I was just thinking today how blessed I feel to have been given an opportunity to change a life with this Musana trip...and then I was reminded that I'm given that same opportunity every day.  And it's as simple as a smile (or a frown), a kind word (or a less than kind word), a decision to walk towards (or a decision to walk away)..they all have the potential to change someone else.  Your choice...

I miss those kids!!

Between Iganga and Buongo on the back of a Boda

The brick brigade :)



I can't remember if that's jackfruit or papaya...they were both yummy

I'm not cryin' - I got dirt in my eyes on the last day ;)

It was a load of fun teaching Angel how to play hopscotch! 

Adam was our river boat guide

Mzungus working shoulder to shoulder with the kids...now that is a beautiful thing!

Silly Darren...always good for a laugh!

Paul found a great pizza spot in Jinja - Salima (second on the right in the foreground) was a great host to us and taught us SO much about Uganda.

One of the ironies that we observed is that we didn't see a lot of people that appeared to be 'homeless', at least in the context of how we would describe that in America.  We wondered if that is because there is such a strong sense of the extended family in the Ugandan culture that someone would always take a family member in.  One of many ironies about this is...that theory doesn't hold any water when you look at the number of orphans...



The 'before' picture at Denver Int'l Airport (back row - Darren, Steve, (Pastor) Paul, Dave,Bill, Tierney, and Kent; front row-Tyler, Judy,Alex and Stephanie)...this was a project manager's dream team

Traffic leaving Entebbe on the way to Kampala

Have Boda, will travel...we could have used that loader in the background about 2 days after this pic was taken ;)

This is the backdrop of mansions on the distant hillside around Entebbe and Kampala...the unseen foreground is quite a different picture

Uh, yeah...this is a police station

The road in front of our guest house

Stephanie getting her hair braided by Angel

I have no idea what point I was trying to make here...but Pastor Edward (back to camera) doesn't seem to be buying it ;)

Kids all too happy to pose for a picture...and even happier to see the pic on the digital camera after it's taken

Sign at the sugar cane factory that we toured...those sugar sacks must be really comfy....

Kent can (and did) strike up a conversation with anyone :)

This was our guard at the guest house

Wheelbarrow race, wheelbarrow derby, wheelbarrow obstacle course...we had lots of fun with wheelbarrows

 

Some of the kids 'outside of the walls'...

Amidst all of the excitement and joy about being with the kids at Musana, we were humbled by some of the grim reality all around us in Uganda.  There were kids on the outside of the fence at the Musana compound who called out to us each day 'Mzungu Mzungu', longing to be part of the fun...oblivious to the circumstances that brought the Musana children to this place.   It was still hard to see those big bright smiles and those beautiful dark eyes and not want to love on all of the kids - regardless of which side of the fence they were on.  Inside the fence, the stories of the kids are just heartbreaking...parents lost to AIDS, children orphaned by landslides, surrendered or abandoned by their parents who could not feed another mouth...and yet they find a way to smile and care and laugh. 

On our last day in Uganda, we came across a man laying along the side of a very busy road, people passing on foot and by car all around him.  Some even slowed t ostare at him. He appeared to be dead.  Darren went to check on the man and the security guard at the bank nearby told him to let him be.  The man had apparently been beaten by a mob for committing some unknown crime and left for dead in the middle of the street.  The guard had pulled him to the side of the road.  Darren went to the clinic not far away and offered a small fortune by Ugandan standards ($600) for someone to treat the man..and they refused.  Was it fear? Was it inhumanity? I just don't understand....

 The Nile at sunset

 The kids kidnapping Uncle Tyler

 The Sol Cafe is an internet cafe that Musana operates

 Workers on the Musana farm

 Workers at one of the largest sugar cane factories in Uganda

Judy as a biker chick...or I guess they call them Boda chicks in Uganda

 Kids on the other side of the fence outside of the Musana compound

 The phenomenal leaders of Musana, Haril and Andrea

 A local house

 Our little helper

 Local kids who greeted us at the guest house each day

 Future plumbers or roofers

 Judy and Dave at the guest house...just wanted to prove that I wore more than one outfit :)

 They like bananas in Uganda

Steve, Darren, Tyler and Judy laying brick for the drainage way

This is part of the welcome ceremony at Musana

Me and one of the kids in the Buongo village

Tierney (or Auntie Tooney as the kids called her) playing with the Musana kids

Locals filling their water jugs each morning

Me and my shadow:)

Kids mugging for the camera

Two kids in the Buongo village who walked with me ...I'm beginning to think I wore the same clothes every day

Darren hanging out with some local ladies...who are probably thinking 'um, who is this guy?'

One of the kids on the Musana farm

The Musana kids singing a farewell song for us on our last day - not a dry eye in the house

OSHA close your eyes :)...this is the new latrine being dug by this one worker.  He did this in just one day

Local kids happy to see the Mzungus

Cool shot of the boat that we were in to float the Nile River, taken from the vantage point of a salt cave

More local kids...fascinated by digital camera

Chillin' on the Nile at sunset...how cool is that!

Workers at the Musana farm