After Two Long Years
Terrie Robinson, VOH associate director, spent 3 weeks in Uganda in April. It was the first time any U.S. staff had been able to go since the pandemic started.
I wish you could experience a VOH welcome. All the children & staff line the road, singing and waving as the van pulls in the gate. It’s amazing!! When you arrive after dark, like I did, it’s nearly overwhelming because you can hear the voices, but it’s so dark you can’t make out all the faces. But the energy…you can feel the excitement coming from the kids. They have settled back into Village life and school and are so happy to be back.
We have so many new children and many of them at Bobi have never been close to a muzungu (white person). Everyone wanted to touch my hand and as their shyness faded, they wanted to touch my hair and talk about life in America.
Most of my time was spent in meetings with our staff, visiting guardians, meeting with our older kids in higher education programs and visiting some of our graduates and near-graduates on their jobs or internships. But…there was still time for one of my favorite things…hanging out with the kids in the afternoons.
The kids were so excited to get their letters from sponsors and volunteers. They always love mail day but this time they were extra excited. When asked what they’d like their sponsors to share with them in their letters, they said:
What’s it like where they live?
Where do they go to church?
What do they like to do?
What sports do they like?
We want to see their photos
We love when they send us stickers. We use them to decorate our notebooks (they also decorate their faces!)
We had a BIG village-wide birthday party at Bobi thanks to our dear friends at World Help. There was lots of food, cake, music, dancing and games. We had so much fun dancing and playing. There’s no party like a VOH party!
We checked in with some of the guardians who received goats last fall thanks to a grant from World Help. They expressed their gratitude and shared how the program will benefit them in the future. Most are taking care of at least 5 children in addition to the child at VOH. The money they earn from the goats will help them pay school fees for the other orphans in their homes. Almost every goat was about to have at least one “kid” and some looked to be having twins. Their first female kid will come back to VOH so we can help more guardians. One grateful guardian told us she had no way to repay us for the gift so she gave us a gift of shelled g-nuts (peanuts). These were g-nuts she had shelled in preparation for planting. It was a very precious gift.
We visited some of our VOH youth who recently graduated university or are doing their internships. Denis (below) is working in a medical clinic. Two of our girls, Nancy Grace and Fiona Fortunate, were doing their student teaching at Village of Hope Secondary School and Marriam (below) was doing her student teaching in a public school in the area. They will be graduating this summer and we're so proud of them!!
We also visited some VOH youth in higher education programs like university, nursing school, technical college. Together we talked about ways they can give back to help other VOH orphans by doing service projects at the Villages.
Every meeting I had with the staff started with their expressions of gratitude. Many organizations closed during the lockdown and weren’t able to pay their staff. Many schools weren’t able to reopen when the lockdown ended. Because of your generosity and faithfulness our staff never missed a paycheck. They recognize God provided through you and are so very thankful.
Everyone, children and staff, sends their love!