One More

Kenneth says the curse of living in Uganda is that you get used to things that people back home don't see as normal. 

I've been back in Karamoja for about 2 weeks now. It's been so good to be back to the place I feel like I left such a huge piece of my heart. But at the same time, I once again feel overwhelmed by the needs and the hardships faced by the people. 

If you've read my blog before, or receive my email updates, you've heard of sweet Nacuk. She is the granddaughter of TaTaa, who has passed since I was here last time. Her mother is know for drinking and fighting. When I first saw Nacuk since returning, she was filthy, stomach was swollen from malnutrition...that night I cried myself to sleep thinking of her, asking God what I could do to help. She started showing up at our house everyday, so I've been playing with her and feeding her. We also put her in school! 

Then there is TaTaa's sister and her granddaughter, Lokwi. They live together. The sister is a blind old lady and Lokwi is handicapped. When I went to visit them, the blind old lady was building a fire to cook green weeds she had gathered. A blind lady building a fire, yes. And Lokwi was laying on the ground wearing the exact same clothes I gave her a year ago. A YEAR AGO. Except now they were more like rags. 

Yesterday 2 people died by lightning. One was a mother of a three month old baby girl. This morning her husband came to our gate. We sponsor babies that mothers have died in childbirth, giving them formula, a bottle, soap and clothes. The Moses Project. So we registered that baby into our program. 

We just dropped a baby and his grandmother off at the hospital for severe malnutrition and pneumonia. His mother had left him for prostitution. 

Even now, my friend Adoc is laying on the floor, sick with malaria. 

These are the kind of everyday happenings that begin to seem "normal". 

So what can I do? All I know is to live each and every day, each and every moment, as intentionally as I can. To look people in the eye, to take opportunities to pray with people, to treat one more wound...one more. If just one more person is shown the love of Christ, that's what it's all about! That's all I can do. 

And despite it all, I love this hard, beautiful life.