Goodbye to the Crew, Hello to Baby Watoto

Today was an emotional day for us, bringing tears of joy and sadness. We started with a special dedication of the construction we did on the house. We sang, prayed and celebrated with the fabulous crew who worked alongside us to build a house for the manager of the Baby Watoto house. It feels like we've known these wonderful men for a long time, not for only 5 days.

It was very hard to say goodbye to the crew - a fun, dedicated and friendly bunch who were so patient with us when we didn't know what we were doing with bricks, mortar and trowels. Together we built the walls for the master bedroom, office and bathroom. The next crew will finish the second bedroom and living room/kitchen area.

Next was a highlight of our trip that we've been eagerly anticipating - a visit to Baby Watoto at the Suubi village. This is where infants and toddlers are raised in a beautiful, well-equipped facility until they are two years old and placed in a family home at the village.

 In this room there were 28 babies less than a year old. We got to play with them, hold them, feed them and simply adore them.

Garth Dettwyler, who is co-leading our team with his wife Jill, had his hands full - especially with the little boy in stripes who just wanted to be held and cuddle. He cried whenever Garth put him down.

Meanwhile, the toddlers enjoyed playing in the pools at Baby Watoto. A perfect place to be on such a warm day!

After finally managing to pull ourselves away from these precious children, we went downtown to the Watoto Central Church to drop off donations of sports equipment and outdoor playthings (jump ropes, frisbees, etc.) that our church is donating to the Watoto Villages. We also got to visit and go shopping at Living Hope, a ministry started by Marilyn Skinner (wife of Pastor Gary Skinner, who founded the Watoto Church and Watoto Childcare Ministries) that helps women in Uganda earn income by learning a craft skill such as sewing or making jewelry.

These women use old pedal-driven Singer sewing machines to create beautiful purses, bags, scarves, aprons and more.

We have so many wonderful photos, but with a slow Internet connection this is all we have time to share for tonight.

Meanwhile, within our team, we also had highs and lows today. Both Celeste and Kathy were not feeling well today and missed some of our activities, but seem to be on the mend and doing better now. On the positive side, we celebrated Dan Page's birthday tonight with a surprise birthday cake and a card from the group.  Dan will likely never forget spending a birthday in Uganda! We wish him all the best and are thankful to have him with us here!

Thanks Amelia, Jesslyn and Apryl for your comments to the last blog post. We loved hearing from you - and Dan appreciated the birthday wishes from his daughter and grandson.

Blessings,

The SS Nazarene Watoto Team