Monday, September 29, 2008

beggars


In Kampala there are a lot of street beggars. You see ones that are crazy, ones with no clothes (literally) young boys who live on the streets and beg, able bodied young and old who beg to make a living, small children who's parents or guardians put them on the street to beg for them, disabled people of all ages and disabilities and so on. You see them so much here that you get hardened to it all.
There is a group of people who come to Kampala to beg from the north east. Their tactics are to bring young girls 5-10 and have them put babies under 6 months on their backs and beg. These girls are all dirty, clothes tattered,if they have any and the babies look very sad and lethargic on their backs. These never cease to tug at my heart when I see them. I have tried different tactics to help them with out giving them money as I don't think they ever get any of it as an adult takes whatever money they get.
Yesterday, we were in town and we passed a woman who was begging. She had the usual tattered clothes, but not too bad. She looked relatively clean and seemed as though she hadn't missed any meals. In her arms was the smallest baby I think I have ever seen. This child had to be about 9 months old and probably weighed 3 pounds. Words cannot describe the sight. I found the picture above that I think would best describe what I saw.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

We are alive!

Sorry for the long silence. It has been a crazy 2 months. We "shifted" as they call it here or moved houses. We found a great house with a fantastic "garden" or yard pretty close to our last place. This one is closer into town and a 5 minute walk from our friends. We have a 3 year lease, so we won't have to worry about moving again soon.
We have many updates that I will fill you in on later. For now a quick over view.
The school is back in session from their break. Our son Jesse is enrolled this semester so that is a relief for us to be able to get back into school.
David will be going to our farm soon to make introductions and have our farm manager see the property. That has been a long time coming and we are so excited to get started up there.
We are planning on coming home to the states for the holidays as I posted in an earlier blog. We are still collecting funds to buy the tickets as well as looking for a vehicle to use while we are back. If anyone has an extra car that seats 6 that they could lend us that would be great. Please let us know.
More later..........