Just Like a Ugandan

Today started out with a miscalculation.  As a result, I had to drive to town to get some cash out of our own bank account to send with our teens for their two-day retreat.  Having no cash in my own pocket, I took both of our ATM cards so I could get money for the retreat and for ourselves.  Neither of the ATM cards worked today.  No money and no access to cash – that’s how most Ugandans spend their days.

Having had a small lunch today, I was ready for dinner early.  But I had to take a child to the hospital in the evening and the place was full and the doctors weren’t around.  So it was quite late before I got back home for dinner.  Hunger (only a little bit on my part) – that’s what many Ugandans face every day.

The child I took to the hospital has had malaria, she has palsy, she is on anti-seizure medicine, and she was having an allergic reaction to something in that mix.  The hospital was overcrowded and Tiny Rose had to share a bed with another child in the Pediatric Ward.  The Ward has 23 beds in one large room and every child has to have a mother or someone staying with them.  Other beds were shared; some children were on the floor – not to mention all the mothers crammed in the room with nowhere to sleep.   I get to sleep in my own bed tonight – Most Ugandans share a bedroom, but have no bed in their 1- or 2-room houses.

While at the hospital, I was talking to one of our nurses on the phone.  I ran out of airtime (which has to be prepaid here) in the middle of the conversation.  No airtime – that is a standard way of life for most Ugandans, even though they may have a cell phone.

No money; little food; no bed for a child; no airtime – these are all basics of life for the masses of people all around us.  For me they were only temporary inconveniences.  Such is life in Uganda.

A Few Vitamins

Here is a God-story that is still developing…

While on furlough, our kids’ previous school, SBEC, asked for a list of supplies they could gather to send back for the orphanage. We told the 2nd and 7^th grade classes that they could collect Gatorade powder (which is good for hydrating sick children, but is unavailable here) and children’s gummy multivitamins (to improve overall health of the children). The students collected enough Gatorade to make about 400 liters – that should last quite a while! They also collected over 30 bottles of vitamins – fabulous. But God had bigger plans from this great group of students…

At the end of November we got a call to inform us that one of the student’s parents had organized a donation of vitamins from a pharmaceutical company. They were shipping TWO PALLETS of children’s vitamins to the school for Good Shepherd’s Fold! We were blown away by a gift that is literally “more than we could have asked or thought possible.”

When the pallets arrived at SBEC, we took a picture with some of the 7^th graders and more than 250 boxes of vitamins in the school lobby. In total, there are 3,108 bottles of children’s multivitamins. Praise the Lord! They literally donated “a ton” of vitamins as the total weight is over 1,930 pounds.

Being unable to pack that much in our luggage, we began looking for shipping options with the help of a few friends. One person offered to donate the cost. Another friend in the shipping business looked up shipping rates for us. Someone else contacted their FedEx international shipping rep to inquire about a charitable discount. Meanwhile, we headed back to Uganda, waiting for more information. The offer from FedEx was the best rate and we were grateful for their generosity; yet the cost was still almost $4,000. FedEx was offering a HUGE discount, but it was still more than we felt we could responsibly pay. Customs fees can also be huge on incoming shipments. We turned to the Lord, grateful for the miracle of the vitamins and asked for another miracle to get them to GSF.

That is where the story is still unfolding. We asked the 7^th graders to be praying – the students at SBEC have a daily reminder to pray, because the pallets are still sitting in their lobby. I can’t give too much information regarding a plan that hasn’t come together, but… We have contacted a large team of people who are coming to Uganda in March. They are not coming to work with GSF, but we had already discussed ways we could connect while they are here. They have told us “not to worry” and a plan is being developed whereby they may be able to bring all 3,108 bottles of vitamins to us. Please pray with us and stay tuned. God is not finished with this miracle just yet!

Another Typical Day

While on furlough, we were often asked, “What is a typical day like at GSF?” After we stopped laughing, we would respond, “There is no such thing!”

Saturday began as a fairly typical day. Amy was trying to move past a migraine while I was temporarily feeling better from a sinus infection. Our three visitors came for lunch and then we began to investigate the resources available for them to operate Kids Camp for the children here as they are off school until February. We went to the pavilion where many supplies are stored. It was a total mess – books, videos and games were strewn all over the floor and that was only part of it. I called for the teenagers to come clean it up.

Chandler (an intern from Liberty University) opened one of the storage tubs to find the game/play parachutes. However, he quickly closed the lid and had a wide-eyed look on his face. We took another peek and found that a colony of small ants had taken over that tub! There were multiple thousands of ants and their larvae in there. So we turned from the large task of cleaning the pavilion to the specific task of removing the ants.

Pulling the container out into the yard, we opened it up, carefully grabbed a corner of the parachutes and started spreading them out in the grass. They had not been dried before packing them away months earlier, so the damp conditions apparently made a wonderful home for the ants. The critters scurried everywhere, carrying thousands of larvae with them.

As we were spreading the parachutes in the grass, I stepped in a big mud puddle. Yuck! Looking down, I noticed that the water was moving. This wasn’t just a mud hole from the morning rain; something was leaking underground. As the teenagers showed up to take over the task of cleaning the pavilion, the rest of us now turned our attention to the water coming out of the ground. We began digging with a hoe to follow the water flow. So many problems, but we had not yet discovered them all.

As we took turns digging, we kept running into a different colony of ants – this time they were vicious Safari Ants. Safari ants have huge pincers and they actually drew blood on two people that were bitten. When one of us would end up in the ants, the stinging would begin and we would run screaming to the pavilion to strip off shoes, socks or sandals. Their stings are painful!

We continued digging from the other side of the hole in order to avoid the safari ants. Eventually we found a pipe valve that was the culprit and we sealed it as best we could until the plumber could come replace the valve on Monday. Meanwhile the teens did a great job of cleaning the pavilion, the parachutes were dried out, the ants all returned to their respective homes and we all headed to the houses to shower before dinner. We were a muddy, dusty mess!

One mess leads to another. Just another typical day.

Uganda favorites, by amy Gwartney

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Reflections on Furlough

As we are half way through our 3 month furlough, I thought I would share some answers to some questions I ask the family today. Enjoy!

What is something you are enjoying in the States?
-Caralina and Mark--the orange juice
-Titus-Disney World and glasses of Milk (its not so good in Uganda)
-Megan-seeing relatives I didn't even know we had!
-Me-having our own space at times

What do you miss about Uganda?
-Mark-fruit we can fresh at the market
-Megan-Buster our rabbit and the weather
-Caralina-the kids
-Titus-running and playing with the kids
-Me-living simply

What are you looking forward to when we get back to Uganda?
-Megan-seeing the new baby bunnies (Buster the rabbit is a new papa:))
-Titus-going swimming
-Caralina-playing with the kids
-Mark-getting back into the routine
-Me-No more packing and unpacking

The tale of two little girls

Here's a true tale of two little girls and a very Great God!
We have some really good friends who lived in Bolivia when we moved to Uganda. Soon after we arrived in Uganda, they had a little girl named Maggie (enter little girl number 1). When they were given a gift of money for Maggie, they decided to give a portion of that money to us to use at the orphanage as we saw fit. As we held on to the money for several days and prayed about what to do with it, a 2 week old baby girl only 4lbs. came to the orphanage (enter little girl number 2)whom was eventually named Mary. That is when Mark and I realized what Maggie's money should be used for. We were able to use it to get the first supply of formula, diapers and bottles. Elated, we wrote to our friends, Jason and Sara to tell them Mary's story and how we used Maggie's money. Jason and Sara wrote back almost immediately and asked how much it would cost to sponsor Mary and get those things for her every month. Thus, began the sponsoring of Mary.
Several months later, Maggie began to have heart problems and her family had to move back to the States for medical testing and eventually heart surgery. About that time, another couple, Jimmy and Gayla began asking about adopting Mary. They eventually did and brought Mary (now called Zuri) home which is only about an hour away from Maggie.
We had the incredible privilege of allowing these two precious girls and their families to meet last night. What a fun experience and a blessing to see God's hand in an incredible way.

Final Adventure Before Furlough

Departing Uganda on the morning of September 16 allowed one last opportunity for an adventure.  As we were checking in at the airport, all ready for our 3-month furlough to begin, we were informed that the computer showed only 4 tickets for our family of 5.  Yikes!  We assured Megan (the one whose ticket was missing) that we weren’t going without her, but we did tease her a bit.  Several airline agents searched and searched for an explanation.  Finally they explained that we would have to go upstairs to purchase a new ticket for Megan and we would have to do so quickly, because check-in time was almost closed by this point.  Having checked in the rest of us, including our luggage, Amy waited with the kids near the immigration lines.  I went upstairs to talk to the British Airways agents there, looking for a quick resolution to the problem.

We had a reservation showing all five names and the itinerary.  We had paid the travel agency in America for five tickets.  However, it appeared that the travel agent inadvertently failed to ticket one of the reservations.  It was a simple oversight; but now we needed a quick remedy!  At the recommendation of the airline agents, I bought a one-way ticket for Megan.  We determined that we would have to resolve the situation with the travel agent after arriving in the states.  They processed the ticket as quickly as they could.  When I asked for printouts of all the booking reservations (wanting to have as much written proof as possible to show to the travel agent), they told me, “Your flight is leaving soon.  Go check in quickly and we will bring the printouts to you!”  I called Amy so she could send Megan to meet me at the check-in counter with our passports and my boarding passes.  Dashing downstairs and heading to the nearest agent, Megan met me with the documents and Amy took the other two toward the flight.  Megan & I quickly got her boarding passes and rushed to immigration.

As it turned out, we caught up with Amy and the other kids in the immigration lines and the boarding process was going slowly.  So we were fine on time.  Having been in the states for 3 weeks now, we have been able to resolve things with the travel agent.  They were very apologetic for the mistake.  They are reimbursing us for the $1,350 ticket we had to purchase in Uganda and they are making another reservation (at their expense) for Megan to return with the rest of us on December 16.  We are grateful that it has all worked out fine.