What else can I say?

I feel like anything I say is completely inadequate to describing this place and these people and their culture. It's just so vastly different. I say different, because in some ways I believe it's better than our American culture and in many ways, it's far worse. There is no drama here, no cliques, so petty gossip that is focused on while people go hungry and lives are lost. How I wish that was not a part of my life in any way. At the same time, the people here have daily choices to make for survival. There is no such thing as convenience here, literally. I would say about 80% of the things Wal-mart sells, you can't get here. These people are also raised into a culture where they do even choose to feed and house and clothe their children, they do not show their children affection. It isn't a part of them to love and to nurture. They are taught that keeping a child healthy and educated is enough for their well-being. That basic needs are all children need to turn them into well-behaved adults with jobs and futures. Even in the baby home here, where it is impressed upon the Ugandan staff here to love and care for these children with a heart full of joy, very few of them actually choose to accept this and have it become a part of their being. It has been very hard for me the past three weeks to watch the way these children are treated, even here at Amani. And while Amani is so wonderful for what it is and for what it does, it could be so much better. There are two babies in my group, Isaac and Mebra who are twins, and they have a father who comes and visits them every week on his day off, spending as much time as he can with them. He cares for his babies so very much and it breaks my heart to see these children having to live in an orphanage when they have a parent who loves them so much. Their mother bled to death at their birth in the hospital, and their father cannot take care of them because he has to work to survive. Honestly, how can anything I say even measure up to this society? I can't think of a single word that I could say, with any amount of enthusiasm or passion that could even possibly begin to impress upon anyone the beating of the heart of Africa. It can't truly be told, it's something one must see and touch and live for oneself to even truly begin to envision Africa.