Offical Last Blog

How do you say goodbye to kids that you have taught you more in life over three months more than then you have ever known? What do you say to the question of “are you going to come back” when your heart screams “January” but your head says, “you have no money or job”? The first 10-20 verses in basically all of Paul’s letters in the New Testment mean a whole lot more to me now. He says things like “I always thank my God for you” and “I have not stopped giving thanks for you” Take Corinthians, Paul lived and worked there for 2 years and then dropped it all to continue to follow God’s call. I think I may have just found a little taste of what that rollercoaster is like…

12-4-10 Spend the whole day with the kids just hanging out. They have these “holiday packets” which are pretty sizeable homework packets that they have to do over their “Holiday,” so I help out with some of those. After the day is almost finished I’m eating dinner up with the kids from the Love house and they say that they are going to prayer. I’m not really sure of this program because most Saturday nights we watch a movie but we have watched the last two and will kill the battery if we do it again. So we head over there and on the way there I am thinking about how we only have one full day left with the kids when I walk into a kerosene fire lit room with about 20 kids (so far) literally jumping for joy, dancing and singing about how good God is. I can’t even believe it. In 36 hours these kids will be back in places they don’t want to be, with not enough food, and really hard work ahead of them for almost 2 months and this is the scene. Once again, I am blown away by how much a 22 year old can be taught about his Savior from 10-14 year old kids who have been through the worst of the worst and still are facing daily back breaking work and beatings from relatives that don’t want them, and it looks like a party. This is a real living God. After our Dance party I head back and go to bed.

12-5-10 Last full day with the kids. The girls take a trip into town with our other Mizzungo friend “Lauren” because she is apparently leaving, and me being my always-informed self, find out after words. Sorry Lauren if you read this. It was great meeting you. Do anything and everything with the kids, play cards, sort rice, give them my phone to take pictures with, play their version of checkers and listen to a story from Akello Scovia. Still blows me away that these kids lived through the things that they did, but more importantly that they are so full of life and joy now even after. Girls run into a few problems in Bewyale but eventually make it back. Rose shows up around 3 and its always a treat to see her. The girls and I join the kids for their meeting with Rose for a little bit but it is all in Acholi so we bail out and get some dinner. Eventually the kids finish their meeting around ten and I head up for my last night of sleeping at the houses.

12-6-10 It had to come. We wake up early (6am) and the kids start doing some few chores to help get the houses in shape. I start my morning hanging out at Mercy before heading over to the next house, Grace. I don’t know what time they are leaving at but I want to go to each house for some time. After Grace is Hope and then Love. As I am walking up to the Veranda of Love the 3 buses pull up to transport the kids. I walk up asking the question, “how are you?” Most of the time the answer is “I am fine,” Today; “I am not fine.” Also me. I cant even take standing there with them for more than 2 minutes. I leave before I start crying as you can see in the composure on the kids what’s going through their head. I leave and head over to hang with some of the others gathered. After about 20 minutes the kids start to bring their stuff out to the vans. Now it hits me, this is happening. Its not just an idea or a maybe or a date or words anymore, its physical and emotional life. We create a line and hug each kid as they load into the first van. I am doing fine and then one of my favorites comes through, Apiyo Stella. I break. “Don’t cry otherwise I will cry too,” she says to me. I Eventually I get ahold of myself just long enough to look up and see another one of my favorites, Apiyo Kevin. (Kevin is a girl’s name in Uganda FYI) Eventually they load into the van and I realize this is just the first of three. Then next two I do better with only breaking once when another favorite, Kwotek Simon, comes through. For the last two months things have been so good that I have said almost daily, how can this be life. How can this be life has a whole new meaning right now. All of the kids get loaded in and then in typical African fashion it takes literally 45 minutes for them to leave. Nobody is ever sure what the delay is but it always takes time. We go around to the windows telling the kids we love them, that we will pray for them and that we will miss them. The first van leaves. The second van leaves. The third van starts, then stops. This van is loaded with all of our favorite kids too. We then spend the next 10 minutes, which feels like forever sitting, watching waiting for it to all be over. The whole time I keep stealing glances to Apiyo Stella but she always catches me so I try to hide my pain with a smile but she can see right through me. I know that she knows and she knows that I know that she knows. Finally the van leaves and it is all over. I head back to the hut and lay and think for the next hour or so. How can this be life? Amidst all the pain and fear of never seeing them again, I reach for my bible and seek my rock and my salvation. God is good all the time.

-Collin