Looking Back Through Buddy's Eyes

Hey everyone! Buddy here. Remember me? I'm so excited to share my experiences in Uganda with all of you. I can't believe that we're already back home. Time sure flies when you're having fun!

My favorite place in the whole world to be is at the childcare center at Igamba. I love those kids, and you can tell they love me back. Some of the kids even remembered me from last year, and remembered why my name is Buddy - because I come to be their friend. Here's some pictures of some of my good friends from Igamba:

This is Bill and his friend Davis. Bill likes to write his own praise songs and Davis puts them to music. They were singing for me.

They sounded so good I just had to dance!

This is my friend Matiya. Whenever he sees me, he gets a big grin on his face and two deep dimples appear on his cheeks.

This is my friend Mariam. She's one of the girls Aly sponsors so really she's more like family to me. She loves to hug me and whisper, "I love you," in my ear.

But of all the friends I made this year, I would have to say the next is my favorite. Her name is Bridget. She's Bill's sister, and the Housers just started sponsoring her. Once she got her hands on me we were friends forever. She did everything with me. She sang songs, learned Bible verses, prayed, and even ate lunch with me.

I felt so much love when I was around her.

So we were both sad when she had to leave to go home that day.

After Bridget left, Aly gave me a big task. There's a boy named Fahad. He's from Camp El Har, but since the kids were on a break from school, all of the kids from the Camp had to go back to visit family members back in their village. Fahad came back to Igamba, but he wasn't having a good time. You see, Fahad doesn't come back to a good home, so he goes from so much love and protection at the Camp to hard times at home. He was so sad he was begging to go back to Kampala. He broke my heart. So Aly asked me to sit with him and cheer him up. We sat together and he sang praise songs to me.

After a while, that big smile of his came back.

That's my favorite part of going to Uganda - making kids smile. And the hugs aren't so bad either. I think I've learned that sometimes ministy has nothing to do with being able to talk. Sometimes you just have to be willing to love and be loved.

- Buddy