January 22nd 2018 – I am
sitting inside with multiple layers of clothing on and a warm cup of coffee,
looking outside at the snow covered ground.
What a contrast to the last three months I spent in Uganda, where I was
permanently dripping in sweat and covered in dust, guzzling down cold water by
the litre!
It has been such a blessing having
time these last few months to spend with family and friends, catch up on
mundane things such as doctor and dentist appointments, reflect and feedback on
my last trip and prepare for my upcoming trip in February...
Whilst my September to December trip
had many challenges, it also had numerous blessings and I am so grateful for my
recent trip. I learnt much during this
trip. When I am away I generally don’t
process very much. I just GO, GO, GO! But now that I am home I can reflect a
little bit more.
Last night I was just thinking and
preparing a Children’s Talk for this coming Sunday for our friends’
church. I was reminded of the verses in
Isaiah 61, which talk about God bringing beauty out of ashes. I met and came to love numerous individuals
during my last trip that are a testimony to this – they have been in broken
places, been in the ashes and God is making their stories into something truly
beautiful. Many of them are still in the
‘ashes’, but we have hope that God will use their pain to write a beautiful
story. I honestly believe this is true
for all of us too, God can use our pain, brokenness and tragedies to do
beautiful things. So if you are in the
‘ashes’ just now please be encouraged!
Regarding my upcoming trip – February
through to May – I just want to update you on a few things as many new doors
have been opened up. During my last trip
I had the honour of visiting a lovely American Lady called Kathy Houk. She has been in Uganda for some time and has
set up an organisation known as Desana Giving.
Desana is the name of an Amazonian tribe. Their core belief is to pass on blessings and
bless others. Similarly, the work of
this organisation is all about blessing others, so they can pass on blessings
in turn and keep the blessings flowing! The
work that she does is very similar to the work I have been involved with
previously – namely rescuing and rehabilitating street children, amongst many
other things! I could not have been more
welcomed when I went to visit her shelter for ex-street boys. The work she does is similar to the work of
RUHU, but on a much smaller scale. The
maximum number of children that she has at any one time is 25. The children stay at the shelter for a
maximum of three months, where they receive love, food, education, counselling,
Bible teaching...and so much more. After
the three months the social workers then work to resettle these children with
their families. Where this is not
possible a permanent foster family will be found to look after the child. I was so impressed by the work of Desana
Giving and I am blessed to be returning to volunteer with them in
February. I will of course visit the
children of RUHU, because I have come to know and love them dearly over the
years, but I will not be volunteering with them this time. I am not sure what the next three months will
look like...I hope to do some teaching at the shelter, namely in Geography and
Science (I have been busy downloading, cutting and laminating in
anticipation!), I also hope to use some more of the Trauma Healing resources
with the children...and generally just help Kathy out with whatever needs done!
I will keep you updated on my blog -
the address is still the same because I didn’t want to lose all my previous
posts, but it’s actually Ruth at Desana, rather than RUHU!
ruthatruhu.blogspot.co.uk
If you would like to read a little
bit more about Kathy’s organisation – Desana Giving – please do so at desanagiving.org
Finally, after this lengthy post I
would like to thank everyone for their love, support, prayers and their
financial gifts – If it wasn’t for your love I wouldn’t be able to do all of
this. I am no one special, I am just doing
my bit and your role is just as important as mine, if not more so at times!
So when I say ‘Thank you’, I truly do
mean it.
Much
love, Ruthie x
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| What a blessing to meet the wonderful Kathy Houk! |
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| Lwanga Davis - a beautiful testimony of Beauty for Ashes! |
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| What a blessing to spend time with family over Christmas! |
