The children at Hope Children’s Home have been on summer break the entire month of August. They have been playing and enjoying time off from school. Two of our girls had an opportunity to visit a friend of ours named Barbara Iman. She is from the USA and has been living in Uganda for 9 months now.

While we were in Uganda back in June, we were able to donate 2 treadle sewing machines to her ministry. She has a heart to help widows and orphans learn to sew, so they can become self sufficient with a trade.

She loves our kids at Hope and offered to take two of our older girls away for a week, so they could spend one on one time with Barb as well as learn how to sew.

Thank you for helping us to provide those sewing machines. We are looking forward to the day when we can begin building our school class rooms and provide a room for our own children to learn how to sew. Not only would they learn how to sew, but their self confidence would be renewed. We could also train some of them to sew the school uniforms and generate some money. We currently have $3000 of the needed $20,000 to build our new class rooms. Is education your passion? Do you know someone who can help? Spread the word for us or help us to provide a building today by clicking here to help.

Below is Barb’s account of their week together:

For the last week I have had the privilege of having three teenagers in the house, Victoria, Lydia and my Joy.
I was originally going to take one at a time but thought they would be more comfortable having a buddy close by. Victoria and Lydia are both 14 years and are from Hope Children’s Home near Kampala.

I picked them up on a Sunday afternoon. After walking a distance to the main road we boarded a taxi and headed for Kampala. After finding our way through the crowds and traffic we boarded another taxi to Luzira, stopping at the market there for some snacks then onto my and Joys home in the village.

Joy was glad to welcome them with warm hugs and got them settled in her room in the bunk bed while she slept on the mattress on the floor in my room. Joy is 17 so she was kind of like an older sister to them, they got along great and I am so thankful she is here. Victoria and Lydia speak enough English to get by but the three communicated in their native tongue, Luganda, which was much easier for them.

It took a couple days for the girls to catch on to using the treadle machines. After much perseverance and determination they got it. Joy was a huge encouragement to them as she has mastered the machine quite well and was able to help teach them, using language and vocabulary they were more familiar with.
They would sew for a couple hours then get bored as any teenager would so they played cards and they would go to Joys room and have girl talk complete with giggles and such.

I really tried to make this a special time for them with special snacks, a fruit bowl that was always full and meals they would not normally get at the home. One afternoon when they were in Joy’s room I surprised them with a tea party. Nice teacups as opposed to the usual plastic, with tea, mango juice and scones. When I entered, Victoria let out a gasp of surprise and delight. It was so much fun.

Another afternoon I had bought some nice lemon cupcakes from friend who makes them in her home for extra money (I don’t have an oven). I delivered them to the girls again on a pretty tray with tea.
Joy told me later that week that the girls ate the cupcake papers and that she has done the same thing not wanting to miss any of the cake that was left in the paper. It did not surprise me, as I understand the poverty from which they come. Joy said they never would have done it in front of me, but were comfortable enough with her, as Joy has walked and lived in their shoes.

During the week, we watched Finding Nemo and The Sound of Music, ate popcorn and drank soda. This was a real treat for the girls.

By the end of the week the girls had both made a handbag and were quite pleased with their accomplishment. Joy blessed them with some clothes and they took the deck of cards home to play with their brothers and sisters at home.

I look forward to continuing to taking these and other girls into my home, teaching them to sew and loving them one on one.

Thank you for your continued support of Show Mercy. More news coming soon!

Lori Salley
Show Mercy International

www.showmercy.org

Dear Friends and Partners of Show Mercy International,

Many of you have been inquiring as to the details for the next Show Mercy International team trip to Uganda. We are pleased to announced that we have finally scheduled a date for this trip. We look forward to another life changing adventure to Uganda! We hope that you will consider joining us. Below is some initial information:

Dates:
We will leave the US for Uganda on January 13, 2009. We will leave Uganda on January 25th, returning to the US on January 26th.

Costs:
We believe the cost of this trip will be approximately $3000 per person and that will include airfare, hotel accommodations for 11 nights, breakfast, dinner, ground transportation while in Uganda, drinking water and administrative fees. However, until you have confirmed that you will be a part of this team and paid at least $2000, this price cannot be guaranteed. Please contact us as soon as you are able to commit and we can give you a more accurate price. Prices fluctuate daily with the airlines so we need to be prepared to purchase tickets in order to secure the best rates. Credit Cards may be used with a 3% fee added to the cost of any charges made to your card.

More Information:

To find out more information about what you can expect on a trip, please visit the following link:
http://www.showmercy.org/get_involved/short_term/ or contact us by email at info@showmercy.org or via telephone at 541-905-0791. You can also read the many blogs that have been written while on our Uganda trips by visiting the following link: http://www.showmercy.org/category/news/

If you are interested in being a part of this team, please download an application and liability release form on our short term missions page, complete it and mail it back to: Show Mercy International, PO Box 607, Albany, Oregon  97322. These documents must be completed in order to be considered for a spot on a Show Mercy team.

If you are currently sponsoring a child through Show Mercy International, this would be your chance to meet and hang out with that child. If you are not sponsoring a child, please consider doing so.

As those of you who have been on a trip with us know, your life will never be the same after experiencing a mission trip with Show Mercy. If you have a heart of compassion for orphans, widows or the poor, want to step out of your comfort zones or just experience a deeper relationship with Jesus, this might be the trip for you!

Called to the Cry,

Mike Salley
Show Mercy International
www.showmercy.org