October November 2014

Merry Christmas and welcome to the Caldwell news for October November. Main lesson for these months is Jesus words “I am the light of the world and he who follows me will not walk in darkness.” I have to cry out for wisdom daily and Jesus comes through the murkiness with a still quite voice saying, hold on, wait, be still, don’t react, swallow hard, get from A to B and be satisfied with small victories - above all enjoy the moment - in his presence is fullness of joy! We are winding up or down - I am not sure - as we creep closer to the end of term one - a massive 18 weeks!! We have a two week break shortly so we will head down to Kyazanga for time with our Ugandan family and the orphanage - they usually kill a goat and roast it on a big spit in their courtyard. We have purchased nice dresses and tops for the girls from the local market - second hand clothes are only two or three dollars here. It will be our last Christmas here so quite an emotional time as our adopted children say goodbye to their caregivers. What will be difficult is leaving our precious neighbourhood which we have grown close to - we are going to leave all the local kids our trampoline, climbing gym, some clothes etc ! A new chapter is looming in our lives as we prepare for our return to New Zealand around August September next year. We have a lot of paperwork ahead getting citizenship and passports for the children after the 9 of February. Please pray for our last court case for full adoption of the boys on the 9th of February. Our house is a full house at present with 8 people around our table. Ken our “adult” child is planning on returning with us to NZ but he is having a lot of trouble getting a passport because we are refusing to pay bribes. His Immigration consultant disappeared with Ken’s deposit so we had to start the whole application process again 6 months ago and we have been battling ever since - still no passport. It may come to paying off an insider as the whole structure there is corrupt - we need a miracle for his passport. Shama has settled in well - she has a few hours work teaching english each day and is making good friends and enjoying the local music scene. Shama is learning how to slow down and wait as we all have learned here - it is a powerful spiritual lesson. She has also been given an opportunity at my school to get in class work experience because she is keen on teaching. The profession suits all her interests - she is sporty and arty! She is off to the finals of the adult basketball championships tonight - Nicholas going with her - he goes to basketball training on Saturdays with some real pros. Sharon and her are out right now searching for bargains at the markets for Christmas presents - Shama is very good at bargaining!! Sharon and I had a stressful and traumatic time at the hospital last Saturday night as we tried to get care for our team member Joseph. He had a terrible contagious skin disease which had consumed his body - I hardly recognised him - but we managed to get a bed for him. That particular night was beyond description. Boda (motorbike taxis) drivers were piling into emergency with broken legs, arms, heads and some unconscious. One such driver had both legs broken but had casts, was bandaged up and trying to get a ride home - guess it - on another boda - both legs sticking out and unable to balance himself. We got him into a car taxi. Unfortunately the burns ward had the husband and wife who had been held up on the motorway and sloshed with acid while sitting in their car after winding down the windows. Horrifically they had stopped to help a motorist who was simply fooling them. Both parents have lost their sight and all skin on the top half of their bodies - it is beyond imagination and the most vicious violence inflicted on a lovely family. We are also ministering to them tomorrow and hope to see Jesus move powerfully for them. I do not understand this level of violence and evil! I have been making the props for our school production - the Wizard of Oz - really enjoyed seeing the production come together. We have new head teacher who is leading wisely. Our prayer group at school have been hard out praying for a teacher’s girl who fell off her horse and entered a coma and did not wake up for a while - she has recovered and is on the road to full recovery slowly gaining strength and her body functions - wow what a testimony to the power of Jesus! Sharon lead the invention convention - a primary competition for new inventions - our school got 4 prizes including the top prize - she did a fantastic job organising the event inside our school and representing our school at the finals. Just home from the burns ward and yes God moved in power bringing refreshing hope to the injured. The husband and wife mentioned above are in a terrible state - the wife is completely blind and the husband has lost one eye. Both have 60% of their bodies burned. They are muslim but they accepted our prayer, food and worship - they were so broken and I sensed - angry - all their family were present, even a muslim cleric. I am getting some mp3 players for them - their ears are burned badly but they can hear. Once again the children’s part was overflowing - all babies and some twins falling into boiling porridge or into hot large kettles. I feel a bit strange singing “if you're happy and you know it clap your hands” - but for some reason the beat and song lifts their spirits and some hands!! I have learned Matt Redmans “Bless the Lord Oh my soul” which changes hearts. God breathed his presence into the ward and changed the smell and level of hope. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the level of suffering but somehow the light enters my soul and empowers our worship and courage to speak into horror John 8.12 I have told my school we will not be returning next new year - starts Sept 2015 - it felt strange making that decision and then confirming to our close Ugandan friends we will not be here soon. Sharron and I have close relationships with the ground staff - we have picked some up in the morning on the way to school for 4 years! They are heart broken we are leaving - but I explain to them that life is full of chapters and our next chapter is our return to NZ!

July August September 2014

July August September 2014 Wow there goes our holiday and we are back at work! Many many thanks for the blokes group at City Church Tauranga who ran a social night and raised money for our ministry to the hospital burns ward. Times are hard here as the rainy season has hit and people become more desperate and disease sets in - we have been inundated with requests recently and sadly cannot meet all the demands. We confine our giving to those we are associated with and have established a relationship. One of our team was kicked out of their little mud brick house yesterday because the landlord wants to sell it - unfortunately our friend does not have a job so it is tricky to rehouse her and take on the 3 month deposit - one of many dilemmas - might try and find a room in an existing house nearby! We saw Josiah return 2 weekends ago heaving two bags of African drums and hand made musical instruments onto the plane - I was praying he would not be pinged for being overweight (he was) and the kind check in lady slipped him through - he made it through Dubai - China - Auckland and is now setting up again in Kerikeri. Josiah played some real healing music during our hospital ministry. I am missing his presence and peaceful character and may Jesus bless his setting up in Kerikeri. The Sunday before he left was a dramatic and powerful time of healing in the burns ward. We are singing and dancing to more African songs now so the patients are elated and lifted off their beds by the beat!! When it is raining the smell is quite bad and it was very thick this time - but god breathed a beautiful freshness through the whole ward and cleansed bringing a real rejoicing. Epilepsy is very common with patients who have been burned badly - they are not diagnosed or medicated properly at the early stages so many are chronic and fall into pots and fires. This particular Sunday there were many children severely burned from crawling into hot porridge or water - it continues to amaze me this happens but parents/nannies are so preoccupied finding food and digging they fail to watch the babies!! We have finally set up Joseph - a long term acid attack victim - in a candle making business - there is much business acumen training needed because his family is so poor they will be tempted to spend all the candle sale money on food with nothing left to buy the next lot of wax. I am purchasing his first lot of wax and accessories today - two years ago we found him nearly dead on his hospital bed with huge blown up legs and 70% of his body skin torn off and extremely malnourished - amazing the power of prayer mixed with cooked fish and eggs and then burns suits to hold his new flesh in place!!! After two years he is part of our team bringing his story to patients and he is also a miracle result because of support from friends and the blokes in New Zealand. It is so crucial to the saving of peoples lives that we also minister to their physical or social needs - somehow a powerful change takes place when both elements are together. We all watched Ben Hur the other night - the images of Jesus bending down to give a drink to the slave Ben Hur are the most powerful and then the healing of Ben’s family are inspiring pictures for us as we serve the desperate poor. Miracles occur in the middle of suffering! I have been greatly tested recently but through it all Jesus led me inside his Psalms especially Psalms 91, 30, 34, and 27. Jesus led me to stand in between and bring the healing needed no matter what or how difficult it may be personally - at times I shy away from dealing with important deep issues but God has taught me in Africa - deal with it and sort it out now, persevere despite what appears to be the impossible! - well Jesus always comes through inside forgiveness and reconciliation - we are all on a journey to meet with Jesus and it can get a bit rough and bumpy on the way up the mountain!! We had an awesome safari with Josiah before he left - at Lake Mburo national park. It is a sublime experience - living in quarters amidst the animals, walking in morning mist with zebra, all types of antelope and keeping a watchful eye for stray buffalos (called losers). We had fires at night and cooked on them under the clearest stars. There is only one lion there and some leopards but these are difficult to see. We are so blessed to have been given the opportunity to be there by the owners of Mahingo Lodge. They do a lot to support the local community. We all witnessed a rather alarming and sad event after we returned from a short holiday in a friends Bach on an Island situated on Lake Victoria just offshore from where the Gordon’s live. We had parked our car beside a small fishing village and many long boats surrounded by mats of tiny fish drying in the sun. We enjoyed our stay and loved seeing all the huge monitor lizards scurrying into the undergrowth bordering the lake. As we returned to our guarded car we were in shock to see all the village in smoke and the shanty houses smashed and burning. It was a complete miracle to see our old tank of a land cruiser standing in the middle of smoking ruins untouched but covered in ash and surrounded by some angry folk. The occupants were milling around trying to come to grips with their predicament and find a place to relocate. The lake side land and Islands has been purchased by wealthy businessmen and certain Government officials who want to create a large exclusive marina therefore all occupants are evicted without alternatives. These are mostly fishermen and women who survive day by day selling fish. The Gordons are working with some of these people to establish some in business in order to become independent providers for their families. They are doing a powerful work among the disenfranchised. These fishing people are not the only people being evicted. Thousands living along the railway lines in town have been bulldozed and shifted who knows where! Sharron found a group of young mothers sitting on their smashed house not knowing what to do and holding crying babies. No money, no food no location. Sharron sponsored these women onto a bus and back to their original villages - a long trip but a lot better environment than the harshness of the city where there is little employment. What is it about this huge, polluted smoggy unemployed city that attracts young people in their thousands. The drift to the city is obvious in our neighbourhood - mostly young men aged 15 - 30 wandering around looking for the promised pot of money and electric atmosphere filled with music and clubs and fun!!! Why stay on the farm or in the village where there no farming incentives, proper health care is poor or non existent, all your friends have moved to the big one, there is no “excitement" and schools are just concrete and blackboards, many missing teachers!!! To move from the village and farm - where one can at least work and plant and eat, to the great city of promise (a complete delusion) is in my opinion, a mistake. The treasure of Uganda belongs in its capacity to grow horticultural products throughout the year and young people need to stop running away from the “hard work” of producing - at least they have a roof and food. Josiah befriended a man last year and finally convinced him recently (after turning up at our door with all his belongings) to return to the village - so we put him on a bus and sent him back to his fathers land and village (and unbeknown to us - his two children!). There are huge social and economic issues around this influx of young people to the city which will greatly challenge this country. Graduates are pouring out to few jobs and there is little large scale industrial investment to employ people. Sure there is a building boom but these are shopping malls, expensive accommodation and office retail spaces. None of this is accessible to the majority. So what will happen to the majority or more important what will they be forced to do? Shama my daughter has now joined us and taken over from where Josiah left off - helping with homeschooling and around the house. She is a joy to have and is fitting into the African scene very fast. The Lord is moving in her life. She is a real artist and has already made Josiah’s room her room and filled it with painted African images. Some of Josiah’s friends have befriended her and are giving her a few insights into local life!! She has been invited to a true African wedding as one of the bridesmaids - and has already been involved in a strenuous day looking for high shoes at one of our intense markets in 30 degrees! She came home exhausted - welcome to shopping in Africa! A huge thanks to those who prayed and interceded for Pauline - 2 weeks ago she had a good dose of Amoeba but we did not realise a more sinister disease was lurking in the background. Then one morning she woke with eyes closed over and forehead puffed out and high fever - back to the Surgery to find a high count - 26.5 - (5 is normal) of Balharzia - a lake born disease from snails (pollution related). During the holidays she was the only one to have dived in head under at our island retreat! The poor girl had to go on a double dose of balharzia tablets and pregnazone for 4 days. Praise God she has come out of it!! Dad had 6 trips to the surgery as Moses went down with gastro/amoeba infections so at 1 in the morning I had Moses on a drip trying to stop his vomiting and stomach pain - got home at 4 am and he took two days to recover. Now I need to recover from lack of sleep!!!! At least this doesn’t need antibiotics. Please pray for: Wisdom, Power and strength daily Protection from disease Patients in the burns ward - recovery, earning opportunities Joseph as he sets up his candle business Our finances to cope with daily and weekly demands

May June 2014

May June 2014 Welcome supporters and prayer warriors - The school year has finished as we slide into our “summer holiday” - strange term considering it is always over 25 temp here - it comes from the British school system! Sharron and I are trying to “come down” off a hectic timetable and let our bodies recover. I have organised a bit of academic work for the mornings and the afternoons are taken up with biking, swimming, football, online games, art, music, drums and reading - plenty to keep 4 high energy children happy! Pauline attends a local preschool to help with the children 2 hours a day for 3 days - she is good with little ones. Sharon is taking all the school kitchen and cleaning staff (8) on safari on the 6th to bless them for their hard work and long hours. They could never afford a safari so all them have never seen a national park or the big five animals. We have hired a mini bus and driver and Sharon has also organised a boat cruise into hippo and croc country up the nile to Murchison falls. The girls are very humble faithful ladies who love Jesus and also live in poor houses with very little - so they are over the moon about their trip!! God has blessed us with access to a house for a few days break from Kampala on a nearby island on Lake Victoria compliments of a generous friend at school - we are also looking forward to a family safari at Lake Mburo (hopefully with Shama) - again we are honoured to have access to the lodge owners quarters in the park - we go walking among the animals and avoid lonely buffalo - it is surreal!! Josiah and I have been planning a hike up Mt Elgon but the park entry fees for all the family are too high (50 USus a day for anybody!). Anyhow, hovering over all of these plans are problems with our old land cruiser’s electronic system - it is right now being diagnosed by Toyota - I have already replaced the ECU computer system 6 months ago but we are still having issues. We had a remarkable time last Sunday at the burns ward - even though we were tired somehow God came through and filled the ward with his presence. Sharon ministered to a frightful situation - a once beautiful lady with a young child and also expecting opened her house door to a madman with a bucket of acid - he threw it directly into her face blinding her and destroying her facial features and upper body skin - she has a lovely husband and they have not caught the offender!! - such a high level of suffering. Before our coming she had not lifted her head or moved out of sheer grief and pain but during worship she sat up and opened herself to Jesus for healing - what a sight and may God honour her with deep healing in and out!! A guy was attaching a tv antennae and it connected with 240 volts which completely burned his upper torso and face - he was crying out for Jesus as we spoke with him. I am heading back there tomorrow with an mp3 player for a young 11 year old boy who has a mental disability. He has regular fit type behaviour and was shaking while I was there - last week he fell head first into a large boiling pot of porridge which burned all his face and head skin and upper body. While we were worshipping I watched him calm and the fits go as his face lit up and they could feed him. God told me he needed the music of worship so I have filled the mp3 with all of Hillsong’s albums and Chris Tomlin. Even more ridiculous were the two twins - 1 year old - who both crawled into a boiling pot of water - where was mum? This is so common here - little children playing in the cooking area unsupervised! oh Jesus have mercy on these burned people and children and forgive me for complaining about anything!! Please intercede continually for the outpouring of healing power and his presence in our ministry - we are mere vehicles or carriers of his love - it is jesus power that is needed to transform the inner and outer. I am learning this as we bring our children together around the word of God and let it examine all of us - Josiah my son has been leading some powerful times in devotions during homeschooling and I have been getting the children to memorise Psalms - we did Psalm 1 and now we are working on Psalm 34. There is something eerie, powerful, joyful and settling about coming around the word as a family and getting it into our souls. Peace pours down over us and enables us all to see more clearly. Sharon and I have been toiling with teen issues, many of them deep seated problems from way back in the village. These issues can be met with strong love and boundaries/expectations but in the end the inner person is only changed by constant and regular referral to Jesus and his word and good music. Music is such a cool way of finding Jesus and family harmony. We now have an old drum kit in our guard house so most of us are learning using youtube tutorials. Josiah and I are jamming away on guitars. We also have a mixture of African drums which fill in the spaces. Josiah and Ken have joined Percussion Discussion a major drum group who perform at the National Theatre. Josiah is currently away in the Congo - a huge trip across three countries - Uganda, Rwanda and Congo - with friends from the drumming group. It is such a dangerous trip we pray constantly for his protection! Josiah is returning to NZ on 30th August and boy shall we mis him. I am trying to get my daughter Shama over to take over from him in the homeschooling. We enter our last year next month being 4 years since we arrived. We never thought we would be here more than 2 or 3 years! We have come to realise that to integrate adopted children into a new family takes plenty of time let alone the social, legal issues and paper work. My next biggish challenge is to convince NZ Internal affairs that the adoptions comply with International Adoption law and also NZ Adoption Act Section 17 - more paper work. Please pray that I can get approvals for NZ Citizenship before we come back and then the kids can get NZ passports. This will require getting the right NZ people connected to our applications who can work with us. We are aiming at returning about September next year - Oh dear I am not sure how we will cope with a colder climate - plenty of woolies and beanies!! Many thanks for your financial support for our projects and other orphans - our John (orphan from Kyazanga) who we have supported right through college has now finished his first year at university doing civil engineering and on practicum now - this is a huge step of faith for us financially as there are no uni loans in Uganda until last month the government announced a new scheme - whether we see it is another story! We also continue to supply the burns ward food, mp3s, bandages and at times bedding. Bless you all Steve

Kidepo pics

March April

Hi there friends - we are just back from a refreshing safari in Kidepo National park which is located in the north eastern most part of Uganda near the Sudanese border. I decided to hire a driver in order to save our car from being wrecked on the most destroyed hazardous roads in Uganda and give me a break from the stress of driving 1400 km. We camped in tents with a park ranger right inside the panoramic park surrounded by wild life - mainly herds of elephant, antelope, giraffe, and buffalo. While on our safari drives we saw our first lions since being in Uganda - 3 cute cubs and two females cruising in the first rays of sunlight - a slightly eerie and awesome feeling watching those powerful cats looking for a good tree to sleep under after a night of feeding. Northern Uganda is a war torn under serviced region trying desperately to emerge from 20 years of war and devastation. Many of the people are Karamajon who are extremely poor and have not received much help to encourage redevelopment. Great news - we have finalised Pauline’s adoption - she is now our daughter (turned 13 yesterday) - sister to Shama 20 and 4 other high powered growing boys - Josiah 23, Nicholas 14, Dennis 10 and Moses 10!! Her adoption journey has been one interesting trip - securing correct documents, getting the correct names of parents and when they died, finding relatives, establishing her correct age, enduring attempts to bribe us, reorganising court dates because relatives forgot to bring documents and ID, obtaining Local Area chairman letters of consent, obtaining proper social welfare reports - it goes no and on - but here we are at the end of the long misty tunnel - sometimes I felt quite discouraged but Jesus voice always prompted me to keep going and get it right - one just had to keep digging. We are blessed to have a good thorough lawyer who did not allow me to take short cuts even when I was ready to kick the relatives to the moon!!!! The remaining distant relatives have very little interest in Pauline as a person with a future - they merely wanted to use her which became quite apparent in court - the judge saw this and gave them no favour! Homeschooling of Pauline is a challenge because she is behind in her literacy and numeracy. She missed out severely in the Ugandan system in her village. She has reached a reading and numeracy stage of year 3 - 4 - which is 2 years ahead of when she first came to us - so one must look at the progress and not too much at where she should be!!! Josiah and Ken run the homeschooling program which is filled with practical projects. They are doing a business study at present - interviewing local businesses to see how they are run and they are building a large vege garden on the hill above us - so far they have a big crop of NZ sweetcorn coming on and they are trying to get root crops going. Clearing the land is a major task because of layers of rubbish!! They have a swimming program twice a week and wow they are now powerful swimmers in all the strokes which is great for NZ. Pauline is a strong triathlete - biking is a daily part of the program so they are fitter than dad! Based on a ladder built by the Gordons they have built a huge ladder and gym type equipment (chin ups for dad) for exercising which we leave with the locals. Onwards to the final adoption application for the boys which will be in August. Praise God their Aunt is a kind and supportive person - she lives in very humble circumstances. She houses a number of orphans arising from HIV deaths in her family. What a powerful women - she ploughs the garden, grows, washes, cleans and provides enough for 6 children. The men in the local area spend most of their time drinking walagi (a dangerous beer) and having sex - a product of mass unemployment, discouragement, poor education, lack of agricultural incentives, zero diversification, little guidance and boredom. Not a brilliant mix for the future! Good news from the burns ward - the patients have new beds a welcome sight but the bathroom facilities are atrocious - always wet and smelly. The incidents of acid attacks are increasing and sadly women are the victims. Usually it is relationship or land issues sparking violent responses. The effects of acid violence is staggering and horrific - people are maimed for life, stripped of their ability to earn and function normally. We come to them in the name of jesus to encourage and give hope in a very dark place - a little protein, some music players, bandages - sustain for a short while but nothing compares to the peace that Jesus gives - “peace be to you” said the risen Jesus - he stands in the midst of suffering and extreme discouragement to offer the only hope worth living for!! Two weeks ago we had the most incredible time of worship and free praise and dance - patients were released from their depression and sadness to magnify the Lord. Josiah my son and I played guitar and did a little improvisation - God moved in souls to dance!! What a sight - bandaged head to toe lifting hands to praise Jesus - God our friend in the middle of horror! Kyazanga and the orphanage have received an abundant rainfall to bless their environment. John our sponsored university student has completed one year successfully and other sponsored students are doing well. Betty has completed her hairdressing vocational training which we sponsored and is looking for a job. Many thanks to our NZ sponsors. We are now entering our final term of teaching which finishes end of June. Time is flying as we contemplate our final year and return to NZ in August/Sept 2015. It seems a frightening jump - back into a totally different culture from Uganda. This the next chapter in our lives as God has planned - life is full of challenges and some dramatic changes so we will take this as it comes and keep close to Jesus.