A Perfect Injustice

Our second and third day in Africa was spent at A Perfect Injustice. If you don't know about it, you should. It is so amazing.


A Perfect Injustice is just that of it's name. It is an organization which helps pull those who have been unfortunately caught in the perfect injustice of being a street child.
Street children are a heart breaking truth. They have no homes and people in the slums...the slums! do not even want these precious boys to sleep in their gutters. Can you imagine?

We worked for these two days at the house for the boys that have been pulled off the streets. Our goal was simple, Build a basketball court! When we arrived we found that where the basketball court was going to be was currently a jungle. Literally. Tall grass, trees, plants, etc. This is the difference between America and Africa. In America, we can clear a field in about, eh, one hour? No big deal. We have machines and technology and it is super easy. In Africa? quite the opposite. We cleared the 'jungle' with machetes, slashers, hoes and axes. I formed a dislike for all three of those by the end of the trip :)

We began by hoeing the field. Most of us were hoeing, a few slashing, and then the super heroes; Sam and Tim were digging trees up! It was hard work, don't get me wrong, but it was also SO rewarding because we were going to be bringing so much joy to these precious boys who God had delivered from such a horrible situation.

On our second day at API we did the same thing in the morning and then at about two we began to prepare for a big birthday bash for the boys! Emma, Ms. Barb, Wendy, Alicia and I helped with making the food for the big bash! Actually, Emma and I just squeamishly held some dead chickens and then went on with blowing up balloons.

The boys arrived home from school at about 4 and the party fun began! We began a very long and very emotional {we didn't know it at the time} walk to the football field for some football {or soccer in america} with the boys! On our mile walk to the field my heart began to break in ways I didn't know possible. I saw the suffering in the ways I hadn't ever imagined. We walked the dirt roads, smelled the smells, and saw the suffering in real life. It's real people. Everything you see on tv and hear about...it's real and alive.

Once we made it to the area, a lot of the team went out on the field to play with 20 giddy boys who were just dying to play some soccer! Some of the other members {including myself} were tired from the walk and the day and decided to sit on the sidelines and cheer the boys on.


What happened next in those ten minutes was truly life changing. so much so that it serves for another post at another time. check back tomorrow.

Once we had finished playing the sports and enjoying our fun we decided it was time to walk back to the API house for dinner, surprises, and cake! We had cake first because that is every kid's dream, right? Dessert first! We then gave out our little gifts for the boys which included food, candy, and glow sticks. They were over-joyed! It was priceless. We then ate dinner with all the boys and got to know them better. This produced lots of tears, laughs, and smiles throughout the night. It was wonderful!

The last step was getting the boys to come into the dining room and receive their big gifts...Backpacks!

Backpacks are a huge blessing in Uganda because they are so expensive. This literally made me feel sick to my stomach because right now I have ten backpacks in my closet not being used for anything. It's overwhelming and unbelievable. I have never seen so much joy as to when they received backpacks. I think about how I feel when I receive or buy a backpack. Usually it is an "Oh, yay. another year of school. I don't even like backpacks" but to these boys, it is a PRIVILEGE to go to school and to learn. These backpacks were such a huge blessing for them. Their faces say it all and so I will leave it at that for today.

These boys who have nothing taught me more than I could ever hope to teach them. We said our goodbyes and hugged as they sang this to us. 

God is good, All the time. All the time, God is good.