Day 7 Tuesday 20th

Wow, wow and wow. What a great day. So much to tell and so many wonderful things I doubt that I will get them all on here. We were woken at 7 o'clock by the parrot again. This time it started without the alarm and the alarm joined in as the snooze. It is the weirdest of happenings. In the grounds of our guest house there is a small set of rooms. We met Kevin who rents one of them for 50,000 shillings per month. That is about £12.50. Kevin is a confident, beautiful, vivacious 25 year old. She still studies and is in Kampala to complete her studies. As her course is at weekends only she is often at a loose end during the week. We invited her to spend the day with us, which she was very excited to do. Kevin's studies were broken because she was schooled right in the middle of the war in the north. The war that left Joseph Koni as a war criminal and only last year was declared the world's most wanted man by the US because of his crimes against humanity. Koni's attempt to rule the north of Uganda according to his interpretation of the Ten Commandments has earned him and his organisation (The Lord's Resistance Army) the infamy that is deserves. Kevin, as an 11 year old, lost many of her friends who were abducted for sex, slavery or to be used as child soldiers. (Very 10 commandments don't you think?) She escaped the soldiers by her father's swift forethought and escaped by a matter of hours. Her father, a local leader, was murdered in front of her older siblings. She has many stories to tell as you can imagine.

Our first job of the day was to load the pickup with manure for the land that Benedicta has in her family. It is the place that she manages to gain most of her food from. After a hilarious journey with many African stories and cross language and cultural banter, we arrived at the plot 1 1/2 hours later. It rained most of the day and we stank from manure and also from the 8 piglets that were loaded for distribution. After a similar journey back to Kampala City we eventually arrived at the house of Florence, Lillian, Roidah and Rebecca. I say house but it is nothing that you would recognise as a house. I'm sure that had you journeyed with us, if you had seen the conditions that these poor children live in, your heart would be broken like ours. The shed consists of 2 rooms both 9ftx9ft. One is for the mother and father - the girl's aunty and uncle - and the baby (Elizabeth). The girl's own parents are no longer alive and so at the ages of 3,5,7 and 9 they were left to fend for themselves several years ago. The other room in the 'house' is used as the  sitting room and bedroom for the 4 girls. Behind a curtain is their mattress with a mosquito net precariously suspended from the corrugated iron roof. As we arrived the girls ran with great excitement to meet us. I haven't managed to see the girls in two years and for me it was a very emotional greeting. I am thrilled that even against all the odds their human spirit is still beautiful. We gave them 4 piglets and the 'mother' was dumbfounded. She was speechless and without words. She choked back her tears and attempted to thank thank thank for several moments. A sign of respect in Uganda is to take a lower position than the one that you are respecting and kneel or sit at their feet. I raised the woman to her feet and as she thanked me profusely. It was one of those most precious of moments.  We left and as it was now quite late we decided to wait 'til tomorrow to complete this job - we still have 4 more piglets to deliver to two more of our girls tomorrow. 

What an amazing and truly wonderful day. 

Oh and I nearly forgot to say...... Because of our faithfulness and commitment to Uganda and her people we were given a two acre plot on a 99 year lease today to do with as we see fit. Amazing! We've not quite finished one centre yet and we've been given the land to be able to affect another community. 

Sometimes this is the most incredible job.