Hi Its two weeks ago since we last blogged.
We appreciate the emails from family and friends, I look forward to finding messages. Please tell us what s going on over there as we don’t get the news here.
I have spent 4 week s volunteering at the school but am stepping back to get our house set up. I will probably do three mornings a week depending on the needs.
A parent asked me yesterday if I could do some private tutoring for her and some friends children as they live busy lives and they will pay me but I have to make sure the school allows it as it is a private school. It’s a lovely school and the teachers are very caring. Pauline’s teachers are fantastic with her and are both Ugandan.
The house we nearly shifted into fell through and God was good helping us to hear the noise and smell the fuel at the water drilling plant right next door. There are no laws about where businesses can set up. The company runs 12 hour days 7 days a week it would have been awful.
Yesterday we visited the land lord of a lovely house in a mixed area of rich and poor. The road is being fixed because the president’s daughter lives next door. We were told we wouldn’t have to worry about power cuts or water shortage. Sad heh...Joseph our friend visited during the week and was very discouraged as he experiences first hand the corruption in this government and yes his life is at risk if he says anything. People who oppose go missing. Please pray for this nation.
While we were sorting out the agreement for the house a huge lorry arrived with another real estate guy and a huge family and all their belongings trying to push there way into the house. The land lady said it was her furniture but who knows the truth around here. I felt sorry for them but she won’t allow any Africans in her houses as they get trashed and fall into rent arrears. The land lord has 15 children. We hope to get the key Tuesday.
On Thursday I had a lovely but disturbing time with Peter, Danielle, Josiah and Joshua from New Zealand. We visited Jordan House which is an orphanage and church in a poor community. Its amazing what an Australian family are doing to empower the people there to set up small businesses and support children and orphans to get an education. Peter is building while Danielle will be setting up a medical centre which is much needed in this community. They will return in February so if anyone out there is interested in helping support them financially let us know.
Speaking of medical issues. - The gardener at school shared his story yesterday and I gave him some money for taxis to the hospital.
Boscos wife went into labour two weeks ago. She was screaming with pain for three days. They finally said she needed a cesarian at a free public hospital which is disgustingly dirty and corrupt. They told him to go find 60,000 shillings for the operation. He borrowed from his friends, it is about 40 nz dollars but a huge amount when you are only earning a few dollars a day. When he got back Josephine was lying on the floor unconscious with a huge dead baby girl lying next to her.. No photos were taken they dont have cameras. They took baby back to the village for burial. When they returned Josephine was admitted to the same hospital with bleeding and an infection she still had parts of the placenta inside. They said she needed an operation so Bosco was frightened and took his wife to a private hospital where they did a D and C. Because the baby was so big she has nerve damage and is paralysed down one side. He said she is able to talk. His hospital bill is going up everyday.
Teacher Rachel our school principle put on a barbeque and party for the staff on Friday it took one hour to get there in heavy traffic but only 10 minutes to get home. This is the same road that often floods and is impassable. We had a great time with the drums guitars and singing. African people know how to embrace a good party. Pauline and Moses both with drums had a ball. They go to drum club at school.
Moses has had a tummy bug but recovering quickly. He has had all his gorgeous hair shaved off as we are reaching temps of 35 and his hair is always wet. He looks cute. Today the kids have been climbing trees for mangoes and avocado.
Pauline has only had one crying session this week so I think she is settling and we are communicating better with her. We went swimming yesterday and she entertained everybody because of her excitement in the water. There was a man in his thirties and it was his first ever swim in water he was from a village. He was like a little boy with so much joy. These are moments to treasure. Steve had a beautiful swim and will be getting back into his weekly swimming soon.
We are looking for a car which is a bit tricky because strong 4 wheel drives are very expensive and any other lighter vehicles disappear into potholes and the suspension gets wasted. The Government add a 55% tax onto imported cars.
Well this week we will be preparing to move into a house. We look forward to helping our very poor neighbours in ways that we can manage.
Here’s a little report from the last two weeks. I am sitting in our house which is a lovely peaceful 3 bedroom house set in an elevated position surrounded by very poor homes and poverty as well as extreme wealth - see the photo album for pics – this dichotomy sums up Kampala. We have been truly blessed with a house only 10 minutes from work and the same to major shopping centres. We have a good view of the city. The power has gone down 5 times in the last week and the water is out for 6 hours today - but that is Uganda. We had a rain storm as we arrived home on Wednesday and the roads turned into rivers in minutes. Our house did not flood as it is on a slope but the poorer mud brick homes surrounding us got very sticky. It is quite a moral challenge living so near such poverty but our major focus is Kyazanga primary school and orphanage and the process of establishing that school and orphanage. We will help our neighbourhood in little ways. Our neighbourhood are all out of work so they ask us regularly for gardening and maids jobs. We want to have time on our own as a family for a while because we have been living in cramped testing conditions for six weeks.
We now have a little car – Toyota Carib – cheap to run and a pesky engine with enough power to get out of difficult situations quickly . The only downside is negotiating metre deep potholes, it needs a very angled approach if you are given that room!!! There are tall judder bars on all main roads every 200 metres and these need an angled approach otherwise you will lose the underbelly and exhaust pipe!!
The car has come at the right time – like everything God does – if one waits and seeks the right path it appears, the key is faith and patience.
Thanks for all prayer covering. I was nearly killed in a head on situation while on a boda motorbike taxi – we were heading downhill and another taxi careered up on the wrong side of the road – I yelled at the driver just in time to avoid a very bad smash – it was the last time my family and I ride on boda taxis!!!
My school celebrated UN day yesterday with 38 nations represented in my school – it is a celebration of culture, dress, food, music and dance. My class put on the Maori action song E papa waiari, we used Rako sticks and paddled our waka onto to the stage with Kotahitanga playing in the background. They had visiting local African dance groups which were incredible – we all ended up dancing the African moves – the beat is slower and more definite than Hip Hop.
It rained heavily before the event so we had plenty of those winged mosi intruders mixed with a deluge of flies coming off the local swamp but the children didn’t notice. One of my colleagues went down with malaria yesterday so it can be contacted in the city.
I have lost a fair bit of weight over the last 7 weeks due to the pressure of walking everywhere and catching taxis. So I am going to rest and feast up a bit over the mid term break. The heat makes it quite exhausting at times – recently the temps have been 30 plus. For example Sharron and I waited 9 hours at our original accommodation for some appliances to be delivered. When the delivery guys finally arrived, unpacked and left I discovered a vital piece of power regulator missing so I had to hire a boda down to town then catch a Matatu (van taxi) and walk many kms to find the power regulator so that the fridge could operate – a long and physically demanding day – no need for gym memberships here!!!
Well it is Sunday morning and we are going to our black and white church which has a children’s program and the service is in English and a reasonable length. Some of the local charismatic fellowships are in Luganda and have no provision for children. The services last for 3-4 hours which can be demanding on Moses and Pauline with nothing to do.
Later in the week we are going to organise the mosquito nets which were funded by generous people in Tauranga. Also we are visiting a pig and horticulture farm run by a European family. They use the farm to fund orphanages. I am planning to help Kyazanga Primary school become more self sufficient. So I am gathering information on piggeries, specialised cropping and setting up a craft and food shop. We also need to find a responsible, honest, hard working farmer to run the Kyazanga plantation and operation. Please pray for these initiatives as they affect all the children at Kyazanga and their extended families trapped in poverty and suffering from HIV. Uganda has enormous potential if any operation is well planned and then administered by honest accountable people!!!
Sharron reporting now
Talking of Taxis this week we caught Matatus to school. Our first day was interesting as the driver had an argument with a passenger, She would not get out after a 5 minute rave then he got and told us his taxi was not moving so the 16 of us got out and walked up the road to the next stage. H e lost 16,000 shillings.
The next day we spent the whole journey on the wrong side of the road and everything moved out of our way, it was a bit strange and we had no control it’s a bit scary when you are crammed into a van with two children and 16 adults but now we have our car. I am glad it’s a cheap vehicle as I find it difficult to live amongst such poor people.
Pauline and I hand washed a lot of clothes today as the water is off all day tomorrow. She is so funny at the end she runs in and comes out with togs on and jumps in the wash water. She is such a hard little worker whereas Moses has to be cojouled and bribed with pocket money to do chores.
To all you icecream lovers we can’t afford to buy a two litre tub as it costs 26,000 shillings which is NZ 18 dollars. However my darling bought me a. dozen yellow roses for 3000 shillings which is just under 2 dollars. Moses would prefer the icecream.
Going to the bank is an experience to be remembered. Give yourself at least one to two hours to stand in the queue and don’t worry I was told if you want to go to the toilet you can leave your place and return to it no questions asked. Well I got to the teller after hearing a lady screaming at the inquiry lady because she had had her whole bank account hijacked and the bank lady told her to calm down. Nobody else raised an eyelid and I was mortified, It was like something you watch on TV. The bank computers went down just after I got my balance and was told to come back to get my money. I told the guy I was staying there until he gave me the money. I had just stood for an hour. The supervisor gave him the nod and they gave me my withdrawal needed for our rent deposit. Whew... (steves comment - don't argue with Sharron in a bank)
