Wonder World

Our early morning stop at the children's hospital showed some improvement, not so much in Trina as in her mother. Again today I found her in a coma, but breathing just a bit easier. Another was sitting up today eating and others seemed at least to be holding their own. There were two new ones though, tiny babies, one was 1 month, the other 6 days old, both girls, both with Malaria. Mothers are usually very stoic, yet concerned. Today I saw tears falling down the cheeks of the new mother of the girl less than one week old. I prayed with confidence, both speaking to a very capable God and also to help bolster her hope in healing. I felt so sure and so strong until I opened my eyes and saw that her tears were silently falling... my empathy overtook any strength I felt and my best self control gave way to a moment of shared understanding.

Picked up by the van we headed off for a very special adventure with our squad. A larger van/bus met us at the house and we were off at 9am for Wonder World aka Kampala's amusement park. It was so interesting to hear tea fields explained and so many other new things pointed out to these native children who have lived within 15 minutes of it their whole lives, but never had the transportation to get them outside the bounds of walking distances. 3 hours later we pulled into the parking lot to ZERO other cars. We wondered if it was really open or operating, but after paying for our group of 30 we found that we had the entire place to ourselves. 

With a skeleton staff, the same person escorted the group of younger ones from ride to ride, turning each one on as needed. We took our cue from Janet as she felt entirely comfortable, while the deserted grounds made us feel just a little bit leery. We got a good laugh at the thought we needed to have unique matching t-shirts (tie dye) so that we could pick our out in a crowd. Not one bit needed, but fun to make just the same. A tiny roller coaster, tea cups that don't spin, a merry go round, and stationary cars that circle the track were attempted by every one of the youngest ones. The best news is that they got really long rides without anyone waiting to take their places.

 The older ones got on a swinging pirate ship and told stories of feeling death come upon them as the rocking got higher and higher. Hysterical laughter accompanied the retelling and will live long in their family history telling I'm sure. The littles caught up to the bigs at the pool, complete with a water slide. When you can't swim, the idea of sailing down a trough into a pool of death-deep water prevents all but the most courageous from making the attempt. Evan was at the bottom, Kristen taking them to the top, tube around their middles and laughing all the way down into safe arms that helped them to the side. The rest of our time was spent coaxing more and more to try the 40' tall beast. I think most made at least one trip down. Some so traumatized, they may never get over the Muzungu's crazy idea of fun! We get the most accurate reports of the days events from our house mom as she recounts the conversations that go on at bed time. So tomorrow we'll hear if our day was as fun for them as it was for us to take them.

 We counted 30 at the gate going in and 30 going out. God's grace and a very diligent house mom even allowed us 30 in the van heading home. I'm praying its the right 30! Our drive back was painfully long, but punctuated by pulling over and having window service of Chicken on a Stick. Its a favorite of Americans and Ugandans alike. Sleep took over most everyone.

 Olivia had begun with malaria symptoms yesterday and during the long ride home she got weaker, fever spiking, headache and general body aches. We took her straight to the clinic for her first of 3 injections and I took her home and got her settled into be just the same as I would my own. I love them all, but that one has settled deeply in my heart somewhere very near the three I gave birth to. Regina's ear was looked after and Jennifer our cook began Malaria symptoms. Its just a darned life long condition, that comes on within hours with symptoms that are miserable, deadly if not treated and debilitating in the meantime. I think the regular visits to the clinic might be the most taxing part of having so many children. Somebody is always beginning or coming out of it. We've arrived back at our hotel late this evening and the internet is down, so I'll wrap things up and head to bed hoping to get this emailed off for posting tomorrow.

 BEFORE

  AFTER