Lira Integrated Boarding School

On Wednesday after we met with the street kids, we later went to Lira Integrated Boarding School. This is another place where we are implementing the peace clubs. There are about 30 kids here that fall into Children of Peace’s target group of being abducted, former child soldiers, born in captivity, or child-mothers (gave birth in the bush due to being raped by the rebels).

I am so thankful that my fabulous friend and fear-less leader taught me about “Flex Pills” on my very first trip to Africa in 2010. You never know what the day will hold, and even though you have an agenda and a time schedule to follow, sometimes it just doesn’t happen! We were supposed to have an hour with these kids, but we arrived a bit late, had to meet with the headmaster and then it took awhile for all the kid to get to us. So we ended up only have an half an hour.

But it was a good start to the Empower Program. We spent time explaining what the Empower Program was and the various activities that we will be doing with them.

Since we didn’t have a whole lot of time, I thought it would be good for them to decide as a group what they wanted the rules to be. It is so interesting to me, because in my mind I think about what former kids in my groups back in America have said or done during some of these activities.... and it is so interesting to compare the differences! As they began to list what rules they wanted so that they all felt safe to open up and share I was floored. Here is what they came up with:

1.    Time Management

2.    Cooperation

3.    Discipline

4.    Love one another

5.    Obedience

6.    Respect one another

7.    Forgive one another

8.    Be open to share

9.    What is said in group, stays in group

10.  Have Fun!!!!

We will start trust and team building activities with them on Saturday!

Empower Program/Peace Clubs

I know you have been reading about this Empower Program/Peace Clubs and are probably wondering what the heck it is!? So I thought I would share a bit more with you. Basically, it’s a program that has three parts to it. The first part is the Empower Program. This program focuses on trauma healing and forgiveness. The first part, which we are just now implementing with the kids, highlights emotional strength. We are providing these children with skills to manage emotions, identify their emotions, build trust, coping skills, and then eventually share their stories. We will then move into the second part of the Empower Program which will teach skills on Forgiveness.

After the Empower Program is complete the children will begin focusing on Peace and Reconciliation Skills Training and Peace Building Skills. The last component is Leadership Skills Training. This is a brand new/ground breaking program that Exile International has created and I am so thrilled to be on the ground assisting in implementing it for the first time!

Through all of these different components a variety of interventions will be used, the majority being expressive arts. These children will build and maintain skills and healing through drama, art, music and dance. When a traumatic event occurs in a child’s life or anyone’s life, it is stored in the right side of the brain. This is the side of our brain that allows us to express ourselves emotionally. So it only makes sense that these children are able to tell more of their story and receive more healing when expressive art methods/interventions are used. Many times, children are unable to verbally describe a traumatic event…but once given a marker and piece of paper their story comes to life.

We just completed the first session of the Empower Program with three different groups of children this week! More blogs to come to walk you through how it all played out!

Founatin School Girls who are in the Peace Clubs!

Kick off of Empower Program/Peace Clubs with Child Restoration Outreach

Today (Wed July 11^th), we started with meeting with CRO (child restoration outreach). We have visited them a couple of times in the past couple of weeks to get to know them and to start building relationships with them. These children are all street children. They walk the streets daily and if they are lucky are able to find a place to sleep for the night. They are dirty, filthy…yet melt my heart. CRO is open for these children to provide porridge in the morning and then a lunch. The staff offers a devotional for them in the morning and then some classes to review material that is taught in the school, so when they do get reunited with their family and get sponsors they won’t be so far behind in the classroom. The kids are able to come and take showers and wash their clothes throughout the day.

I love naughty kids; they are my favoriteJ. Even with the population of kids that I worked with in America, I was drawn to the trouble makers the most. This group is mostly all males and they are rough! But think about it, they have to learn how to survive daily on the street…so I expect them to be aggressive and to have such a strong wall built up around them.

We are doing the Empower Program/Peace Clubs with them, in a slightly different way than the other groups. These boys need constant activity, fun and excitement to keep them engaged. They often do not get good sleep during the night, so many times they sleep throughout the day and it is hard for them to stay awake when they have to sit in a chair and listen!

We started with a brief “check-in”. I taped up a big poster and drew a line. Each child came up and identified where they fell on the line. One side was feeling really bad and the other extreme was feeling amazing. The majority of the boys wrote their name on the end of “feeling really bad/sad/not good”. Makes sense. This is a great way to “check-in” with various groups that you are working with. Not only does it show the others where they are at and gives them a chance to not feel alone, but it helps us who are leading the group…to know which kids to be more sensitive with, gentle with.  Of course, while I was introducing this first activity, a fist fight broke out among some of the boys. Another boy stood up and broke them apart. After this happened, I knew I was in my comfort zone! J Love, Love, Love them so much!

 We then introduced the topic of trust and ventured into a fun game of “Light House”. The Empower Program speaks about how when we experience trauma and stressful times in our lives, we begin to not trust individuals anymore. These boys especially have little trust for anyone in their life. They only trust themselves, as they are the only ones who they have to fend against and protect while they are on the street. I am sure their motto is “Trust No ONE”.

One boy was blindfolded at a time. Three others were placed in various spots throughout the lawn…with obstacles in the way. The blindfolded individual is the “ship” and the other three individuals are the “lighthouses”. The “lighthouses” have to get the “ship” to come to them safely. The “ship” then delivers their “cargo” which was sweets (candy). I knew the second that sweets were involved we would have these kids undivided attention!

They had so much fun and I love to see them smile and hear them laugh. Of course, there are the “naughty” ones that ate the sweets while they blindfolded and didn’t deliver them to the “lighthouses” J

We then discussed issues of safety. Did they feel safe while they were blindfolded? Why or why not? They definitely agreed that the only reason the “lighthouses” gave them good directions because they knew they were getting sweets delivered to them! We related this game to their life. So often, we walk through life without knowing where we are going and not feeling like we have a guide. There are many obstacles that we face in our life. So I asked them, who is your guide?

“God” they responded. In my heart I learn once again from these children. Here they are, living on the street, no home, not with their family, not going to school…..yet they know and trust that God is their guide. He is the One leading them and He is who they trust to get them to their final destination, safely.

We explained to them that as they looked around, the boy sitting next to him, he is your family. CRO works really hard at trying to get these boys to work together as a team and support and love one another.

I can’t wait to continue to meet with these boys twice a week. I have learned more through all the clients I have worked with in the past in America, and the same is true here. They teach me so much and I can’t wait to keep learning from them.

Grace

Today was my favorite day so far since I have been here in Lira. When my day is packed full of meeting, loving, hugging, praying and encouraging….then I am energized! Yes, it is outwardly exhausting, but my heart overflows and this is why I love being here so much. I allowed myself to break for the first time today. I realized that I have not cried in a few weeks (crazy I know!) and I continually felt the tears well up in my eyes and I had to push them down until I was alone. It has been so neat for me to see God direct my heart and steps with the different people that we have been meeting and working with. So often, well almost all the time, I always gravitate towards the children. This is where I am comfortable; this is what I am used to. But for some reason, the single mothers of Teso Bah have completely grabbed my heart.

 I struggle to even put words to how amazed I am by these women. They live in the slums of Lira and have very little. Most of the women take care of 3 or more children alone, most not even their own. This is what I love. They take in the kids who have lost both of their parents due to the LRA, either their relatives or friends. They work so hard to try and give them a place to sleep and some food. Most of the kids cannot attend school because the mothers cannot afford to pay for their school fees….those that are fortunate enough to go never know when it might be their last day, because the money might not be there.

 I can’t even imagine. Can you? Would you be able to wake up every day and forge ahead, doing what needs to be done to feed the children when you have lost so much? Yes, I am sure we could dig deep into our souls and find the strength….but doing it alive? Feeling alive? Feeling empowered, beautiful and strong?

 They laugh, they smile and they sing. However, there are some, that when I look into their eyes I can see the pain in their soul. Grace. Her name is Grace….so fitting. The LRA came into her village and abducted three of her children. Two girls and one boy. That same day they also killed her husband.

 One of her girls, Jennifer, has returned. I asked “how was it possible that she escaped without her siblings?” Once the LRA figures out that they have a group of siblings they immediately separate them into different groups. They fear that if they keep them together it is easier for them to make plans to escape. Can you imagine? Not only have you just been taken from your mother and father, but now you are forced to leave your brother or sister. You are alone.

 The other two have not returned. I am confident that Grace still believes that they are alive and begging God to bring them back to her. 9 years. 9 years she has been waiting.

 Grace has two additional children and including Jennifer takes care of 3 of her biological children as well as two little ones (still unclear as to their identification). She works at the market, selling what she can to make whatever little money possible.  There is such depth in her eyes. She has lived through so much. Soon I will hear more of her story and record a message from her that she would like to tell the world. She has a voice and she has a story that needs to be heard.

 Trusting and believing in God’s great plan for all of these women.

Love at First Sight

I don’t know her name. I have no idea what her story is. But there is something about her........

I was walking the slums and our eyes met. She was instantly filled with a smile and we gravitated towards each other and embraced. I was captured by her beauty. I had a deep sense that she had experienced so much pain...it could be the only explanation as to why she radiated such joy and I was overwhelmed and silenced by her soul. No words were exchanged that either of us could understand.

Looking at this picture, at first glance, your first thoughts would not be “beautiful”. She has many wrinkles, no hair, missing teeth. But in her presence...BEAUTY was the only word that filled my mind. Her face, weathered with years of life, years of experience, years of wisdom. I have a feeling that I have so much to learn from her. I am bound and determined to find her again. To sit with her. To listen to her. Hear her wisdom. Learn from her strength.

Africa always and continues to transform and radically teach me about beauty and what it means to truly, deeply, be beautiful. Oh how I have so much learn. May we find each other again sweet soul.........

Time to be REAL

It was 4:30 am on the 19^th of June and the power was out. I was packing up the rest of my belongings with my flashlight and trying to be quiet, as to not wake my team members. I was preparing to leave Canaan’s children home and head to Lira for the next two months to work with Children of Peace Uganda for Exile International.

This was not an easy transition for me. I was so emotional and exhausted from the last two weeks with my Visiting Orphans team that every part of me wanted to jump on a plane and head back to America.  I didn’t want to have to sacrifice comfort anymore. I was done. I was sick of being dirty, having no hot water and no water pressure, missing diet soda, bug bites, not having nice hair, sweating, small spaces and couldn’t stomach another day of rice and beans. I was beat. I felt alone. I was scared.

God was so very kind and gentle with me. I was provided many days of rest to recuperate and to rejuvenate my soul. My greatest prayer was that I would be reminded why I was here and that joy would again return to my spirit. God reminded me that this was His battle and not mine.

It was so hard for me to experience the variety of emotions that was taking place. I didn’t expect to NOT want to be here! I have never been so much out of my comfort zone like I have been here. Even though it has been hard….I needed it. To be in a place where everything is stripped from you, everything that you know, everything that is familiar….brings you closer to God. Being here I can SEE, FEEL, HEAR and TOUCH God more than ever before. I am reminded that God is ENOUGH!

Once I made my way out into the town of Lira and began to see the faces of the children there was instant joy and a knowing in my soul that everything would be ok and that God’s timing and plan is perfect.  

When you get to hug a child, kiss the cheek of face that you know has seen so much pain, tell the women how strong they are and hear story after story of how their pain has turned to beauty….it is worth it. All my discomforts and complaints are nothing compared to this. It is humbling. It takes being real and knowing that I am absolutely nothing without the power and strength of the ONE inside of me.

The journey here in Lira, with Children of Peace and Exile is just beginning. Lord, may your ways continue to shine bright and may you continue to teach me how to sacrifice so that YOU may be glorified. You never said that things would be easy….but you did promise that you would be with us every step of the way.

Eva Moreen

I was given the nickname “the wanderer” on my first trip to Uganda in 2010. I would either be ahead or behind the team or off on some other road J I didn’t want to miss an exciting opportunity, meet someone or hold a baby. Mama Kiki always gave me a hard time for this….but because I was “the wanderer” I was able to meet my precious Eva Moreen!

Eva lived right outside the green gates of Canaan’s Children Home. Her mother had a little shop selling whatever items she could and they had some mattresses in the back that they slept on. Eva would come over to Canaans and play with all of us when the team was there. I instantly fell in love with Eva and her mother. I began to learn more about her story and that her father was absent quite often working in another town. I learned from the school administrator that Eva’s family struggled to pay her school fees and most days she did not get lunch.

God completely worked it all out so that I could sponsor Eva. It is a very special arrangement because she does not live at Canaan’s Children Home but she does go to their primary school.  They have made an exception for me to assist her for that last 3 years and help her attend school and be able to eat lunch while she is there.

I have now been able to spend time with Eva for the past 3 summers! She continues to grow every year and last summer when we were reunited her mother popped out a baby boy! I have now fallen in love with baby George!

When I met Eva’s mother when I was at Canaan’s Children Home last week, she came to me with tears streaming down her face. She told me that she could not wait for “auntie Kari to arrive” because they were suffering. She shared with me that her husband has now left her and rarely returns home. He has multiple wives and multiple children. Her shop only had juice and water to sell and her new neighbor is a cruel man who is trying to drive everyone around him away. He has speakers that he faces into Eva’s home that screams music at all hours of the day and night.

She looks at me, eyes full of pain and wants me to help. I know she is real, I know she is not playing me. My heart aches to be able to fix their problem, get them into a new home and help her make some income. I wish it was that easy. All I could do in that moment was reassure her that God sees her and all her suffering. He was near to her and He would help both of us try and find a solution.

Every day on these trips you are faced with so many needs. Your heart becomes so full of wanting to change, add, take away, bless, give, fix…you name it….for all that you encounter. But at the end of the day, most often, the one and only thing that I can be sure of is that at least I could touch them with the hands of God, I could kiss their forehead, I could bless them with words and encouragement, tell them they are loved and reassure them that God knows…..He sees…..and for now that has to be enough.