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