Since our return from the Islands we have run into several fellow Mzungus. We were able to attend KPC this past Sunday morning--Kampala Pentecostal Church--which also happens to be the home base for Watodo. Attending church there was INCREDIBLE. The worship was energetic and the choir/band sang many songs from Hillsong; and the pastor was sooo Spirit-led!!! He spoke on the passage in Genesis about Abraham offering up Isaac as a sacrifice and said to us as a church,
"God will always ask for what you love! So be careful what you fall in love with--because God will always want you to love Him more..."
It was a phenomonal sermon and Stacie and AmyRose both felt they had not been spiritually 'fed' in such a way in a very long time. We were also able to meet up with Matt and Brecka Arnett while at KPC. Brecka is an SBU graduate and old friend of AmyRose. They are missionaries just outside of Kampala and will be here for two years. We were quite excited to have an afternoon with not only a few fellow Americans, but born-again believers AND people who were even familiar to our part of the States!
We also ran into a young girl named Kelsie at our grocery story at Upland. She and her husband moved to Uganda just two weeks after being married! He is a pilot who works flying missionaries to various places. Kelsie was very pleased to meet us, as she apparently does not really have any female interaction. So God is continuing to bless us with meeting many new people!!
Also we have had the opportunity to get to know a couple German girls whom are both our age and will be here in Uganda until July just as we will be. We took them to New Life/Abba Home and one of them has now partnered with the Boarding School and will be volunteer preaching there.
Saturday we were able to go shopping for Kato Vicent and Wasswa Ben's school supplies, and yesterday we finally had Kato enrolled at New Life boarding school! He is excited to be there and we think he will do very well. His brother, however, is apparently still on the islands, and we have yet to see him--they say he should be back today... we'll see.
Tomorrow afternoon we are meeting with a young man who claims to be part-Mormon part-born again....haha we are not entirely sure what he believes, but we are meeting up with him to discuss it. So pray for wisdom and leading in the words we use!
And Friday we are accompanying James, a golfer missionary from Ireland, to do some street/village preaching. So we have a full week!! Praise God for all of the divine appointments we have had.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Eyeballs (The Islands Cont'd)
Due to the fear of having our faces eaten off by the giant African rats of the Islands, we did not have much sleep on night #1. In fact, we had no sleep at all. Our dear friend Samuel Mukesa had said to us the night before, "Be careful of the rats--you know, THEY LOVE WHITE FACES!!!"
Unbelievable.
The first rat scare happened shortly after our arrival, when AmyRose, Stacie, Devon and Ivan all sat in the twins' mother's home, about to take tea. We all heard a scuffling noise throughout the house, and when movement was noticed at our feet, Devon, our supposed "protector" jumped up and ran quickly out of the house....only to learn seconds later it was, in fact, the house DUCK and not a rat that was seated at his feet.
So after a restless night, the day was spent roaming the sunny island. The beaches were absolutely beautiful!!! Like no beaches we have ever seen. Rather than sand or rock on the shore, there were soft, smooth, white stones, bigger than a fist, that covered the shore and lake entirely. The homes were hut-like dwellings that were all situated along the shore, and the rest of the island was covered in green and rocks and of course, ant hills :) We went on a short hike up the island and spotted a monkey--the first we have seen out in the wild.
Most of the day was spent hiking, playing pool (Stacie is sadly, not the best pool player--but she was a good sport), admiring the beautiful water, and getting to know the islanders. Lunch was quite delicious. The twins' mother grilled tilapia for us--and AmyRose and Devon partook of their very first fish eyeball.
Quote of the day by Devon:
"So, should I carve my way around it, or just kind of pop it out?" (speaking of the fish eye ball he was about to eat)
Hahahahaha :) Ohhhh the memories.
Because of AmyRose's major allergen attack, after the eyeball lunch, she and Stacie stepped outside to get out of the dusty home. While enjoying a cold Coca-Cola, Divan (Devon + Ivan) came outside to approach us and said, "So--who will it be? AmyRose, or Stacie? We have been negotiated with the head-boss of the island for your hand in marriage--it has come down to 6 cows and half the island." Stacie and AmyRose were NOT impressed, and kindly informed Divan that as our PROTECTORS marrying us off for a few cows and acreage was a good way to get themselves fired.
We ended up eating two dinners at night, as we had apparently made a good impression on one of the kind islander women, who cooked us a SECOND entire meal of food. We ate quite well, but taking long or short calls ( going #1 or #2) became quite interesting, as there were not even squattie-potties, but rather a field of small bushes, where Mukesa informed us, "ok, so--to the right for a short call, and for a long call to the left." Good times. The event of the evening was most definitely marshmellow roasting. Devon had purchased several bags of very tasty strawberry & grape-flavored marshmellows, which we decided to roast over some open coals we borrowed from an Islander woman whom was roasting corn. At first mallow-roasters consited only of Stacie, AmyRose, Devon and Ivan--but soon the entire Island was huddled around this pot o' coals, completely in awe of the marshmellow roasting activity and the deliciousness treat that resulted. Next time, we'll definitely bring more mallows :)
Tuesday night was yet another sleepless evening, as the huts are placed about 1.5ft. apart from one another, so the night air is filled with loud voices from neighbors, angry goats, and pet hens. We were wakened at 4:00AM by the boat driver, and proceeded to wait on the shores of the Island for our Captain to board--as we watched 6 islander men gather around a radio blaring American rap music, while they smoked the reefer. They offered us some, of course, to which Stacie replied, "Ummm no thanks. I don't smoke that stuff. It's bad for you, you know. It kills brain cells, so they say."
At around 4:45AM we finally took off--the boat was quite empty this time around--the 5 of us, plus the captain and about 3 others. It was quite the chilly morning, being out on the water, under the moonlight. We thought we were travelling home on an empty boat, which was nice--but we soon realized that the more stops we made on various island--the more people--and cargo, we acquired. Soon, there were OVER FIFTY people and several tons of dead fish in our boat. Un-be-lievable.
Stacie had the opportunity to sit next to a sick young child, who began puking everywhere, and apparantly the mother told the vomiting child to next time be sure to vomit on the Muzungu sitting next to her, rather than herself.
Thankfully, AmyRose did not develop motion sickness during the trip home, so that definitely made the trip more bearable--besides the 50 people and dead fish, that is. And also the fact that she discovered the boat had a leak, due to a soaked left leg. AmyRose quickly patched said leak with chewed gum and a small patch of paper, to which dearest Ivan was quite impressed and replied, "Ahhh Rosie!! You are becoming African!"
We arrived safely back to Hill Road by 11:30AM on Wednesday morning, thankful to be home, but already looking forward to our next island adventure!!!
While on the islands, we were able to meet Mama Vincet (mother of twins) who is the Nurse of the Island. She lives in a hut-type home as the rest of the islanders do, and her tin roof, which has held up for 8 yrs. now----has several leaks in it. We will be looking around town for prices for more tin and supplies to repair the roof, and would LOVE if any of you blog-followers would be interested in helping to fund this project.
Unbelievable.
The first rat scare happened shortly after our arrival, when AmyRose, Stacie, Devon and Ivan all sat in the twins' mother's home, about to take tea. We all heard a scuffling noise throughout the house, and when movement was noticed at our feet, Devon, our supposed "protector" jumped up and ran quickly out of the house....only to learn seconds later it was, in fact, the house DUCK and not a rat that was seated at his feet.
So after a restless night, the day was spent roaming the sunny island. The beaches were absolutely beautiful!!! Like no beaches we have ever seen. Rather than sand or rock on the shore, there were soft, smooth, white stones, bigger than a fist, that covered the shore and lake entirely. The homes were hut-like dwellings that were all situated along the shore, and the rest of the island was covered in green and rocks and of course, ant hills :) We went on a short hike up the island and spotted a monkey--the first we have seen out in the wild.
Most of the day was spent hiking, playing pool (Stacie is sadly, not the best pool player--but she was a good sport), admiring the beautiful water, and getting to know the islanders. Lunch was quite delicious. The twins' mother grilled tilapia for us--and AmyRose and Devon partook of their very first fish eyeball.
Quote of the day by Devon:
"So, should I carve my way around it, or just kind of pop it out?" (speaking of the fish eye ball he was about to eat)
Hahahahaha :) Ohhhh the memories.
Because of AmyRose's major allergen attack, after the eyeball lunch, she and Stacie stepped outside to get out of the dusty home. While enjoying a cold Coca-Cola, Divan (Devon + Ivan) came outside to approach us and said, "So--who will it be? AmyRose, or Stacie? We have been negotiated with the head-boss of the island for your hand in marriage--it has come down to 6 cows and half the island." Stacie and AmyRose were NOT impressed, and kindly informed Divan that as our PROTECTORS marrying us off for a few cows and acreage was a good way to get themselves fired.
We ended up eating two dinners at night, as we had apparently made a good impression on one of the kind islander women, who cooked us a SECOND entire meal of food. We ate quite well, but taking long or short calls ( going #1 or #2) became quite interesting, as there were not even squattie-potties, but rather a field of small bushes, where Mukesa informed us, "ok, so--to the right for a short call, and for a long call to the left." Good times. The event of the evening was most definitely marshmellow roasting. Devon had purchased several bags of very tasty strawberry & grape-flavored marshmellows, which we decided to roast over some open coals we borrowed from an Islander woman whom was roasting corn. At first mallow-roasters consited only of Stacie, AmyRose, Devon and Ivan--but soon the entire Island was huddled around this pot o' coals, completely in awe of the marshmellow roasting activity and the deliciousness treat that resulted. Next time, we'll definitely bring more mallows :)
Tuesday night was yet another sleepless evening, as the huts are placed about 1.5ft. apart from one another, so the night air is filled with loud voices from neighbors, angry goats, and pet hens. We were wakened at 4:00AM by the boat driver, and proceeded to wait on the shores of the Island for our Captain to board--as we watched 6 islander men gather around a radio blaring American rap music, while they smoked the reefer. They offered us some, of course, to which Stacie replied, "Ummm no thanks. I don't smoke that stuff. It's bad for you, you know. It kills brain cells, so they say."
At around 4:45AM we finally took off--the boat was quite empty this time around--the 5 of us, plus the captain and about 3 others. It was quite the chilly morning, being out on the water, under the moonlight. We thought we were travelling home on an empty boat, which was nice--but we soon realized that the more stops we made on various island--the more people--and cargo, we acquired. Soon, there were OVER FIFTY people and several tons of dead fish in our boat. Un-be-lievable.
Stacie had the opportunity to sit next to a sick young child, who began puking everywhere, and apparantly the mother told the vomiting child to next time be sure to vomit on the Muzungu sitting next to her, rather than herself.
Thankfully, AmyRose did not develop motion sickness during the trip home, so that definitely made the trip more bearable--besides the 50 people and dead fish, that is. And also the fact that she discovered the boat had a leak, due to a soaked left leg. AmyRose quickly patched said leak with chewed gum and a small patch of paper, to which dearest Ivan was quite impressed and replied, "Ahhh Rosie!! You are becoming African!"
We arrived safely back to Hill Road by 11:30AM on Wednesday morning, thankful to be home, but already looking forward to our next island adventure!!!
While on the islands, we were able to meet Mama Vincet (mother of twins) who is the Nurse of the Island. She lives in a hut-type home as the rest of the islanders do, and her tin roof, which has held up for 8 yrs. now----has several leaks in it. We will be looking around town for prices for more tin and supplies to repair the roof, and would LOVE if any of you blog-followers would be interested in helping to fund this project.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
"Kiss Me Some" . . .off to the Islands
Monday morning marked the take-off day of our absolutely ridiculous, adventerous, CRAZY trip to the Islands. Stacie, AmyRose Ivan first met up with Devon (American about our age who is here for 5 months working on Mercy Home), Mukesa, and Kato Vicent for lunch and to hop a few boda-boda's to the port where our wonderful boat awaited our arrival.
We were informed byMukesa that this would be a 7hr. journey. Not because it should take that long, but because as Ivan said, "The boat--it is like a taxi. Except on water. It will stop many places. Like a tour!" Joy. Not incredibly thrilled about this supposed 7 hr. boat ride, we were still quite excited about the opportunity to go to the Islands and see where Kato and his family are from. Not to mention, we were going somewhere new, having no idea what awaited us, and we are both always excited for a new place.
The first suprise came as we stood on the beach, wondering how exactly we were supposed to get from where we stood, to our boat, which was about 25 yds. out into the water. AmyRose turned her head for less than a millisecond, and upon turning back around, her beloved Nakabuye was being CARRIED by a Ugandan man, who was literally half her size, out to the boat. Yes, we got a picture :) The rest of the crew got to the boat in the same manner. And I must say, watching Devon be carried cradle-style to the boat might have been the funniest thing we've seen yet.
For some reason they loaded the Muzungu crew first. So thrilled about our journey, we made our way to the front of the over-sized row-boat w/ fishing-boat-sized-motor. We made ourselves comfortable and sat for a few minutes....then several minutes....then several more. And as we sat, they loaded. They loaded people. Then cargo. Then more people. Then more cargo. Then more people. Then....... well about 39 people and a whole lot of luggage, beer, boxes of polio vaccine, and a bycycle later--it was time for take-off.
Within the first 25 minutes of our journey, our engine died. The waves got a bit bigger. And our crew soon realizeda few things:
#1 They loaded the Muzungus first b/c we were too stupid to know NOT to sit up front, where the boat rocks the most, and those prone to sea sickness might, in fact, die.
#2 Apparently in Uganda, it is an everyday occurrence to load 39 people + cargo into a very clearly TEN -passenger boat, with a motor the size of a toaster, and on a windy, wavy day, think you are not, in fact, going to capsize.
#3 AmyRose has a motion sickness issue. ...a VERY VERY BAD motion sickness issue.
The stopping and starting of the engine went on for the entire duration of our trip. Numerous other boats full of passengers passed us by, and the Americans slowly came up with a plan for when we capsize.....we would use the polio vaccine boxes at our feet and towering above our faces as floatation devices.
We made 3 stops on our way to our island, and the last stop before our destination was by far the best. We were on the Island where the Buganda tribe lived--the original tribe of Uganda. And as we approached the usual "MUZUNGU!!!" screaming began. A quite intoxicated waded into the water to speak to the Muzungus from the boatside..... Here is how the conversation between he and AmyRose went:
Crazy Man: "Hello!! Hello, Muzungu. Kiss me some!! Kiss me some 500! Kiss me some one thousand?? Kiss me some!"
AmyRose: "Kiss you some??!! You want me to kiss you?? For five hundred?? I have to pay you AND kiss you? I feel like this may be a lose-lose for me. I seem to be getting the bad end of the deal."
Crazy Man: "KISS ME SOME!!!"
Apparently, what he actually meant was not, in fact, "kiss me," but "give me." He wanted money. Not a kiss and a payment for doing so....
(TO BE CONTINUED)
We were informed byMukesa that this would be a 7hr. journey. Not because it should take that long, but because as Ivan said, "The boat--it is like a taxi. Except on water. It will stop many places. Like a tour!" Joy. Not incredibly thrilled about this supposed 7 hr. boat ride, we were still quite excited about the opportunity to go to the Islands and see where Kato and his family are from. Not to mention, we were going somewhere new, having no idea what awaited us, and we are both always excited for a new place.
The first suprise came as we stood on the beach, wondering how exactly we were supposed to get from where we stood, to our boat, which was about 25 yds. out into the water. AmyRose turned her head for less than a millisecond, and upon turning back around, her beloved Nakabuye was being CARRIED by a Ugandan man, who was literally half her size, out to the boat. Yes, we got a picture :) The rest of the crew got to the boat in the same manner. And I must say, watching Devon be carried cradle-style to the boat might have been the funniest thing we've seen yet.
For some reason they loaded the Muzungu crew first. So thrilled about our journey, we made our way to the front of the over-sized row-boat w/ fishing-boat-sized-motor. We made ourselves comfortable and sat for a few minutes....then several minutes....then several more. And as we sat, they loaded. They loaded people. Then cargo. Then more people. Then more cargo. Then more people. Then....... well about 39 people and a whole lot of luggage, beer, boxes of polio vaccine, and a bycycle later--it was time for take-off.
Within the first 25 minutes of our journey, our engine died. The waves got a bit bigger. And our crew soon realizeda few things:
#1 They loaded the Muzungus first b/c we were too stupid to know NOT to sit up front, where the boat rocks the most, and those prone to sea sickness might, in fact, die.
#2 Apparently in Uganda, it is an everyday occurrence to load 39 people + cargo into a very clearly TEN -passenger boat, with a motor the size of a toaster, and on a windy, wavy day, think you are not, in fact, going to capsize.
#3 AmyRose has a motion sickness issue. ...a VERY VERY BAD motion sickness issue.
The stopping and starting of the engine went on for the entire duration of our trip. Numerous other boats full of passengers passed us by, and the Americans slowly came up with a plan for when we capsize.....we would use the polio vaccine boxes at our feet and towering above our faces as floatation devices.
We made 3 stops on our way to our island, and the last stop before our destination was by far the best. We were on the Island where the Buganda tribe lived--the original tribe of Uganda. And as we approached the usual "MUZUNGU!!!" screaming began. A quite intoxicated waded into the water to speak to the Muzungus from the boatside..... Here is how the conversation between he and AmyRose went:
Crazy Man: "Hello!! Hello, Muzungu. Kiss me some!! Kiss me some 500! Kiss me some one thousand?? Kiss me some!"
AmyRose: "Kiss you some??!! You want me to kiss you?? For five hundred?? I have to pay you AND kiss you? I feel like this may be a lose-lose for me. I seem to be getting the bad end of the deal."
Crazy Man: "KISS ME SOME!!!"
Apparently, what he actually meant was not, in fact, "kiss me," but "give me." He wanted money. Not a kiss and a payment for doing so....
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Cut a the Knots
So if you've read our most recent entry you know our weekend trip to Jinja ended up only lasting one ridiculously long, rainy, confusing, but all-around blessed day. Because we made it back to Entebbe early, we enjoyed an empty house all weekend. We LOVE JjaJja Alma and do miss her....BUT we both thoroughly enjoyed our Saturday night "Slumber Party" complete with endless American junk food such a oreos (found during gas-station stopover while riding taxi fom kampala), homemade salsa, tootsie roll pops, pineapple....you get the point. Lots of eating. Not because we were hungry, necessarily, but b/c it was a slumber party, and that's what you do.
Eventually we moved to what is affectionately called 'the back room' where we usually go to be alone with God. Our mini-worship service led by starving-wanna-be-musician AmyRose was enjoyable but shortlived, as we decided to work on Stacie's hair.
In a fetal attempt to make our hair 'African' as well as more easily kept, as we would not be washing it--we had our hair braided/plaited. You know the story. There was an entire blog about it :) Well AmyRose's braids/twisties have been out for a week or so now, but Stacie's have been a work in progress. At one point the front of her head was tiny-crimped and bright blonde, some of her hair was straight and blonde from being washed, and the great majority of the rest was black/blonde and braided. Quite a sight.
AmyRose became quite frustrated during the unbraiding/heart2heart session, and quickly pulled out her pocket-knife to begin cutting off the knots, which CLEARLY did not have any of Stacie's "real" hair in them.
Stacie: "MuMu. Make sure you cut at the knots!! Actually, I think my real hair is in the knots. You better not be cuttin my real hair."
AmyRose: "I am not cutting your real hair. Girl please."
Upon further examination, it has been determined AmyRose did, in fact, cut off Stacie's very real and not weave HAIR. Not to mention, both Stacie and AmyRose have been losing literally handfuls of their real hair at a time, every time it is washed or touched or looked at---due to the strenuous conditions of the african braiding.
sigh* beauty is pain.
Tomorrow morning we are meeting with a lawyer to discuss getting the paperwork for a couple Mercy Home children to be transferred to Abba House. We will also be traveling, via a 7hr. boat ride, to the Kwony Islands in order to visit aforementioned Mercy Home Children's home. We will be traveling with a recent Mercy Home boy, American-Devon, and Right-hand-man Ivan. Please pray for a profitable meeting with lawyer and safe journey to the Islands!!
Eventually we moved to what is affectionately called 'the back room' where we usually go to be alone with God. Our mini-worship service led by starving-wanna-be-musician AmyRose was enjoyable but shortlived, as we decided to work on Stacie's hair.
In a fetal attempt to make our hair 'African' as well as more easily kept, as we would not be washing it--we had our hair braided/plaited. You know the story. There was an entire blog about it :) Well AmyRose's braids/twisties have been out for a week or so now, but Stacie's have been a work in progress. At one point the front of her head was tiny-crimped and bright blonde, some of her hair was straight and blonde from being washed, and the great majority of the rest was black/blonde and braided. Quite a sight.
AmyRose became quite frustrated during the unbraiding/heart2heart session, and quickly pulled out her pocket-knife to begin cutting off the knots, which CLEARLY did not have any of Stacie's "real" hair in them.
Stacie: "MuMu. Make sure you cut at the knots!! Actually, I think my real hair is in the knots. You better not be cuttin my real hair."
AmyRose: "I am not cutting your real hair. Girl please."
Upon further examination, it has been determined AmyRose did, in fact, cut off Stacie's very real and not weave HAIR. Not to mention, both Stacie and AmyRose have been losing literally handfuls of their real hair at a time, every time it is washed or touched or looked at---due to the strenuous conditions of the african braiding.
sigh* beauty is pain.
Tomorrow morning we are meeting with a lawyer to discuss getting the paperwork for a couple Mercy Home children to be transferred to Abba House. We will also be traveling, via a 7hr. boat ride, to the Kwony Islands in order to visit aforementioned Mercy Home Children's home. We will be traveling with a recent Mercy Home boy, American-Devon, and Right-hand-man Ivan. Please pray for a profitable meeting with lawyer and safe journey to the Islands!!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
ONE MONTH!!!!
We have officially made it one month today!! This month has been incredible and gone by soooo quickly, almost too quickly. As much as we cannot wait to come home and visit you all again, it will be very sad to say good-bye when the time comes!!
Our three day adventure to Jinja turned into a six hour extravaganza due to lack of communication...which seems to happen ALOT around here. We were headed out, somewhat panicky Friday morning just because we were about to journey 5 hours, hopping from taxi to taxi carrying three bags with clothes, cameras and other necessity itmes, and a heavy case of water and were not really sure what to expect. As we were headed out of the gate, Jaja Alma-the wonderful elderly woman that we are staying with-drove by the house and offered us a ride to Jinja for she was on her way herself to do ministry in a town that was about two hours past Jinja. It was a huge blessing because we were able to sit in a familar vehicle and not have to worry about the taxi-hopping. But because we were able to get a ride, we ended up getting to Jinja four hours ahead of schedule and as we have said before, everything runs behind schedule so really we were about 8hours ahead!! We get there and the hosts had not yet arrived so we sat in some chairs outside to wait for them. Then the doctor of the medical center of the Agatha Foundation greeted us and began to gather thirty widowed women from the area and bringing chairs out in from of us. We looked at each other in confusion because we were not sure whether we were supposed to give a speech or talk to them or preach to them or what the meeting was called for. We soon found out that out of the thrity women in front of us, only two could speak english so we couldn't talk to them. But good thing we brought our right hand man Ivan who could translate for us. As he began to translate for our introductions, we just got blank stares from over half of the women and realized that the women were from all over the country side and that there were over six different languages spoken amongst them. So we handed out "sweeties", (the women appreciated them just as much as the kids do!!) and waited for about five hours just staring at each other, smiling, occasionally making some small talk with the women that could actually speak a little english. It began raining outside so we all crammed into a tiny room where t made things even more akward because of the tightness of space. We felt awful just because we took the women away from cooking meals and tending to their children just to greet us and they felt like they had to stay until the hosts, Ronald and Agatha showed up.
Once they showed up, the rains had stopped and they took us out in the villages where the women showed us their homes. Most of the womens homes were the size of the average Americans bathroom living inside were the widows and their eight or more children. What Agatha Foundation does is they offer insight on how to run small buisnesses from their homes. They offer medical advice and other advice like how to save on little income. It was very humbling to meet these amazing widowed women and look forward to seeing what comes out of the foundation!!
They did not have a place to accomodate us for the entire weekend, so we made the journey back to our little house in Entebbe and are thankful for a nice bed to sleep in after a long exhausting day of traveling.
Really good news on meeting Devon...Appearantly he has been working with Mercy Home and is already in the process of getting it taken over!! Mercy Home is the orphanage that Stacie stayed at with three of her best friends on her first trip and they eventually discovered that the kids were being mistreated, by being abused both sexually and physically and are not getting the education or proper nutrition. The directors have abandoned the kids and left for the states supposedly to be raising funds. They have been away now for five months and the place is in complete shambles. Obviously they do not care at all for the children anymore because they are not sending money or telling them when they are coming home. Be praying that all goes well and that between us and Devon we will be able to get the orphanage into the right hands!!
Thank you again soooo much for all of your support!! We love you all and appreciate your comments and prayers!! Miss you!!!
Our three day adventure to Jinja turned into a six hour extravaganza due to lack of communication...which seems to happen ALOT around here. We were headed out, somewhat panicky Friday morning just because we were about to journey 5 hours, hopping from taxi to taxi carrying three bags with clothes, cameras and other necessity itmes, and a heavy case of water and were not really sure what to expect. As we were headed out of the gate, Jaja Alma-the wonderful elderly woman that we are staying with-drove by the house and offered us a ride to Jinja for she was on her way herself to do ministry in a town that was about two hours past Jinja. It was a huge blessing because we were able to sit in a familar vehicle and not have to worry about the taxi-hopping. But because we were able to get a ride, we ended up getting to Jinja four hours ahead of schedule and as we have said before, everything runs behind schedule so really we were about 8hours ahead!! We get there and the hosts had not yet arrived so we sat in some chairs outside to wait for them. Then the doctor of the medical center of the Agatha Foundation greeted us and began to gather thirty widowed women from the area and bringing chairs out in from of us. We looked at each other in confusion because we were not sure whether we were supposed to give a speech or talk to them or preach to them or what the meeting was called for. We soon found out that out of the thrity women in front of us, only two could speak english so we couldn't talk to them. But good thing we brought our right hand man Ivan who could translate for us. As he began to translate for our introductions, we just got blank stares from over half of the women and realized that the women were from all over the country side and that there were over six different languages spoken amongst them. So we handed out "sweeties", (the women appreciated them just as much as the kids do!!) and waited for about five hours just staring at each other, smiling, occasionally making some small talk with the women that could actually speak a little english. It began raining outside so we all crammed into a tiny room where t made things even more akward because of the tightness of space. We felt awful just because we took the women away from cooking meals and tending to their children just to greet us and they felt like they had to stay until the hosts, Ronald and Agatha showed up.
Once they showed up, the rains had stopped and they took us out in the villages where the women showed us their homes. Most of the womens homes were the size of the average Americans bathroom living inside were the widows and their eight or more children. What Agatha Foundation does is they offer insight on how to run small buisnesses from their homes. They offer medical advice and other advice like how to save on little income. It was very humbling to meet these amazing widowed women and look forward to seeing what comes out of the foundation!!
They did not have a place to accomodate us for the entire weekend, so we made the journey back to our little house in Entebbe and are thankful for a nice bed to sleep in after a long exhausting day of traveling.
Really good news on meeting Devon...Appearantly he has been working with Mercy Home and is already in the process of getting it taken over!! Mercy Home is the orphanage that Stacie stayed at with three of her best friends on her first trip and they eventually discovered that the kids were being mistreated, by being abused both sexually and physically and are not getting the education or proper nutrition. The directors have abandoned the kids and left for the states supposedly to be raising funds. They have been away now for five months and the place is in complete shambles. Obviously they do not care at all for the children anymore because they are not sending money or telling them when they are coming home. Be praying that all goes well and that between us and Devon we will be able to get the orphanage into the right hands!!
Thank you again soooo much for all of your support!! We love you all and appreciate your comments and prayers!! Miss you!!!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Off to Jinja!!!
We have had quite the profitable week here in Uganda. Sunday late afternoon was spent on the beach with Mercy Home children, wading in the waters of Lake Victoria... this was before we received a phone call from Stacie's mother informing us of the deadly parasite, BILARZIA (sp?), which we would most definitely contract from any contact whatsoever with the waters of Uganda. Thank-you for the warning, Mama :)
Monday was spent mostly in Kampala, running errands and ordering Domino's pizza for the children at Abba House. When we finally arrived at Abba they were not yet ready to partake of the once-in-a-lifetime Domino's pizza, as they were lined up across the property passing piles of clay bricks up the hill. It is rain season in Uganda, let's not forget. So the ground was too muddy for the dump-truck to handle and the moving of bricks was left up to the kids-and Naka and MuMu (Stacie and AmyRose) who both have some very nice blisters from the hard work :) Eventually, the kids did get their pizza, and it was quite thoroughly enjoyed.
We were also able to take measurements of the Abba kids' feet this week, as they are in desperate need of school shoes and have none. Deborah (pastor kaaya's wife) informed us that Uganda's school system is heavily influenced by the British, and the teachers are very strict concerning proper school attire.
Today we are on our way to meet up with Samuel from Mercy Home, and ......an AMERICAN!! His name is Devon and so far we do not know much about him, except that he happens to be living at Mercy Home, and will be in the country for 3 more months. Tomorrow morning we will be meeting with the lawyer concerning NGO and Mercy Home and other things. And from there it is off to Jinja for the weekend!!
Ivan (our right -hand man/body guard/interpreter) will be traveling with us. Not sure when we will have internet access again so until then, God Bless and thanks for all the prayers and comments!!!
Monday was spent mostly in Kampala, running errands and ordering Domino's pizza for the children at Abba House. When we finally arrived at Abba they were not yet ready to partake of the once-in-a-lifetime Domino's pizza, as they were lined up across the property passing piles of clay bricks up the hill. It is rain season in Uganda, let's not forget. So the ground was too muddy for the dump-truck to handle and the moving of bricks was left up to the kids-and Naka and MuMu (Stacie and AmyRose) who both have some very nice blisters from the hard work :) Eventually, the kids did get their pizza, and it was quite thoroughly enjoyed.
We were also able to take measurements of the Abba kids' feet this week, as they are in desperate need of school shoes and have none. Deborah (pastor kaaya's wife) informed us that Uganda's school system is heavily influenced by the British, and the teachers are very strict concerning proper school attire.
Today we are on our way to meet up with Samuel from Mercy Home, and ......an AMERICAN!! His name is Devon and so far we do not know much about him, except that he happens to be living at Mercy Home, and will be in the country for 3 more months. Tomorrow morning we will be meeting with the lawyer concerning NGO and Mercy Home and other things. And from there it is off to Jinja for the weekend!!
Ivan (our right -hand man/body guard/interpreter) will be traveling with us. Not sure when we will have internet access again so until then, God Bless and thanks for all the prayers and comments!!!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
NGO and Grad. Party
The past several days have been full of rain, which has been nice in the evening b/c it means cooler temperatures and better sleep... but it can get quite frustrated when the rain does not stop during the day resulting in trips to the market leaving us covered from head to toe in thick, red, african mud :(
We were able to have a very informative meeting with Pastor Kaaya and his wife Deborah the other day, during which we learned a great deal about to get get our NGO registered. Kaaya also allowed us to borrow and copy the objectives that he used in order to register the New Life Center. So now that we have a copy and more of an idea of what our objectives need to look like, as well as a copy of the Children's Act, we will have an easier time coming up with offical objectives of our own.
Tomorrow we will be travelling to Kampala in order to meet up with Agatha, and fellow missionary and Jesus-lover. SShe lives just outside of Kampala and has invited us to stay with her for the weekend and tour her facilites to get an idea of what ours may look like.
We met a very friendly 23yr. old Ugandan girl named Natasha, who we are supposed to be meeting with on Tuesday, in order to form a relationship with her and hopefully be a source of ministry in her life.
We were able to have a very informative meeting with Pastor Kaaya and his wife Deborah the other day, during which we learned a great deal about to get get our NGO registered. Kaaya also allowed us to borrow and copy the objectives that he used in order to register the New Life Center. So now that we have a copy and more of an idea of what our objectives need to look like, as well as a copy of the Children's Act, we will have an easier time coming up with offical objectives of our own.
Tomorrow we will be travelling to Kampala in order to meet up with Agatha, and fellow missionary and Jesus-lover. SShe lives just outside of Kampala and has invited us to stay with her for the weekend and tour her facilites to get an idea of what ours may look like.
We met a very friendly 23yr. old Ugandan girl named Natasha, who we are supposed to be meeting with on Tuesday, in order to form a relationship with her and hopefully be a source of ministry in her life.
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