On July 21st our team traveled to the Village of Panyirenja. We were going there to dedicate a new water well just installed by HOPE4KIDS International; bringing much needed clean water to the many residents of Panyirenja. We were greeted enthusiastically!!!
We pulled up by bus and were overwhelmed with a singing welcome!
Joy and thankfulness that we had arrived!
We received many hugs and proceeded to walk 1.5 miles to the OLD water source location.
Youngsters carrying baby siblings.
It was remarkable to walk the path that they've been walking for years back & forth daily. It was not an easy path & it was far. In addition... the water that mostly kids were retrieving was contaminated. So not only did they have a great distance to carry this heavy water back to the village... it wasn't even safe.
Loving the babies.
This boy pushed his bike the whole distance!
Heading back to the village for the well ceremony, baptisms & more celebrating with villagers.
Everyone was so happy to have us visit & thanked HOPE4KIDS immensely.
There was a demonstration for the local children (& adults) on how to properly wash their hands. It was highly stressed just how important this is (when to wash, how & why) to keep yourself free of disease.
More precious babies.
The blessing of the Water Well with Brooke as the honoree. She (& her husband - who couldn't travel to Africa) raised the money in their home town of Orange County, California. Themselves with the help of friends and family raised $10,000 for this well to become a reality. Such an exciting and emotional time for Brooke, our whole H4KI team & of course for the residents who will benefit from this water.
In thanks, the community presented Brooke with a goat!!!!!!!!! :-)
How awesome is this!!!
Brooke was also presented with a rabbit, a chicken and several pumpkins. We brought them back to the hotel in our bus. LOL! Later they were given to someone local.
Congratulations Brooke... WELL DONE!
Homemade soccer ball; old trash bags tied with twine.
Water from the well and the HOPE4KIDS portable pool was used to baptize several men & women from Panyirenja.
They were so thankful for this special day and each received a new Bible afterwards.
A couple favorite pics from the day.
Photo with some of the Hope4Kids group who came to the well dedication. Others from our team were doing a medical outreach in a different location on this day.
Special for April & I to experience this awesome event.
Special for April & I to experience this awesome event.
Just looking at these pictures made me tear up...all the things that we take for granted are precious to them!
ReplyDeleteIt's true. Life is hard - really hard in most of Uganda. And through it the faith and hope and love that is demonstrated is unbelievable. I wish everyone could have an experience here and I wish for life to become easier and healthier for all who live in Uganda.
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