The Youth Outreach Mission

I wanted to take a few minutes to write about an organization that I strongly believe in and support. It is an organization that was created by a group of individuals about the same age of our HELP team and younger. Wilson and Robert now age 21, best friends since primary school, created the idea of the Youth Outreach Mission and developed it into a large functioning organization which supports the youth of Lugazi, Uganda. The main aims of TYOM are to build the community around them, to raise AIDS awareness and to create an AIDS free generation by educating the youth. They are a team of highly dedicated local members who all participate in the organization while engaging in their own schooling or work at the same time. Many of their current projects are a soccer team for the street children and orphans, a well project to increase sources of clean water, building adobe stoves which increase health and decrease energy use, HIV/AIDS education and support, Health and education outreaches with schools and orphans and many other ongoing projects.
I guess you could say I want to bare my testimony of the Youth Outreach Mission. While I was in Uganda we did a lot of great projects, and we worked very hard. This work became my passion and it changed my life. But many of the projects that we engaged in would not have been possible if it weren't for the members of the Youth Outreach. This organization is a strong, honest, reliable organization that desires to only improve the lives of others in a country where so many seek to only help themselves. My faith in the abilities of the members of the Youth Outreach Mission cannot be expressed on paper or in a speech, but it is real. I look forward to continuing my work with the Outreach Mission and building on the projects that they create. They have the knowledge of the needs of the people that we as Americans could never know, and we have the resources that help answer those needs. Together we make a great team and I pray that we can continue to work as a team in answering the call that has been unheard for so many years.

The Youth Outreach has created a blog to show many of their projects, below is their link:

http://theyouthoutreachmission.blogspot.com/

Life Back in the States

It's been a little over a month since I've been back from Uganda and I still haven't exactly adjusted back. I don't think there are words to explain how much I miss Uganda and the people I met there. I made the best friends I have ever had during my time in Uganda. Working in Uganda was the best experience of my life. It changed who I am and gave me new direction in my life. I have discovered more about who I really am and what I want to be in the future, I learned that from the amazing people I was in daily contact with. I learned to value people more than keeping to a timetable and running from one place to another.
When I first got to Uganda there was no adjustment period for me, I felt more myself than I ever had before in my life. I felt at home. Doing the work I did there I was happiest I have been in my entire life. That is hard thing to leave. I did not mind never having running water, no toilets, low sanitation. I wanted to be with the people I loved, doing the work I loved. I won't deny that I do love taking a shower every day, but every time I take one now I remember the days of not showering or when I did actually get to take a "shower." "Showering" was going out to the manual well in our swimming suits and taking turns pumping while someone else splashed water on themselves and lathered up. It wasn't convenient, but we bonded during showers...we became humbled during those experiences. After showers it was laundry time at the same well. And then after dinner we did dishes at the same location as well. Life wasn't easy but it was simple. It was beautiful. I miss it.