Wendy's Post: Timothy's Village

I feel my words will not accurately describe what we saw and felt in the village today. We began by doing some shopping in Jinga for supplies to take to pastor Timothy's village. He lives across the bay from Jinga in a remote fishing village with no electricity. There are about 200 households in that village but it seems when mzungus come, people come from all around to see and touch us. We hired a small boat that resembles a long, narrow canoe and loaded  200 bags of salt, 3 - 50kg bags of maize flour, 1 - 50kg bag of sugar, 100 long bars of soap, and 200 bags of tea into it. We raised quite a scene as 4 white people and Damali attempted to transfer our goods from Glenn's SUV into the boat.

mike talking to all the families and kids

Upon arriving in the village, we were greeted by many children shouting "mzungu", "mzungu". One little girl in particular stood out from the others. She wore a faded plaid pajama shirt and a tattered little skirt, her hair was braided, her voice was louder than the rest but she had a very infectious smile and laugh. She immediately latched on to my hand and excitedly talked away to me in Lugandan as if I understood her every word. She kept caressing my mole on my arm and stroking my finger nails. She then proceeded to lift up my shirt to see if I was white underneath too!

We walked a little ways up the hill to the church/school room. There was then some discussion as to how we would proceed. Pastor Timothy invited us into the church where we were welcomed by 250 smiling faces, the majority of them children, sitting on the ground. They clapped, sang, cheered and thanked us profusely for coming. I was overcome with emotion and sat at the front on a little wooden bench, with tears streaming down my cheeks. I couldn't believe the reception they gave us and I felt unworthy of their praise and gratitude.

doctors checking out boy with dislocated hip

We were called upon to introduce ourselves and give "a word of testimony". Speeches were given, platitudes received, a choir sung songs in our honor and then we began to sort out how to do our supply distribution. There was considerable chaos and confusion thought the distribution. At one point, we were encroached by throngs of mothers shoving their babies in our faces for pieces of clothing. Mothers would come for clothes with a different baby in their arms, in hopes that there would be something else to receive. Mike and mikaela helped throw out candies to the children outside. It's impossible to do fairly and we couldn't be sure everyone got a candy. Mike says that next time he'll bring thousands of candies!

We were emotionally touched by a little boy who was maybe 3 years old. He was throw out of his crib by his father when he was a baby. The incident appears to have dislocated his hip and has remained that way. Over time, he has learned to walk with a limp but his eyes are so sad. We are hoping to have a doctor look at him today. Our hearts break with the multitude of needs here, and our time doesn't seem to be a drop in the bucket but we are enjoying every moment and so thankful to be used by God.

Mikaela giving Sharon her gifts...she was so happy!

Sharon and her father came from their village, which was far away. Stephen was a very pleasant, quiet man who also helped us with the distribution. Both Sharon and Stephen speak very little English so pastor Timothy translated for us. Sharon's back is healing well and she was sitting up fine during the whole afternoon. At the end of the afternoon, we were able to take her and her dad privately into Pastor Timothy's house and give her some of the small gifts we had for her (a doll, some clothes, candy, bracelet, notes, etc.) and give her father some of the $s that had been raised for him. They were filled with gratitude and Stephen with tears in his eyes, kept hugging Glenn and wouldn't let go. Sharon smiled and held onto her gifts proudly. It was a surreal moment and one I won't ever forget.

A sincere thank you to all of you for your prayers, donations and monetary gifts. You have brought hope and joy to many.