Goodbye Uganda

Well what a crazy last week and a half it has been. Friday we went to work and I spent the morning with Steven, one of our suubi babies who cut his tongue and had to get stiches. Then I spent the rest of the day
with Agnes a little girl who is malnurished and has been doing very poorly, is not expected to live long. So i spent the day with her, it was so much fun and she loved the attention, she needs it. Its not unusual for babies to get depressed when they loose their parents or in agnes' case don't see there parents often (she was just taken untill she gets better) Any ways, Agnes has HIV, TB and is extremly malnurished so please pray that he gets better. Another little boy, Kenneth, who is also very malnurished and has a bloated stomach is doing very bad as well, his stomach keeps growing but nothing else is gaining any weight. He is 4 years old and if he falls on his stomach he could die. Last week he fell but landed on his nose, so praise God that he is still here and just pray that he would get healthy. Other then those ones all the babies are good as far as we've heard. We are leaving for Suubi tonight for the next couple nights to spend as much time with them before we leave Uganda, which is already on Saturday and we will take a bus to kenya and visit monica and david again which we are both really excited for. So last week we had the privilage to go to Gulu (northern uganda) we found out on friday afternoon and where on our way saturday morning. Gulu was amazing, we got to go to church there, spent a few days in the babies home, falling in love with more babies (sigh) and then on wednesday we raged (quite literaly) to the watoto childrens village. To get an idea of what this trip was like lets imagine that there are 7 people stuffed into an itty bitty car, then lets imagine that we are in africa on dirt roads at the best of times. now lets imagine gynormous wholes, here and there with some
massive speed bumps ever little while, and for fun lets throw in some pot holes. Now that the scene is set
imagine that a huge fast scary monster is chasing you, casuing you to go through said road way to quickly. FOR 1 HR! fun? oh yes :| anyways we got to the village and where quickley toured around the schools by a volunteer who was working up there. And of course being surronded by kids :) and then we went back!!! After words we went on a tour of living hope where they help woman who are single mothers who have HIV. It was so cool to get a tour and see all they do, disiple ship classes, day care for the womans babies and teach them practical skills so they can provide for themselves (sewing, making peanut butter). The next day the 6 of us where invited to go to a refugee camp where watoto does a camp to help the people deal with all that they've been through. There where 2800 people there!! they where so happy that we came and danced, did dramas, and sang for us it was so cool. We even got to here a couple of testimonies, God is so good. Since coming back from gulu, we have said way to many goodbyes. Andy (from NZ) left on tuesday, Lina, Tone, Kristine and Amy (from Norway) left last night- that one was the hardest one yet because we've been together for the last 4.5 months, and today we say goodbye to a couple babies and tomorrow we say goodbye to the rest, i'm already a mess- i wish we had more time, but i doubt there would ever be enough time. This week we had to say another goodbye, a little boy, 3 years old, named Cooper passed away this week. He had a blood clot that stopped his heart, so we all went to his memorial, it was very sad, and is so hard to understand why something like that would ever happen, only God knows. Please pray that we make it through Saturday as its going to be very hard. Please also pray for Agnes and Kenneth as their health is not good. God bless and we shall see you all in 2.5 weeks
-Christina

Mombasa and after - AKM

Got off the train in Mombasa and got picked up by a guy named Kombo. He was so great. He's been in the tourist business for like 20years. He convinced us to switch where we were staying. He took us to a better place than we were planning on staying at and it was still cheap enough for us. We were practically right on the ocean. So beautiful. Unfortunatley the beach boys drive you nuts so it's hard to relax. Next day Amy, Tone, Lina and Christina went snorkling with Kombo. They got to have a sea food lunch and sea a bunch of sea animals. Couple of the girls got small scratches from coral. While they did that Kristine and I stayed home and just chilled on the beach. Went out for italian ice cream. The walk was a lot longer than we had thought it was going to be. Thankfully the ice cream was worth it. Next day didn't go so well for me. Woke up with a splitting headache, which continued until the rest of our time there. Laid in bed the whole time sweating to death, unwanting to move. The rest of the girls still got to do some cool things. They sailed out to a little island, rode camels, found amazing shells and got tanned. Last day there we finally took me to the hospital to get checked out. About an hour later I was diagnosed with malaria and a bacterial infection. Got two needles. They said I could finish the rest of my treatment in Nairobi, so they gave me two viles for more injections and pain killers. Chilled around in resteraunts until we went to the train station. Survived the train ride alright. In the morning God blessed us so much. Saw so many wild animals out the window. Gazelles, wilderbeasts, zebras... it was so amazing. Arrived in Nairobi and went straight to the hospital. There they tested me again and put me on an IV drip. Took forever to get my test results. Christina had to keep running around doing things because we didn't have an attendant. Finally they came back with my results. Still possitve with malaria. The doctor decided to switch me to oral treatment instead of the injections. Which meant I had to pay more money. Hopefully insurance can get it all back. After the hospital we booked our bus tickets back to Uganda and went to Monica's again. Monica and David were so good to me. Constantly checking my temperature, getting me food and drink, and making sure I was comfortably rested. Before we left we gave them a thank-you gift. The two have become like family to me and its so hard to say good bye. Thankfully we'll get to see them again on our way to Botswana. Bus ride back to Uganda was so horrid. They do not know how to pave roads here. My head was killing me, I just wanted to cry the whole time. Had such a hard time drinking. Finally made it back to Kampala. Picked up some groceries and got Mike to drive us back out to Suubi. Shortly after unpacking got a text from Sandrah saying we needed to move back to Buziga, due to much needed renovations that are going to be done out in Suubi. So, had Mike come back, and packed all our stuff into his car. Was so packed. Mike was just laughing, he's never had his car so full. Made it to Buziga and just collapsed. So tired of travelling. Finished the last of my medication. Then went to bed still feeling horrid. Next morning I had a miraculous recovery. My headache was pretty well subdued and I was so hungry and thirsty. I ate and drank so much that day. I was overflowing with joy and praising God. Still have a bit of recovery to do but I have been blessed so much. They sent us back out to Suubi for one night, due to a special guest coming out. We had to do so much work to make the place look perfect. Washing, organizing, straightening, making sure the kids all had new clothes... it was crazy. We're both highly exhausted afterwards and were glad to have the day off today to just relax after everything we've been through.
Thank-you so much to everyone who has been praying for me while I was struggling with malaria. Prayer works. We believe in an Awsome God. Please keep up the prayers as we finish out our last month in Africa. Time is flying by so fast. Love and appreciate you all.
Amie