the first days

Well, after counting down the days I am finally in Uganda, Africa! This post will be quite lengthy and somewhat scattered being that we have done so much in the past 4 days and I know several of you are anxious to hear. So this post is going to be about what all I have done since I arrived. I will later post about more experiences and other things. We got in Friday night around 7:00 p.m. Our flights couldn’t have gone any better. We flew from Atlanta to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Entebbe. Our second flight was full of missionaries and to be honest, I was thrilled to know that the favor of the Lord was on that plane! Once we got in, the boys picked us up from the airport and we went by the Sozo house (where Jay and Allen are living at the moment) to say hey to the kids before we went to our apartment and went to sleep. We have gone to the Sozo house everyday since we have been here and we have all loved every minute of it.

Saturday we spent all day at the orphanage. I got to experience three meals, play, and chores with 17 children that love their new home. Each child has a chore and there is no arguing or defiance when it needs to be done. Even the youngest washed clothes and dishes! Every single plate was clean after each meal and anything that was dropped on the floor was picked up by the child who dropped it. It was amazing to watch the order and responsibility that each child had.

Sunday morning Jay, Allen, Catherine, Tori, Mason, and I took all 17 children to church by ourselves. This was quite an adventure to say the least. It began when we attempted to dress all the children in church clothes. There will hopefully be some pictures up on my facebook page or Sozo’s website to show you how precious they all were. The best part was the fact that all the girls except two had on dresses with big black boots to match! So one thing we are going to look for while we are here is Sunday shoes for everyone. It was such a riot watching them prance around. They loved all the clothes we brought from the states and if you donated them, thank you thank you thank you! Once everyone was dressed, we loaded up in a taxi that fit all 23 of us and headed to a church service that last 3.5 hours…and it was outside! Needless to say, after about 30 minutes of sitting in the hot sun, I could see that some of the kids were miserable. Although they never complained or cried, I took three of the girls to stand in the back under some trees for the rest of the time. Slowly, everyone else joined us. I think I went to the “susu” (bathroom) with a different little girl 9 times throughout the course of the service. We happened to pick a Sunday where this church was celebrating their 5 year anniversary so many people spoke and were presented with some kind of award (one of them being a live goat). It was quite the day and we plan on doing this every Sunday! Say some prayers for us :)

Monday we watched Harry Potter (all thanks to Jay who introduced them to it). I had a different little girl sleeping on me at all times it seemed like. One of them, Fatuma, susued (went to the bathroom) on me! My pants were soaking wet, but it didn’t bother me. I put some of Jay’s shorts on for the rest of the day. What’s funny is that I had dreamed this happened to me the night before but when I asked Jay and Allen, they said they had never been peed on. So I assumed it wouldn’t happen to me either. When the Ugandans heard what had happened, they all said it was a sign of blessing. So hey, I’ll take it! Lately, we have been trying to get the kids ready for school, which is a big ordeal when dealing with 17 children. So Monday we came up with birthdays to give each child since there was no way of finding out their actual birthday. Vivian got the same birthday as me! So we will be celebrating together soon! Several of the kids began to run fevers as we went throughout the day, and it ended up being malaria. So now, almost all of the children are on medicine to try and get rid of it. Mercy (the youngest, 2.5 years old) has a horrible cough and was coughing on everyone. She is such a little sass and we like to say that she is a 30 year old woman trapped in a 2 year old's body. It's quite a sight and I can't wait to talk more about the kids as time goes on.

I keep thinking that I am going to get used to the driving here. That hasn't happened yet. Today I think I saw my life flash before my eyes five times. It' s gotten to the point where I just close my eyes and thank God for the protection He gives over our car that is traveling 80 mph, weaving in and out of traffic while trying to avoid thousands of people that cross, walk, and ride motorcycles on the side of a major highway. I was trying to think of a way to explain this and the best one I can come up with is to picture highway 280 with adults and little children walking up and down (most of the time in the middle of it too), no one paying attention to the double line since everyone is passing, honking nonstop to get people to move out of the way (without slowing down, mind you), flashing lights, and motorcycles that think they rule the road. It’s complete chaos and a miracle that there really aren’t THAT many wrecks. I feel like I am in some sort of video game where I know I can drive reckless without being killed because it’s a game…well this is Africa. And this is real. All I know is that God is protecting us and for some reason, I trust the Ugandan driving us (most of the time it’s a man name Kenneth). I know I probably just scared my family to death, but don’t worry, all is well! I have even ridden one of those crazy motorcycles which are called “boda-bodas” here. Oh, AND they drive on the opposite side of the road as us!

Overall, I couldn’t be any happier. I love serving the Lord this way. If you could, please check out Sozo’s website since this is where the majority of my time here will be spent. It is www.sozochildren.org. God is doing great things in this country and He has used Sozo to change the lives of 17 children. They are now normal kids that run around, play, laugh, and eat three meals every single day. To experience a different culture with people in need and that I can help is something that I will cherish forever. This is my heart. There is so much more to share but I will do so later. Thank you for all of the prayers and support and I am going to try and keep this updated as best as I can!

God bless,

Carrie