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| Esther's Cake! |
Happy Monday to you.
My day is half over and the best is yet to come. One of the girls, Esther is having a birthday
today. She is 8 years old and she is so
excited that Auntie Patti One and Two are here.
We learned in a round about way this morning that it’s up to us to
provide a cake or treat and we are sooo very happy to do that. We didn’t want to overstep any rules by
providing something only for some other child to be disappointed later but all
the children get to have a special treat.
They don’t eat sweets very often so this will be a wild and crazy
night. We found the prettiest pink cake
with a beautiful bow on it and had them write Happy Birthday Esther. She’s at school right now but her face will
light up when she sees the “big birthday box” on the table only to be revealed
after dinner. She asked us last night
will you give me a gift and we talked to the office manager, Esther and Sarah
and they thought it would be appropriate for us to give her a little something.
She wants a stick of our strawberry gum!
Imagine that, an 8 year old child who considers a stick of gum a
gift. We also made her a Mexican flower
with tissue paper and Auntie Patti One has a special scripture bookmark. Can’t wait to celebrate her and have fun with
the rest of the children.
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| Esther's in the Center with her Paper Flower! |
This morning my heart bled once again as we went to Sanyu
Babies Home to give them a few hours of volunteer service. This orphanage is one of the oldest in Uganda
and was started in 1929 by the Anglican church.
When you step into the door, you immediately see 14 little cribs lining
the wall with 14 little cherubs sleeping; another room is for the tiniest of
the tinies. There must have been 6 beds in there with cherubs that couldn’t weigh
more than 10 pounds laying there sleeping.
There were other nurseries also to house up to four years old. You truly felt like this was God’s special
place for these littlest of society, mostly who have been abandoned by their
mothers. Many mornings and evenings, it’s
not unusual to find a baby at the gate of the compound with a note that they
know their baby will be loved and cared for.
We spent the first couple of hours folding clothes, mounds and mounds of
little sleepers, little pants, little tops, sheets. The washing and folding
goes around the clock. The last hour I
feebly attempted to feed three babies at once.
The high-chair seats eight babies!!
From there you wash, rediaper and redress babies so they can sleep
clean. The work is hard there and never
ending. These littles have to have 24 hour
care and the task is daunting. I can’t
say I was unhappy to leave although I was grateful for the experience and the
awareness. It’s was all so overwhelming
to see so very many babies who were abandoned.
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| One of the Oldest Orphanages in Uganda |
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| View of Kampala from Sanyu's Babies Home |
Hope your Monday is eye-opening and that you can see His
Hand at Work around you.
I’ve seen Him
in so many different ways these past 10 days. It’s going to take me a while to
digest it all but praying that every image is seared in my heart. I’ll look
forward to sharing with you for two more days after today before I start my
journey home.
Love, Patty PS - Esther is the one in the picture with the pink flower in the center of her dress.
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