Muzungu, Can We Trust You? PHOTO EDITION

I FINALLY FOUND MY MEMORY CARD THAT HAD MY PHOTOS ON IT FROM LAST YEAR. 

The photos I've been posting I had conveniently saved in a Facebook album. NOW, I have access to a hundred unseen photos! Looking through these again made faces come rushing back to me in new colors.

And so we can start our rainy Thursday morning with a photo gallery inspired from yesterday's post:

Muzungu, Can We Trust You?

These cutie pies ran into us in downtown Kampala. Or should I say, they MUZUNGU-GIMME-MONEY'd us. It breaks my heart to have a child begging on the street for money and no one stops to help. They are taught to beg. They don't want your money. What they are begging for is someone to care for them. For someone to warm them in their laps and promise them a home, a meal, an education, a family. Babies do not sleep alone on the streets in America. They just don't.

These photos are profound. These children are hungry and dirty and sick and alone. They have learned how to beg instead of how to read. They are hurting, they are lonely, they have nothing to sleep on. They have scraps and scabs and blood on their heads. Ringworm and lice and scabies. And yet, they are smiling, laughing, showing off their baby brother. They have ginormous bright white smiles and the largest most beautiful brown eyes. They are dirty and they are colorful. They look happy! The juxtaposition of these photos makes them my absolute favorite. Pulls on my heart strings every time.

One of the days we planned to drive through a monkey park (BTW, do not get out of your car when you do this. Especially with a pony tail). Beforehand we needed BANANAS. duhhhhhhh. So we pulled the van over at a roadside stop and bought a few large bundles (which were later swiped from the van by a monkey crawling through the driver's side window).

At the road stop we made new curious friends. Or should I say, they MUZUNGU-GIMME-MONEY'd us.

Little guy in the bottom right has MUZUNGU rolling off his lips.

The next set of photos was taken on a visit to twins Caleb & Annette's house. Juna Amagara keeps some goats here and recently welcomed little baby baaaaaaa's. Nearby is the large farm where JAM grows the food that feeds our children. While the adults did adult-like things, we ate bananas and played hide-and-seek and rolled in the grass.

AND AN AWESOME NEW UPDATE: My luggage situation is becoming real baggage (ah ha ha see what I did there?) I have no idea how I'm getting all this stuff overseas.

I received another AMAZING donation from this wonderful chica....

Her name is Emily and she's a Texan rockstar. The only other woman cool enough in this photo to wear sunglasses inside the CTA. She's a ride or die chick, a Lollapalooza lady. And she surprised me with a large box filled with brand-new kids shoes. With the tags still on them. Brand spanking shiny new. PLUS, she is the babe that started Isaac's sponsorship. *Poetry snaps for Emily* We love this muzungu and we hope she's on the next trip to Kishanje. I know you got that adventurous spirit.

It's rainy and its cloudy and its stormy 

but its not gloomy!