In the last hour:

1,625 children were forced to live on the streets

1,667 died of malnutrition or diseases

115 children became prostitutes

257 children were orphaned because of HIV/AIDS*

It's pretty sobering. But also huge motivation, at least for me. What great opportunities we have in this world to be a light!

We are so blessed in so many ways. Why do we usually hoard these blessings?

This makes me think of Vincent, a neighbor kid in Uganda who would sit on our back steps on a regular basis when we got home, and then my host mom would go inside and get him a plate of food and he would snarf it down.

Vincent was such a "lucky" boy. He didn't usually go hungry. He was getting primary education. His parents weren't always able to care for him properly, and his government basically ignored him, but he had neighbors who were a LIGHT in the darkness - they "denied themselves" and lived as they were called to live.

This, in my opinion, is so much more effective and powerful then (even well-intentioned) MDG's from the UN (see previous post).

Vincent, on his way to school in the morning.

*From this video, played at Main Event in KC this year.

Africa is...?

Well, right now I really should be doing my Stats homework and reading for Econ, but after thinking about Africa all day (and not my classes, opps), I felt like I should continue "debriefing" on my blog as I promised myself I would. Which brings me to one of the most impressive parts of my trip - the game reserve with Ronald and Joseph!

My sister and brother-in-law gave me some cash to use for "fun" and it took us all the way to Nakuru National Park in Kenya!

It was incredible seeing all these animals (and a lot more) in their natural environment, it seriously puts zoos to shame! (I never thought about it before, but pretty much all the cool animals in zoos come from Africa).

Zebra's coming to the watering hole.

Nakuru has some of the worlds few nearly extinct white rhinos. Don't get out of the car. (Also notice the 1.5 million pink flamingos)

Yawning/mad/shouting zebra!

Ronald "Mazune" and Joseph, both new workers with MMM. Neither had seen hardly any African animals before or traveled out of Uganda.

Finally Pics!

If you didnt get the vibe from my first post, my time in Uganda was really incredible. In just 2 short months I was stretched in a lot of ways like preaching and teaching, cultural barriers, a few sickness issues, etc but God was faithful and I felt so blessed not only to have the opportunity to go, but the experiences I did as well.

Here are some beginning snapshots of my time there.

Very typical village setting, lots of shy but curious kids that love to get their picture taken and then see the result on your camara.

Mbale, my Ugandan town of 10,000 to 400,000 in a district of 4 million. Depends who you ask!

At one point a thief broke into my neighbors house and stole a few things. The police used a dog to track down the guys house. Apparently he had been drunk that night and here are his wife and kids, hungry and asking for mercy. Tough situation!

Mbale at dusk, lots of great sunsets...like Kansas!

Me at the source of the Nile River at Lake Victoria - a British explorer first found the source, which later led Uganda to become a British colony.

A church service in the village. Fun fact of the day: Ugandans, even 2 year olds, seem to be born with perfect rhythm (not so here, haha).

My backyard

Discipleship in action: the first week I was there, Sam Soita, director MMM, taught me how to wash clothes by hand.

Whew! There is so much more I learned and want to blog about. This is just a tip of the iceberg. I just LOVE Uganda, its people, culture, climate, etc and would return in a heart beat!