Kampala, Uganda - Day 3
Things not to say at an airport while going through visa control - "Yeah, he's a time bomb!" - Meri Malone

We spent yesterday afternoon with Susan and the team from her orphan and widow association. Susan has a base home here in Kampala where she keeps anywhere from 8 to 12 orphans in her personal home. She also has several other staff with her. Most of the kids have special needs, so they stay here instead of living at the other orphanages. One of the girls is deaf, and goes to Deaf School here. Another is just two years old and was found nearly dead in northern Uganda. She was so thin, and has been nursed slowly back to health. Recently she got chicken pox from the other kids, but her spunky attitude still showed through.

While we were there, Susan also let us meet one of her friends named Dina Kasuku. Dina was married a couple of years ago, and shortly after her husband died of AIDS. Dina also caught HIV from her husband and was hospitalized with full blown AIDS. Susan showed a picture of her while she was in the hospital. She looked terrible, almost inhuman from the effects of the disease. She said she thought it was the end of the road for her.

She made a recovery with the help from AIDS drugs that a doctor provided, and returned home after several months in the hospital. But the problems where just beginning. Her husband was dead, and she had no way of earning an income. She tried to use her experience at grinding peanut butter and selling that, but all of the customers were frightened they would get the disease as well. So she was rejected, her husband dead, no income, and struggling to find hope in life.

Susan met her shortly after this and encouraged her with counseling and spoke to her about life in Jesus. Dina committed herself to the care of Christ and decided to tell people about her struggles and be open about "Slim" or HIV/AIDS. A recent gift to Susan's organization allowed Dina to pay for her rent. If anyone would like to help Dina specifically, you can write a check to "Lahash" mail it to the address on our website, and make a note that it is for Dina.

The photo below is of our team praying for Dina. She was crying as she told her story, and it touched our hearts. There are so many stories like this repeated across the region.


Please join with us in praying for our team.
* Pray that we will all remain healthy and full of energy
* Pray that Dina will find an occupation that will enable her to sustain herself
* Pray that a cure will be found for AIDS
* Pray that we will have unity and love and humility within our team and as we meet more people over the next couple of months