Never left the House but made Seven New Friends!

It's now 7:00 and we have been WITH power all day long! What a great feeling. I keep holding my breath that it will last until I finish this and can get it posted...

The day started early but we were both so tired that we went back to sleep and didn't wake up until lunchtime. I think the time difference finally caught up to us! When we did wake up (with a little nudging from Phil) we awoke to a house full of kids. Actually they were in the front waiting for us to talk to them. And so we started. Yesterday I mentioned that we started this process but really hadn't worked out a strategy. So for the two we did yesterday we really winged it and hoped for the best. Fortunately, those two came back today as well. What started out as a single conversation with one child ended up as a room full of kids. And that is how I made friends. First, we started asking questions, then we took some pictures, and then the laughter began. Next thing I knew John Bosco was taking the pictures, Carolyn Amulen had figured out how to take videos with my phone and we had lost all control. Though the questions continued and the answers came it was not on a timely schedule. We were definitely working on Ugandan time. The kids in the room at the time were Emma Aliau, John Bosco, Carolyn Amulen, Paul Losiya, and then Asunta Okere, Barbra Aile, and Paska Lokure walked in and out. Emma, John and Carolyn were helping to translate when they weren't doing their own thing. We did find out a lot of information about the kids and the last time Phil had updated their profiles was in 2008 so it was much needed. Interestingly enough, in Uganda birthdays are not celebrated so many of the kids don't have a clue as to when they were born. So in many cases that information is blank. They have an idea as to what year and so we have an estimate as to how old they are. We tried to figure out how they ended up in our orphanage. The stories they told were so amazing and sad. They talked about death so easily. But then most of them have seen more death in their short lives than we will ever see in our life times. They also talked about their fathers and all their wives like it was the most natural thing in the world. I now have a better understanding of why the families are so large. In Uganda there is no distinction in family. So step sisters are considered sisters, etc. So a family with eight siblings may have come from two or three different wives. I was also amazed that one of our children's mother was killed protecting her cows in Moroto (the northern part of the country) while one of the fathers was killed in an attempt to steal cattle.

Two of our children came to the orphanage from Moroto by means of their Uncle. Their father had died and so he brought the two youngsters to Iganga and dropped them off with their aunt. In Uganda the women have very little to say in these situations. Please understand she did not ask for these children and probably did not want them. But here they were on her doorstep and suddenly she was responsible. And so she brought them to Phils and now they are here. One of these is Asunta Okere. The other is Paul Losiya. As we were talking to Paul today the issue of school grades came up. Phil mentioned that he was disappointed in Paul's grades and that he was tired of him "playing in school and not paying attention". At the mention of this Paul's whole demeanor changed. He went from being a very happy child to sullen and withdrawn. The question was then asked of him what was his favorite Bible verse or Bible story. Paul's reply was to explain the story behind John 3:16. When Phil put the Bible in front of him it immediately became apparent that he couldn't read but was unwilling to admit it. We then gave him some simple math problems to do and he had difficulty with those as well. So it is not an issue of not paying attention. It is instead, an issue of being unable to do the work. I'm hoping we all learned something from this experience; maybe that we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but instead see what the book has to say first! Our goal over the next three weeks is to now help Paul in any way we can catch up to his peers. This is going to be hard with our limited time but any help is better than nothing at all. If anyone has any ideas on how to teach simple math (adding and carrying numbers) please let me know. Phil did apologize to Paul for his misconception of his behavior and that was a big step toward reconciling their relationship!

Tomorrow we have church in the morning and then a Bible study with all the kids so we will not be doing any more interviews with the kids. We are still waiting for the bank transfer to come through that Jen and I started almost two weeks ago so we can continue with the shoe shopping. So tomorrow should be a relaxing day though it will be good to get outdoors. I hope you all are doing well. If you are with your family please give one another a hug and take a moment to appreciate that you have each other. So many people in this culture have no idea what a family means. Makes me really thankful for mine. I love you all.