The Uganda Diaries: Volume 1

Today is our first day out in the “Mission Field”. Today we visited M1. If you’re not familiar with the M1 facility, please check out www.sixtyfeet.org for more details.

Today I met “V”. “V” is a fifteen year old girl who had been dropped off by her father only 1 week prior for being “stubborn”. He mother had come to see her after a few days and declared her to be “too unkind” to come home yet. So she left her there for one month. This is not a juvenile detention center in Jackson, MS. This is a literal prison. For children. With prison cells and bars. Some kids have committed crimes of theft, some have been dropped off by parents for various reasons, some have been the unfortunate step-children to a modern day Cinderella story, some have been at the wrong place at the wrong time, some have been found abandoned and taken here by strangers, but none actually deserve to live like this.

So many things were revealed to me today. These kids have the kind of faith that I envy. They have nothing but the love of Christ Jesus and that’s all they need. I expected to see kids moping around in a state of despair, but I didn’t. These kids, although unhappy in their environments, have hope. They worshipped in a way I have never been able to do. They sang songs of praise in such a heartfelt manner that I could only cry as I listened.

I still haven’t quite processed it all. I need time.