May 27th

For many of you, the last you may have heard was the wonderful news of the children being moved together into a home with Cornerstone. The organization was renting a home in the same village and the boys and girls were continuing to go to school. A huge thanks to those who were able to help get those costs covered so quickly. 

Since the move we have been in conversation with Cornerstone on where to go from here. About 3 weeks ago we all came to the decision to relocate the children, who still have living relatives, to their families. For the children who have no family, they will be moved to an already established home with Cornerstone, the Bukessa Home. There was much thought and many prayers put into this decision. The thing most weighing on our minds was the need for a stable home environment, which is very important for the development of the children. We will continue paying their school fees so an education can be obtained. 

 When this decision was made, Joe and I (Kami) were able to collect enough support to make the trek to Uganda to assist in the process. We booked our flights, packed our things, and that now leads us to the present...

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Good Morning!
It’s Wednesday already?! May 27th and we have arrived safely in Kampala.
All three of our flights were delayed, with a grand finale landing in Rome because someone on our plane was dying. But we finally touched down at 11pm last night and moved into the guesthouse at Cornerstone Development off Acacia Rd.

Got up around 7am this morning, walked to the local Forex, exchanged our monies, now having the best tea in the world at Speke Hotel. (African Spice Tea, such simple ingredients, but I have yet to taste anything close in America even when we try.)
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We have a meeting with Eric Kruetter and staff at 10:30. For those that do not know who Eric is… He is the son of Tim Kruetter, the founder of Cornerstone Development. Cornerstone is the organization that has been housing our kids for the past 6 months, now housing us, and the community that is helping us move forward.

The meeting will be with the directors, supervisors and mentors of their schools and homes. Kami and I (Joe) will get a much better view of how things function within the community, seeing how we (all the Dorcas Children’s Home people) might fit in and continue to make a difference.
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We’re hoping to see the children today. We have no idea who we will see and find ourselves quite anxious. We’re going to try and see them most every day. However it turns out, there is much on the list of seeing and accomplishing. Kami and I made about 5 different efforts to organize what we would do each day, only to recollect how the Ugandan culture is. It is nostalgic and surreal, yet things seem more civilized and structured… Kami says it’s because it’s not new to us, I think things have changed.

My little brother lent me his video camera, so I’ll be documenting as much as possible, save that I don’t run out of film.
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All in all, many thanks must be given to the Lord God Almighty. How He works with His community is astounding and humbling. We couldn’t be here without you guys and the faces we will see today have changed all of our lives. Kami and I said the prayer of Francis Assisi this morning and the words of my little brother keep passing through my mind, “Remember it’s about the kids.”

Since this is a community effort, then please contact us with questions, concerns and desires. Kami and I aren’t over here individually or separate. We want to work hard and accomplish as much as possible while we are here, so feel free to remind us of things we might forget. joseph.d.hedrick@gmail.com or kamicoy@gmail.com

May all things under this sun be done with the Love of Christ.
Thank you for everything.