These are the 2 newest babies at Amani. They are Walker and Nicole and are twins that used to be triplets, the third died. Both were extremely scared and depressed upon first coming to the orphanage. They are 15-months-old and were and are very tiny. While Walker is doing pretty well and taking his food well, Nicole is struggling. She refuses to eat and drink, vomits a lot, and is usually pretty upset. She does smile when she is being held but is just very unsure of her surroundings. Arielle is feeling like she wants to take her for a while, so that she has a mom figure, some consistency and someone to make sure she is eating...a lot. We will see if that is a possiblility for us.
Sometimes being here we forget its even Africa. We feel so at home in these surroundings that it is just normal to see dozens of street chidlren picking through garbage heaps for food. We don't notice that people are so impoverished that they are in rags with no shoes. It's normal to see tons of orphans everyday. But this is home for now, and we love it.

We ate lunch in a village in Bukaya with Mommy Rukia the other day and her large extended family all crowded into their leaking home to watch us eat plain spaghetti noodles, rice, cabbage and beef sauce. The family survives on the mama's salary and their small stand that sells tomatoes and onions, yet they made sure to give us each two bottles of coke and bottled water. People here are beyond generous, and are so kind to guests. As everyone watched us drinking the sodas, we sent a brother to buy some for everyone. It's funny how at home we feel in these situations. African food is just normal now. Sitting in a small village hut or tiny concrete house is relaxing and feels good. We have been having some awesome cultural experiences and are soaking up everything here.

WE ARE GOING TO SUDAN LEAVING EARLY WEDNESDAY JAN. 2
We will be working at an orphanage in Southern Sudan in a city called Kajo Keji. This orphanage, called St. Bartholomew's has many small babies, is extremely poor, and does not have enough staff to care for the infants. There are also at least 40 older children. We are also bringing over 100 pairs of shoes for the children and people in neighboring villages. We will be living with no running water, no electricity and lots of heat and work. We are thrilled to be able to help out at St. Bartholomew's and will stay for 2 weeks and will most likely go back for a longer time to help more. For those who know about the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, you don't have to worry about our safety. It is near the Ugandan border and in a safe part of the country. We will probably be able to update our blog while we are there, but aren't sure. We would really appreciate everyone's prayers for our safety as we travel and our health while we are in Sudan. We are excited!

Kiddos Christmas!

We celebrated with the children on Christmas Eve night by having a pajama party and watching a movie in the upstairs of the orphanage, where the children are not allowed. After dinner they all came up fresh from their baths and pumped about the popcorn they were going to have. The kids were so excited to see "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer," but after 5-minutes they mostly wanted to sit on our laps and share their slobbery covered popcorn with us. While they had a blast and were all happy, we couldn't help but feel a little sad for them. It was bittersweet. This was their Christmas. A movie. Popcorn. Shouldn't they be bundled into their beds with mom and dad kissing them goodnight and almost too excited about Santa to sleep? Our Christmases were magical when we were children...filled with family, and surprises, and great memories. When the movie was over we took the kids down and tucked them in, kissing them goodnight and reminding them that tomorrow was Jesus' birthday. We went to lay with the toddler girls and sang Christmas songs to them while they fell asleep. They were so sweet, giving us big smiles and obeying us as we told them to sleep, but I wish they had more. They are at a wonderful orphanage that is able to provide some Christmas fun for them, but it is still an orphanage.

On Christmas morning we prepared a special breakfast with caramel rolls (which we named "Jesus bread" for the children) and some other baked goods that others made. They loved sitting outside and eating cakes before lunchtime. Each child received a stocking complete with a pretend cell phone, sunglasses, stickers, a mango and an orange, and some sweeties that were all donated to the orphanage. You would have thought each child was just told they were getting a pony. Arnold, about 3-years-old pulled out his mango and held it up so proudly telling me, "Auntie Rachel, I got a mango!!!" After showing him how excited I was for him about his mango, I had to encourage him multiple times to put down his fruit and see what else was in there. It was so cute! Many of the kids loved pretending to call "brother Newt" (Vince's brother in America who was here to pick up Vince and Becca) on their cell phones.
After a special lunch of rice, meat, potatoes and cabbage the kids went down for their naps.

In the afternoon Arielle and I set up a giant slip n slide made from a tarp we found at the market. We put water and dish soap on it and the kids went crazy! They loved sliding down the tarp and getting covered in water and bubbles. We also had them play with shaving cream which they covered their entire bodies in and then squirted them down with the hose. Like most kid parties there were a few meltdowns as things got a little too rowdy. Lucky for us, only one tooth was knocked out during the festivities. It was truly awesome though!
The younger babies played in buckets of water with baby shampoo and liked dumping cups of water onto their bellies. They also opened stocking and were thrilled with their sweeties and were all seen holding at least 2 suckers at a time. They loved thier oranges too!

Spending Christmas with these kids was really great. We could not have asked for a more meaningful and joyful Christmas and feel so blessed to be able to have spent our holidays with the babies. We hope we helped them feel a little bit of what Christmas was like for us when we were little. Sometimes its hard to love these kids so much- it seriously hurts how much we love them!

Mamas Christmas Party!

While there is no snow or Christmas cookies or anything that really reminds us of Christmas at home, we managed to spend another amazing Christmas here in Uganda. We celebrated with people who we truly love and delight in. These kids are incredible, and we know them, each and every one of them. We know each of their voices and cries and their little personalities. We love the mamas! Their enthusiastic greetings and the little things they say and do to show the kids that they are loved. We are so blessed!
This year Arielle and I were in charge of planning both the mamas and the kids' Christmas parties. We celebrated Christmas with the mamas on the Thursday before Christmas and it was such a joyful party! We started by playing musical chairs (like we did last year) and the mamas had a blast! There were a few broken chairs in the end and lots of hollering and laughing. Our next game was a relay race that ended with one of the mamas eating a banana as fast as she could. It was absolutly hilarious watching the mamas try to stuff the bananas in as quickly as possible! We ended with a 3-legged race. This was the mamas' very first 3-legged race and they really got into it. They had to cross the toilet paper finish line and it was a big deal to win, they were cheering and jumping and high-fiving like kids. We then let the mamas help themselves to the tons of desserts we had ordered, prepared, and had some other vols prepare. They loaded their plates full of cakes, cookies, breads, ice cream, soda and African tea. No one was shy about their giant portions!
The very best moment of the party was passing out the special t-shirts we had made for all of the mamas here. Us along with our friends, Amy and Bethany, wanted to give a special gift to each mama and it was soooo worth it! The front of the t's said "#1 Mama" or "#1 Cook" along with a big outline of Africa and the bible verse, "whoever welcomes a child in my name, welcomes me." On the back, each mama's shirt said her own name, "Mama Roukia" or "Mama Doreen," etc. We also got t's made that said, "#1 Voluntee-ah. "The mamas were singing and clapping and dancing as they all put on their shirts and gave us huge hugs. It was a moment we will always remember, and was one of the most fun times we have had yet! Mama Maggie said she has never had a shirt with her name on it, has always wanted one, and will remember this forever! We had a blast singing and cheering together while we posed for a picture, all 40 of us. The mamas also received Christmas bonuses from Amani and we prepared treat bags for each of them. It was so fun and we are so happy to be able to call each of these women our friends!

Merry Christmas Waiting Amani Moms and Dads

Elizabeth

Sterling

Christopher and Katie

Baby Katie

Melody


Merry Christmas to all of the waiting parents!!! Your children are all doing wonderful and we are blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas with them this year. We hope and pray that we will see you all soon for your pick-up trips! Parents, please send us your email (fixrachel@gmail.com) or leave your email in the comments section. We have about 3 billion Chrsitmas photos of each of your children.

Arielle's 24th Birthday is today!

Today is my partner's 24th birthday! MISSIONS partner, that is. We always have a good laugh about how we act like a married couple and hope people aren't assuming things about us. Sometime during our travels together we were told at a hotel that only couples were allowed to share a room/bed. Trying to cover up our laughter, we tried to explain that we were a couple...a different kind of couple, but still a couple.
For everyone who knows Arielle personally, you know how amazing she is...for those of you who only know us through our blog- let me tell you. Arielle is the kindest, most generous, caring, loving and hilarious person I know. After spending each and every moment together for years now I still look forward to being with her each day. She cracks me up everyday, supports me, encourages me, and is the best friend I could have ever asked for. I truly could not do this work without her and I am so incredibly blessed by her friendship. I am absolutly sure we will be friends for life and am so thankful for that! I love you Ar! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas cookies for Santa???

I guess Santa Claus doesn't come to orphanages in Uganda. When our preschool class was decorating cookies for santa the kids had no idea who "santa" was. There is a mama here named "mama Santa" and the kids all happily wanted to glue glitter on their paper cookies for her. We decided our Christmas cookies would be for Baby Jesus. This brought a little confusion later in the day when Baby Jesus didn't come to receive them. These kids are too cute!

Baby Katie 1-year later

For those of you who have followed our blog throughout the ages, you will probably remember baby Katie. When we were in Uganda last year she was a 6-month old baby who was on the edge of death. She is HIV-positive and was starving. She couldn't keep any food down and was too weak to cry or open her eyes. She was skin and bones and the color of her skin was literally gray. After praying for her we decided to take her to our home and help her get better. We were prepared that she may die in our arms.
One year later this is our baby girl. She is walking, laughing, bullying her friends, and even learning to say "auntie". She has a HUGE personality and loves attention. She loves to be held and throws giant fits when we put her down. She is playful and loves to walk behind our backs and peek around us with her little giggle. She has the sweetest voice and is so sweet. She is the love of my (Rachel) life at Amani and I will be adopting her. Just kidding, but Meredith this is the child for you!

How do you bring the Christmas spirit to Ugandan Orphans?

Our homemade reindeer masks were a HUGE hit! In fact, Jimmy and Junior wore them literally all day long!

Amani kids leaving...

We have had 13 children go home this past month! Paul, Olivia, Joseph, Duane, Mary Cameron, Jackson, Noah, Chloe, Vince and Becca are all happily home in America with their parents. Praise God! It was an amazing time of joy and celebration as we saw these happy families leave Amani and start their lives together. We, along with the mamas gathered around each family and sang and prayed for everyone. Caleb, Edwin, and Ryan (pictured above) are all at home in Uganda. Caleb and Ryan are with new adoptive moms and Edwin was reunited with his birth mother who was just released from prison. We are so happy for all of these families!
Two new children came a little while ago, they were once triplets but their sibling died. They are 13 months and are tiny! They are learning to eat and drink and are adjusting to their new home. We will post pictures soon. Needless to say, however, we are ready for some new kiddos to come in! We are excited to meet new babies and can't wait to help care for them.
P.S. Our worm pills are kicking in and we should be worm free in no time!

Got Worms?

We Do.

Our family in Gulu

While we were in Gulu, we were able to stay with Mama Doreen and her family in their village just outside Gulu. Oftentimes here, many different members of an extended family live together because someone is off working in another area of the country and they need an aunt to take care of their children or parents have died and so the children are living with other relatives. We are still a little confused exactly how everyone we stayed with is related but the family consisted mainly of Mama Doreen's sister, Mary, 5 or 6 of her children, some grandchildren, Mama Doreen's children, and a few nieces and nephews. All together there were about 15 people living in two huts. When we got there, everyone was SO excited! They had never had Americans stay with them before and many of the young children around had never even see a white person. During our time there we got very used to children under the age of 3 running away and SCREAMING at the sight of us. The village we stayed in was very primitive- no power, no running water, bathing from a bucket, getting water from a boarhole down the road and carrying it back home in a jerrycan, and living in a mud hut with thatched bamboo roof. Her family was unbelievably generous the entire time we were there. Someone was always running to get us a chair when we came out of our hut or jumping up to give us a place on a woven mat. People were constantly bringing us massive amounts of food and since it is rude here not to finish what is put in front of you, we were constantly eating food long after we were beyond full. We ate traditional Ugandan food including a chicken we watched be killed, goat meat, and lots and lots of starches. Everytime we went and visited relatives in other villages, they prepared food for us. So, a few of the days we had to eat two massive lunches, one right after the other. One night we were so incredibly full that when dinner was brought in, we had to tell Mama Doreen that there was simply no way we could put any more food into our mouths that day! We didn't want to come across as rude or ungrateful, but we just simply couldn't eat anymore! We even got to help prepare some of the meals. Rachel made some excellent chicken and we both helped make peanuts into very creamy peanut butter (here it is called g-nut sauce) using a giant pounding stick and then a big, smooth rock on a cement slab to grind the peanuts down. We weren't very good at it but it was fun to be a part of it!
We slept on the floor in a hut with Mama Doreen, Mary, and Mama Doreen's son Phillip (the one who was badly burned but we are happy to say it is healing well). We woke up many times each night and were awoken in the morning at 6 am by the many roosters that wandered around our hut everyday. The hardest part of being there was using the pit latrine that smelled so bad, you could taste and smell it through our mouths while our noses were plugged. It was simply a giant hole in the ground with a giant, deep pit beneath it. When we took a "shower", it was basically like taking it in the pit latrine because they were connected. Despite the aromas, it was a wonderful experience and we were so appreciative of their hospitality. We stayed in a true African village for the very first time and had a wonderful time. "A foy jimmy wang" is how you say "Thanks for everything" in Achole, and we said this many, many times while we were there!

Sum up of sights we saw in Gulu

We were able to see some incredible things while in Gulu! These pictures are all from a large IDP (Internally Displaced Peoples) Camp in Gulu. The particular IDP camp we visited was called Bobi and was home to 5,000 people who fled from their villages due to the invasion of the rebel army, the LRA, in the past several years. Walking through this camp was like watching a child sponsorship infomercial. There was hut after hut after hut crammed together with only garbage and mud puddles in between. Every child who saw us walking in wanted to either run to us and follow us, or screamed and cried in fear. The children wore filthy, raggy clothes and most of their heads were covered in ring worm or other fungus...but they were beautiful. There is something so beautiful about children in need, they were innocent and just wanted to be near us. We walked down to a a muddy river near the camp and saw women washing clothes and were told that when water is scarce people drink from the muddy stream. These people do not have to pay to live in the camp and find most of their food themsleves. It was an incredible sight and one that we won't forget!

Another really interesting place we were able to visit was called Gusco and was a camp for child returnees. A returnee is a child who was abducted and was forced to fight for the LRA. These children were tortured and forced to kill others. Many of them have lost everyone in their family and have nothing. They are physically, psychologically and emootionally damaged. Gusco is where they go when they are first coming back from fighting. Many of them were rescued by the Ugandan Army or risked their lives to run away. The camp was dusty, bare, and not pleasant looking, but the people there were kind and have a passion for helping these children. We were shown a boys' file that was 24-years-old. He should not have been coming to Gusco because it is technically only for children, but this boy had been captured at 14 and was tortured and forced to fight for 10 years. Seeing these things in real life is absolutly surreal.

We also visited the Invisible Children headquarters and were given a tour of their buildings. We met all of the staff and directors and learned a lot about what they were doing. For those of you who have not seen the Invisible Children documentary it is all about the war in Uganda and is amazing and devestating. IC now works to help the children who faught get back into a healthy lifestyle. They provide schoalrships and mentors for children as well as other things. For those who have seen the documentary, we also saw where the child commuters walked each night to sleep in safety. Again, all of this was incredible! Walking out of IC we met a young girl named Emmanuel. She was 19 years old and had returned from fighting. She told us about her time "in the bush" and shared that her parents and most of her siblings were killed. She said she was tortured and can't forget the horrible things she saw and did. We thought of about a billion questions to ask her, but were at a loss for words!

We visited a hospital and went immediately to the children's ward. There are no separate rooms and the beds are crammed together. When we saw that most of the beds were empty we were taken outside to where the kids were. Outside we saw a giant canvas tent that said 'Unicef' and when we went inside we were once again reminded of a Christian Children's Fund tv ad. There were children lined on both sides of the tent completely skeletal and covered in flies. They sit there completely lifeless, completely starving and wait for the meals that the hospital provides for them. Some had IV hookups in their heads and many couldn't even sit up. It was unreal! We then went over to the maternity ward where we were invited in and got to see babies that were literally only a few hours old. Arielle held a brand new baby and we saw twin girls that were only 2 hours old. There mother sat on the floor next to all of the other moms. We then went to the labor and delivery room where all the women were together in one room. We heard one woman moaning in pain. WOW!! Seriously, who gets to see all of this!?

Finally we visited a village that was near the one we stayed in. This village was one that the rebels invaded. Children from the very village we were in were captured and killed. The others had to walk to town each night to make sure they were safe from abduction. When the villagers told us all of this I sat with tears welling up in my eyes. We watched these kids playing happily in the dirt, drinking the sodas we had just bought for them, and thought about everything they have been through.

To sum it up Gulu was one of the most incredible cultural, learning experiences we will ever have. We learned so much and saw so many amazing things. The people and the places were friendly, generous and kind and yet they should be scared, bitter, and lifeless. These people have endured so much and yet are still continuing to bounce back. They are fighting for their happiness and their lives. We are so thankful to have been able to go to Gulu!

Back from Gulu

Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to let y'all know that we are safely back in Jinja. We had an AMAZING experience and saw some awesome things and stayed in a village the whole time. We will update a lot about it soon, but we just wanted to let you know we are safe and home now.
Also...some of you have maybe heard that Ebola virus is back in Uganda. That is true and there has been tons of rumors and things going aroudn about it. However, it was confirmed today that it is not in Jinja and that we are safe. We are being careful though, not going anywhere with crowds and washing our hands lots. Please keep Uganda in your prayers and pray specifically that Ebola gets the heck out. Pray for our health and safety and the babies here too. Thanks!!!!

Going to Gulu!

Hi everyone! Things here in Jinja continue to go well. We've had 6 Amani kids go home to America in the past week or so, with 4 more soon to follow. It's a very exciting time and we feel so lucky to be able to be here for it.
We just wanted to let you all know that we will be leaving for Gulu (a town in Northern Uganda) tomorrow! One of the mamas at Amani, Mama Doreen, is from Gulu and she invited us to go along with her. Her son Phillip, who's 2, was recently badly burned and so while we are there we will help care for him and make sure they are doing everything possible so that he can fully recover. For those of you who have seen Invisible Children, or have heard about it, Gulu is where it all took place. We are excited to have the opportunity to be there for ourselves and see if there are any volunteer opportunities for us there that we could go back to help with later. Please pray for our safety as we travel and for Phillip's recovery.