We have officially been in Uganda for two whole
weeks now! I am in disbelief at how fast the time flies here!
I feel like the best way to illustrate my experience here is to take you through our first village visit. Every few days, we leave Jinja to visit a village about 30 min away called Wakisi. As soon as we first drove into the village, the local kids became ecstatic! They ran after the van and some of them even held onto it until we got to school. I was honestly surprised by how welcoming everyone was. After we unloaded, we went out to a big field to sing, dance, and play games with the children. It was during my first set of songs that the reality of their life hit me. They were singing this song about how its okay to love Jesus because the "future looks better than it does right now." The truth of those lyrics constantly reminded me that this life is just our temporary home. There will be a time when they won't have to go to school in a place similar to a goat shed, live in a mud hut, have malaria, or wonder where their next meal is coming from. Even though the kids in the village have a harder life than most could ever imagine, they are still living out God's word. 2 Corinthians 4:18 came to mind when I heard their song, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
After
singing and dancing, Jason gathered all of the children around him for a bible
story.The kids were so attentive and eager to learn. They loved looking at the pictures!
While the bible story was being told, the women and children who needed medical
care began to line up. There weren't that many on Tuesday, but what we did see
was heartbreaking. We tested a couple people and a seven month old for
malaria.Thankfully, no one tested positive. We saw several babies around 5-7
months old that were clearly very sick. One baby, in particular, was crying and
had wounds all over him. It was an amazing experience to watch and learn from
Jason as he went from woman to woman, to baby to baby, caring for each one the
best he could. After treatment, we gathered around them and prayed over each of
them.
We kicked off our malaria education in Wakisi this week. Let me just say that I
knew coming into this internship what Healing Faith was all about, but it
brought me to tears seeing it all come together. Since Jason and Kari work so
hard to establish relationships with the people in the village, we were able to
go from home to home in the village and educate them about malaria including the
cause, signs, symptoms,
who's at risk, and prevention. Then we went inside and
hung mosquito nets over each sleeping area. Next, we treated the outside,
doors, and windows with pesticide. Lastly, we asked the families if we could
pray over them, because even though we are the ones physically helping them
fight malaria,the Lord sent us. Everything we do here is in His name. My prayer
and hope is that each family that we meet sees the love of Jesus through our
work. This is just the first week of our malaria education, but on Tuesday, our
team was able to hang 21 nets. That covered 18 adults and 57 children! On
Thursday afternoon, we went back out to the village to continue our fight
against malaria. That afternoon, we were able to hang 15 nets, which covered 14
adults and 22 children! That's 111 people who are sleeping safely at night now
thanks to Healing Faith!
God is SO GOOD!
So far, I have absolutely loved my time here. The people are beautiful, the kids are full of life, the culture is amazing, and I've never felt God's presence more than I have here. I love knowing that I'm exactly where God intended me to be and I can't wait to see what he has planned for the rest of my internship.
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