Trust

The past two days have been exhausting both physically and mentally. We decided to spend the money and time to fund the building of a new toilet and shower for the boys at Agape Christian Children's home after a lot of going back and forth on whether or not we should do it. The biggest problem is that we are not sure who we can trust and exactly what goes on at the orphanage when we are not visiting. One of the main things that sets this orphanage apart from all the others is the age of the boys and the way that they are taken in. Most of the boys are teenagers, with a few of them that are under 12. They all come from the streets of Kampala, but most of them originated in Gulu as children taken from their families while Joseph Kony was leading rebels in the area. Because of their background, most of these kids know how to steal, lie, and cheat and it is difficult to force them to change. I mean, could you blame them for being that way? If all you had were the clothes on your back and you somehow had to survive and possibly provide for your siblings or elderly parents, would you do it by any means possible or would you try to follow the law?

Catherine, the woman in charge does a lot of work to try and raise funds for school fees and build better structures to live in. She has the help of two or three women who stay at the house to oversee cooking and some of the discipline for the boys. A recent addition has been Joshua, who helps with building projects and tries to get the boys to take part in activities outside of street life. I think these boys really need strong men in their lives to build them up and take part in helping them succeed. Catherine is trying to manage almost 100 boys and I don't know how many girls that live in a home in Gulu. It's a lot of work for 1 person and not a lot of money. Some churches here help out with money and pastors come to teach and lead worship sessions. I think it is just difficult to manage an orphanage with so many boys and so many bad habits. In talking to Catherine and the boys it seems that there is always somebody stealing something and nothing is really safe, including the boys. Sometimes they get into fights and hurt each other and its not easy to stop. At Agape, nobody is really turned away, so it is very difficult to control behaviors.

Our project itself is going fairly well. We spent an entire day getting supplies. Then, yesterday, Isaac and I went with Joshua to purchase tiles, cement, and a few other things that we needed. As we were collecting things, I was getting more and more confused about how this thing is going to come together. Some ideas just don't make sense, and there are all kinds of additional little costs that weren't in the budget. When we initially started the project, we gave Joshua a total budget number and said we want to do the project if it can be completed before the boys leave on Saturday. Initially he said it was "no problem", but now I'm not so sure. He keeps mentioning things we need to buy, which means we will either be way over budget or we won't get the work done. I guess I just have to remember that I've never built something like this and even if I had, I wouldn't know how to do it in Uganda. I just need to trust that it will get done and let Joshua and the boys at Agape do the work.

On a brighter note, we did get almost all the boys outside to help move piles of hard core (large heavy rocks) and a stack of bricks. It was pretty awesome to see them all out there laughing and having a good time while they were doing the work. I think the longer we are there, the more they are wanting to be involved in the project.

Today is going to be a bit busy. Since Isaac and Dennis are leaving on Saturday (that's already tomorrow!!), we are going to have to make sure we have tied up all the loose ends and gotten whatever work they wanted to finish completed. We will need to pray for no rain and no jam as we travel from place to place!