Hannah Weber Week 3 in Africa
Greetings!!
End of week 3, wow time flies! My body is finally adjusted fully to its new sleep schedule and I’m no longer feeling sick all the time! Yay! I want to thank everyone for the continued prayers and encouragement, it really does mean so much to me. At times it’s still so hard to be away from home and my family. I really was so spoiled for so long, all my schooling was at home, and I did everything at home and was constantly surrounded by my family. I never really went anywhere except with my family. It really is a huge adjustment not seeing them for so long, and I still have a long ways to go! So thank you for the prayers!
This week a lot has happened and yet it was so relaxed! We had the prison ministry on Thursday, Rebekah got super sick, my head got braided, Rebekah and I met up with Dr. Val a good friend, and tomorrow we’re going to a church up on the mountain!
The heat is back after a small break last weekend and it’s oppressive!!! Many of the older kids also got Malaria this week, including Boyo (who did the drawing of me). Boyo is one of my favorite boys cause he’s so sweet! Many of the older boys are so aloof, but not Boyo! He draws, loves to play games, dances, and braids hair. Speaking of games I learned two new games this week, although I have no idea what they’re called haha.
The first game has two uncooked beans that have been cut in half. You take the four pieces and you throw them like dice. It is a game of points based on the direction the half of the bean lands, up or down, aka skin or inside. A pair of twos is two points, four skins are 20 points, and four insides are 10 points. The winner is the first to reach 100 points. I only won once but I got pretty close a few other times!
The other game I learned is a bit harder to explain although all you need is a small rock. So you have two teams, and each team can be two or three people but the teams have to be the same size. Then one team will start with the rock and the leader will hold it. Then the team members with the rock stack their hands, in fist form, in random order. They will then shake their hands and the leader’s fist, which is holding the rock, will drop the rock into the next fist and the game will continue until the end of a song that is sung while the rock moves fists. The rock is now in a random fist and the team holds out their fists to the other team. The other team then has to guess what fist is holding the rock and save that fist for last, telling the people to eat what’s in their fists. If they don’t guess correctly and they say to eat a hand that has the rock the team with the rock gets to keep it and go again, each time they keep the rock is a point. If the team guessed correctly and the rock was in the last hand, they get the rock now and a point. The game can last however long the teams want but the winning team is the one who needs the highest point count. I really hope that made sense and wasn’t very confusing!!
On Wednesday, Dr. Val called Rebekah to see if she wanted to meet up for lunch. Turns out, Dr. Val was feeling pretty down and is going through many issues at the moment. I ask that you would all pray for her, she is having issues with her citizenship and many of the people whom she’s working with are being quite difficult. So please pray that her problems get worked out smoothly. But eating lunch with her and Rebekah was very interesting, many topics were covered and we ate some very delicious foods! 🙂 We talked from chickens to ministry to phone plans and had very many good laughs in between! Rebekah and Dr. Val talked about meeting up next week and I hope I can tag along again!
While with Dr. Val, she also told a story of a raid that happened to a town that some people she knew were in. In the evening a group of raiders came to a town that mined gold and proceeded to shoot people and burn houses, stealing gold and grabbing and raping women. People were fleeing with their possessions. Knowing they wouldn’t be able to return to their homes. One of Dr. Val’s friends called her in the middle of the night and begged her to come help get the people out, they had been chased into the bushes by the raiders and were afraid of being shot. As early in the morning as she could manage, Dr. Val headed out there. As she drove in there was gunfire over her head between the raiders and the police, as she tried to turn back the townspeople came running to her out of the bushes where they had been hiding, they had seen her and came running for help. She proceeded to load as many people as possible into her car, men and women with their babies and possessions. They then left and she finished the story there. I almost cried while hearing it and again while writing this. So much violence born from greed, so many people were shot and killed for gold, and the women were raped for no reason but for lust. It makes me so sad, but I am glad that at least Dr. Val could go and help some people escape the war and violence.
I realize that I did not mention how my time went looking after the orphanage haha and I’m sure you are all wondering. It went very well and Rebekah even came back early! I was very happy when she told me that because I had become quite exhausted and I have a very healthy respect for how much work Rebekah does here every day. In the morning I gave the head wash lady the days soap and the clothing house key, then after breakfast, I would open the storeroom to let the ladies get out the days rice and bean counts. In the morning and evening, the medicine doses would be given out to the children who were sick. Then in the evening I would set out the food and soap counts for the next day and lock up. There were quite a few sick kids and a few more that became sick while Rebekah was gone. The one time I was distressed was when I found a boy with a temperature of 38°C, and Rebekah had told me 37°C was high. I proceeded to give him the Malaria medicine doses and he went back to normal. Other than that, everything went quite well and I am very glad to have Rebekah here again! 🙂
I’m not sure if I mentioned it or not but during the first week I was here some tourists who were in Moroto to climb the mountain visited the orphanage. They had raised money in the Netherlands, where they came from and wanted to help the community by donating to an orphanage. They came to us and donated 100 shirts and 100 pairs of shoes for the kids! We were so surprised and grateful! I’m really not sure if I emailed this information yet so I apologize if I’m repeating myself haha!
Some of you have been wondering why there are so many orphans here and that’s a great question. There are many reasons why. Some have parents who have died from famine, or maybe from sickness or violence. Many of the children might come from very abusive or unstable homes and the orphanage is a safe haven and their home now. Some of the kids have been saved from child or sex slavery. Many of the parents here simply do not care enough to feed their children and spend their money on themselves or alcohol (which is a huge problem here). There are a few people that help Rebekah by finding the most desperate children in the area and bringing them here, many of which are malnourished or sick. At the moment Rebekah has had to turn down many requests to take on new kids since she does not have the funds. Sponsors and donors are meant to pay for the children’s food and school fees although at the moment Rebekah has been covering the school fees while only the food costs are being paid for. In order to help more kids she would need to be receiving more funds from generous donors and sponsors.
Many of the kids here love playing on my phone! They’re always asking for games! I started out with only spider solitaire but quickly downloaded slither.io (which they LOVE!!) And now I’m getting subway surfers. They’re quick learners and love to win!
The prison ministry went very well on Thursday, although Rebekah felt very weak at the end as she was still just getting over Malaria. As usual, the kids with the women were so cute and amusing during worship. There was one girl who was just a ball of pure energy, she was jumping and dancing and clapping the whole time! She made Rebekah and me smile a lot! As I’ve mentioned, the kids here never fail to put a smile on my face and I love making them laugh! The men’s session, a larger and more serious group, is always a long activity. The men’s group translates twice and they have many questions at the end. I am always glad to see so many people hungering for answers about the Bible! Even the kids here have such a heart for God, that beautiful childlike faith, untouched by American society. They will worship with their whole hearts without being held back by distractions. They’ve been through so much and they know that they’ve been saved only by God and they thank him.
You all know how I mentioned baby Peter and how he was starting to stand up on his own? Well…he walked!!! Just a few wobbly steps at a time but he’s getting there!! Sometimes he just prefers to stand but if someone reaches out for him, he sometimes walks to them! Rebecca got to see his first steps but of course, I missed them haha. It was such a happy moment to see a little baby take steps, reaching toward me! I can’t wait to have those own moments with my own kids one day!
Rebekah, earlier in the week, went to one of the clinics in Moroto after being plagued with stomach issues. She had thought it was an ulcer caused by her past issues with Malaria pills. Although when she went she was told she had a high count of Malaria bacteria in her blood. She was given both a shot and started on IV treatment. The medicine that she needed was very strong and made her feel very sick for a few days. She is still regaining all of her strength back but she is doing much better! She has just started getting her appetite back and that’s a great sign, especially since it’s so hard to be hungry with this heat!
On Monday I got my hair braided and I will upload a picture below! It was rather painful but totally worth the outcome! All the kids love it and say it’s “very nice!” As I mentioned before they all love to play with and touch my hair all the time! Having it braided like this makes taking care of it super easy! I don’t have bed head and I don’t have to worry about the strong wind gusts blowing in my face all the time!
Oh yes, and if you would like me to look for a gift of any kind from here then please send me an email and I will keep an eye out for any items! I cannot promise I can find something but I will ask around! For example, my mom wanted Ugandan coffee beans and they’re sold at two places, one of which I had been to before. So I now have her coffee beans (I love you, mom!).
I realize Halloween has just passed and it’s funny to think about it since Halloween isn’t even a thing here! I hope you all had an enjoyable time with it and had some fun!
Thank you again for taking time out of your day to read about my time in Africa! I love reading all of your response emails, thank you! Please continue to pray for safety (especially as we travel tomorrow up the mountain to church), peace, courage, and good health. I love you all. Stay safe!
Love,
Hannah Weber
www.missionmoroto.org