A Small Team Making a BIG Impact
Written by: Selah Balli, team member; age 15
We arrived in Uganda late Saturday night, and as we entered the city we were overwhelmed by culture shock. The Luganda language filled our ears, the smell of Ugandan food filled our noses, and the Ugandan people greeted us with joy. Throughout the last few days we have met incredible people, experienced delightful weather, and ate AMAZING food.
On Monday, our group of four Mzungu (white) girls went down to meet the Agape children’s choir. The moment we stepped on it’s grounds we felt the Lords presence and peace surrounding the place. While we were there, we got to listen to the children sing and were amazed by their talent. Despite the kids being very young, seven to fifteen years old, they were able to sing their hearts out, praise the Lord with an earnest love, and even harmonize! As my mom told them; “I’ve never seen children who are your age who are able to sing the way you can.” During our time there we were able to hold adorable babies and have a really awesome, really fun dance party with the kids. We also got to encourage them. We talked and loved on them and told them how truly talented they were. It was astonishing for us to see the hard work the kids have been able to accomplish in the past few months. They’ve learned how to maintain singing techniques, how to have and gain respect, how to laugh and possess joy, but most importantly how to have unconditional love for God. The teachers have done an amazing job at enforcing obedience and joy through Gods love and because of that kids are so full of life and love. Our group of four couldn’t stop smiling because of how precious they were.
After the children were finished with their day of learning, we walked along the red dirt roads to the home where the boys stayed (the girls stayed at the choir building), and on our way we sang. The entire walk home we sang. As I walked, one little boy started to sing “Reckless Love” and soon me and about five other boys were worshipping the Lord. We sang worship songs over and over and occasionally the rest of our group would join in and we would become a chorus of love and harmony walking through a broken village. I was later told that people were stopping and just staring at us as we walked and sang. It was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had.
The last two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, have also been full of life impacting experiences. On Tuesday we spent our morning at the Agape Primary School where we lead an assembly for the children. During the assembly we sang Sunday school songs, shared our testimonies, and played games. Our theme of the assembly was Hero’s and through that got to teach them how Jesus is our super hero. Tuesday afternoon we were able to go to sponsored children’s homes and meet their families. We talked to the mothers, fathers, and grandparents of these special homes. While we sat, we asked about how they lived their daily lives and thanked them for their faithfulness to their children and to God. We prayed over the families, especially the mothers, and prayed blessings over their homes.
Today, Wednesday, we spoke with the teachers of Agape Primary school and ate lunch with them. They asked us to give them guidance and answer their questions. Sadly, we learned that teachers are not thought of highly here in Uganda and because of this knowledge we made it our top priority to encourage them and tell them how impactful their jobs are. We told these men and women, these teachers, that despite teaching being a difficult job, it was SO important to love and care about each and every child they taught. We told them how their jobs mattered and how they are able to change lives. I spoke and shared that my teacher, Mr. Deutsch, has changed my life like no other human has, and because of him I have grown and my eyes have been opened to so many amazing things. We told them that they had the power to do that. They have the power to change children’s lives and raise them up like no other person can. And then after encouraging them and teaching them how to help their students learn, we ate in fellowship with them. We also had the opportunity to host dinner with multiple families the last few nights and with them, we had deep conversations and hysterical moments. Now as our Wednesday night comes to an end we get to eat a home-made Ugandan meal with the boys from the choir as we wait in anticipation for the following adventures to come.
