More details on my Africa trip . . . and what in the heck is a Memory Book?

Before I write about the Memory Book Club I just wanted to let my vast blog readership know that my Africa trip is FULLY funded!! Praise God! I must give a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to those people who have sponsored me financially and the people who have covered me with their prayers. I could not do this without you.

Details:

After 38 hours of travel from Portland Oregon our Uganda team of 12 will be landing in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, around midnight on June 26^th. We continue on by bus to our destination at the Seeta Orphanage about an hour away.  That day we will try to adjust to the inevitable jet lag but by the afternoon we are planning to start unpacking the gargantuanly massive shipping container that sailed from Portland months ago. In it we have stored thousands of pounds of backpacks, school supplies, clothing, shoes, schoolbooks, bibles, toys and Memory Books.

A donated OR Ducks shirt

A helper on a Very Big box of shoes

Jackie sorting and sorting cloths, shoes and so on 

Our seven days in Seeta will be spent loving the children and distributing the items from the Container. Seeta has approximately 1000 orphans and over 60 Mums. The Mums are women from local villages who are hired to live with and care for a small “house” of orphans. These houses make up a community that is the orphanage.

Lira:

On July 2^nd we will be traveling north up to the village of Lira, about 120 miles from South Sudan. We will be staying 12 days at a small hotel across the street from the orphanage. The Lira orphanage has about 65 orphans. During the weekday the children will be attending school and at that time the women on my team will be focused on the needs of the young and single Mums. Our goal is to encourage them to see this time in their life as a special ministry, and to encourage them in their relationship with Jesus.

Most of the Mums take care of 6 to 8 children, 24hrs a day, 6 to 7 days a week. Each Mum and her children live together in a small house. During our daily times of visiting with Mums we will be singing, praying, learning these women’s stories and drinking tea from cups that Catherine, (my new buddy who wears dresses) is bringing over in a suitcase (pray they don’t break). We’ll be doing some kind of project together every day. It might be planting fruit trees, learning how to crochet or even how to clean a wound, or deal with a high fever. You see these Mums are not very old, (the 25-45yr old age population has been severely hit due to AIDS). 

Quite a few of these young ladies of 18 to 22 lost their own parents at a young age and haven’t been exposed to some of the basic principles of childcare and household management.

Memory Books:

Later in the afternoon the children will return from school and we will have the Memory Book Club.  

Here is a photo of the cover of a memory book.

These scrapbooks are large. Inside there are 10 pages preserved in plastic sheet covers, a pencil, extra paper and a white handkerchief.  Each child at the orphanage in Lira will receive one.

“Memory Books for Children strives to support and encourage a child by helping preserve their unique story in the midst of loss. Helping children preserve their memories helps them to grieve and grow.”

– Tamara Faris, RN, MS (Founder of Memory Books for Children International)

We will be sharing a lesson, (a lot like VBS), daily with the children. This is one of the songs we will be singing: “He Knows My Name” (lyrics below)

I have a maker

He formed my heart

Before even time began

My life was in his hands

He knows my name

He knows my every thought

He sees each tear that falls

and He hears me when I call

I have a father

He calls me his own

He never leaves me

No matter where I go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXsiWoyjw60

Then we’ll have a short time of teaching- for example “I Am Somebody” is the first lesson. The children make a crown – coloring it and decorating it with jewels. Catherine and I will be with the younger group and I am so excited to share with them the wonderful news that God is their Father –He has adopted them and they are never alone. After the lesson, there will be lots of time for the children to share their story. A talking stick will be used (only the person with the talking stick can talk). This is the part in the program where the children can share as much or as little as they want. No one interrupts them; we listen, giving them our undivided attention and then we’ll respond using reflective listening. 

So that is the Memory Book Club in a nutshell.

Want to learn more?

Here is their web site:  https://tamara-faris.squarespace.com/whats-new/