We woke these mornings extremely early and energized to begin our work at the project. We traveled the hour and 15 minutes back past Entebbe to Kigungu to begin our work projects. We split into two teams that would sing, dance, and fellowship our way to successful completion of our tasks. One team worked on the house of the widow as previously mentioned. My team worked on painting the building that the Child Survival Program will take place in.
The Child Survival program is a fairly new program within Compassion. Many of you have probably heard the staggering statistic regarding the number of children to die, due mainly to preventable causes, prior to their 5th birthday. The aim of CSP is to help prevent that. They work with the poorest of the poor women in the community from pregnancy on to ensure proper pre-natal care, healthy delivery, and a healthy start to life. They also really help with education within the family as far as family roles, HIV/AIDS prevention, and ways to safeguard their marriage. The workers go out into the home of the family at least once monthly and they also have gatherings at the church at least monthly. This is a great way to increase the role that the men play in the family because they are learning the importance of their place in the life of the child. It really is amazing to get to meet the women. We had a chance to hear the testimony of a few of them. One of them touched me in particular...
She is 15. She was impregnated and dumped. Happens in the US. Happens in Uganda. She was 100% set on delivering the baby and then dumping it by the side of the road. She couldn't take care of herself at age 15 let alone a child. But Compassion stepped in. They promised her support. Emotional support as well as monetary support. They promised that if her child is sick they will take him to the hospital and cover her bills there completely. They promised to teach her about the importance of breastfeeding and malaria prevention. They gave her hope.
And so I return to the wonderful and fun work that my team was tasked with. Over two days we painted both the inside and the outside of the building. The outside is now a beautiful green on the bottom half and cream on the top. The inside is cream with a beautiful mural of Gods creation. Flowers, sunshine, and butterflies. The project staff were really overwhelmed when we were finished because they were delighting so much in the prospect of placing the first baby in the nursery and seeing his or her eyes light up!
I am also happy to report that the home of the widow is nearly 1/2 done. There will be hired help to finish the rest but the testimony that we shared with her about the love of Jesus Christ that He would send a bunch of white people from across the world to show her love is beyond words. You could only see it on her beautiful face.
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