Canaan's Children Home

Today we woke up to the sound of the call to prayer by a local mosque at about 5:30 am. I was still able to get plenty of sleep afterward. The orphanage here is run very differently than the previous two we visited. This is a much larger facility and the children are housed in dormitories. Canaan's Children Home also runs a school. But one thing in common is we were told that the children need to know that they are loved. That is far more important than anything we can do for them physically. A simple touch or hug means more to them than I'll ever know. We were told by pastor Issac that one of the little girls was crying because she didn't believe she could be loved by white people.

When we finally got up the children had finished their morning session and were having recess. We stepped out are were absolute mobbed.

We were able to play with them before breakfast. I stepped into an impromptu game of soccer. The only reason I was any good was I was three times bigger than any of them (I didn't play in the late afternoon game, that was a bit more serious and required a referee). After breakfast we were able to walk out of the compound and into the village. We were able to talk to the people and give out candy to the local kids who are not in the orphanage. I got some great pictures of local life (when I was allowed to...I always asked if it was OK to take a picture).

We were then able to go to the schools run by Canaan. The educate approximately 500 students from primary school through graduation. The school run by Canaan is not exclusive to the orphans. The local children can also attend the school. After school another team member and I were able to ride a boda-boda (a local motorcycle taxi) back to the compound.

Since the school accepts students from the community Canaan's Children Home can make some income to supplement the operation costs of the orphanage. The neighborhood has a large Muslim presence. This has caused some tension in the past. Some time ago the Muslim community burnt down one of the dormitories in an unprovoked action. The police found that the dormitories also housed Muslim children. They asked if they wanted to press charges. The people here at Canaan refused to press any charges because because they said God will treat everyone justly.

In mid-afternoon we were able to take a boat ride on the Nile river. We were right at the mouth of the White Nile as the water flows out of Lake Victoria. We were able to go to mile marker 0, the official start of the river (now I've been on both ends of the Nile). The Nile is the only major river that flows from south to north, and is the longest river in the world (the Amazon is the largest by a huge margin when measured by flow rate).

After we got back, we played with the kids some more. I taught them some stupid tricks at which they were amazed. Then several of us played games and danced with a group of children ranging from preschool to about second grade (for those of you who know my rhythmic disability take note...I was told by a black man that he liked my dancing...or maybe he was amused because he had never seen anything like that).

The evening was capped of with the person testimony of Pastor Isaac. He told us how God called him to minister to orphans and start Canaan's Children Home. Today I listened to a true spiritual giant! I am welling up just trying to relate what he went through. He was sentenced to death by the Muslim ruling party for being a "traitor" (pastor) under the brutal rule Idi Amin. He was the only one to survive a firing line of 42 people (all pastors) and thrown into a mass grave. God rescued him and ultimately brought him home to Uganda to start a home for His children. I just cannot do justice to his story. You can read his full testimony at: http://www.canaanchildrenshome.org/. I am humbled to even be in the same company as this man.