Easter Celebration!

Easter is the second most celebrated day in Uganda, second only to Christmas! In Uganda Good Friday and the Monday after Easter are national holidays. Calo Me Lare (the orphanage where we serve, sponsored by Project Hope Worldwide) and Hope Alive Fellowship also went to extreme measures to celebrate Easter.

There are no Easter bunnies or egg hunts included in the celebrations here. Everyone knows it is Jesus resurrection we celebrate. Families try to come together to have a special meal, singing, dancing and games. How would we make Easter special for our CML (Calo Me Lare) family?!

A few days before Easter our Administrator met with the moms, child representatives from each home, the Social Worker and the three of us volunteering from the U.S. with the specific purpose of planning Easter Day. He wanted the children to tell us what THEY would like to see at Easter and then wanted us to try to arrange it. Singing, dancing, & eating were at the top of their list. One of the girls, Lucky, wanted the moms to have new clothes for Easter. This is how it played out:

Rachel had clothes that the December team had left for the moms. She had given out the kids’ Christmas clothes and had run out of time and energy. Little did she know that God was keeping the mothers’ clothes “for such a time as this.” Rachel & I went through the clothes and were able to give each full-time mom and each step-in mom one outfit plus an extra garment. It was amazing to see how God had prepared in advance for this!

We had a great service Sunday morning. There was much singing, dancing and jumping up & down in praise to our Savior. The children love to sing and worship Jesus. Pastor Fred delivered a powerful sermon about the resurrection of Jesus. Because Jesus is alive we know we also will live with Him in heaven when He comes again! While He was preaching the children’s teachers were telling them the Easter Story. Each child got a sweet (hard piece of candy), which is a very special treat for them. There must have been about 150 children.

After church we all went to the Center House for our special Easter meal which the children chose: chicken, rice (the moms added cabbage) & sodas. They were all so happy. The children sat in groups in the center house; it was great! J (The moms are wonderful cooks! Each mom cooks for her own children and each day one of them cooks for the staff as well).

Above, Dennis & Rachel are eating lunch and playing with some of the kids.

After lunch Walter, our Social Worker, played some worship songs we would be familiar with in our churches in the U.S. He showed pictures of the children before they came to CML and had them guess who each one was. That was a special time for the kids & staff.

Next, there was a dance contest for everyone who wanted to participate. The kids lined up in fours and competed against each other, dancing to local music. The winner of each group was in the final competition and two boys were the overall winners. The kids had so much fun! There was a lot of laughter. J

Each mom gave her children a small gift, a bookmark which was left by Connie Madden, our President’s wife, last March. The verse on it was John 3:16. I challenged them to memorize it and over half of them did.

Now it was time for the football (soccer) competition. The older kids competed against the moms. The kids won 3-0, but everyone had fun! The moms really seemed to enjoy being with their kids on Easter.

In the evening everyone had supper and we saw The Ten Commandments at the church. Actually, we only saw half of it when the power went off, but it was 9:30 and some of the kids were sleeping so we were dismissed. What a wonderful day!!! 

We are so thankful to be here and share some of these joyous memories.

Thank you for your prayers and may God bless you abundantly for all you are doing to support us and these precious children.

Dennis & Margie

Here We Are Again!

Thank you for your interest in our blog. We arrived in Entebbe late on March 28th. We spent a few days resting up and preparing to come to Lira, Uganda. We arrived the evening of March 31st.

Our first day at Calo Me Lare, the orphanage where we will be working, was April 1. The children and staff welcomed us warmly! They told us they had been praying that we would decide to return. We told them that we wanted to come back, but that we are here because God called us to come back. We have enjoyed the children and staff so much! 

We spent a few days in a bunkhouse located beside our apartment and moved in to our cozy little furnished home away from home on Friday. It came complete with a few furnishings, dishes and a few kitchen items. We purchased a few more things to make cooking easier. 

This is  the kitchen. The cabinets are really nice. We even have an oven, sort of. J I baked a pizza last night, using a long stick to keep the oven knob in place so the stove would stay on. It took about an hour and never really got brown, but it was thoroughly cooked. Dennis adds, “And good.” The staff at the cafe has offered to bake whatever I mix up. Sounds good to me!!!

We have a little patio outback which is really nice. It is shaded and gives us a cool, peaceful place to sit when it is hot inside. The birds’ singing is interrupted occasionally by a chicken or neighbor’s pig.

Our neighbors are directors of another large orphanage, and they have done everything possible to may our stay a good one.

Things are definitely built differently here. The bedroom has a wash basin. The shower room has a commode and clothes rack. They may be in a different location than we are used to, but we have everything we need and more

We live adjacent to “The Path Café”. This is a definite expatriate hangout, with a peaceful atmosphere. We can get a meal there if necessary. Included in our rent is morning tea or coffee and a cinnamon roll or muffin. The café opens at 8am, so we usually cook breakfast or pick up something the night before from the café. The menu includes a bowl of beans and rice for 5,000 shillings (about $2). They also serve hamburgers and chips (about $6). Every once in a while they make fresh ice cream (soft serve), so don’t feel sorry for us. J

Palm Sunday is very much celebrated here. We wish we had stopped to take pictures that day. In town at one spot we saw about 100 people standing near a tree, waving palm branches (and some with yellow flowers attached) and singing. It was quite the sight! In Hope Alive Fellowship (at CML) we also celebrated! Many of the children and adults brought their palm branches to church. Some of them were braided, some with yellow flowers. At one point in the service Pastor Fred explained the significance of waving the palm branches. He told us to sing “Hosanna” to Jesus our King while waving our palm leaves. We sang, “Hosanna” several times. It was a very worshipful morning.

Our next blog will be about Easter. Thank you for all the prayers and encouragement.

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie