A Bit of Excitement!!!

We continue to enjoy our time here in Uganda!!  Lots of people around to spend time with, so of course I am in my glory!!  Yes, this is Tracey writing:)

Our friends Tim and Debbie Kasten and their three children arrived here on Wednesday to spend about 10 days with us.  They are dear friends and it has been wonderful to share this experience with them.  As always, much of the time is spent laughing....especially during our evening card games!!!  Scott and Tim are two peas in a pod so you can only imagine!!!  Their kids have jumped right into life here and are enjoying themselves as they get to know the 52 kids!!  Tim is busy building things, putting in ceilings and digging!!  Deb is great, helping out wherever is needed.

Today began with "helping out the Mama's"!!!   The ladies did laundry with them (during which time I got demoted to 2nd rinse due to a need for "more effort"!!!  Hey, I thought I was rinsing, but apparently I was supposed to be scrubbing still).  All our kids filled the water bin and jugs which meant when the Ugandan children arrived home from school they didn't have this daily chore to complete!!  

Lunch was approaching....which is when our short span of excitement began!!  We wanted some pineapple for lunch so Deb, Riaja, Danika, Lydie and I hopped on Boda's and headed to town.  On the way we passed some a group of people cheering and a couple of nice cars that appeared to be carrying some important people.   It turned out that the lady in the car was an MP campaigning in Mpigi for the upcoming February election.  We got what we needed in town and decided to walk home, which turned out to be a good choice (or maybe not), as  along the way we came upon some men digging who had found a small snake (we think).  They weren't killing it, but they were not sure if it was dangerous or not.        After passing on his offer to put the snake in my bag so I could take it home to use as a decoration in my house we got some pictures as proof and headed the rest of the way home.  We arrived home to some pretty jealous boys who wanted to see the snake and a father who was happy to oblige them and walk back down the hill to see if it was still there.  The snake was nowhere to be found, however, there was a dog that decided it was not happy and began to chase Owen!!!  Pretty afraid, O ran and the dog ran after him.  Tim lined up to punt the dog and Scott yelled at Owen to stop running (which he did....not sure I would have listened to that advice myself).  Meanwhile, in the midst of the excitement Beckham turns to look and gets hit my a Boda (motorcycle), knocking him to the ground!!  In the moment there were tears and fear, but by the time they all got home it had become a GREAT story to tell their mom!!   Of course we are thankful that no one was hurt!!!  I truly don't ever think about safety when we are here as I feel 'watched over' by our Ugandan friends living here.  However, today was likely a good reminder to us that we do need to be careful.  The son of a lady from the church here was hit at the bottom of this same road two nights ago and is in critical condition in a Kampala hospital!!!  Please just continue to pray for safety while we are here.

Once we had polished off the 4th Pineapple in 24 hours we went up and gave the Mama's, Joyce and Rose all pedicures!!!  They of course love it and wanted LOTS of pictures taken!!  I will try to post them soon.  Our day ended with the youngest children doing a rendition of "The Macarena "...it was too funny!!!

Tomorrow there is a medical clinic running here for which people will begin to line up at 5am.  The Dr. will arrive at 7:30 am .  We will help with this by doing some education with people as they stand in line about how to prevent Malaria.  The rest of the day will be spent with the children here; playing, visiting, lots of soccer and maybe some beading!!! 

Soon I will start to introduce you to some of our friends here....until then I'm off to try to sleep with the little critters that insist on crawling on me and making me crazy!!!

Random Facts

It has been awhile since I have written and now I don’t even know where to begin.  I am thinking this is going to end up being a “random facts” blog!!!  One more day before visitors will start arriving in Uganda and while I am VERY excited to have everyone here, I am sad because it means that our time here is passing too quickly.  We are enjoying the deepening of our friendships with our Ugandan friends and I feel I am finally able to speak a tiny bit of Lugandan with them which is a major accomplishment.

On Saturday mornings I have been making my way down to Rose and Geoffrey’s home (He is the pastor at the church here).  It is now tradition that I will bring coffee for Rose and myself and we will visit while she does her laundry and her daughter Praise sits on my lap.   I have such respect for this woman…..she exudes strength and gentleness all wrapped in one!!  Each day she can be found down at the church with Mama Sophie praying for up to 2 hrs at a time.  Although we know very little of each others language, we visit for a nice long stretch on Saturday mornings and we learn from each other.  She is lovely.

On a different note, we had a visitor show up at our home today.  He was very intoxicated and insisted that Scott was “Joseph”.  Other than his motioning for something to drink, and his outstretched arms to hug me, we were understanding very little of what the man was saying.   He was also sporting a rather large Machete so I started to wander up to find someone who might be able to talk to him.  However, before I got even 10 steps Malumba (the man who manages this place) was on his way.  I think part of the reason I feel so safe here is that they ALWAYS seem to know what is going on for us and are looking out for us.  He was able to lead this man away and then we all had a good laugh as he told us the man had been speaking Swahili to Scott.   

Our kids continue to thrive here.  Owen is fully immersed in life here and has made some wonderful friendships.  Tonite, I found him walking arm in arm with his friend Kato.  Really, is this our Owen???  Whenever the kids are around, Owen is amongst them and we learned tonite that was he hasn’t been doing is getting clean underwear as he informed us he’d been wearing the same ones for 6 days!!!  And backwards at that!!!  What a kid!!!  Of course, his father was proud!!!  Beck continues to enjoy being the life of the party.  However, yesterday I found him at the older girls home teaching them songs!!!  There he was, surrounded by a group of girls singing his heart out.  He had come and gotten song sheets for them and I suppose was giving them Demo’s of the songs!!!  Pais is still sticking close to mom and dad, but is venturing out more and more!!!  She continues to kneel to greet the Mama’s, which they find so funny!!

I did two days of Counselling Training last week with 16 people.  We will continue to meet weekly for the duration of our time here.  I love teaching them and learning from them.   On Sunday Michael encouraged the whole church to come out, so we shall see what happens!!!  Just good to be able to share some of what I have learned with them.

We continue to be so thankful for the chance to be here and already I wonder how we will ever be able to leave!!!  

Malaria & Other Assorted Sicknesses

“I wonder if this is what it feels like to have malaria?” 

That’s what I was wondering last night at about 2am as my body ached.  10 minutes on my back, then 10 minutes on my side, then my front, then my other side…start the process again.

There’s no question I’m quite wimpy…and I’m sure dealing with malaria is much worse that what I was experiencing (thankfully, by the end of the next evening I was feeling much better).   But it got me thinking about all of the people around me who are suffering from malaria….it is literally everywhere you look at this time of year in Uganda.  But Uganda is not unique.

There are a reported 500 million cases of malaria each year resulting in 1.5 to 2.7 million deaths….many of these are children.  But death is just one negative aspect to this disease.  Parents & grandparents with malaria can’t work to provide for their family; students with malaria can’t study.

But it doesn’t have to be this way…there are medicines available that, when administered on a timely basis, can stop the progression of the disease.  Unfortunately, most of the people suffering from malaria are also the poorest of the poor and therefore cannot afford the medicine.

That’s where people like you and I come in.  It’s amazing how small of a donation (from our perspective) can actually change—if not save—another person’s life.

Since being here in Mpigi we’ve watched 6 of our kids head off to the hospital for malaria treatment….treatment that they otherwise would not have had if our church wasn’t financially invested here. 

Whether you’re involved in our church or not, you are able to give through Peace Portal Alliance so that kids continue to get the life-saving medicine they need.  It doesn’t have to be much to make a difference.   And here’s some good news for those of you who are a bit skeptical of giving to religious institutions (perhaps a bit too much of Jimmy Baker in your past!): 100% of your donation gets over to Uganda to make a difference.  I know, because I send it each month.

I know there’s lots of good causes to put your money towards—I’m not trying to guilt anyone.  It just might be that right now is the right time for you to get involved in something like this.  If so, I and the 54 other kids who depend on support from Canada say a big, ‘thank you!’

Kibaale Visit

It's been great having a few days to visit with the Dyck family down in Kibaale.  We drove about 3 hours south-west from Mpigi to Pacific Academy's school in Kibaale.  Here, about 750 kids get a great education.

Our accommodations were certainly a 'step up' from the Mpigi guesthouse, and Shannon cooked us great meals!  The kids played all day with the Dyck kids....we barely saw them!  Last night, we celebrated Sean's birthday with a delicious chocolate cake cooked by his wife Jamie (another missionary couple from PPAC).  All in all it's been a great 2.5 days.

Yesterday, we piled all the kids into the back of a truck and did a few home visits.  This is the first significant 'perspective-building' opportunity for our kids as they met families in significant need.  The picture of the mud house is the new house that the family can now enjoy.  We could see the boys processing the fact that this home was an improvement for them....hoping for a few conversations in the next few days to hear how they are processing it all...

Today we head back up to Mpigi with Sean and Jamie.  Lydie (our French friend who is staying in Uganda with us) is not feeling well today and is staying here in Kibaale until Sunday.

Here's a few pics (hopefully) of our time in Kibaale...

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