Our New Homes!

Hey guys! We just got some pictures of the women from Child Voice building our mud huts! Crazy!

Brodie told us today that she has some written stories from the children/women at the Center about their experiences as child soldiers-- one of them is from the woman in the last photo. I'm excited to read them (we'll be sure to pass them on-- or maybe we can read them together in a big conference call, or something!).

These last few weeks, Chris & I have been wading through a lot of details for Uganda: the budget, airplane tickets, etc. When I saw these photos, it made me stop for a minute. I realized that I have been thinking of a lot of little details, but have kind of forgotten about the actual women & children we will be helping.

With these pictures, I saw for the first time an actual face-- not a news article, or even a documentary, but a face & a picture of someone who has really gone through the horrible things we've read about... someone we will meet and touch and talk to. Right now, at this moment, that same person is actually building our homes for the summer.

It made it all very real to me, for the first time in a while. This isn't just about some crazy adventure, or the money that we're trying to raise, or the airfare we're trying to secure, but about real people who have real faces & stories, and who have gone through things I can't even imagine.

We have the privilege of talking to them, looking into their eyes, hearing their stories... and maybe even helping them.

Peace Treaty Might be Signed Tomorrow!

LRA leader to sign Uganda peace deal Thursday: mediator

KHARTOUM, April 9, 2008 (AFP) - Joseph Kony, the Ugandan rebel leader hiding from arrest by the International Criminal Court, will on Thursday sign an historic peace deal in the jungle on the Sudan-Congo border, the top mediator said.

Southern Sudan vice president Riek Machar said the Lord's Resistance Army had told him Kony would attend the signing, which was last week delayed at the rebels' request, and that the ceremony would take place as planned.

"They told me he would be there," Machar told AFP by telephone from Juba, the capital of southern Sudan. "I expect him to turn up."

The Lord's Resistance Army has waged 20 years of war in northern Uganda and is notorious for raping and mutilating civilians, enlisting child soldiers and massacring thousands.

A ceasefire was struck in August 2006, paving the way for peace talks in Juba that have dragged on for more than a year and a half.

Machar said he could provide "no guarantees" but that Kony had always turned up previously at Ri-Kwangba, the jungle area on the Sudan-DR Congo border where the rebels were told to assemble under a ceasefire agreement signed in 2006.

"Tomorrow he signs the peace agreement, hopefully, then we bring it to Juba. On the 14th the (Ugandan) president comes and signs," he added.

The government negotiating team will fly into Ri-Kwangba to witness the signing ceremony, which Machar said he hoped would be held at midday.

Ugandan rebels last week asked mediators to delay the signing of the peace agreement citing inadequate facilities such as toilets.

Machar dismissed the allegations of inadequate services as "rubbish", insisting that southern Sudan was providing food and facilities.

Kony has been in hiding to avoid a war crimes arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court.