We are having a great time here in Uganda.  We all arrived safe and sound on Wednesday.  Thursday we spent the day at Hope and all of the team got to know the children. Some of the team members sponsor some of the children at Hope and Alpha Omega School.  It was wonderful to see them meet.

This morning (Friday) we all met together before we started our day out.  We asked some of the team members to share their experience at Hope on the first day.  Here are a few of their thoughts:

- The children love singing.  I spent some time singing some of the story book to the children.  One of them just wanted to read the book to me.  I noticed the children are all so patient and don’t need to be “entertained”.  This showed me that we are missing something, because we our time is so filled up.  They have time to think about God and they talk about Him and all that He has done all the time.

- Kids are all so joyful and always smiling even though all the hardship they have been through.

- I watched a child pick up the left over pieces of rice off of the ground after the team had their lunch.  (tears came gushing as this was being shared.  The Alpha Omega children that are not sponsored do not get lunch at school.) If I would have known, I would have dropped more rice.

- The children are always serving and so helpful.

- The kids are so happy with nothing…they just want love.  They observe you so closely like you mean so much to them.

- We visited with Grandma Alice in her small house.  She has absolutely nothing, but all she could talk about was how thankful she was for the things Show Mercy has provided for her.

Today we have been doing some fun activities.  The team split up into groups and worked on different projects.  The Redd family raised money to build cabinets to house some books they collected.  They are going to help us start an official library.  Justin Redd spent time with the children and handed out books for the child to read.  They were all sitting quietly reading their books!

Amy and Julie spent most of the day “cutting” hair.  They brought some clippers for this specific purpose.  The kids looked like they were really enjoying this special time and touch.

Another part of the team worked on some “Hope Banners”.  We cut strips of construction paper, glued their photo and then wrote out what each child desires to be when they grow up.  We then laminated each sheet.  We will be hanging these up over their beds, so when they go to bed and when they wake up, they will remember that they were created for a purpose.  They can have hope knowing that God has rescued them and now they have a hope for their future.

We still have many children that are in need of sponsorship.  The story of the child crawling around picking up the left over pieces of rice was a hard thing to see.   Help us provide a meal for these kids!  Not only that, but when you sponsor a child, that child can know that someone is thinking of them and that they are special in the eyes of another. Click here to help a child today.

We will keep you posted! Thanks for helping us to answer the cry of injustice in Uganda.

Mike and Lori Salley for Team Uganda