Happy Memorial Weekend from Uganda! I hope it’s as beautiful where you are as it is here today. I’ve been reading and sketching outside all day, and enjoying my day off… it’s been wonderful!
I’ve sent a couple of other updates, so here’s how the end of the week went:
- I led a 5 hour retreat/workshop with all but 2 of our staff yesterday. (I’ll meet with Mr. Aziz and Mama Santa separately about facility issues.) It was a new experience for most of them, but we had a fun and productive time of games, discussion, problem solving, and laughter. Oh, and chicken and chips, of course!
- Friday was both the Strong Minds group and Teen Talk. I didn’t know I was speaking at Strong Minds until I was introduced (!), but we had a good session on self-worth. Many of our girls are called “prostitutes” or “worthless” because of their past, but that’s not who they are now. They are learning to change their self-perception and it’s beautiful! (The baby at the top is one of the teen mom’s girls.)
- We had a (probably temporary) emergency admission on Saturday, a late-teen (she’s not sure of her exact age) with a one year old daughter. Both were very malnourished. Esther had been referred by a European woman who found her sleeping in front of a church. Nurse Sherry discovered she is pregnant again, and that her “husband” has been violent and abusive towards her. We will be in the community tomorrow trying to locate her auntie; in the meantime she’s staying temporarily in the dorm.
We’ve got a busy 2 days ahead, then on Wednesday we leave at 7am to travel 4ish hours west to Lake Mburo and Wells of Hope Primary School. We’ll be out that way until Sunday — more to come on that part of the trip!
Thank you all so much for your encouragement and support!
Blessings,
Jennings
