Sorry it’s been awhile since my last post. This week has been the craziest since I’ve been here. We have 10 sick children currently staying at our house. Three of them are severely malnourished, so we have been feeding them every three hours. In other words, we’ve pretty much stopped sleeping. We have also had to have two of the children admitted to the hospital. Ashfat and Shakool (ages 4 and 2, respectively) are both HIV positive, have severe malaria, and are extremely malnourished. After spending the night at the hospital receiving treatment for their malaria, they seem to be feeling a little better.

One of the other children we have been feeding every 3 hours is named Shaquille. Shaquille is 11 months old, although he looks more like a skinny 6 month old. He has a cleft palate; the roof of his mouth did not completely grow together during development. In other words, there is no barrier between his mouth and nasal passage. Therefore, he can only drink milk and water. He is not able to eat any solid foods. Consequently, he is very malnourished, and his body is far behind normal development. We have been feeding him a special formula called F75. F75 is essentially a mixture of milk, oil, sugar, and vitamins. And there are 750 calories in every 8 ounces.

Shaquille is a completely precious child. He has an adorable smile, laughs often, and rarely cries unless he is hungry. I am hopelessly attached to this little boy. We are trying to find a way to get him cleft palate surgery. Without the surgery, he will die. A one year old’s body simply needs more nourishment than Shaquille is physically able to swallow. Please pray that we are able to find him a place to have surgery soon. This delightful child needs to be given the chance to live.

It is hard to believe that I have only 2 weeks left in Africa! I have loved my time here. But, hey, it’s not over yet! There are still more songs to sing, children to play with, sick kids to take to clinics, adults to meet, and things to see and experience. I pray that God will use me as his hands and feet here in Uganda right up until the moment I set foot on the plane and beyond.