This morning on our van ride out to Blessed Hope Academy, I asked if it was really only Tuesday morning. Our team has only visited one of our partner orphanages in the past two days & I feel like I could go home tomorrow thinking about so many things. As we drove out into the countryside about an hour away, I recognized children not in school. It was about 10:30 in the morning & we were going to visit children in school… so this made me wonder what was holding these children back from attending. Was it money? A lack of transportation? No one caring about their education? This made me sad. I thought how privileged the children were we were going to see at an orphanage. Ironic isn’t it?
As we pulled onto the campus at Blessed Hope our van was charged with excited children who were longing for us as a team to love on them all day. Some of the younger students just wanted us to hold them, or hold our hands, some of them wanted us to sing to them, which I gladly did, leaving a smile on their faces & mine!! These students at this campus seem to remember everything. They remembered I was the auntie who sang Morning Light and they asked continuously throughout the day about other team members who visited them in June. These are elementary students. When I was there age I could not remember what happened the day prior. These students thrive to be loved, want to love you, know they are loved, by us and by a big and mighty God.
I had the opportunity to sit down with four students to do FoDU Dream Plans. These assess each child’s dream of what they want to be when they grow up. When I first started, it was hard for all the children to open up. I realized that all of these students were in P4, which should be fourth grade, but noticed that I had a ten year old, two eleven year olds and a fifteen year old at my table. Even though one of the eleven year old girls was faster in answering the worksheets, it impressed me to see that they were all on the same page for the most part. They were excited to sit with someone who cared about them enough to talk to them, and listen to what they want to be when they grow up. In Ugandan culture, after a student is done with primary school (typically 13-15 yrs old) they are pretty much on their own to decide where to go next in life. Oh the pressure! Where would I be if I had to make a decision for my life at that age? I loved to see that Frank wanted to be a footballer because he had seen so many of the older students at his school become great players, Pauline was striving to be a pilot because her father is, Christine wanted to be a nurse so she could help people not be sick & Richard wanted to be a teacher to secondary students (high school) to help them achieve their dreams. WOW – it’s amazing to see these children strive to such goals, have big dreams & be a part of the Fields of Dreams program that will help them achieve there goals.
These students rely on each other. There’s no one to hold them all day when they’re not feeling well, when a younger student is crying an adult doesn’t rush to their side, they comfort one another, they encourage one another. We need to continue to encourage them to reach their goals and strive for hope in every day. When Mike, the FoDU Executive Director, (or Uncle Mike as they call him in Uganda) prayed tonight when we arrived back at our lodging, he prayed that we would find joy amidst the family of children tomorrow. It’s truly a family of children who care for each other when in need. It showed me that hope is a basic need & I can provide that by loving on another child tomorrow & the next day.. & for the next twenty something days.
On our drive home, I was once again discouraged to see so many young students walking home from school on a dusty dirty road. However, knowing that there is an almighty, God who knows each one of those children by name, give me peace, hope & joy to see what their futures will become.
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