buy a brick, build up bugabo

The first time I met the children, I was too overwhelmed with them to notice anything but a million brown hands flying at me. We played with every single toy I brought with me that day. I was exhausted by the end of the day and when I went back to George's Mom's home, something just didn't sit right with me. Why were some of the children in uniforms while some of them were in regular clothes? Could they not afford uniforms? Were their uniforms dirty? Could we buy them extras? I had about a million questions in my head but it was only my 2nd full day in Uganda and besides, we were exhausted. We had a little meeting there in the living room where George read Scripture and we each talked about the experiences we had that day. He prayed over us and we all crashed.

The next day I worked very closely with George and asked him about the children that weren't in uniforms. Turns out, those children were just at the school that day because they knew we were there. They didn't have on uniforms because they weren't in school. But they were old enough. Why weren't they in school? The heartbreaking answer I got was that they cannot afford to go to school. So I asked George if I could work on getting sponsors for them. He loved the idea and so I asked him how many children we had room for. He told me to see how many we could get sponsored and we'd go from there. I quickly said, "No. You tell me how many we have room for and God will get them sponsored. We aren't doing this the other way around." Yes, it's my first day to work with George and he's already getting a feel for "Christie" :)

He said that we could fit about 20 more children into the school without putting too much of a strain on the 2 teachers that were responsible for the 100 children that are already there. One of the teachers was out on maternity leave and another teacher had left without any explanation. So we could get sponsors for 20 children before having to build an additional building and hire a couple more teachers.

Over the next couple days, we worked out the details of how much it would cost to sponsor each child. I was fully prepared to hear a price/month type of deal, but I didn't. It only costs 100,000 shillings for 3 quarters (they go to school for a quarter and are off a month, and then go back for another quarter, etc.), which is roughly $50. George made a phone call to the other leaders in the village and we left them to select the 20 children that we would get sponsors for. I tried to wait for them to be chosen but I just COULD NOT contain my excitement!!! I went on Facebook and posted a status update asking for sponsors and within 24 hours, YES I said 24 hours, we had the money!!!

The next week we went back into the village to get pictures of each child that was available for sponsorship and while I was working my photography skills on them, George was asking them 10 questions that I thought the sponsors might want to know about them:

1) Name
2) Sex
3) Age
4) Parent(s) names
5) Favorite sport
6) How many brothers/sisters
7) What they wanted to be when they grew up
8) Favorite color
9) Favorite food(s)
10) Favorite animal

This was one of the best days of my trip but also one of the most humbling. Since George was sick with Malaria, we had the children come to his Mom's home and we did the profiling there. When I say that it was an ALL DAY EVENT, I couldn't be more serious. Some of these children walked for miles just to have their picture taken and give a few details about themselves. We had been out there forever and had just finished "interviewing" the 16th child. Everything was going as planned until a little boy and his mom showed up. Everyone was speaking Luganda so I had no idea what they were saying. But I didn't have to know. I could tell by the disappointment in their eyes and on their faces that they weren't "on the list". They walked away and my heart stood still. I kept asking George what was going on and he kept trying to reassure me that everything was OK. But I knew it wasn't. My heart was hurting and I didn't know why. I finally got him to tell me that the little boy wasn't one of the 20 children chosen. I told him that if he had room for one more, I would FIND a sponsor for him. He told me that if I did that for one, I would have people that weren't on the list lining up in front of the house. But I didn't believe that. Did they all know beforehand that they were getting the opportunity to go to school? Did they just surprise them that day? We'd been out there for hours already. Surely this little boy and his mom had heard about us and were just coming in hopes for a miracle. There wouldn't be any more. This was a one-time exception. And I was right :) I kept on at George until he sent someone after the little boy and his mom. He had stolen my heart and so I was the one that chose to sponsor him.

Meet Khalid Mulindwa. He is 4 years old and lives with his parents, 4 brothers & 3 sisters. He loves football and wants to be a teacher when he grows up. His favorite color is white, he loves to eat rice & beef and his favorite animal is a cow.


By the end of the day we had somehow gotten 22 children in all, which was OK because I had more friends wanting to sponsor children than I had children available. Here are the rest of them:





Then last but not least is my 2nd sponsored child :) He is special to me because on the last day I was in the village, I went around and met all the families that got a tank as part of our "Water Tank" project. While meeting the family across the street, George spotted a little boy and called me over to the driver's side of the van. He told me that he had been trying to help this little boy, whose Mom & Dad had abandoned him and who was living with his grandmother. He had already been raising money to buy him clothes and would really like to get him in school. George asked if I thought I could get a sponsor for him and I told him that he was looking at her :)

Meet Mathias Bikula. He is 8 years old and lives with his grandmother and 2 sisters. He loves football and wants to be an engineer when he grows up. His favorite color is green & black, he loves to eat rice & beef and his favorite animal is a cow.

Please take a moment to praise God with me that the sweet faces you see above will be starting their first day of school in less than 2 weeks. Pray for their little hearts as they adjust to a different daily schedule. A schedule that includes a chance at an education. To these children, an education is the key to ending extreme poverty and hunger. An education ensures that they learn valuable skills that help them grow, protect themselves from diseases, earn a better living, and empower them with the knowledge and leadership to build up their community.

I left the village that day knowing with all my heart that God Himself was smiling at the work George & I had done that day. But I also knew that He'd just planted a seed in my heart that I couldn't ignore. George and I talked on the way back to Mukono and already, I was trying to figure out a way to get EVEN MORE children into school. And while we had just brightened the future for 23 precious children, there are several hundred more that could receive an education if we just had room for them. Doesn't every child have a right to an education? So I took a deep breath and asked George about the possibility of building a new 2-classroom building like the one they have now. I think my eager heart was a little too much for him. He brushed me off at first but I kept on and on about how God had gotten those children sponsored in exactly 24 hours and how He had sent above and beyond the number of sponsors we needed. I had at least 10 more messages from people asking if I had any children left. But it wasn't that easy. We needed a school before we could get any more children sponsored. So I told him to work out the details and just give me an estimate of what it would cost to build a new 2-classroom building. Just give me the amount and I would pray over it and then give it to God.

When he got back with me about an estimate, I admit, I was floored. $5000 is A LOT to come up with. It just sounded like a huge mountain that I didn't have the energy to climb. Sure, these kids were important enough but I had just asked for $1000 from my Facebook friends. And besides, the additional people emailing me weren't asking to donate toward building a school, they wanted to sponsor a child. But then I felt God whipping me back into line. You see, to Him, $5000 is nothing. These are His children. He sent me there to ensure they had a voice. He sent me there to see their need and make their needs known to my brothers and sisters in Christ. This was His battle and I was just His little warrior. Why was I belittling Him? I had one simple task and that was to make their needs known. That was it. Why was I trying to make all these executive decisions? Why was I rattling my brain wondering how I was going to present to my friends that we had to raise $5000? Why was I already trying to figure out who would help and who wouldn't? Why was I not trusting Him to send my brothers and sisters in Christ to walk alongside me to get His children in school? Was I going back to that individualistic mindset that I had before I asked Him to take control of my life? What was the purpose of having Him live in my heart if I wasn't going to give Him the full reign He deserves. Man, I was really backsliding for the rest of that day.

Over the next few days, I prayed over this new project that was burning a hole in my heart. It JUST might have taken over my every thought had we not had so much other stuff going on. By the time I returned home, I had 2 more projects ahead of this one. I am praising God that they have since been completed, even before I could process the 3 week trip and write a blog post about them!

One week ago, I started putting the money from the sales of my Uganda Magazine Jewelry and the donations toward the $5000 needed for the school. The jewelry has been quite a hit, especially the bracelets and earrings. Because, you see, I have a TON of adoption/orphan advocate friends that have the necklaces but few have the bracelets and/or earrings. So I've sold a lot of them to those friends. And while I am hopeful that all pieces will be sold and we will raise a lot of money from them, I have been racking my brain for another fundraising idea for those that might want to help by donating. Sure, you could just donate $10, $20, or $30 but why not make it more exciting.

So here I sat the other night, looking through the pictures when I ran across the picture of the 2-classroom building that is already on the school property. The building that we were using as a model to estimate the costs to build another one. And that's when it hit me. Why not ask for people to "Buy a Brick"? I thought it was a great idea until I realized that I'd need to know how many bricks the building had before I could figure out a price per brick. So yeah, I spent then next couple of minutes trying to count each brick.
When that didn't work, I counted one area and multiplied it until I calculated how many it took to build the front. Then I doubled it for the back and again for the sides. I added in a couple thousand to make it an even 10,000. So 10,000 bricks is what we're aiming for :) 10,000 bricks of love and several hundred pounds of mortar of hope and God will have that school built and we'll be ready to get 75-100 more children sponsored for their shot at an awesome education! Oh, and the best part about the bricks is that they are made by the people that live in the village. So your money is staying within the village and that is another reason I chose the title "Buy a Brick, Build up Bugabo" :)

Using my trusty, rusty scientific calculator, I figure that $5000/10,000 bricks is roughly $.50/brick. Quick, somebody check my math :) So what are we waiting on? Let's pull together and watch God work through His people to get this school built! Let's watch Him raise that money the same way we are going to build: brick by brick. Let's watch together as the donation meter on the left-hand side of my blog reaches the $5000 mark. Who's with me? Who is going to come alongside me and ensure these children get the education they deserve? Is God speaking to YOU to be one of them?

Are YOU ready to "Buy a Brick"?

Check out how many bricks you can buy:

$10 = 20 bricks
$25 = 50 bricks
$50 = 100 bricks
$75 = 150 bricks
$100 = 200 bricks
$200 = 400 bricks

Did I just seriously do all those fancy calculations for you? Yeah, that's in case you haven't been in a math class in, oh, EVER :)

George has decided that we will go ahead and start on the school. We feel that if people see it being built, it will encourage them to prayerfully consider becoming a part of such an awesome project. So we are going to build it just as I mentioned earlier: brick by brick, as I get the money to him. With God’s help and the generosity of His people, we are moving forward in confidence.

PLEASE help spread the word by sharing this on Facebook & Twitter :)