My Journey With God to Africa - Day Four 23-06-2009

Woke up this morning to freshed brewed coffee from Sharlyn. She has no idea how much this makes my day. It's the closest thing I have to home at this point. My laptop isn't working for skype, and my texting is about to go through the roof. So to sit and sip on coffee gives me the comfort I need today. We get ready for the vision celebration today and my phone rings...it's Pastor Ruth. She has good news! Saphan had gone to the airport early when the baggage claim opened and was able to find my luggage, he was on his way to Tororo with it! It was a cause for a celebration of it's own.
Sharlyn and I went to see if Grace was joining us for breakfast. Grace is Pastor Ruths daughter. She will be staying in a room at the hotel with us, incase we need anything. She joins us in the room with Jan and Jeanice, Sharlyn and I. We prayed over the day and over the praises of finding my luggage. We all cry together. It was refreshing to know that I'm not the only one that cries.
We arrive at Smile Africa and the kids are all waiting under the pavillion, screaming and yelling, smiling and waiving at this van full of strange people. "Mazungu, Mazungu" is what they are yelling.
We unload our supplies into the office and start to discuss the days plans, Pastor Ruth takes on a quick tour of Smile Africa before we begin the celebration.


As we're inside Dr. Bwonya joins us. What a treat to finally meet the partner in Christ I had in Uganda for the vision celebration. He has spent countless hours screening men, women and children for this day. The last day of the vision screening he had brought his wife with him. She was pregnant and due anytime. Just after setting up for the screening with literally hundreds of patients lined at the door, his wife starts having contractions. He sets up his staff and takes her to the nearest hospital. I can tell you from experience, this was no ride intended for a pregnant woman. The ride alone could have caused her to deliver! He gets her there safely and makes sure that she's comfortable and stable, and returns back to Smile Africa to finish what he had begun. This is called dedication in Uganda. In America it's called a death sentence!~LOL No man would leave his wife in labor to return to do work for any cause at no pay..none that I know anyway. He completed his task, calling and checking on his wife the entire time. The task completed he packed up and headed back to the hospital. Within 2 hours his wife delivered a healthy baby girl. So, to say that I was honored to meet this man at this moment was an understatement.
We walked over to the medical building to start sorting out the prescriptions of those that would be receiving them today. This is what I've been waiting for! The project that God had placed in my heart was now about to unfold before my very eyes..His vision became clear to me and to those in Uganda through the corrected eyesight of many. What a picture!
Soon we were greeted by Jack, the President of Tororo, Richard, The Mayor and his assistant. Bishop Robinah was also amoung the group. They were inspecting the medical center and looking over the nearly 900 pair of glasses spread out on the table. This was a pretty big event about to unfold.



They followed Pastor Ruth for a quick tour of Smile Africa. By this time we were well over 2 hours past our original timeline for glasses. As I peaked outside the tents were up and about 100 or so adults were under the tent. The children were all under the pavillion with the teachers. I expected that we would join the children. My expectations were wrong. Pastor Ruth told me that "they" were ready to begin. The government officials. ACK! Here we go!!
We started off with speeches from the officials. They greeted us, and thanked us for all that we had and were going to do on behalf of the children and the people of Uganda. In Uganda it's a custom that everyone and anyone related to a purpose at hand, get to say something about it. Speeches can take a long time. I was thankful..the longer it took them, the longer it took for me to do it! LOL
Maybe they would run out of time and we could just skip me...uh No, not going to happen I'm afraid. Soon my name as "team leader" was announced and it was my turn for speeches.



I was so nervous my Bible was upside down and I couldn't figure out how to straighten it..haha. I took a deep breath and found the strength through God to complete my speech. Originally it had been geared toward children, so some re-adjustments had to be made. After my turn, Bishop Robinah gave a speech. Dr. Bwonya had come out with glasses and we were ready for him to pass them out. The Mayor of Tororo approached me and let me know that I needed to pass them out, that this was a right given to me as the founder of this project. Dr. Bwonya would call the names, hand the glasses to me and I would in turn hand them to their new owner. I stood there with a lump in my throat as the first names were called. It was such an honor to hand them to the men and women. Then it came, the first pair of glasses for a child. I immediately looked over at Jan. She knew that this was the moment, the moment that we had talked about over and over, that the first child to get glasses I would break down and cry. The lump was a big as texas in my throat as they guided her across the grass to the tent. Her name was Jeni. She was about 7 or 8 years old, and so scared. Dr. Bwonya pulled the glasses out and placed them on her. Immediately I knelt down to see if they fit and asked her if she could see. If I had nothing more on this trip than to see this precious face with her new glasses I would have been happy. Thank You, Jesus! What a gift it was to her, but more so I think for me.



It brings tears to me now as I recall the day, a perfect day that the Lord had made!
Several more adults were fitted with glasses. The excitement continued for what seemed like hours. There were about 11 adults that needed cataract surgery and were disappointed that glasses would not work for them. I had asked Dr. Bwonya what the cost of a surgery was. He said, "$20.00". We were amazed at how inexpensive it was, and decided that we would provide the funds necessary to have those surgerys done. Thank God, for the many wonderful donations that came in before this trip. I know that He knew this day would come. The government officials had made some significant promises they would give Pastor Ruth. This celebration was just as much for her as it was for the kids, even more so at this point. They promised to provide her with medicine for her clinic, with paid trained teachers for her school and much more. I believe God provided many gifts that day to many people.
We took a much needed break after the vision celebration and all sat grinning and talking about how awesome it all was.
One of the best parts was to see Saphan and Alex arrive and sit amoung the group and behind him was my luggage! Woohoo! I saw Saphan sit in his chair, close his eyes and begin to pray. Alex would sneak a look at me and just smile her innocent child-like smile.



I pulled out the gymboree bubbles and decided to take them out for the kids. Needless to say they were thrilled and rushed around from all sides. Soon they were gathering pieces of grass weeds and catching bubbles with them. They looked for every opportunity to touch or be touched. They would poke my skin to see if it felt like theirs. The little ones would pull on our skirts to be picked up. They are impoverished in so many ways, not just money, but food, touch, love and simple nurturing. Each child is so dirty and many have some kind of ailment. It just breaks your heart. The thing that amazes me is that they still smile, laugh and have joy.
As I was playing with the kids a young man approached me. He told me his name was "Uncle Sam" and that his real name was Steven. He was a radio announcer and had come to cover the vision celebration. He said that he was very impressed by our efforts and also very thankful. He would be covering our efforts on the radio that evening and that he wanted to come back on Friday to talk more about what we were doing while we were in Tororo. A nice young man!



We sat and talked more with Pastor Ruth about plans for the future of Smile Africa.
We all agreed that Pastor Ruth and her ministry were God driven and we are excited to be a part of it. A good indicator of this was during the celebration. The dignitaries had mentioned that there are over 400+ registered NGO's in Uganda (non-profits) and of those only 20 can be proven to be legitimate. Smile Africa is in that 20. Thank You, God again for aligning us with your partners in the Kingdom!
We headed outside to pass out some soccer balls for the kids. We had spent much of the day with the adults, so it was time to shower some gifts we brought with us on the kids.




We took out about 12 balls and began to blow them up. The kids screamed like it was Christmas! They were all over the place with the balls having a great time!
We decided as it was time for the kids to go home that we would line them up at the gate and hand them candy as they left for home. WOW! Who knew it would cause a frenzy..we should have known! Each child got 2 pieces of candy. They stood outside the gates staring at us with their suckers wanting their pictures to be taken..LOL



We headed back to the hotel for dinner. Not sure about what food to eat I decided on a chicken sandwich. How bad could it be? Well, let's just say I didn't order it again. LOL I was hoping to get on the internet tonight, and as luck would have it they got the cords in and internet was available. WOOHOO! Wasn't until I got down there that I realzied I wasn't so lucky after all..it had the speed of dial up and the connection too! LOL after several unsuccessful attempts at getting online, I gave up and went to bed.