Bend couple to honeymoon helping Ugandan orphans

Bend newlyweds Amanda and Andrew Lawrence have the perfect honeymoon coming up: hot weather, a new culture and friendly people.

But it’s no average vacation.

The pair will be volunteering in one of the world’s most poverty-stricken countries: Uganda.

Were her family and friends surprised by the honeymoon choice? Not a bit, Amanda said. This is her third trip to Uganda in the last four years.

It’s also her second trip to Otino-Waa, a Ugandan orphanage that was founded by another Bend couple about 10 years ago.

“Knowing that because they’re (the orphans) at Otino-Waa, they have so many opportunities and such a great future,” Amanda said. “And just seeing the healing that’s happened in their lives — it’s contagious.”

At Otino-Waa, the children have luxuries many Ugandan children go without: clean water, a safe home, free school and vocational training. And Amanda is excited to share this part of her world with her new husband.

“I think the important thing is that he has his own experiences,” she explained. “I don’t want to over-influence that, but rather just experience it together as a team.”

Andrew is hoping to teach construction and welding to older kids at Otino-Waa, but said it depended on what kind of building materials would be available at the orphanage.

As for traveling with his wife, he admires how she is expanding his views.

“I really like that she opens my realm of thinking past the United States,” Andrew said. “I’m just really excited to see what she’s seen.”

Amanda begun her adventures to Uganda in 2009, when her love for photography put her in touch with a photographer who worked in Uganda.

In her past trips, she photographed and filmed, and this time she will do the same–although she said this trip might be one of the toughest.

“My hope is to go in and talk with the kids who are waiting to come into Otino-Waa,” she said.

By documenting these children, Amanda hopes to bring people to the tension point where they feel uncomfortable with what they see.

“If no one helps, if no one intervenes, this will continue,” Amanda said.

She added that it will be hard for her to see the hopelessness of the children, and will conjure memories of her first trip to Uganda, where she visited people in “internally displaced persons” camps.

But as long as there is a story to tell and an orphan to help–Amanda said there won’t likely be any end in sight.

“I do feel like I will always be tied back to Uganda,” she said.