Day 3 -

Another beautiful sunrise!

An Early Childhood Development Program (E.C.D.P.) in the little town of Lusaze.  Lusaze means, 'death has struck another.'  When Idi Amin massacred thousands of people, he would bury them in mass graveyards.  One of those graveyards is in Lusaze.  It is a bad town with a lot of witchcraft.

The Lusaze Community Church is a great light that is changing the community.  This is their auditorium/schoolrooms. 

Painting the E.C.D.P.  It was really fun!  We painted pictures of flowers and animals and a rainbow. 

Picasso, Monet, and Michelangelo. 

Day 2 - April 24, 2011

God displaying His daily glory.

Doesn't this just yell Africa?  We got up at 5:30 (because of the Muslim call to prayer...) and so we watched the sunrise. 

Lake Victoria-- the headwaters of the Nile River. 

The dock at Lake Victoria.  In the background is A.R.M headquarters and Ggaba Community Church.  We are carrying supplies for a party at Bethany Village.  The shortest way to get there was across the lake, so we took a boat.  

Inside the boat.

The shore from the boat.  Good Tarzan habitat. 

All of the kids at Bethany Village.  Bethany Village is one big orphanage with eleven different houses.  There were about fifteen kids in each home with one 'house mom.'  Our job was to organize and give an Easter party for all 180 kids-- with only eight people on our team!  It was chaos, but extremely fun.

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Bethany Village from the dock.  The entire place was thick jungle until they fixed it up. 

They have a 74-acre farm where they have pigs, chickens and grow bananas, ground nuts, and other useful crops. 

 It is a wonderful thing that they can grow and support themselves besides sponsor  help.  The entire A.R.M. goal is to raise leaders and to create 'self-sustainability' and eliminate dependence on donors.  Uganda, according the pastor of Ggaba Community Church, is in trouble because of a lack of good leaders.  A.R.M.'s goal is to raise a generation who can lead the country.  A.R.M.'s goal is not to get more aid from the U.S.  In fact, too much aid will destroy their efforts.  Raising leaders is the only way to get Uganda to stand on its own.  A.R.M. is starting at childhood.  They have three E.C.D.P.'s, Bethany Village, and are developing a leadership curriculum as well as other things to help attain that goal. 

On the dock in front of Bethany Village. 

Day 1 - April 23, 2011

 Mzungus!  (Mzungu means literally, "white person.") When we finally arrived, the kids were SO excited to see us.  These are kids who were hanging out around the Ggaba Community Church which is right next to the Africa Renewal Ministries (A.R.M.) headquarters.  We were playing with them. 

The kids' school.  The building to the right is the A.R.M. headquarters.

Playing with the kids.  Behind us is our luxurious van complete with cockroaches! 

Me and my newfound friends. 

We walked up the road from Ggaba Church to a medical clinic.  This is a typical street vendor and street scene.  "Bye mzungu!!"

After visiting the clinic, we went to a baby house called Loving Hearts Baby Home.  None of us girls wanted to leave.  Isn't he so cute?  All of the babies were abandoned and left to die on the streets.  Some of them were found in the town dump.  People started realizing that the baby house would take the neglected babies and brought them to the home.  All of them are up for adoption.  (Mom... hint, hint.)

Wow!  Hair!

McKenna Fitzpatrick loved this one. 

Johnny Karls, our director, with a little boy.  The little boy thought Mr. Karls was hilarious.