Last night we celebrated the completion of our portion of the house with a special dinner out at a "one of Kampala's finer restaurants". After the questionable places we've seen along the road to and from Watoto, we were curious to see what a finer restaurant would look like. We were pleasantly surprised that it was a beautiful place in a part of downtown Kampala that we hadn't seen previously. There were paved streets and parking lots, sidewalks, traffic lights and modern-looking bank and government buildings. The restaurant was called Fang Fang, and we joked that "If was called Fang Fung, it could be a Chinese restaurant." Turns out it was a Chinese restaruant, and the food was marvelous. But even better was the company. We were hosted by one of the Watoto pastors, Andrew, and his delightful wife Angela. They were such a fabulous couple and so passionate about their ministry and the work they are doing through Watoto. Besides the Central church downtown that we attended on Sunday, there are 4 other Watoto churches in Kampala - and Pastor Andrew leads the Watoto West church. We loved getting to meet them and hear about how fast their congregation is growing.
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| Our team leaders, Garth and Jill Dettwyler, with Pastor Andrew and his wife Angela |
At the end, there was a call for people who wanted to give their lives to Christ, and more than 20 people came forward to meet with pastors and counselors. What a great blessing!
Earlier in the day we did some shopping at an African craft village and bargained our way through many fun purchases of gifts to bring back home (and a few things for ourselves too :) After a while, the merchandise in the little stalls all started looking the same, but it was fun to see quite a variety of traditional African jewelry, clothing, decorations, carved animals, etc.
The women definitely relished their time there more than the men, but Garth admitted later, "I had more fun than I though it would." And Paul, who serves as host for many visiting groups, told us later that we were bigger shoppers than the other groups. The way we looked at it, we were just doing our part to serve the Lord by boosting the local economy :)
We stopped for lunch at a shopping mall that was one of the more modern places we've seen, and ate at a restaurant that had "American" food like burgers, fries, sandwiches and some awesome ice cream milk shakes. And judging from the number of other white people we saw, it's a local hangout for non-African foreign visitors. Some of us loved the Heinz ketchup (made in Egypt, with real sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup) so much, we made Paul take us to the supermarket in the mall so we could buy some to bring home. He thought we were crazy, but was accommodating as usual.
The afternoon was a very special experience for all of us, even though it was probably the most heart-breaking time we've had here. We visited the other Baby Watoto center in Kampala, which is smaller than the one at Suubi and located in central Kampala in an older building that Watoto purchased and converted. It serves as the intake center for infants and toddlers who are handed over to Watoto by police, local agencies and others who find abandoned children in need of care. Because it's in town, with fast access to the International Hospital, all babies come here first for medical evaluation and treatment, and the younger infants stay here until they are 6 months old and can be transferred to one of the Baby Watoto facilities at a Watoto Village.
There were 47 children there today, and the capacity is a maximum of 60. The facility includes an incubation area for newborns and preemies, with nurse specialists to care for the children. This afternoon the center was caring for 3 preemies and 1 newborn, plus about 12 special needs children. One girl was 4 years old, but looked less a year old and was not able to walk because of severe malnutrition, while another boy with a feeding tube was 2 1/2 years old but probably weighed less than 10 pounds and was the size of a newborn. Another little girl who had the most beautiful face and eyes we've seen was also considered special needs because of malnutrition, but fortunately had no serious health issues and will soon be able to move on to the Village.
As the babies awoke from their naps, we split up among the different rooms and spent time holding, cuddling and playing with the babies - plus helping out with diaper changes. Raelene got to experience this task for the first time ever, but looked just like a pro!
It's incredibly difficult to comprehend how so many women here can abandon their babies or even worse try to kill them, but thankfully God is looking out for these children and through Watoto is helping them become healthy, well-loved and well-cared for babies who will soon become part of a new family. Another bright spot was hearing that the center helps young teen mothers who are not yet capable of caring for their babies, to help prevent them from abandoning their infants out of desperation. The young mothers spend the day at the center to bond with their babies and learn how to care for them, hile having trained professionals on hand to help out and provide the necessary (and expensive) medical care for preemies and other infants with health issues. One teen/infant pair were just getting ready to "graduate" with the girl taking her baby home, which uplifted us..
We have a whole new appreciation for the tremendous prosperity and high quality of life we enjoy in the U.S. compared to what the Ugandans have. And we are inspired by their cheerfulness, friendly nature, resilience, and ability to put their faith in God and Jesus.
We are not sure about Internet service at the lodge while we're on the safari, but will post updates when and if we can. So don't worry if you don't hear from us - we did not get eaten by wild animals!
Blessings,
The SS Naz Watoto team
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