Christmas Gifts for Kids at Home of Joy

What a privilege it was to be the hands and feet of God and so many amazing people as we blessed the Salvation Army children’s home in Kampala with some Christmas gifts.

The home of Joy is a home for disabled children.

Their disabilities range from severe mental disabilities to severe physical disabilities.

Many of the children are missing feet, arms or legs due to either birth complications or sometimes bad malaria shots as babies!

Every one of the children are unique in character and so very special. Many are funny and cheeky and love to laugh!

They love card games and soccer and dancing.

I am constantly amazed at what they can do with their limited physical abilities. And there’s never any complaining.

They work very hard at their school work every day and dream big for their future.

Some are orphans, or have been abandoned. Many have families who cannot financially afford to care for them or who live in remote location so they would have no hope of any schooling due to their families location and their physical disabilities.

What an awesome thing it was to be able to surprise the kids and tell them we had a BIG surprise for them in a few days! You could feel the anticipation in the air.

Rob and I spent days shopping for unique individual outfits for the close to 40 children. Many of them would have never had a brand new outfit or received a Christmas gift so we wanted to make it as special as we could.

We also bought gifts for all the workers – many who also have disabilities of some sort who grew up there and now work in the place. They all work so hard and love the children. Some of the workers even have families of their own who they have to leave in the village while they work to provide money for their families.

The children were EXTREMELY excited on the night of their surprise.

Robert explained to the children that they were so special and unique and so very loved by God that people from the other side of the world wanted to let them know how LOVED and SPECIAL they were, that they wanted to give them a gift each for Christmas.

This was met with much cheering J

ALL THE CLOTHES LINED UP READY

I then delivered a Christmas message and talked about the true meaning of Christmas – which to these kids is not hard to grasp because for them – Christmas is simply about God loving us enough to send Jesus and loving family and friends.

It was great to show them that love in a practical way.

We called out each child’s name individually and you could see the joy on their faces as they received their gift..... They then waited until everyone had their gifts before they could unite the bow and see what they had received.

There was a lot of tears of joy and lots of laughter – especially from the workers – some who had never received a Christmas gift in the 40 or more years of their life!

What a gift it was to see the joy on all their faces.

We told the kids that not only had we had enough money to buy them all new outfits but we also had had enough money to fix the water piping (the water system had broken down – and the children had to fetch water from down at water pump – very difficult with their various disabilities – was special seeing the way they helped each other and those who couldn’t do it).

This news was met with MUCH cheering!! J

But the biggest cheer came when they would no longer have smelly LEAKING toilets! That we had paid a plumber and been in contact with sewage department to have it all fixed – YOU would have thought we had given them all a trip to Disney land they were so happy and cheering so much!

More joy was expressed when we told them we were going to have a movie night with ice cream included! And that they had to all get dressed up in their new clothes.

A few days later we were blessed to see all the children in their new clothes. All scrubbed up ready for a fun night.

All the workers came and we started of the night with the kids leading us in singing and praise to God! What an amazing experience this is to watch as these precious children with such limited physical bodies, allow their minds and hearts and souls to completely connect with God, someone they know and love deeply.

We then all settled down after a short message from Leah again reminded them of their worth and that they had a purpose – for the movie – a journey to the centre of the earth.
They loved it and were fixed to the TV for the time it was on. Even the adults were laughing ALOT!

Ice cream was enjoyed and lots of photos taken of them in their new beautiful outfits. An outfit that many of them said was their first gift and would be treasured forever!

BELOW IS JUST SOME OF THE COUNTLESS PHOTOS WE TOOK!!

THE VERY FUNNY AND CHEEKY JULIUS

ISNT SHE BEAUTIFUL

Precious fiona who runs for my cuddles. She is severely mentally handicapped but with a heart of joy

Some of the little boys - most with severe arm & leg disabilities - BUT BIG HEARTS & SMILES

LITTLE TIMMY WHO HAS BEEN AT HOME SINCE TO TODDLER

 - HE CAN'T TALK OR WALK

THE BEAUTIFUL MILLY - WHO WAS A CHILD AT HOME BUT NOW LIVES THERE AS CLEANER & HELPER - SHE CANNOT WALK AT ALL

JOHN  - AN ABSOLUTE LEGEND - ALWAYS HAS A BIG SMILE ON HIS FACE

TOLD THEM TO DO A SILLY PHOTO - ALL IN THEIR NEW CLOTHES

LEAH DELIVERING THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

ENJOYING THE MOVIE

MOVIE NIGHT - MOVIE AND ICE CREAM WAS MET WITH A CHEER - THEY LOVED IT!

LOOK AT THE CONCENTRATION ON THEIR FACES - ROB AND I GOT A LOT OF LAUGHS OUT OF WATCHING THEM ENJOY THE MOVIE AND ICE CREAM

ROB TALKING AND ENCOURAGING THEM IN THEIR DREAMS

Thank YOU! For helping us to be able to bless these precious kids this Christmas!

We pray that you too will experience the abundant blessing of what it is to know the God who sent His son at Christmas and that you will have a wonderful time celebrating with Family and friends.