Sunday, August 27, 2017

Good Things Lie Ahead

God wants us to live the best life possible and if we are ready to follow, He will show us the way.
Every day, because of His guidance, the children are learning to love and care for each other as a normal family.  The word "orphanage" doesn't exist on our compound.

Many of you have emailed me regarding Edwin's recent surgery.  We want you to know that everything went well and he is presently home recovering.  He also wants me to express how grateful he is for all your prayers and cards.

Recently, we lost all our chickens due to a problem with the food and we now have two empty houses sitting on the property.  Also, because of a contamination in the soil since the heavy rains, we are now unable to grow many vegetables so we have decided to utilize the land by building a nursery school. We have 13 small children, ages 3 to 5 years that have suffered severe trauma in their little lives and struggle to learn in a classroom comprised of 60-80 children.  We are currently in the process of working out the details and will keep you updated.

Before I share the pictures below, we want to thank everyone for a team effort to improve our Home of Angels and also to help our community with food and water.  It's amazing how God puts all of you in place to do His work.  Thank you so much for your giving hearts.



The younger children wanted to make Uncle Edwin feel better, so with the help of Aunty Joy, they roasted up some ground nuts and presented them before going to Sunday school.





This is James who has worked tirelessly at HOA for 9 years.  He husked the last good crop of maize we had before the weevils invaded our garden.  This produced 14 large bags that Edwin will take to a milling machine to produce posho for making porridge for the children.




The only garden thriving is the one planted by Junior, Sam and Ivan in our main compound.  There are many watermelons and tomatoes for them to harvest in the near future.






Thanks to the Ptarmigan Food Relief Program, we were able to produce 2000 5kg and 10kg bags of posho for 2 villages facing starvation.  Recently these villages were hit by a storm wiping out everything they owned.



I have to tell you that this is worst starvation I've witnessed yet.  This young girl ground up a small amount of rice, added water and found some salt for taste.  This is her only meal a day.






On a happier note, we decided to let the kids swim Ugandan style.  




This kind of laughter is good for the soul



Thank you Jaaja Lottie for another birthday party.  Paul, Eddie and Ivan were the ones to blow out candles this time but not the only ones to have water poured over their heads.  Our guard James had a birthday the day before.  In the video below, you will see the excitement of the children when they shocked them with a bucket of water.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1aq87jccq7u9hup/James%20birthday%20water%20celebration.m4v?dl=0