Day 19 – 07.15.14

The smiles say it all, so glad we started the feeding program

Love watching the older siblings taking care of the littles

Look how beautiful they look

You can’t imagine how happy they are to get a new dress

Giving out pillowcase dresses

Fitting the girls for pillowcase dresses

Doing crafts with the kids

My sweet Lydia

Blowing bubbles

Day 19 – 15 July 2014

Today we headed back to the Acholi Quarter in time to be there for the feeding program. I love watching the kids come in and get their porridge, knowing that they are going back to school with full tummies ready to learn.

Our two cooks, Agnes and Hellen do such an amazing job of getting everything cooked and ready for the kids, and they move 100 kids in and out in such an organized way that the kids are not late to go back to school.

After talking with them I found out that on most days we are feeding between 120-150 children. The 100 children that are officially in the program and an additional 20-30 who come hungry, thankfully there is plenty of porridge left that we can spread it out and feed the others as well.

When I asked Santina and Mama Oyet how many children do they think truly need the feeding program, they both agreed that we could easily double the amount of kids we are serving now and probably still not get them all.

For now, we have committed to 100, and maybe if funding allows, someday we can increase that number and serve all the children who truly need it.

After the feeding program we pulled out all the pillowcase dresses that had been donated from all around the US and got them ready to be distributed. Its one of my favorite things to do, because seeing their smiles as we put on a new dress just says it all. The girls are so happy, and they feel so pretty and special n their new dress. This year we had some boys shorts donated as well so not only did we give out over 300 dresses to girls, but we also got to serve the boys.

Many of the children only have one or maybe two sets of clothes. Many children take off their clothes at night, wash them and hang them to dry to wear the next day. Their clothes are worn and ragged so being able to give them a new dress or shorts makes a huge difference.

Sula Bulungi!