Cows, Bananas and Piglets .... Oh My!!!

Happy Monday Everyone,

After a wonderful Sabbath with our friends at Musana, we took on Monday. Today, we were able to travel and see how Musana is empowering the community around them. We started the day with a farm visit. For those of you who have not been to Iganga, it is a beautiful, rich agricultural community. Seriously, I picture the Garden of Eden or the Promised Land looking much like this fertile land. The avocados are the size of a child's head.  OK now back to the farm..... It was about 40 acres and included banana trees, elephant plants, corn and a tomato nursery along with goats, milk cows and pigs. Sue even got to hold a screaming pig. It was amazing to see how efficiently they used every piece of the land.

From the farm we were able to do home visits with the Musana social worker, Edward,  who oversees Project Restore. This a program that walks along side some of the most vulnerable individuals and gives them the tools and resources to be successful. Not only do they provide for the individual but they also educate the family and the entire community on horticulture, hygiene and community programs. We were able to meet amazing people who through God's strength are defying odds and changing their communities. Along the road, we met a mother and her 4 month old baby who had not been nursing for 3 months and had been living on tea. The sweet little girl had a bad rash and looked malnourished.  It was nice being with Edward and knowing he would educate the family and provide them with the resources to help the child regain it's health. 

We ended the day at the Buwongo Woman's group. This inspirational group of woman greeted us with singing and dancing. They even got our crew to wiggle their hips and dance a bit. Praise God no one got this little treat on video. We figured out that between the 10 of us we had a total of 12 children. The 12 ladies we met had a total of more than 100. These woman are not only mothers, they are leaders in their community and small business owners.  They shared with us how they had received an interest free loan from Musana and were able to start businesses in sewing, brick making and a piggery. One of the women even built her own house using the bricks produced by her business. We were truly honored to spend the afternoon with these gracious, hard-working women.

So we end the day excited and humbled to see all that God is doing here in Iganga...

- Tamara