Working with Mud

We had a great day today building a home. The structure of the home was already built with a type of tree in the bamboo family – looked like bamboo to me. The tin roof was put on in sheets yesterday and finished out today. Yesterday, they had half the roof on. That was all the widow who the house was being built for was able to buy. She would then normally have to wait a couple months to save enough money to buy the rest of the tin roof. We bought her the rest of the roof at the end of the day yesterday to keep the progress going (120,000 Shillings – about $60). Today we packed mud on the walls of the structure (see linked pictures). Basically they had a mud pile next to the house that we would then take big balls of mud and pack in the wall structure. It was dirty work, but we really felt like we helped out and made a lot of progress (see linked pictures). Yesterday, Luke and I helped hoe the dirt to produce the mud and then we all carried a lot of water in these yellow water jugs (jerry cans) from the local water hole. Each jug held about 5 gallons of water and after carrying one in each hand and the mile walk, it was very tiring. So all in all, a great day of building a home. The widow and her family were so appreciative. They are all very grateful for the help we provide. Whenever you give a women money to financially help her in any way, she will bow down to accept the gift. It is a very humbling experience in a way in that you really do not want her to bow down to you, though it would be an insult to their culture not to allow her to bow.

We also met up again with the man with AIDS and the swelling condition on his legs and feet. They had let us know how much the medicine would be for treatment – turned out to be 20,000 Shillings (less than $10). There were a number of other people we were given an opportunity to help there in this village. I wanted to specifically let you know where we are able to provide help as a team to see the impact that can be made and specifically the impact your donations have made. Idah, the woman in Uganda that heads up GFR and a number of other organizations, made the comment yesterday that is so true, “there is a thin line between survival and death”. It is just so true as we travel around and visit various families. There are just so many that live way below any poverty level. Their biggest concern is what are they going to eat for their next meal or if they will eat at all. I am not trying to over exaggerate here at all. If anything, I am under-exaggerating. There are just so many living in a life or death situation whether it be an illness or hunger or some combination of both. So what a great honor it is to be here and have the opportunity to be used to make such a significant impact directly in the lives of the people in Uganda. What greater joy can there be than to be used by God to love others. That is really the key, it is not about us here at all. It is about the love of God and Him blessing others through us and blessing us through these experiences. I think we are getting the most blessings through these experiences.

Once again Luke has been incredible here. He just loves meeting all the children and playing with them. Many of them remember him from last year and he remembers many of them. I forgot to tell you in yesterday's blog about a very cool event. We were driving past a school of young children and decided to stop and give them a soccer ball. When we stopped the bus, the children just started running and yelling 'Mzungu, Mzungu' (which means white person – but in a very non-racial manner). They are all just so excited to see a Mzungu. They all surrounded the bus screaming, smiling, and waving at us. Luke got off the bus with a soccer ball and the kids just went crazy. We presented the ball to the teacher who again accepted it with such appreciation. When you give a group of children a soccer ball, it it like you have just given them the best gift ever. They love playing soccer (and are very good), though many times, they are kicking around a homemade soccer ball made of plastic trash bags and tied together with banana leaves.

Last thought: through all the poverty, sickness, and hunger we are constantly greeted with the biggest smiles you have ever seen and more hugs than you can imagine. There is joy here in their struggles. We are truly blessed to be here with such wonderful people.

Link to pictures on the right hand side of this blog site

http://picasaweb.google.com/genew64/Africa2009LukeAndGene#