So do I call myself a social worker now?

I had the awesome experience of getting to go into the villages to visit some potential new kids for LCH. Maybe a little background would help. Just as in the states, the kids we have here go through a government process to get here. Usually a relative will report an orphan in need to the local government. The probation officer then gets these reports and compiles information through the reporter and through personal interviews and site visitations. I went on the site visitations. The purpose of this is to confirm that the reported children are really in need, having no adequate place to sleep or no adequate food to eat. The first day out we went about an hour drive into a very flat area of Mbale district. The first house we visited a widow, having 6 kids remaining. She lived on a very small plot of land, with basically only a small, round, mud hut and no space (or fertile land) for farming. We arrived with the probation officer and the first thing he noted were the small twins laying in the dirt near the house. The mother had gone to collect firewood and the other children were around playing. Their clothes were very much beyond worn out, basically only being a waistband with some cloth hanging from it because the seems in the front and back were completely unthreaded. There were other houses that we visited in the mountains, were the land was much more fertile (and it was beautiful up there). The people in the mountain, although maybe in need, seemed to be suffering less from those we visited the day before.

Over and over again I met mothers who have been widowed because their husband died of AIDS and now they too have the disease. As we talked to the women, we were careful to not call it what it is but rather “the disease” because there is still a stigmatism in the villages of those who have AIDS. For most of the mothers their sole purpose is to secure a home for their children. Whether relatives or children’s homes, they are eager for anyone to take the kids. At first this seems a little odd that a mother would want to give up her kid so easily, but reality is that this is a very loving act. They know that their child is suffering and/or they know that soon they might be dying. So basically I heard quite a few living wills while I was in the village.

It was a humbling and sobering experience, yes. And in all honesty I pray that my heart does not become unaffected by the things I see. But reality is that there is much suffering and need that I see everyday. It is easy to be a little depressed after experiencing such a thing, BUT I praise the Lord that throughout my time in the villages, He continued remind me of the sweet children that I get to love on everyday. I pictured their faces and tried to imagine that at one point, these needy, dirty, big bellied, half-dressed kids that I was seeing in the village were the kids that I get to be with everyday. Wow. I hope I am making sense. It is such an awesome realization to see that God is restoring and bringing hope to His children. Truly, who knows were the kids at LCH would be or under what condition without this place. It is humbling to see the visible difference between the hope, joy, and health of the kids in the village and the kids at the Home. Praise God that through Him all things are possible. I imagine that the guardians of each of these children were daily stressed and worried about how the kids would be properly cared for, seeming that there was not way. But, as the song goes, “God will make a way, when there seems to be no way.” I am understanding that more and more.

So, hopefully within the next 2 weeks (but remember this is Africa time) we will be getting 20 new children, quite possible some of those are some that I was able to visit in the village. I can’t wait to experience the transformation first hand and see how these timid, hopeless kids have their eyes open to a different world full of hope, love, provision, friendship, and Jesus. God is good.