Sports day

(written Thursday July 15th)

Today we had sports day with the nursery and Kindergarten classes. We had 6 different stations – egg & spoon race, sac race, football, parachute, bean bag toss, and three legged race. We ended with a tug of war and the Ugandans sure know how to hang on. I was worried some might be dragged to their death. The kids had a great time and so did we. In the afternoon we had a quiet time. Dave & Aislyn are feeling sick and hope to be better for mudding the house tomorrow.

Fretz-Moffitt's arrive

(written on Wednesday, July 14th)

---In case you missed it - there is a post called "Just Photos" that was posted after the Kampala bombings update, but shows up before on the blog. Just scroll down to find it.---

It’s hard to believe we only have 3 more days here. The days are flying by and they are very busy now. I’m not sure how we are going to leave!

Yesterday Brad, Laurie and Ben arrived. Not twenty minutes later they were in a truck heading off with us to Judith's house.


This morning Jeff gave Brad, Laurie and Ben the million dollar tour. They met their sponsor child Gideon. He’s such a cutie!

I (Laura) taught English to two of the primary 5 classes. Well, really they taught me
about their school and the sports they play here. What fun!

After lunch we went to visit Gideon’s parents and his grandma. His parents live a long ways away so Gideon stays with his grandma. They were such wonderful people and so thankful to meet Brad, Laurie and Ben. They gave us 4 bunches of Mitoke (sp?) – a hard green banana that they cook.


In the afternoon we went with the medical clinic staff to do baby immunizations in a village near the lake.

We all struck out on a path that we hoped would lead us down to the lake. When we arrived at the lake there were a small group of people there who loved to have their picture taken. They were so excited - Jeff figured we were the first white people to walk down that path. (Also they don’t really have mirrors here so they are excited to see themselves.) The baby vaccinations were wonderful.


This is a little girl who came from over the hill to bring her baby brother to get immunized.

A view of the lake on the way home from the clinic.

Bombing in Kampala

Hi everyone,

We just wanted to let you know that we are safe and happy and four hours away from the bombings that took place in Kampala last night. Thanks for your continued prayers for us!

Dave & Laura & Josh & Aislyn

Just photos

Sometimes Africa can be hard to describe. These pictures can do better than words to convey a bit of what Uganda has been like for us.


One of the neater roads we took to visit a family.




Local traffic on the way to Judith's house.


A well-tended field of sweet potatoes.


Two of Judith's cousins.


Judith's littlest cousin.


Judith's little cousin in new duds!


Another school came by to shoot a dance video at Kibaale, and wanted some muzungu (white) kids to participate. Apparently the song was about staying in school.


Dave is teaching a few computer classes for the Kibaale staff in this computer lab.



A controlled burn across the river from Kibaale Community Centre that became a bit less controlled for a while.


Along with a special clear plastic bottle, this is a water purification system. Basically water bottles are placed on this iron table in the sunlight for several hours, which is hot and UV-rich enough to kill any nasties in the water.


Flowering trees behind Jeff & Shan's house.


We woke up one morning to see that the ants were on the move. This was one of several columns of ants snaking across our yard.


These are the solar batteries that give us light for a time during the evening. Note the hole burned in one - a loose wire took the system down for a day or so.


One of the little cuties here at Kibaale.


This is the kitchen where meals for the 800 Kibaale students are cooked.


Some of the beautiful scenery on the way to Caleta's and Claire's home (Mark & Sarah's sponsor family).

Family Visits

(Written on Thursday July 8th)

Today we went to visit several families and drop off the bags that their sponsors and others had made for them. We loaded all the kids in the back of the truck and went to Judith’s house.


We dropped off so many bags for their family and Judith’s Aunt was so thankful. Their little boy who had been sick from drinking the paraffin is doing much better. He looked so cute in his new outfit! The family is also receiving a water tank but it likely won’t rain for a couple more months (can you send some of that Vancouver rain this way).




After Judith’s house we went to see Dennis who is sponsored by the Hoffmans. He is such a sweetheart. Both of his parents are sick as well as some of his siblings. They used to run a store in town until they became sick. It was such a blessing to the family to receive some maize flour as there is not much food in the dry season. Dennis loved his package from the Hoffmans and promptly put on his new clothes. They proudly showed us the goat they had received too. Josh, Aislyn and Avin had fun chasing the bunnies around the property and took turns walking the goat.




The last stop on our tour was at Rebekah’s house. Shannon had a wonderful time cuddling with Rebekah’s 3 month old baby sister (she’s so cute) . Rebekah was thrilled with her care package from Dan & Sher & the girls. We had a little fashion show as she tried on all the outfits.



Thank you all so much for the blessing of being able to hand out these packages while we are here. It was so much fun to be a part of this. The kids and the families are so thankful.

Visiting the house-to-be

(Written on Wednesday, July 7)

This morning we woke up and went to see Mark & Sarah Thomas’s sponsor family. Imagine this, we passed the little girl (about 7 years old) just outside the school and found out she had walked by herself to the clinic because she was sick.


It’s about a 3 hour walk each way. I can hardly make myself chicken noodle soup when I’m sick much less walk for 6 hours in the sun. The blessing is that because she is sponsored through Kibaale Community her family can get medical care at the clinic. It was a long and bumpy 30-minute ride to the house. Here are Josh and Joel with their sitting pads for the back of the truck.


Jeff parked in the bushes and we walked for another 20 minutes along the hill to the house. They are currently living in a mud hut, which Jeff thought looked pretty unstable and would probably collapse when the rainy season starts so it’s wonderful that they will be getting a new mud house.


They are going to build the new house a bit further up the hill, farther from the insects in the small lake below. They have a lot of work to do to prepare the land and build the wood structure for mudding.


We will also be taking them to the market on Monday to buy clothes and shoes with the gift that Sarah & Mark sent from home. They sure seem like a nice family but have had some tough times as they were thrown off their land by a rich man who then ripped all their plants out and let his cows graze on the land. The family then moved to an empty house that Kibaale community arranged for them and now that they’ve been to court are able to move back onto their land and start again. It was very humbling to have them give us corn as we were leaving.

In the afternoon we went to Primary Chapel. It was beautiful to listen to the kids sing and pray. They have such beautiful voices. We were trying to figure out the verses they were learning but couldn’t quite get the hang of the Lugandan.


Aislyn loved walking all the primary kids back to their classrooms. They were all jostling to be the ones to hold her hand.




It was very nice to see Judith today at chapel. Apparently she wore the new dress we gave her to school today and had to go to the community office and get changed into a spare uniform. She is such a sweetheart and I so wish I could bring her home.

We’ve had a quiet afternoon and are looking forward to the Germany-Spain football game tonight. Jeff is putting a strong emphasis on his German ancestry these days.

Judith

(Written on Tuesday, July 6)

Today we met our sponsor child Judith. We saw her this morning in her classroom and she is so sweet and shy.




In the afternoon we went to see her house. Josh & Aislyn were so excited because they rode to her house in the back of the truck. Fun things that we just can’t do at home anymore. It’s so amazing to think that Judith walks such a long way to and from school everyday.


When we got there we were greeted by her 2 older cousins and 1 younger cousin. Judith’s aunt wasn’t there - she had rushed the baby to the hospital in the night because he had drank paraffin (oil used in the lamps). The cousins were so generous and carried benches into the house and invited us to sit down. It was wonderful to see Judith and to meet her family. We will go back again and meet the rest of the family.


A neighbour came by soon after we arrived at Judith’s house and we went to visit their home too. The little girl goes to Kibaale school and is sponsored by Sean and Jamie who work with Jeff & Shan. It was a tiny grass hut that 9 people slept in. They quickly brought in a mat and invited us in to sit down. It was amazing to fit 10 people sitting in the hut. Not sure how they manage 9 in there sleeping. It was a very interesting visit. So humbled by all the things we have at home and how much we take it for granted.


When we went to visit Judith we had brought a few things from her pack but not everything. It was so interesting to see how happy the other kids were for her but it was so hard for me to have only brought things for her and not the other kids when we do have things for everyone. We brought Judith a dress, and a little stuffy and then a colouring book and crayons. Judith immediately took off her uniform and put on her new dress. It was so cute to watch her older cousin help her. They are so sweet. I’m so glad that we will get to see Judith a lot in the next couple of weeks.


One of the things I really enjoy about Uganda is how much the kids have been playing outside. Yesterday they ran around and even managed to catch a chicken. They have been climbing the huge tree in the backyard and playing on the tree swing. They’ve been having a great time. The boys are all crowded into 1 chair right now playing on the iTouches and the girls are outside watering the plants.


For lunch today we had Kraft Dinner that we brought from home. You should have seen Joel’s response when I told him it was from home. He fell to his knees and said “Yeees! That’s awesome”. It was so cute and made me wish I had of packed a whole lot more Kraft Dinner.

Tomorrow we are going to meet Sarah & Mark’s sponsor family. We will be building a mud house for them next week. We’re very excited to meet them too.

The kids were up a couple of times last night but thanks to the melatonin (thanks Sher) they went back to sleep and seem to have had a good night’s sleep.