"Our" kids are all grown up!

Today was a day that made me happy. There was no pressure to do any project or buy anything specific. It was just a day to hang out with children that I truly love. I call them "ours" because between my family and myself, we hold a special place for them in our hearts even though they have a mother that cares for them, other sponsors around the world, and a large church and village that take care of them on a daily basis. The first time I "met" these kids, they were living in a small home with a total of around 18 children called Need for All Children's Home. My brother, Ross, was doing his elective clinical rotation in Uganda and he wrote about meeting them in a blog and shared pictures and stories about them. Back then, the oldest was maybe 6 years old and the youngest was around a year old. That was April 2007.

Now, almost exactly 7 years later, the same kids are in such a different place. I am sure if you were bored and wanted to read more specifics, you could find that the majority of my other posts in previous years are about them. The short story is, the orphanage had some problems with finances and the person left in charge was not doing the right things, so in 2009, Watoto Church took in the remaining 8 kids and they have been happily living there ever since. A couple of years ago, four of the kids needed more sponsors so my parents, brother, and I added ourselves to their donor list. Now, every time we come back, we get to see the kids at least a couple of times and remind them that we love them and we still think about them and pray for them often. Last winter, my parents and I even got to visit a couple of them in Canada when they were on tour with the Watoto choir. While we may only see them once per year if we are lucky and exchange a few snail mail letters and a phone call on holidays, we still feel that they are an important part of our lives.

The house mother, Bridget, is the same age as me - she will be 30 in a couple of months. She takes care of 8 children. That means she cooks, cleans, works on homework, does laundry, administers medicines when kids are sick, travels when kids have appointments, and any other tasks that comes with managing a house. She has a group of 9 other mothers and they really raise the kids in a village setting, helping each other out as much as they can but they each manage a house as well. Overall, she is basically a single mother of 8. I am impressed. She does it with joy and excitement and she truly does love all of them as if they were all her own. Oh yeah,  I forgot to mention that she cooks in a fireplace with coal, laundry is done by hand, ironing is on a sheet on the floor, the power is off for large portions of the daylight hours, and she doesn't have a car to do any of her tasks. That makes me REALLY impressed. I can't imagine taking care of just one child by myself at this point in my life, let alone 8.

Pamela and I took some coloring sheets and colored pencils, my iPad with pictures and videos to look at, a soccer ball, balloons, bubbles, and some stickers. This kids were really quiet when we arrived because they had just finished breakfast, but they eventually got more energetic as we played games and laughed with them. We spent the entire day from 10 until 4 just having fun, taking out new toys and things as we thought of them. Although it's not the same hanging out with a bunch of little kids playing games and trying not to get pooped or peed on like when we first met, it is a different kind of fun. There is something really special about seeing them grown up and maturing. They are able to talk a lot more in English. They tell stories and ask if I remember things about the house where I first met them. They tell me what they want to do when they get older. They take responsibility for chores around the house and the older ones correct the younger ones when they don't listen.

When we were leaving, Bridget said how much the kids love us and look forward to every time that we come. She said they really understand that we care about them because over time we have invested so much in them. Even though Ross hasn't been back in Uganda for a few years, he always sends a video message. The kids still ask about him more than they usually care about talking to me some days. It's kind of crazy that we feel such a strong connection to them. While they are pretty well off financially because Watoto supports children so well, they still appreciate the fact that we love them more than they really care that we pay a monthly donation to help support them. That's what matters. I think that's what matters to most of us. I can only speak for myself, but I would much rather know that people care about me than have them pay for things for me.

One thing I loved about the day was when Kenneth was looking through my music and chose a song called, He Knows My Name and said he really likes it. I told him it is my favorite song and it reminds me of Uganda. He asked why and I explained that the first time I met him in Uganda I went to church shortly after and that was the first song playing at the service. The message always reminds me of how much God really knows and cares about us no matter who we are and where we came from. We have the same God whether we live in Uganda or America and we can trust that he cares about everything in our lives.

I am closing with a few before and after pictures. The first is Ross with Kenneth in 2007 and me with Kenneth today. He is one of the oldest and always had a special bond with Ross.

Next is Arthur when I first met him in 2008, which was when he moved to Need for All. Arthur is officially the child that I sponsor so I am able to write to him and I saw him in the choir in Canada. I have always felt a strong connection since the first time I met him and we spent some time doing simple math problems.

Finally, there is a group picture in 2007 and a group photo from today. There are some children that were adopted from Need for All in the first picture and there are other children from Watoto in the second, but see if you can spot the kids that are the same between the pictures. It's incredible to think how much they have grown!!