Some things CAN NOT be explained....

Hi. I am sending my love through this blog and asking for continued prayer. The days have gotten more difficult emotionally. And although there is so much I WANT to describe and express, I just can not. I have come to realize that Africa is not something that can be shared or told about, it is an experience that has to be witnessed by every individual. And I am so thankful that I am here to be a witness. And again, I have so many of you to thank. You are not only blessing me, but with your donations you have blessed so many that never would have had the chance they now have. H4K has enriched the lives of so many children and widows and entire villages. From providing water wells to villages that can serve more than 14, 000 and last up to 30 years to providing food and shelter for the children that other wise would be on the street or at home caring for their smaller siblings. These people have nothing and the government does not do anything to aid them. Please continue to say prayers.
I will give you a short run down of the last few days... because I do not have much time and the internet has been a little unreliable. But as they say here, TIA or This is Africa. Africa, where when you say, "Meet me at 2" it really means "Meet me at 4 or 5 or maybe 6". But no one cares, because really there is no place to go or get to. You learn you must just go with the flow.
And sorry this blog will not be as funny as the others. Its not that I have lost my sense of humor... I am definitely STILL funny (just ask my roommates)!
Ok, quick run down, before I have to run:
Day Four:
I went to visit True Vine Ministries, which is the main site that H4K hosts. It is beautiful and they have done so much with it. I toured the clinic and completely lost it... the people are just so sick and the clinic is just equipped with a few things, so the treatment is far from the highest level. The patients are SO grateful to see us when we come in. As are all the people all the time, mostly the children. As Tom (the founder of H4K) said to us today, "remember when you go back home to the states you are no longer a celebrity, so do not wave to people from the window as you drive down the street!" Anyway, I am excited to work at the clinic when the team leaves and I stay. I will do some massage and just help out where I can. Oh, yeah, I am staying on the True Vine Site when they leave on Sunday. They just finished building the guest house and it will be myself, another girl from the trip (Christina) and Kendra, their peace corp rep.
Ok, going on.... I also got to meet my sponsored child that day. What a DOLL!!! I can not wait until I can upload my photos and you can see here. Fiona is actually 9 years old, not 12 as I thought, and she is so sweet and so eager to learn and play and be loved! I am a lucky sponsor and now consider her family. She is in the boarding school program at true vine, so I will be blessed to see her everyday while I stay there on the property.
On to day five, just because I am short for time. It was the hardest day! We went to Smile Africa Ministries which is home to over 450 children. They are called the Karamojog Children and are basically the outcasts. They are mostly orphaned or live with aunts, neighbors or their widowed moms and have either no clothes or clothes that non of us would even use for rags. They are dirty and hungry and have sores and runny noses all the time. Some have extended bellies like you see in the tv commercials and some have hernias. The older siblings are for the younger ones and do so without asking. It is just a part of their life. When I upload the photos, you will not even believe and the photos do not even capture the truth. They are SO extremely happy when they see us coming. They sit on the cement of the outdoor classroom (only a roof, no walls, and dirt everywhere) and sing to us. Loudly singing... We are happy to see you!!! They come to you and want you at all times, hanging on you and pulling your hair, just so intrigued by the Muzungo (or white people). They want love and that is all. At Smile Africa they receive breakfast (hot porridge in a mug), a bath, bits and pieces of learning time, play time, lunch (rice and beans) and then more play time. There are few volunteers and Pastor Ruth is the one that finds all of the children and takes them in. I almost had no emotion because there was so much to be emotional about.
We did a clinic outreach that day as well. I worked alongside of the acupuncturist who is on our team this trip, and did massage as she worked on the women and men in the community who came for medical help. Some had regular problems, some had clubbed feet, one woman had elephantitis of the leg. Again, all things that I can not properly explain, and may never be able to.
On to day six. This was actually an amazing day. We went to a far off village to do an outreach. This particular village is sponsored by a couple who is with H4K. They paid for a well and for a church and the village is so honored and touched. It is far off in the mountains and is amazing. Beauty that I have not seen in the land since I was in Ireland. The people come to the church from the whole village and welcome us with song and bring us to the church and sing and dance and sing and dance. They gave us lunch, which I will explain more about the food on another day when I have more time, and just laughed and touched us. The children held every part of me that they could touch and walked with me and just wanted to be loved. No words were reallly exchanged because they do not speak english, but love was there and that was all that mattered. Wait till you see those photos. And the sky here, I digress, is amazing! Nothing like i have ever seen. Not even the arizona sunset can compare. It is mezmorizing and I love it!!!
Moving on.... Day seven.... today was also a day that brought me so much happiness...
We did a widows outreach. WOW. These women are just so happy that we are finding time to love them as well. We went to their homes (aka huts!!) and brought them flour, sugar, soap and kerosene. The gratitude that these women have is unbelievable. They sing and thank us as we leave and just can not believe that we would come to visit and bring them "gifts". It is a different world. We also had a widows tea party at True Vine. We got the 40 widows basins (wash tubs) and soaked their feet in them, and washed them, painted their nails, gave them lipstick and I did mini massages on them. This was one of the projects that the money I raised went to. Their parting gift was a bag with soap, toothpaste, lipstick, washcloth and shampoo. The love that you see is indescribable.
Well, tomorrow is another day. I wish I could better describe and also wish I could send photos, of what I am going through. I wish you could all experience it with me. I wish that you will decide to one day!
I look forward to my time in Zambia as well, when I get to see my cousin and see what life is like there. I can only imagine how much there is to do. How much we can work with his village and hopefully make some impact for those children.
Off I go for now. I need to head back to the hotel with the driver. More later. I promise. Thanks for taking the time to read this and send me comments. They make me happy and feel close to home. I miss you all! Peace and love always!
Blessings!
Heather