Africa: Part 7 "Return Ministry Day 1"

I woke up on our first morning that we were headed to Return Ministries with only a little more energy then the day before.  I was just thankful to not be getting worse.  I was gratful now for my basement room.  It had stone walls which kept it cooler than upstairs, it stayed dark in the morning so I could sleep later than five, and there were no mosquitoes or other bugs that seemed to be biting my fellow teammates.  We had our own bathroom with a shower room and I was starting to feel pretty comfortable down there.  As my roommate was in the shower I walked over to our side table where my flip flops where only to find a cockroach the size of a match box car IN MY SHOE!  I kicked my shoe and he ran UNDER MY BED.  When my brave roomy came out of the shower she tried to kill it, but I was no help and jumped like a little girl.  He ran into the sitting room and that was good enough for me.  At this point in the trip I was too tired to even care if there were more under my bed and had discovered that you should not look for things that you do not want to see. 

That morning, we headed to Return Ministries with Pastor Samuel.  This is an amazing organization and we were there today to do a program with the kids and also serve in the feeding program.  Because I was still not feeling great I decided to give our team photographer a break to be more hands on and I took over taking pictures of everyone today.  Why not?  I had already decided my heart was in Ethiopia and not Uganda so why not take a step back from some activities today. We were not there more then five minutes before my heart melted and I was not only in love with these children but with this organization as well.

 Return Ministry has a small house with fifteen true orphans that are taken care of by Pastor Samuel's parents, but the larger part of their ministry is in the community helping the fatherless. I wish I could recreate Pastor Samuel's speech to us about the importance of fathers and their authority, but I know I would not do it justice. What I do remember is him telling us to not be visitors today but to be mothers and fathers to these children. Hold them, cuddle them, play with them as if they were our own. I did not realize these were things not commonly present in their culture, but the children still desperately needed it. Most of them had mothers or grandmothers taking care of them, but not in the outwardly effectionate ways we thing of here in America.

 As we climbed off the bus we were amazed at the sight of these kids. They were dressed in there best clothes for us. Some looked like they could be flower girls and one was even in a red velvet dress on this hot day. The kids sang for us and then our group sang for them. We played, laughed, and broke the kids up into age groups to do different activities. It was busy while we all sang silly songs, colored, painted nails, and the older kids heard the same "gold" message from the other day.

 After all the fun, it was time for lunch. Before we arrived today, I assumed that we were feeding the kids today the meal they get everyday. It wasn't until we were handing the food out that I asked more questions. I was so pleased when I saw the large portions of rice, beans, and some veggies, and then my heart sank when I found out they only get this once a week and sometimes it's only porridge and other times not even that. These small children ate more food at that lunch than my "picky eaters" eat in a day. How their bellies must hurt before that food and how it must hurt some after all that food, too. If it was the only meal I could count on for the week I'm sure I wouldn't leave a grain of rice either. We helped do the dishes after which is a huge job itself. There were only about 150 kids there today because of school, but the feeding can get up to 300 kids. Can you imagine just doing all those dishes by hand with no running water?! My favorite part about this program is that it's not just for "sponsored" kids but for all the kids in the village. You want to know the crazy part? For this amount of food it's only $1/kid! I could feel my heart starting to stir as I watched these children eat.

 Some of the children were getting tired by this point in the day and after such a big meal. The smaller children climbed up into our laps for a nap, but I was surprised to find that the little girl I had been hanging out with, Vanesa, wanted to cuddle up for a rest as well. I figured she was around six or seven years old and was shocked to find out later that she is nine. I was happy to be a lap for her to rest in.

 After we fed the children lunch,we headed back to Pastor Samuel's house where his wife Sarah made us an amazing lunch! We had a chance to hear about Pastor Samuel's plans for the future with this community and finding self sustaining ways of bringing education and jobs to the struggling single mothers and their children. It's a beautiful vision and I can not wait to see where it goes! Back at the guest house, the team went for ice cream but I decided to stay behind and rest. I still didn't have full strength and the next day was our second day with Return Ministry where we would walk the village and do home visits. I knew that would take a lot, so I headed to bed early. Without my fearsome roommate with me, I enterd the sitting room outside our door only to find my cockroach waiting for me. I grabbed a shoe and held it over him. I must have had a good day, because I didn't even have it in me to kill him. I said good-night to my new friend and asked him politely to not come back in my room. A shower was a must before climbing into my sleep sac on top of the bed and getting a great nights sleep.