confessions of a cynic #bloghope

I tend toward cynicism. I easily let myself sink into it, wrapping bitterness around me like a blanket. I can fall into it here -- and at home -- if I let myself.

Maybe you feel the same way, too. That my words and my photos about all that is here, all that is heavy, is too much and you want to shake a fist at the sky. I feel a bit about that, here and at home.

However, there is good to life. In the midst of what seems oppressive and hard, there is so much good.

Today we went to Amazima -- if you're familiar with the book Kisses from Katie, you may know a bit what they do. They have an incredible sponsor program and we when we arrived at their playground, we were met with hundreds of children. They currently sponsor 721, with ages ranging from preschool through college.

Two girls from Soccer Without Borders, Amy and Jill, came along with us and we set up drills and matches. Other kids played on the playground, some braided hair, others gathered in groups. It was completely normal chaos. Just what you would expect anywhere in the world when you put hundreds of kids together.

Despite the things here, there is so much joy. Enough to make anyone, even a cynic like me who gets overwhelmed by all of it, believe in possibilities.

I am a member of the #blogHOPE team, a group of 8 bloggers here in Jinja, Uganda to share about jiggers, the stories of the kids suffering from jiggers, the teams here making a difference and the communities being transformed.

follow our trip on bloghope.org.
read the posts of the other bloggers on the trip: wynne | mo | carey | cara | logan | melissa