Trip to Kamwenge

Ok I have been hurrying to get these in so this may be short but check back later I will have lots more and many more photos. This trip was a very big deal so it will take awhile to tell. My mom and dad, and Chris sponsored families on this trip. I also sponosred another family with Susie. (you didn't know that Sue but trust me this one is huge!) So it was very very moving and I want you all to know about it. So I will post pics later tonight. But the power and internet are so unreliable that I am getting in what i can when I can. I am not even spell checking at this point. So in advance sorry about the typos and any other errors. We have to leave in 30 minutes so I'm going to get in now what I can. It may not be up when we get home tonight.

So we left 2 days ago for this place all the way across the country where you can see the Congo from the mountains we were in. Yeah I was scared too about that. You do not want to go to the Congo! But the Africans assured me we were safe. But you have to realize their idea of safe and our idea of safe may not be exactly the same! Anyway it was a 7 hour journey by bus. The first five hours were on paved roads (but still full of holes) and the last two hours were on dirt, huge pot holed and some foot path roads. Long journey!

So we arrived in villages where no muzngos have been before. Pretty cool! We were stars. People couldn't wait to see us. Then we drove from the village into the bush to see familes we were to sponsor. The first family was a man with elepantitis. (spelling?) Anyway he had not been touched in over 20 years. Chris had also given me money for this trip and I used his money to buy blankets and mosquito netting. I was able to sit with him and hand him a blanket and a net but more importantly I gave him a huge hug! You should have seen his face! Ben said I was probably the first female to touch him in all that time. When you are sick here you can be shunned by everyone because people don't want to catch what you have. His wife and children left him and he was living alone for all that time. He is now sponsored and the doctor saw him and provided medication to him. he will never be normal but it will not get worse and we can hopefully cure the infections. This is curable if caught early enough. It comes from a worm in the water and is becoming common in this area. They have no money to see a doctor and they have to live with it. It is so painful and terrible. I will post pics later for you to see what I mean. Please anyone who reads this today, please pray for power and internet because I want you to share this with me! So we sponsored two families at our first stop, gave food, candy, blankets, medicine and some money. The children are so poor that when you hand them a piece of candy you have to open it for them. They do not know what to do with a wrapper. They sometimes try to eat the candy with the wrapper still in place. There is this one baby, I have a pic to share, she loved her grape lollypop so much it was all over her face, her shirt her hands and in her hair! She was never happier! ok gotta go and I'll write more later,