Hannah’s First Week At Mission Moroto

Hello Everyone!!!

My first week has been so eventful and I have so much to share with everyone! I am having a slight issue uploading my photos onto my laptop, if it doesn’t end up working I will make sure to send a separate email from my phone with lots of pictures!

When I first arrived I was greeted by the younger kids (who aren’t in school), and they were happily yelling “Siggly, Siggly!!”. They thought that I was Sydnee, a friend of mine who was recently at the orphanage for three months. Apparently, we look a lot alike haha. When it was explained that I was indeed, not Sydnee, but I was Hannah (the kids call me “Annah”), they were happily surprised. Sometimes, the kids will still say “Siggly” when I do something that reminds them of her, such as taking pictures or when they saw the hammock that I brought. It is all very cute and funny, I am constantly telling them all “Not Siggly, Annah, I am Annah.” They all laugh so much and smile, especially when we play games.

I’ve already grown so attached to all of the kids, especially two of the younger girls, Kk and Nakuri. They are so much fun and are full of personality! There is also a 9-month-old baby of one of the staff members, her name is Lisa although I think the kids often call her Rupa. Baby Lisa loves to be held and she’s starting to stand and try to walk, it is so adorable! My favorite part of the day is in the evening before the older kids get back from school and younger children are all tired from playing and come to sleep on Rebekah’s porch. I love to go and sit with all of them, they crowd around me and we all sleep together, it is so peaceful and those precious moments I will never forget.

Each morning and also in the evenings, Rebekah (the woman who runs the orphanage and who I am helping) gives medicine to sick children. Someone is always sick and most of the time it is with Malaria. She is very good at noticing when the kids are not acting normal, the fever that comes with Malaria is noticeable by the tiredness that it comes with. If she has not noticed one of the older kids will bring the sick child to Rebekah and tell her about their ailment. Malaria, the flu, chickenpox, and the cold are all very common among children and I am slowly learning what medicines go for each sickness.

Each Thursday, Rebekah goes to a prison ministry in town, and this last time I went with her, as I probably will every time while I am here. I have to say it was very long but also new and exciting. There were about 30 women and 100 men. The women and men were separated and taught separately. Personally, I enjoyed the women’s session much more than the men’s due to all the babies and young children who were with their mothers. We also handed out some English and Karamojan (the main language here in this region) bibles, as well as some lollipops for the women and children.

As it turns out, Rebekah needs to travel pretty far (6 hours by bus) this next Tuesday to go and get her long-term visa as well as bring one of the girls, Jessica) to the hospital, she has a heart issue and is needing an echo treatment since her heart is failing and she is needing as much help as she can get. While Rebekah is gone she is leaving me in charge of her chores, I am a bit nervous so make sure to pray that I do well!

The second day I was here, we went to a nearby village called Nakelolo. Previously, Rebekah had met a young girl there, around the age of 11 or 12, her name is Veronica and she is lame due to the tendons in her knees not being long enough. Rebekah had promised to bring the girl to the orphanage and do as much as she could to help her. So that is what happened on my second day, we went and picked up Veronica as well as looked at a new church that some friends of Rebekah are building. Veronica loves being at the orphanage and plays with the other kids as well as helps the staff ladies with chores. She is so sweet and is always smiling! She did leave her grandmother, who had been taking care of her, behind and it was very hard for the grandmother to see Veronica go she is very likely to come to visit Veronica at the orphanage.

I think the most interesting thing that has happened since I have been here being when the staff ladies gave me a name. After they thought for a while they decided on “Nakut”, meaning wind, since I came at the start of the windy season. They have also been teaching me many of the greetings and I am happy to say that I’ve gotten a few down! I also helped the staff ladies select rice, which is cleaning it by sorting and taking out the dirt and things by hand. I was much slower in my progress but I was happy to learn something new! All of the staff ladies speak English well and are so kind and helpful!

There is so much more that I could write and tell you all but I will save it all for next week! The photos do not seem to want to cooperate so I will send another email from my phone. I hope you all enjoyed getting this update, if you have any questions send them my way and I will try my best to answer as many as I can! God is doing so much here and I’m so happy and blessed to be part of this plan. Please pray for all of us here, especially for the protection and health of all of the children!

Sincerely and with much love,
Hannah Weber

www.missionmoroto.org