Journal and Pics from Rebecca Friederich

View from our Cottage in Kampala...not bad!

Soccer with the Street Boys from A Perfect Injustice

Yo! It’s Rebecca.

Personally, I’m starting to not mind being dirty. It’s actually kind of fun. Which is probably a good thing because in Kampala we have been getting super dirty. Especially yesterday. But since I’m talking about today I’ll just stick on that topic. We got picked up around 9:45ish by the API team and the boys. We went straight to their new land in Bombo and split into two groups to work. One group worked on the foundation for the kitchen building, and the other group went more into the bushy land to clear the weeds from the Casava garden/orchard area. I should tell you, these are not puny American weeds. This was serious weeding, like weeds and things that were as tall as we are and thick. (If you couldn’t tell, I was on this team.) Feel free to ask your students to weed when we get home and just tell them that it’s super easy compared to Uganda, but don’t tell them I told you too. =) We used the hoes (which I am a fan of) and slashers and it looked so much better when we were done and was super helpful to API.  Afterwards we headed back to the main area and helped finish the foundation by placing rocks down over the cement slab.

After a quick snack, we headed back into Kampala to the Kivulu Home where the boys live. It was super nice and fun to chill with them in their own setting. We had a delicious lunch (but more about how amazing the food is later) and then put on a program for them. Greg opened with two songs, and then we (Dave, Clara, Joe, Ryan, Hannah, and myself) put on a modern day version of the Good Samaritan. It was super fun. Then Mrs. Gibbons told the story of the lost sheep. Afterwards I heard that it was really powerful for the kids, which is wonderful. Then we closed with a few songs, one led by Sadic who is 14 and plays the guitar really well.  It was a really great experience to worship with them and have some fun, too Whenever we worship with the people here, it’s just and amazing experience.

Despues del program, we went to play football/soccer at a local field. It was Americans vs Ugandans, and Americans won 3-2. It was a super sweet game, though. Americans were bigger but the Ugandans we probably better, so it was all good. =) I didn’t play, but I watched and took pictures. The field was on a hill so we had a beautiful view of the city and I was able to confirm that African sunsets are basically amazing beyond words. After the game we went back to the house and left to come back to the guest housing.

On the more personal side, coming to Uganda is simply the most awesome thing I have ever been able to do. God has opened so many doors to get me/us here, and being able to interact with the kids who have such a genuine and inspiring faith has been an amazing experience. Also, with all the things that could have gone wrong, I’m so thankful to have had really good safety and health so far! If you could see the traffic, you’d know what I’d mean. And besides not having any protein for a few days and feeling crummy and realizing that protein really is good for you, I’ve been fabulously healthy and no jet lag. Woo hoo! Speaking of food, this stuff is amazing. I think rice and potatoes and goat stew is my new thing. I just miss milk. Anyway. I guess all I have left to say is that there is so much I can’t say in one little blog post, and I hope what I did say made a little bit of sense. Sooo, yeah. =)

Love you all! Thanks for your prayers.

Rebecca