Visit to Lombogo Village

What an amazing day! We were blessed with an opportunity to assist Kari and Jason with a partnership they have with Welcome Home - another ministry here in Jinja - to visit a local village about an hour outside of the the main part of Jinja. We were all very excited about our visit to Lombogo Village, and as we closed our debriefing tonight, I am reminded again about the many blessings and opportunities the Lord provided us today!

As you can see, I was only a little excited for our day to start...

We arrived in the village around 10:30 this morning and were welcomed with a beautiful ceremony from the kids. They had practiced several songs and chants for us to tell us how much they loved Jesus and how glad they were that we were here! The staff at Welcome Home had worked with them to get their welcome ready for us, and it was a huge blessing and a humbling experience to see how much time and energy must have gone into that!

One of the Welcome Home staff members, leading the children in songs, chants, and prayers!

Once the welcome was done, everyone on our team introduced ourselves, and the children and adults who were there were so excited for each of us to be there. We, then, pretty immediately got to work on several different tasks -- giving all the children (approximately 300 in this village) de-worming tablets, washing and checking many of the children's feet for jiggers, and playing (jump rope and soccer, or futbol) and singing songs with the kids.

Dawson, leading the kids and us in a time of songs and worship!

Jump rope is an intense form of entertainment!  :)

Overall, it was pretty amazing to see how tough these kids are! Each child over the age of 1 or 2 (depending on their size) had to take anywhere between 3 and 5 tablets to assist with getting rid of their worms. I'll be honest -- these pills did NOT taste good...not that I tried them...but you could totally tell by the look on some of their faces. That being said, they were COMPLETELY trusting of us and what we were giving them and asking them to do -- kula (chew) and mesa (swallow) {I probably did not spell these words correctly...but our wi-fi connection isn't as awesome as in the states so I'm unable to simultaneously google the correct spelling in Swahili -- this village was a mixed-tribe village that spoke mostly Swahili}. Each child was marked with a heart or a cross so we could keep track of who had already received the medicine.

Jonathan and me, giving de-worming tablets to children

Jenny, prepping de-worming tablets for us to distribute

While some of us were giving children tablets, others were washing the feet of children so they could be checked for jiggers. To learn more about jiggers, feel free to google or wikipedia it (still can't pull up another tab). They are somewhat similar to the chiggers we know in Texas...but worse -- more painful and cause larger infestations and often infections. Luckily, this village didn't have a big jigger problem...but the village we are visiting tomorrow does, so blog readers will get to read a lot more about removing jiggers tomorrow...so stay tuned!!

Tressie, washing children's feet!

Kari Segner, taking care of jigger checks and removal

Here are a few other photos from today...

Dawson and his new friend Edgar

Charlie chatted with a few of the village men, with the help of Alex from Welcome Home who translated

3 of Jason and Kari's kids - Carson, Everett, and Hadley - joined us for the day! They all were a great help! Here's Everett with his sweet smile!

This was definitely an impactful day for us! We learned so much about the love, excitement, and compassion of this community. They were so appreciative of our visit, and we were so appreciative of the love they showed us -- through song, time, and conversation (even though it was somewhat limited by our language barrier). And to think, this was only our first actual day "on the ground" here in Uganda! God is definitely up to BIG things here -- with Healing Faith, all the ministries the Segners are partnering with, and with so many other teams and ministries in this area! It is a true blessing that the Lord  has chosen us to help do His work and show His love to others!

Lots of love all the way from Uganda! Please keep us in your prayers each and every day! We need all the love, prayer, and support we can get!

In Him,

Abby