Off to the zoo - all 82!

Last Wednesday we headed to the zoo in Entebbe for a much looked forward to outing with all the kids, staff and staff kids from Jordan House. Funny thing happened when we went to pay to get in - the zoo has different rates for Ugandans, Ugandan residents and Ugandan visitors, so Pete had to pay separately for us – no problems. He asked about a ‘family discount’ and was told that our family’s too small. Too small! Only in Africa! If we only had two more kids to make us a family of ten we’d get a discount. Love it! We’re seriously considering growing our family so we can save a few dollars next time we go to the zoo!

We managed to keep track of all 67 kids without losing any, although did have to chase after one who started to strip off to jump in the water (and no, it wasn’t Lily, though she would’ve been close behind if we’d let her!)

From the bus trip to the special lunch of sausages, chips and sodas shared with the vervet monkeys that joined us, to the safari-like walk through the zoo. All the makings of a great day out. We’ll just try to forget the bit about Pete breaking down on the way home, being stuck on the side of the road for a few hours waiting for a tow-truck and now having a vehicle repair bill that would give all of Uganda free entry to the zoo!



Pete and his groupies!









no giraffes were harmed in the taking of these pictures!



Meet the team!

These are the amazing people we get to serve with at Jordan House! Pastors, social worker, cooks, cleaners, mentors, logistics and security who all get stuck in and do whatever needs to be done and look after the 40+ children that live here, as well as being Jesus to the few hundred in the sponsorship program and the wider community. They make me feel humbled over and over as they serve so tirelessly, with great attitudes and a smile on their face - and I must mention if you're ever in need of a hug then these are the peeps to see - one hug literally lifted me off the ground yesterday! We had a special morning tea yesterday, gave out thank you gifts and had a bit of fun with the camera!


the signs a bit hard to read but it's a Christmas greeting to the Bartons - our Operation Uganda directors in Australia.





All looking very responsible and well behaved



that's more like it!



Wordless Wednesday - the game

Loving the one in front of you - sometimes it hurts

In my last post I mentioned we have a 15yr old boy coming to do soccer training with our boys every week or other odd jobs to earn money for school fees and food. He’s genuinely sweet and a diligent worker. He turned up yesterday as expected only to tell me that as he finished school he found out his HIV+ sister who’s been in hospital for three weeks has just died. Could I help him get to her at the hospital? He would then go with his uncle to their village a few hours away for her burial? After agreeing to help him get to the hospital I asked if his mother was also going. No, she’s already in hospital where she’s been for the last two weeks (still kick myself for not knowing that) – also HIV+, unable to recognise her own son and now unable to even talk. She’s totally unaware that her daughter has just died. After digging deeper I found out that there’s no-one else living at home it was just the three of them and since his mum’s been in hospital he’s been on his own. His uncle is his only other relative in Kampala. The only food he’s been eating is the one meal a day he gets at schools on weekdays.

Some things are just wrong. This shouldn’t be his story. He told me he didn’t know what to say when his headmaster told him about his sister. No words would come. I hugged a boy who’s had to grow up too quickly – a poor substitute for a mother that can no longer offer comfort. I told him to come visit as soon as he’s back from the village. I don’t have a plan – yet. Preparing dinner a short while later, fighting tears, praying for wisdom. Unable to talk it through with Pete as he’s in Northern Uganda for a week and his phone coverage is pitiful. Josiah suggesting he just come live with us if he needs to. Some days I think I can actually feel my heart aching. Yet even on these days I’m thankful we’re here, maybe even more thankful. Even though this shouldn’t be his story - through letting him in our gate we are now part of his story and he doesn’t have to bear it alone. A story I pray has a happy ending.

Learning to take time to love the one in front of me. Whether it be my own family, the lady I buy bananas from, or the boy at my gate. Some days it brings joy, some days it just hurts. Every day it’s what we’re made to do.

Naked

We’ve got a rule in our house. Well actually more than one! But this one brings fits of laughter when broken rather than discipline. It’s the ‘you’re not dressed til you’ve had a kiss and cuddle’ rule. And yes, we even enforce it with our 15 year old son (sorry Joe, words out – but I know you like it!)

I can’t even remember when it started, I can just always remember doing it, and as the family grows it ensures everyone starts the day with a good dose of love! It doesn’t count if it’s from a brother or sister – it has to be from mum or dad! And if by some huge catastrophe you don’t get your kiss and cuddle til later in the day – it means you’ve been NAKED all day! How embarrassing is that?! We then laugh about where you’ve been or what you’ve done naked! Corny I know, but sometimes cornys ok!

A few years ago the differences between the words ‘naked’ and ‘nude’ came up in our schoolwork. Words like that are bound to get a kids attention, it was the definitions that got my attention (of course when I was 10 it probably just would’ve been the word naked too!).

Very basically, nude means not wearing clothes and naked means without protection.
Quite a difference. When Jesus says in Matthew 25:36 "I was naked and you clothed me", we can immediately think of putting clothes on someone – which is a form of protection. But what happens if we read it this way: "I was without protection and you provided me with a covering of protection".

We still enjoy joking about being naked, but also see the harsh reality of those that haven’t just missed out on a kiss and cuddle from mum or dad, but are truly naked in the authentic sense of the word – without protection; defence, guard, shield, fortification, safety, shelter, safeguard, armour. You don’t have to look very hard or very far to find these children – no matter where you live, and it’s not limited to children, just happens there’s a few more of them around us in this part of the world. Our mother and father hearts ache for those that don’t have this protection, and we’ll do anything in our power to provide it for them. To defend, guard, shield, strengthen, keep safe, shelter, and provide a protective covering for those that have no-one to do so. Jesus says when we do it to even one of these, we do it to him.

Looking for the one… over and over again.

Don't stop, fill every pot!

While reading the littlies a bible story the other night, it felt like I was reading from my new daily life – until I got to a certain point. Let me back up a bit and read you a story. The story of the Widows Oil.

There was once a woman who had no husband. She had no food. She had no money. But she had plenty of problems.

Knock! Knock! Knock! There was one more problem waiting at the door. A man was outside. The woman was inside. She opened the door.

“Give me the money you owe!” demanded the man. “But I have no money,” the woman said. “Give me the money, or give me your sons!” said the man, then he left.

The woman was very unhappy.
She hurried to find Elisha. Elisha was God’s friend.

“My husband owed money to a man,” the woman told Elisha, “but now my husband is dead. I have no money. The man said he will take my sons if I don’t pay him.”

“How can I help?” asked Elisha. “Tell me what you have in your house.” “Nothing,” the woman answered, “except a little oil.”

So far, the story is VERY similar to what we experience on a regular basis at Jordan House. A lot of the people in the slums of Kasubi where we work are widows who have very little or no food, no money and plenty of problems. Often money is owed to landlords (yes, even in the slums you have to pay to live in a small rundown room we may think is only suitable for storing wood or dogs), or to others that have lent them money. A womans sons might not be taken off her (or they might), but she may be forced out of her house or to abandon her children or similar. We see these woman both in the community and when they come to Jordan House knowing there’s ‘friends of God’ there to ask for help.

We find out more about their situation, and what resources they have available to them, and it wouldn’t be out of place for one to say they had only a little oil.
Now we’re up to the part where I got challenged big time, and I think it’s a challenge we should all think about. Elishas response. He served the same God we serve, and he was human just like us. Yet his response was so different to the response we often have. His response shouted his unwavering faith.

“Go,” said Elisha, “Ask all your neighbours for empty pots. Don’t ask some of your neighbours – ask them all. And don’t ask for just a few pots – ask for as many as your friends can lend you. Then go inside your house. Shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the pots. As each pot is filled, put it aside. Don’t stop... fill every pot!”

The woman had only a tiny bit of oil… just a few drips. Not enough to fill many pots. Not enough to fill any pots! But she did not argue. She believed God would do a miracle.

To cut the story short for those not familiar with it – she does as Elisha says and the miracle happens, she sells the oil as instructed, pays off her debt and lives off the rest. You can read it in 2 Kings 4

Our response is to assess the situation (as Elisha also did), then to prayerfully see what we should do to bring about a long term solution to the problem eg/ micro-finance loan or free training in our womens empowerment course leading to employment, as well as often meeting the immediate need for food in the form of a food parcel if necessary, child sponsorship or some other form of support. Often these are steps of faith in themselves because our funds are definitely limited and it’s often a challenge to seek out the best long term solution for each particular family - rather than just giving handouts, and not seeing their situation change. We pray with them, and have seen God answer prayer, but we’ve never told anyone to ask their neighbours for empty bottles to fill with the little oil they have in their house. And we may not be meant to anyway - but my point is ‘would I be willing to do that if God asked me to? Would I have the faith to do that?’

It’s so much easier to come up with a practical solution to a problem than to believe God would do something as crazy as not letting someones oil run out. But sometimes that might be just what he wants us to do, or something on an equivalent scale. I’m praying for the faith to believe for the absolutely seemingly impossible - that can only direct all glory back to him. The fact that our family is even in Uganda is testament to his ability to do that, but I want to see it every day. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be finding ways to physically care for the widowed, orphanded and poor, because I firmly believe we should and Gods word clearly tells us we should. But God didn’t mean for his miraculous intervention to be an exception to the rule. John 14:12-14 says "I tell you the truth. The person that believes in me will do the same things I have done. Yes! He will do even greater things than I have done. Why? Because I am going to the Father. And if you ask for anything in my name, I will do it for you. Then the Father's glory will be shown through the Son. If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it."
God already promises he’ll come through. Sometimes the physical help we offer is indeed him doing just that and answering a widow or childs prayer, but I think sometimes we may need to pray a bit more dangerously and be ready to follow through on what he asks of us, believing that he IS true to his word.

Challenged much? I sure am!

Chopsticks for Orphans?

The kids asked me today if they could use some bamboo skewers to make things – teepees, a trebuchet (some kind of launching weapon) and some other creations. Fine by me as long as they cleaned up the mess! The kids had been going for a while, when Lily who had been given five sticks came to me very concerned because she needed one more stick. I got someone to give her another one and this is how she returned to me.

With a big smile she explained to me that when her adopted brothers and sisters arrive they’ll be able to eat with chopsticks! We’d gotten 6 pairs of chopsticks given to us a few weeks back (1 pair for each of the kids), and she’s now made another 3 (apparently essential) pairs! Don’t know where she got the number 3 from, don’t know when we’ll be eating Chinese either, or when adopted brothers & sisters will be arriving but I do know that we just LOVE the heart Gods given her, and not only the willingness, but the desire of all our kids to add to our family those that have no-one of their own to call family. LOVE THAT!
LOVE MY BIG CRAZY FAMILY!

Wordless Wednesday

blessed

 

Feeling so blessed this mothers day, yet as I look at my kids I can't help but feel a deep ache in my heart for the m.a.n.y. children here who have no-one to tuck them in at night. No-one to pray with them and for them. No-one to tell them they look beautiful. No-one who says I'm here for you no matter what. No-one to provide the basics of life that we take for granted. No-one to confide their fears and dreams to. No-one to snuggle in the grass with and call their own.

Yip, my mothers heart is aching right now. And if my little fleshy heart is this heavy I can only imagine our fathers heart must be breaking.

Should we love them any less?

We came to serve in Uganda as a family, knowing that challenges would certainly play a part of our new life. Some of them we anticipated, and some we didn’t. We knew sickness would most likely come our way at some stage, and that would just be a fact of life here.

After one month of being here sickness free, we started getting hit. Every day for over 2 weeks now we’ve had someone sick with either vomiting/diarrhoea bugs, spider bites, skin infections, nasty abcesses and more!

As a mum you feel it’s part of your job to protect your kids from sickness if you can. Some things are unavoidable, yet others we could avoid. I could tell them not to hug the orphan with skin infections, to spend less time with those that look sick, and more time with the ones who are ok. I could avoid holding the little ones hand that is covered in snot, dirt and who knows what else. But I haven’t. Yes, I have instructed Lily to ask me before kissing them, and we go over how to keep ourselves safe from certain diseases - but we don’t love on them any less. Jesus didn’t instruct his disciples to love the unlovely any less, in fact he did the opposite and led by example as he poured out love upon them. The look on these kids faces as they feel the embrace of another child who is loving them just as they are is priceless. They know they are loved.

So we will continue to pray for resistance to bugs, we will continue to love with our actions as well as our words, and we will continue to see God move through the embrace of a child.

and then along came HOPE...

It's still hard to believe that we're actually here. It'll take a while to find our feet & suss out our new way of doing life, but that's ok! Every day is a new adventure with lots of things to learn - often through our mistakes!
As I type this Josiah's sitting outside catching a breeze, (the breeze has now turned into gale force winds!)Drews trying to make his second batch of popcorn - still with burnt results, and the younger four are outside playing chase.
It's been an at home day today, as Kampalas trying to hold their mayoral elections (postponed from last week due to unrest). So, we've been getting a few more things organised while we've got the time. I went to update our website only to find that we cant access it from here :( So have had to start a new one... Hoping to have it up and running within the next week.

everyone & everything shares the roads here...

road to Jordan House

We had our first full day at Jordan House yesterday. Started with a team meeting, then Pete checked out what jobs he needs to get onto, the kids played with the Jordan House and a few community children, and I checked out a few kids - lumps n bumps, measles, ringworm... and met the most gorgeous one month old baby boy. This is what I love about what we're doing. Not the meeting of babies (though I always love that!), but making a difference in the life of one. While this one still had life. His mum has 11 living children, 2 more have died. She's 32. Her youngest 5 live with her, the older ones still in the village. Shes trying her best to make ends meet with a drunkard, violent husband that visits occasionally. Living conditions are unsafe & beyond what we in the western world would call humane. She isn't producing enough milk to feed her baby so is giving him tea out of a cup. He was tiny, with a wet cough but otherwise doing ok. For now. He jumped at the bottle of formula! A few days later and his story might have looked very different. You could see the desperation in this mamas eyes. You could see Jesus in her eyes - saying "when I was hungry you fed me, when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in".
We listened to the mamas concerns (through an interpreter - can't wait til we've learnt Luganda!) and set her up with bottle and formula for supplement feeding for the next few days and worked on a plan to increase her milk supply. She now also has the opportunity to do a womans empowerment course - combining discipleship with learning a skill that she can make enough money from to support her family. Both mama & baby will be coming to Jordan House regularly for ongoing follow-up checks and support.
While surrounded by extreme situations, God highlights the one. The future of her family will change. Which will also change the future for the next generation. One by one.
In the space of an hour... along came HOPE.

Team Gordon - Uganda Bound

The Journey Begins...

She gets it

Lily in all her 4 yr old sweetness prays every day for the kids of Uganda. For a.g.e.s now it’s gone something like this “Jesus, the Ganda kids got no food, and lots of them sick – please give them pamol and porridge, and me and my dad gonna go build them a house or two houses”. Now while we’ve talked loads about the kids in Uganda and their needs we’ve never mentioned Pamol (pain relief) or giving them porridge (oats) nor building houses for them, but she gets it. She knows their need.



Now her prayers are changing – she still prays for pamol, porridge and houses, but she’s been holding her arms out wide while she prays for teams to go, and for teams to be kind to each other and help each other. Last night she asked me if her friend Maeghan was going to go live in Uganda too. When I told her she wasn’t she got upset, and through her sobs said “Who will help? We can’t make nuf porridge for all them, we need people to help. There’s lotsa kids in Ganda. Who will come with us mum?” She really gets it. Jesus put it this way “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” Luke 10:27

The orphans cry

I don't quite know how to link to this letter/article by Tim Stoner of Orphans Justice Mission in a way that will make it sound as good as it really is! I just know that when I first read it, and whenever I re-read it, it stirs me deeply. He has a way of explaining Gods word that is compelling and easy to understand. I won't say any more, just GO READ IT!!!