Stories of poverty

Every day God is opening my eyes more & more to the heartbreaking realities of extreme poverty in Uganda. It breaks my heart. There have been so many times in the past two weeks that I've wanted to cry out of sheer heartache for these people.

I know so many statistics on health disparities in Africa. I've seen pictures and heard stories. But to see these people right in front of me - it's so different.

They aren't just statistics on infant & maternal mortality rates anymore. I see faces, a woman standing next to me telling me about the dead baby she delivered at home a couple weeks ago with tears rolling down her cheeks. She had a severe, infected laceration that she had yet to see a doctor about because she has no money.

They aren't just numbers of children who die of preventable & treatable diseases each year. They each have a name - Corcus. He has spinal TB, a father dying of AIDS, and a mother who will openly admit she doesn't love him. This disease could very well kill him because there is no one to care for him properly and take him to the hospital for regular treatment. Instead his mother uses him to get food handouts while she leaves him to slowly die of TB.

They aren't just numbers of child soldiers. They are each precious children of God who have been stripped of family, home, and childhood to the scars of unspeakable evils.

I could tell you story after story and show you pictures of the horrible injustices that plague my thoughts every night.

Life in the slums. But no picture can do justice to the poverty.

Little Corcus. For me it was love at first sight.

I don't understand how anyone could not love this precious face.

I don't even know what to feel about all this. Burdened, angry, hopeless, angry, heartbroken, numb. At first I tried to distance myself from it because I knew it could get overwhelming if I let every story, every patient get to me. But how can I distance myself from these beautiful people who are in such dire need? And when they are right in front of me one after another after another?

It has been a blessing to be a part of the medical clinics reaching out to offer medical care to refugees, child soldiers, orphans, outcasts, and the impoverished, but it has left me with a heavy heart and a river of tears shed for these beautiful people.

My only solace in all this is the hope I have found in the Lord.

"O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!" Jeremiah 32:17

God is greater.

The beautiful busyness of being a missionary

I admit to being horrible about updating recently. Guilty. The days just seem to get busier all the time. Not that I'm complaining! It has been a beautiful busyness. God never cease to amaze me by His perfect planning. I am learning to take life one day at a time and know that God will give me the grace to walk through each day with His unfailing love, abounding joy, surpassing peace, unwavering patience, tender mercy, and servant heart.

Other than the regular craziness of caring for 11 children, Don has gotten special attention this week because he had dental surgery on Tuesday morning - 16 teeth extracted. And he has been such a trooper through the whole thing! It took 3 sticks for the anesthesiologist to start an IV on him. After the first stick, he continued to sit there completely cooperative without fighting back at all, but that made it all the worse when he looked up at me with tears welling up in those big brown eyes and said "Auntie Kelsey" in the most pathetically expectant voice like I was supposed to save him. The procedure went well overall, and Don's recovery has gone so much better than Michelle or I ever expected. The dentist prescribed him amoxicillin to clear up the infection in his mouth & prevent any further infection and for pain he prescribed ibuprofen. Ibuprofen for a 2-yr-old who just had 16 teeth pulled out! I thought he was crazy and tried to prepare myself for several days of crying in pain. But I am so proud of how brave Don has been. Other than about a 30-minute window when the local anesthesia was wearing off, he hasn't cried at all. We gave him 2 doses of ibuprofen on Tuesday, just one dose on Wednesday, and he hasn't needed any pain medication since then. He is one tough little boy!

Afternoons with the kids are especially busy since I started doing homework with them most every day. And the best part is they enjoy it so much that they wake up from nap asking for their work! I've made different worksheets on the computer (which they think is super cool since all their work from school is hand written by the teachers) based on concepts that each of the kids needs to work on. Let me tell you, I've definitely come to learn that teaching is NOT what God has called me to. But Michelle & I will continue to work with them on school work until we leave.

I also go running every afternoon that I can. It has been such a wonderful release =) Not the same as running back home, but I still enjoy it. I have to get back in running shape because I'll be running a 5K here in Uganda on July 24. And I'm going to have the cutest little cheerleaders ever! When I come downstairs in my tennis shoes & wind pants the kids know I'm going running. And when I get back they all say "Auntie Kelsey, I want to run with you." It's so cute!

I say things have been unusually busy lately, and the biggest reason for that is the MEDICAL CLINICS. Michelle & I have been blessed to team up with a volunteer team that has come to Uganda for 2 weeks to hold free medical clinics. It has been very different than expected but absolutely wonderful.

I will hold off on sharing about the medical clinics for now because I should probably be getting to sleep. We have a huge clinic day tomorrow, and I need all the rest I can get.