Week @ St. Mary Kevin’s Boarding School

we spent 6 days working and ministering at St. Mary Kevin’s Boarding School. it was without a doubt one of the most spiritually grounding places i’ve ever been to. i was there only 15 minutes on Saturday and immediately felt that “itch” from the Holy Spirit telling me this was the place for me. i felt comfortable there. i felt His presence. i felt His calling in me.

above all else, I felt Him speaking to me that I had nothing to bring to these kids but His love. and it was my choice to speak God’s love to them or not.

in the mornings, we spent the majority of our time painting the new clinic that Touch the World is developing for the school and the neighborhood. we also were the helping hands for the security wall that was being built around the clinic to protect it from theft and vandalism.

the first two days i spent atop the clinic’s roof with two other women painting it and trying not to fall through the single piece of aluminum that is considered a roof it was fun and i definitely had a lot of sun exposure. it was also really cool to look at it before as a dirty roof and then after two days look at it and see a red roof. leaves a sense of accomplishment in you

the last three days, though, i was the “porter” for the wall builders. three local guys were hired to build the security wall and my job was to mix the rock/dirt/cement together with water to make actual cement, continuously fill water jugs at the well, bring cement to them when it was ready and look pretty while they created their masterpiece. it was definitely a lot of hard work but i loved it. my shirts were barely fitting at the end of the week from all the lifting and upper body use.

by the end of the week working with these guys, i had learned new phrases in Uganda and was sort of able to hold a “greeting-style” conversation. plus they allowed me to lay bricks and build sections of the wall with them. that was fun because they kept asking why the white man was working with them and not watching. always was interesting to have that pop up in conversation with them.

i loved working on the roof and with the wall. it was really rewarding to see that be finish as we ended our week. only another foot or two was left on the wall but it was high enough that we could “see” the work that we helped with.

each day we would break for lunch and then make our way into the school to hangout with the kids. we would spend time reading with them. so weird to sit and weird The Berenstain Bears and Where’s Waldo? to these kids. totally changed the meaning of those books to me…

after our reading sessions, it was game on with whoever grabbed us and played with us. i had a threesome of older guys that followed me around a lot. Hassan, Alan, and Suuna were all 13/14 years old and seemed to always find me wherever i was. they were also the first stories i would hear in relation to the suffering that they are going through. it was amazing to hear how honest they were with me and how real they were in what they were feeling. it broke my heart though because every conversation ended the same way.

“will you sponsor me? it’s very hard to pay for fees for my school and i need your help…”

it was gut-wretching to have to look them in the eyes and say no. but in the midst of that, the Holy Spirit would tap me on the shoulder and say step aside, my turn now. like that, we would always pray and before i knew it, the Holy Spirit was pouring His voice out and His comfort and love onto these kids and filling their bodies and lives with His peace. after praying over kids and watching their tears fall from their faces onto the ground below, i knew without a doubt in my mind that i really had nothing to give them but prayer and the love of Jesus Christ.

money and pencils and clean beds are a nice temporary fix for them but in the end it runs out and they are left with nothing. i heard a story from Jesse, one of the missionaries, how a former team spent all this money on mosquito nets to protect the kids from bugs and the spread of malaria. unfortunately they all ripped on the metal framed beds that were in the dorms. so do we replace the nets? the frames? if we replace the frames, we have to replace the beds. the kids pee on the beds constantly so how many times do we need to replace them? at what cost?

there is SO much that needs to be done but its all materialistic projects. they are hurting and broken. these kids need nets and new beds but at the end of the day, sitting with them and loving them for who they were and praying over them did far more than i could’ve ever imagined. God is present there and working in their lives and HAS NOT and NEVER will forsake them.

He’s calling us to help and spread His love to the suffering. are you going to answer?