My trip has been filled with intense moments of sheer joy and utter sorrow:
-while at the acholi slums, a mother asked my friend to please take her baby
-the singing that greeted us as we met the acholi quarter leaders
-listening to a woman from the acholi slums speak of losing three children to HIV and contracting the disease herself from caring for their wounds
-when the workers at the birthing center building site followed us out with laughter & fun after days of building bricks/structures together
-meeting the 92-year old woman that walks to the birthing center site each week to help dig & plant a garden with the other volunteer women
-sharing traditional african fare of matoke (boiled/masked plaintain), greens, potatoes, rice, beans and g-nut sauce (peanut-like sauce) with the women at the birting center site
-unloading and sorting through our 20 humungo duffle bags of donations for distribution to the slums/birthing center/orphanage/school
-peering into a dank, dark room where all 125 HIV orphans sleep on less than 80 beds and replacing the disgusting "mattresses"
-realizing that the gaping sores on an orphan's leg were not scrapes but telltale HIV sores that will cover his body in days to come
-writing my name in the orphanage's guest-book under a woman's comment "brought in my child"
-Abdi's smile
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