December 19 in Uganda

It has been just over a week since I last posted and yet it seems like a year.  So much has happened.  I have now gone to the women's program five times.  I will start doing a Bible Study with them after Christmas.  I was supposed to give a Bible study on Thursday and we ended up having a meeting with them instead.  They have been meeting for about four months.  They receive counselling and two Bible studies each week.  They are fed one good meal.  They have a clean nice place to work in.  They can listen to the radio, talk to each other make bracelets.  They make beautiful beaded bracelets that Abby then buys from them for $2.50.  For the last four months they have received about $2.00 per day allowance.  Yep two dollars.  The staff decided to reduce that to $1.00.  The women were so upset. Several did not come to work at all on Wednesday.  Thus the meeting.  In the end the staff restored their allowances until Christmas.  But after Christmas they will get no allowance, only the proceeds from the sales of their bracelets.  Where is a rich benefactor when you need one?  Abby and the other staff were NOT being mean to reduce their allowance.  But the program is expensive to run with such a young ministry.  So Friday I spent filming some women giving their testimony.  Moreen, a Ugandan staff member will then translate and we will have a short film about the women in their own words.  Saturday we went to the slum to interview a few more women.  Oh my gracious.  It is the same slum that I stayed in for my first trip in April.  All of the women lived in one room.  Several of the women lived in rooms that were no bigger than 8 X 8 feet.  Yet they were gracious and hospitable.  I had the opportunity to pray with each woman.  I honestly had no idea what they were saying while they were talking, but you didn't need language to understand the pain on their faces and the tears in their eyes.  One woman showed us a picture of her husband who had gone mad because of AIDS.  The problem with continuing to live in the slum is that they still have "visitors" come to their houses wanting sex.  They used their own rooms for prostitution.  Most of the women dreamed of returning to their villages to live.  I did take some pictures with their permission and I will add them later. 
But it has not been all work here.  I have had some truly funny experiences here.  I am learning Lugandan.  They boys think it is hilarious.  I am sure my accent is just pitiful.  They love it that I will eat everything that they eat.  Most visitors will not eat everything.  I drew the line on sucking the "meat" out of a fish head.  But I did eat the body.  Probably tilapia.  We have three college students here from North Carolina.  They brought a Christmas tree for the boys and stockings.  So the house looks very festive.  Their church is a really big one and they are the main support behind A perfect Injustice, the ministry that Abby has here. They raised all of the money to buy their land for the house.  They paid for the land this week!  I have also have been able to go the market several times.  Moreen encouraged me to buy some African fabric and have an outfit made.  So she designed me a dress.  I will wear it when I come home in February.  I printed some of the pictures that people have sent me and put them on the wall in my room.  The boys LOVE looking at my family and friends.  Please send pictures.  I will write more later.  It is time for church and I need to go.  I love you all.   Jajja Gina

pictures

The pictures in this post are from my trip to Uganda. You will see the church that sponsors the street programs, Grace Fellowship. You will also see a boy sitting and listening to a Bible story. He is sitting on his bed...a piece of cardboard. You will see the beds where the boys sleep in the Kivulu house. Triple bunk beds with mosquito netting. There is a picture of a toilet.You will also see a picture of the youth Pastor preaching to the street boys with their dinner waiting for them in the corner. There is a picture of the market and the last one is a young man making beads to be sold to support the street programs.