Saturday, November 9, 2013

MyLove


Stacy from Haiti. 

My Love is hearing children singing songs of freedom. My Love is watching a former child soldier holding a pencil, and writing a story; their manifesto of peace. MyLove is seeing children sitting in a vibrant colorfully painted classroom with their bright smiles inviting you into their new world of possible. Poverty doesn't exist in school. It's as if it is removed the moment the children put on their identical pristine uniforms, masking any proof of poverty. It's here where I see the vision of the End of Extreme poverty. Where poverty is not seen and even though I know a child might be hungry at home, they are being fed at school. Wearing uniforms of Knowledge, these children are ready for the battles ahead. They are being prepared and empowered to solve the problems of their land.  Schools are not just a location for learning, but a storehouse for FREEDOM giving. And these children, I believe and have seen are the answer to ending poverty.

By allowing children in vulnerable situations the availability of school we are strengthening them, and giving them access to education and the ability to solve problems with logic, with justice, and with heart. Nelson Mandela states "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world". So really, if we want to change the world we need to give more education opportunities to those without.

Whether on war-torn soils of Uganda or the broken roads from an earthquake in Haiti, the brokenness becomes our cause, our invitation to bring freedom. Freedom by education.

We can be FREEDOM givers. We can provide education to children in poverty and in doing so are the ones, taking our key, placing it into the deadbolt and breaking chains off of these children forever. We can Break the Chains of Injustice, with the excess we have and empower families out of poverty with our generosity.

This is MyLove, her name is MyLove.



Her beauty is probably just as mesmerizing to you as it was to me. Once I heard her name, I realized her mother must have named her that for a reason. "She is MyLove." It made think, are the children OUR Loves? Do we see these children as our own? Can we see these children as our own? Can we view a fatherless child, a beggar, a widow as Our Love? Someone who we can take ownership of loving and providing for. Maybe it starts by seeing them as Ours, that we start to care more. That they are a part of Our Family, and Our Home, Our Story.  This is MyLove and she has inspired me that we all have a love, but it is in sharing that love, and it changing into Our Love, when history is made. Even typing this, I want to change the way I take ownership of fighting for the oppressed, and I want us -- you and me and the oppressed -- to join together so Our Story, can change the global story for the vulnerable.

I went to Haiti this October, thinking I had some of the answers. I don't. But I have conviction and hope and Love to make a difference. I will always live a life of learning. I won't stop operating from a place of love and possibility. Because I know through Love all things are possible.

Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my
gates, waiting beside my doors. - Proverbs 8:34 ( Jacmel, Haiti)


I want to live my life unlocking and inspiring others to unlock as many doors as possible, to provide gateways to health, faith, restoration and reconciliation in vulnerable areas to children.

Once the door is unlocked and swinging wide, the other side of the door shows a pathway to peace, leading up to a little red school house on a hill, and the bell is ringing loudly, justice is ringing loudly and inviting the kids to come, and sit with the Schoolmaster who shares with them their story of Freedom.


Let's be FREEDOM givers.
Let's be CHAIN breakers.
Let's be LOVE bearers.

// Devon


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Li Bél >> She is Beautiful.

I stare down into the deep brown inviting eyes of a girl no older than 4, that gaze up at me with wonder. Her smile holds the suns power with all of it's light. LI BEL. (She is Beautiful) She is lovely. She is worthy, and a precious pearl of GREAT price.

I keep looking into her eyes, gazing far in - passed the surface story, and I see a girl without a trace of poverty to her name. Without a trace of homelessness and abandonment. She has strength. She has riches far passed anyone can imagine, stored for her in Heaven. Her only background and History is God's story of redeeming grace. Her love for others is marked on her radiant face. The Lord's love gives heat and light to her day. Hope falls down on her like rain, washing away the dirt of hunger and the pain. She is a child full of wonder. She is beauty.

She reaches skyward with open arms asking me to pick her up and hold her. I reach down, and hold her close. I carry this gem around the compound in Haiti as she continues to reflect light in every direction with her joy! I hold her, as if she was the most precious stone in the world, because she is. 'Ou Bél' she says to me while I'm holding her, to remind me that I too am beautiful. My heart bends, knowing that those words are pure and perfect coming from her sweet little voice.The girls here in Haiti, they remind me, Kyle and Kristie of our beauty almost every day. It's one of the most humbling gifts to be told this. Sometimes we, at least I know I do, fight the words but I know I need to receive it and value my worth because this little barefoot haitian girl in my arms, believes it.


A pearl of great price

I can learn so much from this 4 year old princess JouJou. She laughs at days to come. - Proverbs 31. She throws her head back in laughter over and over again and reminds me of the child I want to retain in myself. We laugh so much it brings me tears of joy. She makes this short time in Haiti feel like 100 days of laughter and belonging. She has some wild in her, but we all do, and that little bit of crazy makes for some colorful days. 


I am learning to be colorful and learning how to color outside the lines when it comes to being "adult". It is making life way more exciting and fun! And allowing me to appreciate the beauty in it. I came to serve in Haiti, but as always I am the one who is served with love.


Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant." 
 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Creating a Culture of Creativity

Chalk +  a trash dump + a child with wonder = !!!
I met this dream-filled one in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala 

Creating a Culture of Creativity in HAITI

Two things I am passionate about is the arts and identity. I believe through art - of any form - that we as humans can be uniquely individual and be empowered to speak from our true and authentic voices. A paintbrush in the hand of Rembrandt or Renoir to me is just as powerful as a paintbrush in a young child's hand, because it is a tool of empowerment; a voice that can be used by the artist to give sound and color to the mind's thoughts. Once a person allows themselves the freedom to express their mind and heart using various forms of art, I believe and I have seen a joy that appears from being able to create. This joy is PALPABLE and unstoppable. We are empowered when we can mold shapes, photograph the world and share our visions. We are reminded who we are through our voice and by viewing our art; the visual imprint of our thoughts we can start to see more of us. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and we can create beauty out of broken selves. 

I have an opportunity to go to Haiti, thanks to my sweet dedicated friend and teacher Kyle Almgren who serves at Greater Works Home and School in Haiti. Together we're going to use art, creativity, and our passion to help create new programs that will benefit the school and the children. Our hope is to start or re-ignite a CULTURE OF CREATIVITY at this treasured place in Haiti. 

What is a culture of creativity? That's a good question. Not sure I can define it -- but I know that just saying those words ignites my spirit. Creating or cultivating a culture of creativity.  A place where humans dream big, think and see and pray from the lens of the Creator of the world. The bigger picture. The hopeful picture. Where a person who is in poverty, can see beyond their current circumstance and motivate themselves to creatively solve their problems to get to their desired solutions. The future belongs to those who are innovative, creative and collaborative. Let's start by pouring that into children and treating them as equals, after all I am no more creative than a 5 year old in Port-au-Prince Haiti, probably less so. It's going to take a lot of faith and perseverance, but I am impassioned about fostering a culture of creativity throughout the nations, specifically in poorest places throughout the world. 

I want to provide fuel, inspiration and a whole lot of LOVE to help these sweet Haitian kids use their imaginations and put it to action! This could be in the form of art, drama, music, dance, sewing, building, dreaming, praying, writing, exploring, etc. -- I am ready for all of it. Immersing myself in verbs of action and truth. 


STEPS TO CREATING A CULTURE OF CREATIVITY

1) Set aside the time to be imaginative, creative and dream. It's probably not going to happen at your desk, so get outside, adopt someone else's perspective for the day and challenge yourself to come up with new ideas. 

2) Yes and... By saying yes, instead of 'no' when it comes to ideas, it helps open up a possibility for curiosity and imagination. Any sort of criticism can lead to shutting down people. Adults or Children, we should be better about staying mindful and considerate to others ideas, no matter how far fetched they are. For children it is so important to praise them and encourage them to keep dreaming, keep living in wonderment where there are endless possibilities. 

I think when it comes to the developing world, we could learn a lot by listening to the children's ideas how they think poverty can be lessened. This will definitely be taken note of in Haiti.

3) Provide tools. to enhance individual creativity. A paint brush, a pen, a microphone made out of a hairbrush, a red cape, a plastic blue hammer, a camera, etc. There are countless objects and tools that can help enhance our creative spirits! Find out which ones bring you joy, and employ them and enhance your personal creativity... and inspire others in the process!  

4) BE BOLD! Be courageous and daring when in the creative process. Um they are just ideas, nothing is going to go wrong by dreaming or thinking too big. Is that even possible? Can we think too big? dream too big? I don't know, all I know there are footprints on the moon and new discoveries every day. I want to have courage against all odds. A creative courage that is inexplicable and a little crazy, but full of passion and color! 

5) HAVE FUN!!! Foot-loose and fancy free. Is it fun for me to drop everything I'm doing fly to another nation to help plan and put together art programs for kids in Haiti? You bet it is! It's fun, adventurous and kind of feels like a dream, except it's real life. I so encourage you to feel the FUN that happens when you use creativity, step outside of comfort circles, and explore. In order to create a culture of creativity, we need to allow ourselves FREEDOM. Freedom of the mind, the heart, and soul, the feet, and the hands. 

6) more steps to come. I am always in the process of learning. 

HOPEFUL hope filled HANDS
Our hands of compassion should be ones that freely give, hands of selflessness, hands of grace, hands of gratitude and generosity. These hands can do much and can love in action and provide a lot that multiplies, and is ever increasing by the day. Haiti is our neighbor, haiti deserves to be loved and cared for. Haiti the country - is a culture of creativity. But I think that some Haitians fear creativity. However, I know the Enemy of Poverty CAN'T stop creativity from flowing through the streets, but it can stricken the mind to believing that creativity can help break bonds of poverty and pain. The truth is that when that creative part of us is stirred, our hearts beat faster and we come alive in a new way that allows us to pursue the thoughts we usually discard. We pursue what seems impossible and in doing so motivate us to do the impossible. My hope for the Haitians I meet with, believe in themselves to create beautiful things.

I have a responsibility, to use my hands to create, to cultivate, to construct creative constellations that light up the sky and point people to the direction of their dreams. I know this, I feel it in my heart every time someone shares with me their passion or idea. It's a calling and vocation and I cannot wait to see how the Lord uses these hands in Haiti during the next couple weeks. 

VOCATION.  [voh-key-shuhn]
noun
a particular occupation, business, or profession; calling.
a strong impulse or inclination to follow a particular activity or career.
a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life.



 "TODAY's DREAMS become TOMORROW's REALITY." 

- Malala Yousafzai


Haiti October 2012 - A year ago visiting Respiré school.




Monday, August 5, 2013

My 25th Birthday Dream!


Where this story starts, is on a sunny day in the summer of 2012 in a war torn town in Northern Uganda. It was a day that I had been longing for, that I had been seeing in my dreams. I met hundreds of beautiful children and watched them dance traditional acholi dances and wave palm branches back and forth. I was in the presence of angels. But one little boy, in a bright Cyan blue color shirt stood out. My eyes could not stop smiling with joy every time I walked by him. I felt connected in a way I couldn't describe if I tried to, but my heart was drawn in.









First time meeting Joshua. 
Fast forward 7 months later - to February 2013, I am sitting in a brown wicker chair with Joshua and his elderly and grandmother Evalyn, and laughing and eating cassava root outside of their home. Community. Unity. Love. This is what life should be a about. The quiet moments sitting outside under the beautiful Ugandan skies, laughter tracing the leaves on the trees and joy flooding the places where our feet touched the ground. I held her withered hands that had experienced pain and sorrow and felt an empathy fill me. This beautiful and strong woman has survived a war. She has survived war lords. She has survived and seen her children be abducted and has seen not all of them return. She has many beautiful grandchildren that she can barely provide for, but she does and gives up her woven mat so they have a place to sleep. She is love to look at.


With lollipops in our hands, reuniting together and sitting in brown wicker chairs.

sitting with Joshua and Winny in the shade. 

there was a hope in his eyes that was undeniably Jesus. 

On the hour drive back to Lira from the village, my heart was trying to process everything. The dirt on his red shirt, the hope in his eyes. His grandmother who has been praying for an answer to a better life and education for her children. I was already sponsoring a girl in school, but I was confident if I called upon friends they might want to help support him.

I came back to my little room where I was staying, pulled out my laptop and posted a photo and Joshua's story on facebook, (orphan of war / child born in captivity and HIV+) -- He is much more than this identifier, but it is part of his unique story that just reinforces what he's overcome. Friends jumped at the opportunity to contribute to sending him to school. Literally with in seconds I had notifications that they would provide for him. Seeing friends respond immediately, was such an encouragement in a tangible way that moved me in such a personal way to press on. A week later, we picked little 5 year old Joshua up on a motorcycle with his few belongings and brought him to the children of peace office.

Joshua spent the next 4 days with us, and I personally cared for him. My heart grew five sizes. I had never experienced such a deep empathy for a child before. It was almost as if I was a foster mom or a big sister there to take care of him. Over the 4 days, we watched Happy Feet (he loved the dancing penguins), skyped with my friend Cameron, ate meals, took naps together, listened to music on my headphones, prayed and sang songs, and just enjoyed being in each other's presence. My new friend, and best of all he was going to go to school! I even got to go to town and buy all his school supplies, books, mattress, box and lock, malaria net. Carrying ALL of these things awkwardly in my hands throughout the town with my friend Rebecca.

My favorite moment was sitting with Joshua on a wicker zebra print couch and eating bread with nutella and banana, one of my favorite snacks! He was right by my side, and he kept staring up at me smiling and making sounds like (oh my gosh this Nutella chocolate is soo delicious) he didn't have to say anything, we were silently eating our tasty snack and smiling and living in that special moment of friendship.


skyping with my friend Cam! Joshua has a new friend
Who doesn't love dancing penguins. 



our gangsta face.


I found him stealing the nutella jar from the fridge. bless him haha 

Joshua may be called an orphan by the understanding that he has no mom or dad, but now he has a family of friends now in the states and school buddies. He is not alone. He is healing from his war torn times, because of Your Love. He is healing because he knows someone cares for him. The Lord has been watching over him and now has brought friends to his side to walk with him.

Before we took Joshua to his first day in school.

Riding with Lameck to school with all his new school supplies! 

Joshua with his new school buds! Can you find him? 

For my 25th Birthday this year in August, I wanted to use it as a platform to get Joshua's sister Winny in school. I am happy to say she is now in school with her brother! My Birthday Dream came true!! Thanks to all who supported, see you next August 5th. 


** Update as of Aug 7th - Blown away by the love and support of my friends. Thanks to 8 separate birthday donations we have enough for more than 2/3rds the year scholarship for Winnie! That means this girl is trading in her village clothes for some brand spanking new uniforms soon. Can't wait to share this story of education with you.  See photo (Winnie with the fist pump) is already so excited!

I'm so excited for this new birthday tradition of mine that invites friends to be a part of participating in a child's life with the gift of education.

This happy girl in the green is smiling because you helped her get in school! I would use a fist pump too! 

It's so awesome to me that 8 different people, young and old, are sponsoring this ONE girl. It doesn't take a lot to make a difference, even the $1 contribution gave access to this girl having an education. We can do a great amount when we start from the place of compassion.


MY BIRTHDAY DREAM 20 for 25. 
My friends, I am blessed to know you and I am so thankful you are in my life! I cannot believe I'm 25 years old today! This year has been an AMAZING adventure to say the least. Upon reflecting what moments and days of this year meant the most to me, I realized it was a day in Lira, Uganda in late February when a little boy named Joshua, a war orphan, went to school for the first time. I met him in the village with his sister Winnie, both orphaned by the LRA and the war in Northern Uganda.

Winny (10) still is living in a hut with her elderly grandmother, but I know she would love to be in school with her brother Joshua. It would also be such a sweet encouragement to this little guy I love. So, I am calling on you my dear friends, to be a part of a collective of 25 or maybe more, that can together be a part of changing Winny's life. A one time donation of $20, can change her life forever. And a group of people, some you know, maybe some you don't know are coming together with LOVE to help give a gift of education and boarding school that will empower and transform this sweet girl's life forever.

25 x $20 = A gift of education, boarding, school supplies, and endless empowerment! 

Click to Donate to Devon's 25th Birthday Fund for War Orphan Scholarship *still have $100 to raise




I would be SO grateful, even if you contributed a dollar or two, it can add up. Working with Children of Peace Uganda, within a week this girl could be in school just for the start of her first term! Either way, thank you for supporting me in this work and being such encouraging friends. I couldn't do any of this without you and it's my joy to do life with you all!

-- Devon




Wednesday, July 24, 2013

El Faro >> Punta de Palma, Guatemala

I have many stories to share from a little coastal town in the jungle of Guatemala. I'll type them soon, but for now I'm still processing this trip that only happened two weeks ago. My heart came alive in Guatemala in a new way. Teaching art and empowering children with creativity is something I was meant to do. I couldn't stop smiling and excitedly speaking spanish, a language I thought I had forgotten.

 I am so grateful for the staff at El Faro, and for the opportunity to serve and love another nation. Yet another piece of my heart is sown into another place. For 2012 I've left a piece in Haiti, Mexico, Uganda and now I add Guatemala to the list.

Quien es el rey de la selva? Se llama, J-e-s-ú-s. 

Mirna and I met in a trash dump where she lives in Guatemala.
She gave me a new perspective on Hope. Vultures are behind us in the trash, where Mirna
calls home. She ran into my arms and the first words she said were "Te Quiero" I love you.
She put her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek. She looked deep into my eyes, both of our brown
eyes gazing into one another with just so much love and joy at finding a new friend. I then put her
on my back, the sweet shoeless girl in a wool christmas sweater vest in the middle of July,
in the middle of  the jungle. Later that day we gave her a new summer sundress and bright old navy flipflops.
These are the moments I want to live every day. I am praying for this trash dump and hope that I can help
empower the people here in tangible ways.





Besos. 
The Trash Dump. The place where Trash and Ashes are made into Beautiful things.
Mirna, the mariposa (butterfly) This was an art therapy project. Video to come.

Un aguila de Dios! Another very inspirational art therapy project.

My sweet group of 5 year olds painting their "homes" on mini Blick canvases. 

Fun with bubbles! 

I love how this kids face is amazed at what he can create just with soap and water. 

This sweet girl painted a flower so delicately and gently on my hand, after I had
painted their nails and painted flowers on their hands and faces. Such sweet moments.

The sweet girls at Punta de Palma school in the village. Nothing I love more than
adorable little girls speaking spanish and playing with me like I'm one of them.

This sweet little girl Madi Rosa, in the pink dress with her pink bear took my words away.
She was beautiful and the way she looked at me (like in this photo) broke my heart every time.
This was our first day of working in the village at Sarita school, and I fell in love with the children
and their warm and loving and inviting smiles. 

Teaching an art lesson drawing El Faro, the Lighthouse on the beach.
Even a little 4 year old bello is so excited to draw, and I love his sister smiling
at him with such encouragement!!

Melt my heart. ¡¡Ojos preciosos!! So much joy being able to make art with these niños. 


After painting heart treasure boxes, the teachers allowed the kids to leave their mark.
The kids put their hands in their paint so excitedly and then ran to the wall, to leave a little
piece of their legacy. 

Mission el Faro. Beauty unparalleled, a beach paradise next door to poverty. 

Sandra and Marta and their sweet heart boxes. The girls put them up to their hearts and asked
if I would take this photo. So so precious. 

My girlies have fun painting their "Where your treasure there your heart is also" Boxes. 

:) 

Love my sweet girls in my group. I felt 8 years old again.

A girl with a heart and beauty that displays God's masterpiece.

Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them. - Mother Teresa



Friday, July 5, 2013

Adina

 excerpt from my Journal from Uganda Spring 2013


someday my writings in journals will be in a book. Here's a new story for the blog ! 

It was a day we had been planning for a few weeks and this special day had finally arrived. A team from Norway was visiting that had their hearts and minds in a rooted connection to the Adina Foundation - a rehabilitation and physical therapy center in Northern Uganda. The leaders of the team helped create, fund and grow this special place that serves the broken. On one of their last days in Lira, they honored the children of Children of Peace, Ngeta girl's home and Adina foundation, by mixing the three different programs and schools of children in and outside of Lira town. It was a meeting of the broken. The real awakening to me though, was the brokenness I encountered by watching "the weak, say I have strength" (Joel 3:10)  - 

- I walk into the compound in my ugandan formal attire, my bright blue chiffon skirt from the states skimming the dirt ground. The wind was welcomed as it blew my gold tiered triangle earrings back and forth on this hot February morning. I had just hopped off the back of a moto bike and handed the boda driver a couple of crumbled up shillings (dollars) from my bag. The iron gate of the compound opened and I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see. My heart was changed that day and my perspective renewed in a redemptive way. 

Adina Foundation in Lira Uganda 
(Most of these photos were taken by the sweet children from Lira Integrated, I gave them my camera for the day and let them be the ones to document. I think they did an amazing job!) 




Watched all the kids performances sitting next to my girlies Jenn and Caro



I walked into this new space and felt a presence of Peace invade my mind. My eyes and heart were enlightened immediately. The first scene I saw was children scatted all over the lawn: children who were disabled, missing limbs or living with disfigurements, but they walk tall, hopping around the land as if they were perfectly normal physically abled children. And you know what, they are. These children at Adina foundation are touched by God's hand. With feet that are twisted sideways, so a child walks strongly on the side of his foot not with the soul of his foot . But now he's walking towards me, hobbling forward with his good foot firmly on the ground and his other foot making progress.  He greets me with a giant smile. He dances. He sings. He runs and plays soccer. He is perfectly normal. A "lame" kid who is ABLE. His burden is not a physical problem but more of an emotional one. Some neighbors view these children as an outcast, as disabled, I only see Able. I see innocence and I see a child of God who rejoices in suffering. These children become and embody Joy. I walk further into the spacious compound to greet these children that look more like angels than humans. A child in a wheelchair with two white casts gets wheeled over to me by his friend. Another giant smile appears, and with inquisitive deep brown eyes, he invites me to see something new. This child pulls me into his world of "ENOUGH". Let the Weak say I have strength.


Joel 3:10

I walk alongside of these two precious boys no older than 10 years old who are strong and able. The friend pushes his friend with the big smile in the wheel chair as his constant support. This is a friend that will never leave him with just his chair, you can just tell he wants him to experience a world of endless possibilities. But this friend too is limping and overcoming battles of his own. But standing next to a child with a disability, I realize I look weak, because despite all of the physical weakness, there is a strength that remains in these kids that is strengthening me even now. There's a joy that is overflowing onto the land of the compound. These children can teach us so much. They are teaching me how to embrace and run through life even with broken limbs. As long as our hearts and minds are set on higher heights, as long as our faith is stronger than our broken fragile bodies, as long as we believe we can overcome, We Can Be Healed. We Can Be Rescued. I marvel at these children all around the compound and can't help but feel I'm in a special place that is surrounded and watched over by angels.

A circle of children (Lira Integrated, Adina, Ngeta schools) united by brokenness and beauty.

After a few hours of playing games and getting to know these amazing children at Adina, our Children from Lira Integrated arrive and meet these able children with disabilities and I couldn't help but see images of God. Child Soldiers and war orphans and disabled children all started to play with each other. I watched these children start to fly and break free of chains that society places on them with stigma. Together this group of children was free, they accepted one another, and love was present. The meeting of the broken, but together they were gaining strength and joy was building.


Stig the Norwegian singer-songwriter and artist filming the children working together.

Rocking out with his "guitar" for the day :) 

After the children from Children of Peace became acquainted with children from Adina shaking hands and learning names you could tell a new family was forming. They were new friends laughing and playing soccer, running around, singing, dancing traditional dances together ("Kyri - a - Kyri" ) playing ball toss, horse shoes, throwing colorful parachutes in the air, and even created teams for volleyball matches. A great thanks to Hilde and the team from Norway that organized all the sports, equipments and fun activities for the children. Without that gracious team from Adina this day wouldn't have been possible.





Local celebrity in Lira - Musician Elia came and sang his song "Bandera Yesu" and
danced and performed with the children from Adina.
I love these children of war with all my heart! 

Lin from Norway bringing joy to the kids at Adina



Playing games with Samuel B. 
Playing with children of war is healing for all involved.

My favorite moment of the day was when I walked into the small back room on the compound where music was playing over a loud speaker. The song that was playing was the song was recently recorded in Lira and written by Denis Chris (a former child soldier, and a kid who I mentor). The song is called "Golden Jesus" the lyrics say "Oh golden Jesus your the goal, you're the goal of my life, you're the goal of my power, you're the goal of my life". The children were all dancing together! They were laughing and the joy was contagious and filling the room. Miracles were appearing and chains of disabilities were falling off.

Denis leading the children in dance with his song "Golden Jesus"

I of course had to join in on the dancing, to the movements that Denis had specifically choreographed to fit the lyrics! (This boy's music is going to change his country) I was dancing next to Lucky and little Jennifer laughing, and Watum Joseph had my small Canon black camera and was filming the whole thing. I am grateful for this boy's great storytelling ability and capturing this moment! Never underestimate what a child can do with a camera in their hands, it is true art. 

Lucky giving a ride to the little guy at Adina. Love love love.
Lira Celebrity Elia loving on the children at Adina.

This is Freedom.
Freedom. Free from the constraints of the world, from the 'normal'. All of these groups of children are not normal They are set a part for good works. They are set a part so that we can be changed through the way they live their lives. I am changed, watching a child dance with their arms out, that was just a few years ago abducted and made a soldier, forced to do evil, when their innocent bodies only want good. They only want peace. It is not normal for a child to be so malnourished they never walked and now their feet are bent with disfigurement. But I can tell you, I have watched these children dance! They are dancing with broken feet or dancing with brokenness from scars of war. They can dance because they are free. They dance because God loves them despite any disability. He loves them for their hearts. He loves their brave courageous hearts. I look at this compound of scatted children playing with one another, disabled and abled - and a new generation of children of the strongest children  in wartorn Uganda. 

All the children playing "snakebite" trying not to get caught by a snake or you'll get poison in you!
In order to get the poison out you need help from your friends. It's a great game for therapy and fun

Beautiful little daughter of the Lord who is getting rehabilitation at Adina for her
body and limbs that bend in a different directions. I loved laughing with her.

My beautiful director Jane Ekayu and I after a long blessed day at Adina Foundation.


Oh teach us, Children of War, Children of the brokenness, Children of Strength, children who walk in the light even in the darkest of days -  Teach us how to walk with purpose, dance with lame feet, teach us how to forgive, children, please - Teach us how to Live, truly live.