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Safe arrival - Clay shares his experience

July 25, 2008 - Read all blogs

Dear friends,

We have arrived safely to Uganda. We took Clay Brethour as a team member. This is Clay’s first time to Uganda and in his own words, he shares the experience of  his first day. He will be our reporter for the next week.

Pastor Bill and Linda Campbell

It was a sight when my family and I watched Bill and Linda check in 31 boxes of clothes and other items for their children’s homes in Uganda at the Kansas City Airport this past Tuesday.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see that upon arriving into Entebbe, as the airlines had the boxes scattered throughout the world…Brussels, South Africa, and Kenya.  Hopefully tonight when we go back to the airport the boxes and my luggage will be there.  But regardless of lack of material items, we have been richly blessed with Bill and Linda reuniting with friends, and for myself meeting for the first time a lot of special people. 

I’ve always heard the people of Uganda are friendly, but experiencing it at first hand they are indeed, very special people.  We had breakfast with Pastor John Bosco from the Gulu area. He is in charge of the Prepare the Way Ministry School of Ministry in Gulu. They will be celebrating their first graduating class this September.  It was a great time hearing what is going on in that part of Uganda, and I believe that Bill and I will be seeing him again when we venture to Gulu later this week. 

We decided to surprise the children at the Hope Children’s Home in Seya in the afternoon.  Upon arriving there, Mama Christine gave me a tour of the building and gardens surrounding the home.  The organization of the home was amazing.  Each child had their personal items (that look like the items that sponsors have sent their child) on their neatly made up beds.  The children as so well taken care of and everyone works together. 

Soon the children were home from school, which is just down the road, for their lunch.  My family is sponsoring three children, Christine, Linda, and Ibraham. They were surprised to meet their “Daddy” from America.  The girls took me into their room to show me their beds and Christine showed me the pictures that we sent last year of her “American family”.  What fun! I’d encourage any sponsor that has the opportunity to visit their Ugandan child. It would be an inspirational experience not only for yourself, but also for your child. 

All the kids wanted me to take their picture with the digital camera so they could view it afterwards.  Since it was raining outside, we were inside most of the time.  We plan to return tomorrow and get a lot of video and pictures for sponsors of their children.  It is hard to express in words what an amazing experience it is to see all of the children and their love for their sponsors. I hope to capture some of that in the video and pictures tomorrow, rest assured that your kids love you.

Clay Brethour