Home Visits

Tuesday the first group went to visit those with Aids in their homes. Cheri, Ruth, Sherril, Ron, Carla were in the first group. The first home we went to was very small. We sat on little basket weave three legged stools. It was a one room home with a curtain to separate the sleeping area from the sitting area. Smeone was letting Jane use the home. No running water, no electricity and a dirt floor that was covered with handwoven mats. Jane, the woman of the home has Aids and her husband left when he found out. She has no income and basically lives on the goodwill of her neighbors who have just a bit more than her. Her son, Richard is one of the Children of Promise that someone from our church is sponsoring. She also had a daughter. Sherril prayed for her after we talked a while. We all were in tears. The only hope in her life is Christ. She is a church member and has been one of our cooks so we had met her at the church.

The next home was the mom named Constance with three daughters and five grandkids. All have Aids except the youngest daughter, Cissy who is sponsored by Terri. Her oldest daughter has gone back to the village to die because there is no way to bury someone in their financial state in Kampala. They still have relatives in a nearby village. Her middle daughter isn't married and has two children, one only a year old. Cissy is 12 and very smart. Her favorite subject in school is English. She speaks it really well. Constance makes and sells handcrafted mats and other items for the little money she can get. Constances's husband died 6 years ago. What a large burden this courageous woman carries. There are 12 living in this one room home.

At the last home we visited we were warmly greeted by Hajara (sp?). She is 4 years old and the little girl Janelle sponsors. She was jumping up and down with excitement and smiles because she was so excited that we were there. She warmly welcomed us into her two room house. It had a cement floor and even nice furniture. The mother had been a teacher until she lost her job because of the stigma of Aids. The mother became a Christian as a child but married a Muslim. Hajara goes to Sunday School and is learning about Jesus. The father is open to her doing this. He is also unemployed and was out looking for enough work to provide food for the family for the day. Mother, Father and Hajara all have Aids. There are also 9 and 12 year old boys who do not have Aids. The mother found out she had Aids when she became pregnant with Hajara.

There are so many needs here that the Children of Promise is only sponsoring one child per family. Everyone values education and wants their children to go to school but it costs $25 per term (3 terms a year) for each child to go and most people don't have that kind of money. Constance does laundry for only 10 cents a load so you can see how little the people here get for their labor. We have men working at the job site for $5.00 a day.

It's amazing how powerful the Children of Promise is. The children come to church and bring their parents and this provideds needed hope for the family. Janelle is determined to bring home 50 more kids for the church to support so start praying. We will be looking for sponsors and having met these beautiful children we are very passionate!

Today and tomorrow two other groups will go on visitation. Tonight we will have the first church service on site with the church. Now we're off to the job site.