Some pictures...

Deep in the bush!

Patricia

Joel and his hand made clock

Lwanga - sponsor boy

Brendah

Irene

Babies home

Loom bands

Baby Jordan

My guard dog!

Even though my clock is upside down...I am trying!

Isaac's beautiful wife and children

Carbeque

Baby Moses

Good evening from Kampala!

Good evening form Kampala!  It has been busy busy since I last updated you...but I will try to be brief so as not to bore you!

As ever thanks for your prayers, love and support - they literally mean the world to me.

Last Sunday I went to one of the local churches in Nansana with Kathy and Hassan.  It was very encouraging and uplifting – these Africans sure can dance and sing, and they praise the Lord in such a joyful way!  This was then followed by house church/fellowship at the Sweazy’s – the American family that I have come to know and love over the years.  It was lovely to catch up with them.  Please pray for Natasha....the mum of nine African and American children, as she is currently in hospital.

On Monday I travelled deep into the bush with Kathy and co to meet some of the people that they are working with – as we drove we cooked chicken and veg on the engine – apparently it’s called carbeque! I think the locals thought we were daft as we stopped every so often to check on our lunch!  The people that we met had very little in terms of material possessions...prior to Desana getting involved they literally slept under a tree with a tarpaulin as a roof...but now they have a house – praise the Lord! I meet a lovely girl that day called Irene.  She had exceptionally good English, so I asked her if she had been to school or went to school.  Her eyes welled up with tears and she said she had completed her P7 but they had no money for school fees for her to go to secondary school.  I am slowly learning that to hand out money is not always the solution; it perhaps treats the symptoms but not the cause.  I said to her how sorry I was and offered to pray for her. As I prayed she wept.  I encouraged her that God loved her and had not forgotten her deep out here in the bush.  I had taken some colouring books and crayons, donated by my friend Jenny Kerr.  I explained that they were for all the children in this small settlement to share.  One of the men suggested that Irene be in charge of the small gifts and ‘teach’ the younger children.  So I was able to laugh and joke with her and tell her she was now ‘Teacher Irene’ and that she had a purpose.  The car journey though long, was very entertaining as we debated as to whether we could smell onions wafting from the engine or not and were entertained by Hassan singing along to Ariana Grande!

On Tuesday I went to visit my Aunt and Uncle’s sponsor girl, Brendah. It was lovely to see her again.  Please pray for her as she considers her next step.  She didn’t perform terribly well in her S4 exams...so is currently considering her options.  I gave my advice and said my part, along with the help and support of Uncle Isaac, he goes above and beyond the call of a boda driver, but we will see!  Am becoming quite assertive these days, need to watch out I don’t end up becoming rude!  In the afternoon I went to The Shelter and did some teaching – counting in 5s.  I followed this by taking my old maid/home help from RUHU out for supper.  She is a super appreciative girl and is facing some very challenging times...I hope this small gesture of treating her to dinner was an encouragement to her.

On Wednesday I spent most of the day at The Shelter, we reviewed counting in 5s.  The minstrels were a good bribe to motivate them!  Bribery and corruption is everywhere– it’s clearly getting to me! I then did a Bible Story with them, followed by loom bands.  They loved making them and were incredibly fast little learners. I did see a certain child trying to use his as a catapult though....so before I left I warned them, in my teacher voice, that if we saw them trying to hurt their friends with these beautiful creations, I would remove them!  I haven’t seen anybody try to use theirs as a slingshot since!

On Thursday I started my trauma healing at The Shelter. I have two groups that I am going to be working with, one with 3 boys, one with 4 boys.  Please pray this material would touch their hearts, despite our language barriers!  Their English is probably not as good as previous groups I have worked with – but we will give it a go! Thursday afternoon I then went with a Ugandan friend Brian, to visit Fred.  You may remember me talking about him in the past.  He is one of the RUHU kids, with significant mental health issues, amongst other challenges.  Generally he has been doing a bit better, but is overdue an appointment at the mental hospital, so I hope to take him on Tuesday coming.  He sure does need all the prayers he can get!  After this I then went to visit the babies at RUHU.  It was lovely to see my old little friends like Baby Jordan, baby Ibra and Baby Pauline....and also meet new faces like little Obama and baby Jasmine.  I then popped briefly to visit a certain child at boarding school. Trying to get in was like trying to get into the Crown Jewels – quite frankly I sometimes cannot understand the mindset o f these Ugandans.  The Headmaster must have spoken to me like I was about 5 years old....but I saw the boy Umaru...and hopefully our few minutes together encouraged him!  I then prayed with the boys from RUHU boy’s home, which is always a joy.

Friday was an interesting day.  I don’t want to go into details here as it is not appropriate but a fair whack of the day was spent at the police station. Please pray for Kathy and Hassan and the work that they do at the shelter (which is amazing by the way!)  Please pray for the staff that work at the shelter and please pray for the precious children that they would be kept safe.  Let’s just say the Devil seems to be at work, but we are all confident the God will break through and provide a way!

Last night I was able to spend some time with my friend Betty and treat her to a tasty meal – I didn’t cook, I took her out!  Scrambled egg is as ambitious as I have got – if you could even call them scrambled eggs.  Anybody would laugh if they saw me trying to light the gas hobs...I think one of these days I might actually set myself on fire!  

Today I spent time with my sponsor boy, Lwanga Davis, which was nice.  After this I then spent some time with Isaac’s family which was lovely.  His wife is so sweet and the children are adorable.  I was amazed by the vast amount of ice cream they managed to consume in my short visit – they were loving life!

Right, I am going to go now...but once again thank you for everything! xxx

And the photos

A busy wee week!

Good evening all from Uganda.  A few wee updates from this week.  Firstly thanks to everyone for their love, prayers and support.

Things have been busy busy since I got here.

It has been lovely seeing old faces and new faces at Kathy’s Shelter.  I got straight to work on Tuesday telling Bible stories and stick, stick, sticking here, there and everywhere – posters, alphabet charts, number lines – I can’t seem to help myself... is obviously my teacher-ness!

On Valentine’s Day I also had the honour of sharing one of my favourite stories with the children at the Shelter – ‘Guess How Much I Love you’ and telling the children how important and special they all are to God.  I was them able to give them each a Valentine’s gift – courtesy of my sister and I’s mammoth TY Beanie Baby Collection, from back in the day!  I was worried that I may get stopped and searched when flying, as a potential drug mule, as 30 odd cuddly toys probably looks a bit suspicious! But praise the Lord I didn’t and the kids were super excited by them.

On Valentine’s Day I also took two sponsor boys – (young men) out for dinner and gifted them used laptops to help them with their university studies – massive thanks to Catriona and Anna for these donations.  Also massive thanks to Uncle Jim, we are rapidly getting through your sweetie selection!

It was a privilege to meet the ladies that Kathy works with in the slums on Wednesday and be introduced to their Sisterhood Soap Project.  I can also say their soap is super, have been trying it out this week!

I have also popped in to visit the children at RUHU, both the boys’ home and the girls’ home to fellowship with them.  These children hold such a dear place in my heart, so it was a real blessing to see them again. I bumped into one of my former ‘Healing Hearts’ pupils – she asked me if we were going to have our ‘club’ again this time, which touched my heart, as she had obviously enjoyed it, but also pained my heart as it won’t be possible – but I will definitely go back and visit this dear girl personally. 

It has been a blessing to be back in the slums again and see old street dwelling friends. They have demolished loads of the slums since I was here in December, so  I was worried about children that I personally know and love. Is always a joy to be reunited with them and know they are alive but also so sad to think the months and years have passed and they are still there, living such chaotic lives.  But I have seen lives transformed many times before, so there is always hope!

I had the privilege today of visiting Dennis, the boy I worked with and advocated for, who was on the streets during my last trip.  He is currently living at his family home and it was a blessing to visit him today – but his situation is still very much up in the air!  In some ways the journey has just begun.

I was also blessed today to catch up with one of my Ugandan friends, Jenny – she is such a blessing to have.  Likewise I am so thankful for Uncle Isaac, my longstanding boda driver – if it wasn’t for friends like this I don’t know how I would function!

Finally, a little update on Shaban – the boy with the bad foot – he can now walk and do a hobbly run thing, he laughs often and has the most beautiful smile.  Beauty from ashes!

Thank you to everyone for everything – we are doing this together x