Hey friends! It is 9:30pm in Kampala right now, and 12:30 pm at home. We are settling in after a fantastic day with the children and faculty of New Kabale Busega along side part of our in-country staff members from FODU, and today’s special guest named Carolyn from Afripads.
I’ll get right to the point in saying that the reason that I so love this country and its people is the immeasurable joy that seems to live here. Beyond circumstances of all shapes and sizes, the people, especially the children of this country are thoroughly grateful and joyful down to their cores.
In our team devotional this morning, Mike talked about what is to be gained from a trip like this one. Not for the children that we are serving, but for ourselves. What can we learn? What defines us when set against a list of blessings that we have beyond measure, but a lack of the real joy that is seen daily in a place like we are currently in? What does it mean to be blessed and be a blessing? We are following a command by a big and great God to love and serve, nothing more and nothing less. So today, I tried to find the blessings, and I didn’t have to look far.
This first day working with the school was only a reflection of what I already knew of them.
Today was my first experience with one of my favorite concepts behind FODU, which is the extent of good that hope and a sense of purpose can create in a person’s life. It was the first time that I had a chance to review a Dreams Plan with a child and really see the way we are encouraging them to learn how and why they want to live. To set this concept up a little bit- we went into New Kabale with the intention of doing a “Junior Dreams Plan” with some of the younger students to introduce the idea of dreaming dreams and setting goals to achieve them. What are you good at? What do you love doing? What are characteristics that people would say you have? Who encourages you and how? What career have you thought would be one you are interested in?
Throw all of these ideas in a bag and shake them up and you have the version of a Dreams plan with a 9 year old. It was beautiful to watch this young man, Joel, speak and write the positive things he knew to be true about himself but obviously never discussed with anyone. He knew EXACTLY what he wanted to be, how and why, and what steps it would take him to arrive at this dream. He basked in the moments to talk about what he truly loved doing and what he felt that he is good at. He felt hope in his future, and he knew that there was an adult who cared.
Hope, for the vulnerable child (or adult) can be and is often everything. It is undeniable that some bit of confidence in himself and his abilities was lit up inside of my little friend Joel.
Fast forward to the afternoon, and again FODU impresses me with the extent they are involved in the lives of these children. A common problem among young women in Uganda is managing their menstrual cycles in a hygienic and efficient way. FODU has partnered with a company called Afripads for this trip in order to supply the girls with reusable sanitary products that are cost-efficient, more cleanly, and will allow them the ability to continue their daily activities without the element of embarrassment or poor hygiene that seems common among them.
The young women were ECSTATIC to receive these kits, and could not thank us enough for the additions we had made to their lives. Again- Joy. Throughout all things… even uncomfortable conversations about things that they need and don’t have or struggle to afford.
So… That is all Reader’s Digest, but my points to my rambles are this: Hope is a basic need, and among these children I would argue sometimes the MOST basic of needs. It truly does anchor the soul. And, as always, I am the one being blessed. They are joyful in all circumstances. They dance and sing and pray in a more fervent way than my little “blessed” life normally touches. I will continue to watch and learn from some of the tiniest of teachers.
Love to you all-
Kathryn Campbell
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