Posted in General Posts by Cameron Freeman on 1/10/2012
Long time coming.
In Uganda we stayed with another team at an
orphanage/school/church all within one compound. There I was taught to worship
in all situations through a specific song the children would sing,
Parents come and go
But Jesus, he stays
the same,
Jesus, he is forever,
Jesus he stays the
same, the Messiah.
They would sing three or four verses of it, replacing
parents with friends, teachers, and other things I would be lost without. The
faith of these children made me feel very foolish about what I clung to.
I pooped my pants in Uganda, couldn't get to the bathroom in
time because I was running to get some toilet paper. (Note: carry toilet paper
with you EVERYWHERE YOU GO when out of the states, you never know)
Megan and I met two boys on the street, huffing glue and
asking for money, by the end we got one off the street, his name is Muhammad,
the other, Hassan went back to the streets to care for his younger brother and
mother. They were about nine or ten. We had enough from our finances left over
from the month to pay for Muhammad to go through school and stay at the
orphanage.
Some trees are soft; they break easily (who knew?)
The hospital is right next to a club and they play music
until four in the morning.
We went to many crusades (preach the gospel through loud
speakers to an audience) at one of them I was in a tree with some teenagers
swung down because I was to talk, but the branch broke and we both fell ten
feet or so in front of everyone, I was called Zacchaeus for a bit after that.
I stayed with the guys, four of us total, and our room was
flooded with a foot of water, my headlamp and first aid kit were ruined, it's crazy
how little damage it did.
We were always doing something, either with Pastor, or the
kids, or just learning to live with each other,
It's fun to think of how I'd get along with people, or how
to solve communal problems until its real, until it becomes more than a
situation, its then speaking into someone's life.
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Posted in General Posts by Cameron Freeman on 10/14/2011
WORLD RACE SECRETS:
Reader discretion is advised…what you’re about to read isn’t pretty. Here is some insight into our team secrets, you can be the guess of who is who. Sorry for some of the details but these are realities of life on the World Race…enjoy!
-one person has brushed their hair 3 times in 9 weeks
-one person took 8 weeks to finish a travel size toothpaste…?
-one person has woken up with mouse poop in their hair
-one person has gone 15 days without showering &/or bucket bathing
-one person…actually multiple people choose to pee behind the building rather than walk to the bath house (and no, its not only the guys)
-one person has opted out of using shower gel in the shower, and one person doesn’t wash their hair
-one person has peed in their pants and in their skirt
-one person has hoarded peanut butter m&m’s for 9 weeks
-one person has pooped their pants and laid in it for 29 hours
-one person managed to accidentally poop on a wall
-one person has had an outbreak of mosquito/bed bug/flea bites…daily
-one person walked in the room…said “awe, I pooped my pants”…leaving the team to wonder if it happened at that moment or they were just recapping
-one person wears winter wear to bed…in Africa!
-5 people hitchhiked to town on the bed of a truck
-a few people have used leaves as toilet paper in the squatty potty (nothing like charmin)
-some people have put food in their mouth multiple times and immediately gagged and spit it out before hitting the back of their throat
-14 people rode inside of a 7 passenger vehicle while the 15 sat on the spare tire wheel on the back
-19 muzungus (white people) people rode in the bed of a truck
-everyone is getting very good at haggling prices for boda boda / piki piki rides (motor bikes…aka only means of transportation) as opposed to the muzungu price
-one person has a t-shirt that says “my name is not muzungu” on the back…yet continues to get yelled at by the name muzungu along with everyone here in Africa
-multiple people have showered in the rain or by gutter water
-multiple people have puked and had diarrhea at the same time
-multiple people have eaten intestines…kinda chewy
-multiple people have been proposed to…no takers yet
-multiple people almost drowned in the Nile
-everyone has successfully made an African baby cry…many of which run away screaming simply by the fact that we are muzungus…traumatizing them
-everyone has mastered eating moldy crumbly peanut butter jelly sandwiches
-multiple people have picked up soiled children and/or had a small child pee on
Thank you Leah for typing these up =]
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Posted in Month 2 by Cameron Freeman on 9/21/2011
Our team picked up two street kids and took them to the orphanage/primaryschool compound the other day, when they came with us they were sniffing glue from bottles.
its been a few days, some of the kids at the orphanage were once in the same situation and bathed, fed and gave cloths to the boys, ill update on them later, please pray that they are provided for, they need mattresses, blankets, school supplies, everything.
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Posted in Month 2 by Cameron Freeman on 9/9/2011
ah! so much has happened and there is 13 min to post before my internet time runs out, ill do my best
our team came traveled to Busia from Nairobi two weeks ago friday and on the way we saw a man lying on the road, he had recently died from being hit by a giant truck, there was blood pooling from under the blanket placed over him, that got me thinking about death the whole ride.
we crossed the equator to get to Busia, about seven to 8 hours away, and stayed at a home for about 8 orphans and hung out with them for one week. we walked to a school about 2km away and planted trees the first day, prayed for people in the village near the second day, and the third day we taught some classes for the day. its crazy that people who dont know you will let you teach thier students haha. that wouldnt fly in the US. I stubbed my toe badly whilst playing football barefoot like the children.
last week friday we traveled closer to the boarder of uganda, still in Busia, and met up with the rest of the squad, its such a relief to see them, to remember we arent the only ones struggling and experiencing new things the way our team is. We crossed the boarder into Uganda and stayed in Jinja, at a place called (i forgot what it was called) and we stayed about fifty feet from the nile. I slept to the sound of the nile flowing in a hammock the first night, twas awesome. Some of our squad bungee jumped and rafted the nile the day we were there, I and some others hung out for the day, it was good for processing everything that has been happening because the next day we traveled to Mbarara.
Here in Mbarara we are staying at a compound that is home to about five hundred orphans, and also doubles as a school, we are here with another team that had a hard first month and its been awesome getting to know eachother and playing with the children together.
Now it looks like this is our life for the month; playing with children and getting to know eachother. its crazy cause its still not easy.
Sorry for the length, but its been a while, I hope to elaborate sometime when i have more time ie; making cement with builders in busia, laying bricks in Mbarara, giving my toe skin to the girl who once gave me a cockroach, you know, the usual.
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Posted in General Posts by Cameron Freeman on 8/26/2011
I'm sitting at a coffee shop in Nairobi with my team for our last meal before we head to an orphanage in Busia tomorow morning at 8.
There is a lot on my mind after the conversation with some V Squad members and Robby last night, they have come for their 8 month debrief to the same place we are staying.
Robby and I were talking about acceptance and it came to light that I look for my acceptance from people, especially "romantic" relationships. As we were talking it hit me how true it is, and how I need to relook at my relationships and intentions with them. I need to make room for the Lord and His everlasting acceptance. I'm more scared than I've ever been, but I think I've always known this needs to happen. I dont understand what true acceptance looks like, its going to be faith and obedience.
I hate most thinking about the people this may hurt. Its been heavy on my mind ever since last night, and today i read in Isaiah 57:8
"Also behind the doors and their posts
You have set up your remembrance;
For you have uncovered
yourself to those other than Me.
And have gone up to them;
You have enlarged your bed
And made a covenant with them;
You have loved their bed,
Where you saw their nudity"
that hit hard, then i kept reading thinking about the people who i attached myself to
Isaiah 57:17-18
"For the iniquity of his covetousness
I was angry and struck him;
I hid and was angry.
And he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.
18I have seen his ways, and will heal him;
I will also lead him,
And restore comforts to him and his mourners."
The first part showed me the seriousness what I've been doing, and that its really been a cycle, and the second part gave me the ability to trust the lord that He will comfort those whom I have hurt, It's hard to see things in the light, seeing what it is that I'm doing, with no justification.
But there is not other way, I need to remove the things i have put in place of the Lord. I need this, the people i have affected need this too. (big sigh) time to man up and face growth.
Month 1
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Posted in General Posts by Cameron Freeman on 8/25/2011
Sorry about the absense, our team went on a screen fast (no computers or phones etc.) so I havent posted, and now i'm on someone elses internet time, I will post soon!
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Posted in General Posts by Cameron Freeman on 8/14/2011
1.It's winter in Kenya, I'm wearing a sweatshirt.
2. We stopped the car to let ten or fifteen baboons cross the road.
3. In Africa "I'll be there at 9" means anywhere from 9 to 9:59.
4. 2 inches is the typical distance between cars.
5. Directions aren't given by street name, but by landmarks because a lot of street signs have been stolen.
6. Kenyans are very warm, their love for people is very unfamiliar to me.
7. The children in the slums are the happiest kids I’ve ever seen.
8. Chickens, goats, donkeys, dogs, and baboons are as common as squirrels here.
9. Pastor Jim, the man we are staying with, has the biggest laugh I’ve ever heard
10. Leah is a great photographer
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Posted in General Posts by Cameron Freeman on 8/11/2011
For some reason its hard to share things close to me. I think its because i think people wont take me seriously or value my opinion, but I realize its probably because I dont value my own opinion very much, so how could i expect someone else to. I'm unsure how to change this in a healthy way.
Time to go, ill explore this more later
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Posted in Winning Team Ministries by Cameron Freeman on 8/10/2011
The Jifahamu Kenya Foundation has given life to Rise Up, a non-profit movement actively combating hunger and hopelessness that has been caused by drought, specifically in Turkana. The people of Kenya have seen many hard times, and heard of many solutions, but rarely any tangible action. The purpose of Rise Up is to bring the local community together to give any resources available to feed the people of Turkana in Northern Africa.
There are many people who long to help, but don’t know how, we are here to fill that place. Contact us for more information.
Every little bit helps.
This is going to be the about section for a facebook page for a forming idea of half american half african and one canadian to bring food to where famine has hit in Kenya. Its amazing how things can get done here.
tomorrow we are going to go around to markets, businesses and certain individuals to ask for contributions, we are willing here at winning team ministries, but our resources are minimal.
please pray that we enter the right places, talk to the right people and share the urgency and vision of going and feeding hungry people NOW.
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Posted in General Posts by Cameron Freeman on 8/10/2011
I love you and i miss you terribly, you help me push harder when i am tired. thank you
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