Giving to others...

Today marks one week of being in Uganda and I have to say that it has been an amazing, interesting experience. This week I had the wonderful opportunity to accompany the OurGanda medical teams to five of the six villages. Most of the people in the villages do not speak English which makes it more difficult for me but the team has been so gracious and patient and finding ways for me to be helpful!

I wish I knew all the villages names but I haven't gotten that proficient yet in my pronunciation and spelling...I know, I should be sure before I even post this but I am currently in Fort Portal at a hotel with good WIFI so I wanted to take advantage of it...Fort Portal has recently been titled a city though I wouldn't compare it to the cities we have in the US. We left Bundibugyo at 0640 this morning and traveled about an hour and a half. Today was filled with all kinds of adventures...A few being, buying yogurt and oranges (yasss), going to the souvenir shop, walking around the city, and eating at the Dutchess restaurant where I ate too much. lol You would understand if you were here. ;). But by all means, it is worth everything! Tomorrow we are leaving at 0530 to view the sights at Queen Elizabeth National Park. Joe and Franklin have joined us, me and Ron, for the adventure! Joe is one of the team's drivers and Franklin is one of the nurses (If I have already mentioned that in my previous post, oops). Both have been very helpful and kind during my stay as well as the others on the team. So enough about what is supposed to happen in the future...let me briefly talk about the experiences in the villages because that is what you really want to hear about, right?!

The first village I was privileged to go to was up on the side of the mountain about 10 minutes from the town area of Bundibugyo...there were many children and adults patiently waiting to be seen. I helped put the kids bags together that included one underwear, mosquito net, soap, toothpaste and toothbrush. Joseph, the other driver, took a list of all the children that were under 5 years old and called them by name as I passed out the bags. It broke my heart that there wasn't enough items to give to all the children!

Driving up to the area where the team was providing medical care...

The view was amazing...

Everyone waiting to be seen...

We had fun giving each other high-fives!

My favorite part was handing the bags to the children and seeing there happy faces...

Though I didn't really capture it in pictures because many times they would go serious when a picture was being taken but I promise that they smiled!

My very favorite moment of the day was witnessing a little boy put on underwear for the first time! His joy and complete happiness was expressed on his little face and he giggled and smiled as he looked at Ron and me.

A smile of happiness between himself and his mother...

It is the simple things in life that matter the most and this little boy really made that apparent...Often times we take for granted what we have been given and we forget what it is like to go without. It is a great reminder to be gracious and giving to others who are less fortunate than us...If you are able, please prayerfully consider donating to OurGanda. There are so many projects and opportunities that would help these beautiful people so much! Follow the link https://ourganda.org and click on the red button in the right hand corner that says, "Give Life."

I must close for now but here is a picture of a baby goat that I saw today...