Spring Break

I'm off work today.  The family I work for is on vacation at their condo in Big Sky, Montana.  If you've never been, you should go.  It's amazingly beautiful.  And they aren't over selling it when they call it "Big Sky Country" promise.

I was there for a week with the girls and their mom last July.  Their mom was "working from home" so the girls and I explored (ok, they showed me around because they might know that mountain better than they know their neighborhood here in Chicago) and one day the bunch of us headed out to Yellowstone for my first visit.  It's simply breathtaking there.  Big Sky, that is...I mean Yellowstone is great too, but wow, the views from Moonlight Basin (where the girl's place is) simply are beyond words.

A view from the back deck.

I'm not exactly sure what I'll be up to this week in chilly Chicago (aside from double dog sitting, a few lunch dates and a dentist appointment) but I know my girls will be enjoying below freezing temps and skiing like there's no tomorrow over in Montana.

After thinking about my girls being gone I started thinking about my other girls...Specioza and Florence, over in Uganda.  What's the weather like there right now?

So, I went on Compassion's site and looked up more info about where both of my girls are.

Hoima

Specioza (13) lives about eleven miles north of the closest city, which is Hoima.  Her community, located on the eastern side of the country near the midpoint,  consists of about 8300 people where the average monthly family income is about $8.  She eats beans, fish, cassava, beef and millet.  Malaria, coughs, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, sickle cell anemia, asthma, worms and typhoid run rampant in this part of the country.  Her and her mother and a few siblings live in a mud walled house with dirt floors and grass (or tin if they can afford it) for a roof.




Right now in Hoima, the daily high temperature reaches about 82 degrees and the nights cool off to 70 or so.  It's rainy season apparently, as thunder storms are forecasted almost daily for the next 10 days.

Mukono

As for Florence, she lives on the opposite side of Uganda from Sepcioza, in a community just northwest of Mukono where the average monthly family income is much higher at about $30 and consists of about 60,000 people.  Her house is made of a cement floor with a corrugated iron roof and adobe walls.  Several rooms of her house caught fire around Christmastime where she lives with her sisters and brother who is listed as her guardian. 

There is a wider variety of food in her area which include maize, beans, bananas, fish, greens, potatoes, rice, groundnuts, cassava and sweet potatoes. Common health problems in this area include HIV/AIDS, 
malaria and sexually transmitted diseases.  Florence lives with her siblings

The weather in Mukono is almost identical to Hoima with slightly less storms.  The adults in both communities find work (if they can) as farmers.

Needless to say, these girls won't be vacationing anytime soon.  They'll continue to do their daily duties of carrying water, helping cook and keep the house, as well as attending school and their Compassion site.

Can you imagine living off $30 a month?  Sharing that with a few kids and maybe another adult?  I've been there, as I know many of you have as well (maybe not Uganda, but other impoverished places) and I've seen how life is done there, and I STILL struggle to wrap my mind around it.

What sticks with me most about these girls, and all the other kids and adults I met in Uganda, is that though they don't have much, they are rich.  Rich beyond anything I can imagine.  They have so much faith.  Hope in the Lord.  And joy.  They are filled with joy.  Like I've never seen before.  My first instinct is to sell everything and move there-hoping to absorb some of that joy.  And if God called me to, that's exactly what I'd do.

Until then, I'll continue to ensure that my girls have access to medical care, that their tuition is paid for, school uniforms are purchased, meals are supplemented, health and religious education is provided and most importantly love is given.  These girls know I come alongside their parents/guardians and pay for the things they can't afford.  But that's not what really matters to them.  It's my letters, my prayers, my love from across the world.  The knowledge that someone, somewhere cares about them and doesn't have to, but chooses to.  That they were picked by God for me, and I for them.  God placed us worlds apart and the Holy Spirit brought us together to form one beautiful family.

Happy family!

I can't wait to go back and see my beautiful daughters in October.  If you would please pray for my trip preparations in the coming months I would appreciate that.  And if you feel compelled to give financially, please contact me privately.

Please pray and see what God has for you...is it a child in Thailand, Guatemala, Haiti, Ghana or any of the other countries Compassion works in?  If so, click here to be united with your child.