Sick Again

I have been sick again. I am not sure if it is the stomach flu or food poisoning but for awhile I wanted to die. I am on the up and up but am still a little bit scared to actually eat food beyond crackers. Tonight I will try.

Mubende Bible Distributions

Time flies by even in Uganda. A while back I traveled to the Mubende district to deliver Bibles to a couple of schools. I love visiting projects. Project visitation reminders me of my reasons for temporarily giving up my life in the states for a life in Uganda. Seeing the work of so many dedicated Ugandans striving towards developing the next generation is always an inspiration to me.

We arrived at the first school just as classes stopping for break time.

I wandered around taking photos and hanging out with the kids while Abbey, the head of Education at

Africa Renewal, and Beth met with some of the teachers in the open air thatched roof “staff room”.

Then boxes of bibles were delivered to each classroom and handed out to each of the children.

Now seeing that I am probably the world’s worst missionary when it comes to passing along all things “Christian” and cynicism, I was completely blown away by the response of the kids. They were bouncing in their seats with excitement. Every kid in the classroom received a copy and they eagerly opened their own copy of the book I try to read daily. I realized then this how precious

and important that book was to each of them. It was the only book in the school that they did not have to share with each other and it gives

them the opportunity to read what the word of God says on their own without someone interpreting it and telling what it says. I would have scoffed at this gift at their age and am repeatedly challenged by African children to be content with what I have and to express happiness for the things I am given.

I am so Proud

A few months ago I was asked by the Child Sponsorship Department to teach all of their field staff some photography basics. It was a lot of fun and they asked really interesting questions but I didn’t really expect to ever see results or to hear feedback from the projects.

Then I went to visit a project about 4 hours away. When the project director saw me he was really excited. He said “Renee! Thank you for finally coming to visit us we are so happy to have you here. We have been taking so many pictures of our projects come and see!!!” He took me to the office and handed me a six inch stack of photographs. Most of them told a story and most of them were really great. When I was talking to them about photography I told them that I wanted them to be able to capture their projects as they are, my hope for them is that they do not have to depend on outside visitors to provide the photos used to promote the work at their sites. Anyone who has spent time here knows that everyday life is drastically altered when foreigners are visiting and that they have the opportunity to show life as it is through their eyes.

I am so happy that at least one project has better photos today than they did last year.