The Rest of the Story...

The next chapter…if you didn’t read yesterday’s blog yet, you need to go back and read it or none of this will make any sense.
So even though she is now working with Cyrus and the kids, Joanna still plans to honour the commitment she made to work at the home for pregnant teens. Her plan was to rent an apartment (as had been her plan from the beginning), work at the teen home for her shifts and help Cyrus with the kids as much as possible.
Then God revealed to her that He wanted her to live in the home with Cyrus and the kids and be a mom to the children. She was a little reluctant to discuss this with Cyrus as she didn’t want him to feel like she was “swooping in”- the rich mzungu coming in with all her money to pay rent and bills and “take over” after he has done all this hard work “in the trenches” (literally) with these kids. She stewed and fretted about it and asked the Lord to show her the right time to speak to him about it. The Lord showed her the right time and his response was not one of being territorial or defensive. He welcomed the idea and said, “Of course you are not going to rent an apartment. You are going to live here with us- these children need a mother!”
One girl wrote Joanna a letter and told her how much her love meant. She had never had anyone that loved her. She was so grateful that Joanna gave her 100% attention (the girl’s words). As Joanna said, I didn’t give her anymore attention than I gave any of the others. So the reality is that this girl was getting 1/46th of Joanna’s attention, but to her it was 100% because for the first time in her life she had a “mom” who loved her!
Joanna has money to pay the rent and utilities, buy food, pay school fees for whatever period of time, but she knows that she can’t do it indefinitely so she started to pray for sponsors. The week they moved into the house she asked the Lord to provide one sponsor for each child in the next 7 days (46 sponsors in 7 days in an organization that doesn’t even really exist yet- can’t be done, can it?). On the Friday of the first week, they were having a celebration supper to thank God for their new home. A few days before, Joanna said, “God, can I change that request- I want one sponsor for each child by Friday so that we can celebrate that too!” (Is this woman crazy?) Thursday night at 10:00PM they received their 50th sponsor! “God can do exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ever ask or imagine” I know that is not a direct quote of that verse and I don’t know where it is found in the Bible, but those were the only words that came to me when Joanna told me that.
Joanna’s plans have now changed! She is still going to honour her commitment to the Youth for Christ teen home, but two weeks ago she moved into the house with Cyrus and the kids.
She is in the process of getting registered as an NGO and she is staying here forever! She has no plans to go back to Sweden. She has huge hopes and dreams that God will build this so they can help even more kids.
She just beams when she talks about the kids. They used to be the really bad kids in the slum, stealing all the time (just to survive!) The police cannot believe the change in these kids- they used to be dealing with these kids all the time for stealing and now these kids are like little evangelists, telling others about the love of Jesus. The kids pray four times a day and basically pray without ceasing in between- they pray with each other and for each other. There is a 10 year old that is “the pastor”- God just gives this kid so much wisdom and he preaches to the others. It is unbelievable!
Joanna is absolutely beaming- like a new mother which she is! She had always dreamed of having children and lots of them, but at some point in her marriage, they found out they would not be able to have children. She was devastated! Now God has given her 46 children! I think that falls into the category of “be careful what you pray for, you just might get it!” She just keeps saying, “God this is too much- I don’t deserve this much blessing.” I wish you could see her beaming and see how radiant she is! If you look at the pictures on her blog, you will see her with the kids- beaming and radiant!
All of the above is clips from an e-mail I sent out to our family after my conversation with Joanna. At that point we had not met the kids yet. Two Sundays ago we went over to meet the kids and drop off some things we had for them. Watoto had recently replaced the mosquito nets at the three guesthouses. The old nets were discolored and had some small holes in them, but could still certainly be of good use to someone and Watoto was looking to donate them. We had the privilege of providing all the mosquito nets these kids need to protect them from malaria carrying mosquitoes as they sleep. Greg had a roll of duct tape in our vehicle and asked if she could use that. She was so excited for that roll of tape and had lots of plans to fix things with it. As Greg’s t-shirt says, “I can fix anything. Where’s the duct tape?”
Mattresses have been donated by some volunteers Joanna met here. Another couple has donated beds- triple decker bunk beds that are currently being made at Watoto’s metal fabrication shop. Right now the kids are sleeping on mattresses on the floor but that is way better than they have ever slept on before!
It was such a privilege to meet these amazing kids (number 47 had arrived the day prior to our visit). Greg was smart enough to wear sunglasses so the kids couldn’t see him crying. I was not that smart and just stood there with tears running down my face! Some of the older kids (the ones dancing in the YouTube video below) were not around as they were performing at a church that day. The other kids danced and sang for us (video attached) and it was such a tremendous blessing.
Joanna showed us around their house. Minimal furniture right now- just the mattresses on the floor that the kids sleep on. They have plates to eat off of, but they eat with their hands (not uncommon in Uganda). Another woman who has a heart for street children bought a washing machine, fridge and stove (or cooker, as they are called here). They still have lots of needs, but the children have way more now than they have ever had in their lives.
As Joanna gave us a tour of the house, she told us how the children responded to everything there. I already told you how they all stood in the bath tub and were singing into the shower (there are pictures on Joanna’s blog- address below). She has had to lock the room where the washing machine is because the kids would all huddle around it and watch it. The machine has a glass lid so the children can see it washing, but they can’t understand how the clothes get clean without a person scrubbing them.
It was such a joy to see these amazing children so thrilled with the everyday things that we all take for granted. It was an incredible blessing to be in their midst. We have been gathering a few more little things for them and we can’t wait to go back and see them all again.
We have attached the video of the kids singing for us.
Joanna also has a blog   www.theselittleangels.blogspot.com
She is a little disappointed in the blog because she is writing it in English (Swedish is her first language) and can’t express herself the way she would like to. I think it is a great blog and it has lots of pictures.
The link to the YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLGXI54hLkE
When the kids danced in this competition, the judges scored them the highest. However, the competition is kind of like American Idol in that it is the number of votes that determines who wins the competition. People send SMS (text message) to vote and that is what determines the winner. There is a really “awkward” moment at the end of this video where the MC tells the kids to get their parents and everyone to vote for them! Of course they had no family there to vote for them- they have no family! They came in third at that competition because of the votes by SMS. However, they are in another competition on October 9 and we are gathering “an army” of people to go, watch and vote for them. The winning team gets a prize of 500,000 shillings- that would be a big help to Joanna, Cyrus and the kids.
I hope you take the time to check out the videos and the blog- it will be a huge blessing to you. I guarantee it!