Christmas blog
Steve made me sleep in this morning. After returning from the village Moses came down with a nasty virus which he is now recovering from. I managed to read a couple of pages of the book he gave me for Christmas about the life of Jonathon by my favourite writer Francine Rivers. Jonathon in his youth is learning to listen to God, something Steve and I need to do living here as there seems to be so much need. Moses had a riot of a time with heaps of Ugandan girls as admirers - must be his hair - he never stopped doing, from roasting maize to plucking chickens, milking cows, picking mangos, playing football and his favourite collecting eggs from the hen house every 15 minutes!!! Pauline followed in Moses footsteps and at times it was hard to find her in the plantation collecting food.
Christmas in Kyazanga was amazing. After a four and a half hour gruelling journey we arrived to a Christmas party on Christmas eve for all the orphans in the community. Poor Steve was exhausted as concentration levels run high trying to avoid larger vehicles on decaying narrow roads. Fortunately we only happened on one accident on our journey and no one killed. A boda boda and four wheel drive collided. I warned the Indian family to stay in their car until the police arrived or just drive to a police station as Ugandan men approached with sticks. Its’ village justice around here and Indians are not their favoured race here.
The bright hearts did some drama and dance about serving others the way Jesus did by coming to the earth. Jimmy, Josephs’ brother did a magic show and we sang Christmas carols before feasting on a delicious meal of rice and meat bones. I didn’t ask what meat it was I just noticed it was well cooked so I enjoyed. It was a privilege to help serve over a hundred children their meal. They are so polite as they get down on their knees to say thankyou to a meal of rice and meat.
We finished by giving each child a gift of used clothing, writing book, lolly and pencil. For most this would be there only Christmas gift. They were smiling from ear to ear holding tightly to their treasures.
I have just had a short interlude from writing. Our neighbour Ken arrived for his intravenous antibiotics. I never imagined having to administer Abs again. I haven’t been a hospital nurse in ten years but it all came back. When I told the dentist at the hospital I was a nurse she was quite happy to send Ken home with IV Abs. They are very busy and she said it would keep the bill down. He will have four teeth removed on Friday so please pray for him as he has had a massive infection which has affected his jaw. He is such a precious young man and the children enjoy his presence in our family as he is here at our home a lot. We are having a pot luck meal with all our neighbours who live in mud huts on New years day. They have been so welcoming to us here, it quite a privilege to live here amongst such humble folk. We enjoy sharing veges from our gardens.
Back to Christmas at Kyazanga. We spent Christmas eve night preparing food for Christmas day; Chapatis, cassava, cutting up goat and preparing the offal which is a delicacy here. On Christmas morning we are woken by the rooster who would soon be on our dinner plate.
All the bright hearts dressed in their Christmas dresses. Joseph, Pauline and I headed for the Catholic church up the hill for mass while everyone else remained to prepare the midday meal.
Christmas dinner was delicious. We filled up on rooster, pork, beef and veges from the garden, followed by watermelon and pineapple. There is no power here so traditional western puddings requiring refridgeration are unheard of.
During the year I had made about 25 photo albums for all the bright heart’s orphans and Josephs family. Cherry helped wrap presents before we left of clothing and her gorgeous button necklaces. All the gifts were a hit and much appreciated. Thanks Cherry, the girls are all wearing their necklaces.
In the afternoon Steve played outdoor games with many of the community children and then we danced the night away with Christmas music (powered by a noisy generator) and cooked goat kebabs on an open fire. I was nervous about eating goat which is a luxury here however nicely surprised at how delicious it was.
What a Christmas.
Boxing day. A relaxing rest day so we thought. John got the generator going so we could show the DVD of our last visit. Half way through we heard screaming and ran outside to find a man with his middle finger sliced off.
Joseph’s house is the local police station as his dad is chairman of the community so all domestic problems come to him. Another man arrived with a machete claiming he didn’t do it. The screaming man was drunk and in agony. I quickly put on my washing gloves and placed a firm dressing and bandaged the injured hand. Eugene, Joseph’s Dad, had an interesting problem to sort out but the man required urgent attention and was sent off to the local clinic. I hate to think what it was like.
The machete weilder was fired from the plantation and sent back to his village and told that he would have to pay for all medical bills to avoid going to jail. This is village justice. I was told alot of rural problems are dealt with in this way by the community.
In the late afternoon Steve and I went to visit Betty’s family whom Rosa and others from city church help support. Betty’s mum has AIDs but is well and has five children. She has a Maise plantation. While visiting, Betty’s aunty brought out her very sick baby limp and burning up. I told her she needed to see a doctor but she said she didn’t have any money. I told her to come to Susan, Joseph’s Mum for treatment and not to worry about the cost. Susan assessed the child and gave her malaria medication. We checked on the child baby the next day and she was improving. The medication only cost 1000 shillings, under a nz dollar, yet people can’t afford it. Now I know while infant mortality for malaria is so high. Our Hope Forever trust helps to provide malaria medication to those who can’t pay for it and Susan is a selfless woman who works tirelessly to help many children and adults in her community. Please pray for her a she has a serious back problem from years of serving others. She is mother Terresa of Kyazanga.
Another amazing woman is Pauline’s Aunty whom we visited. She was thrilled to see how well Pauline was doing. We were deeply humbled during the visit when we found out she had 11 orphan children to care for. They all had that hollow look in their eyes and delighted in a lolly pop and balloon. I wish I’d had clothing for each child. The plantation was dry and dusty and Pauline’s aunt said they were struggling from the dry season. I felt dreadful only taking rice flour and sugar as a gift as it would not go far. Around the back of the house I met another family member a woman with a disability, probably spinabifida with her legs folded under her. She was crippled, a gentle and welcoming young woman who smiled as she peeled the potatoes. What struck me was that her skin was tough, dry and cracked. O my Lord I cried I just want to bath her and smother her in oil. Pauline coped in her way and Steve and I were gutted by the experience. Some of my friends at Otumoetai Primary school had talked about putting some clothes together. Please do this and I will make sure they get to Pauline’s Aunty. The children range from one year up to maybe 14 or 15. The clothes will provide such a blessing to a woman who is giving refuge to orphans.
Back to Kampala. What an emotional goodbye. We had to take Denis and Nicholas back to their Aunty’s house as they had been at the house with us for the time we were there. I was shocked to see the room they were sleeping in, a mattress with some dirty blankets on a dirt floor in a dark room. They live at school during the year but sleep at home with Aunty at Christmas.
Nicholas cried as we said goodbye, Denis was stunned and I felt sick. I wanted to take them with me but we are not in the financial position to do so. The school that Moses and Pauline are in is expensive and we don’t want to risk putting them into a local Kampala school where there are no resources and the teachers are untrained. We would love to adopt these two boys so if there is anyone out there who can assist financially you will be offering an amazing chance for these two boys to have parents and be well cared for and have an education and hope for the future.
