my husband Ken and I have a new passion for life - and it involves giving to those who have less than us. When I say less - I mean really less, not just one car per family or not enough money to eat out at restaurants all the time or maybe their homes only have 1 bathroom for a family of 5 or 6. I'm talking about the people who have no cars, barely enough to eat each day and a home that consists of a small mud hut, dirt floor, with cracks as big as basketballs on the side walls where wind blows the rain into the hut, soaking everything inside. A home where up to 10 people will sleep side by side on the floor with no room left to walk around, sharing a single blanket A family where if you ask them what their dream is - and their only answer each time would be"to have my children educated". Education is vital and when you don't have the basics of reading, writing and math you will never go anywhere. Your life will constantly be dependent on others to help you.