Saturday 10 March 2018

Delightful moments and grotty ones!




Each day is filled with lovely moments and also some pretty minging ones.  Today is a great example of this.  This morning my lovely neighbour Ber, the Irish lady whose compound I stay on, appeared at my door with some freshly baked chocolate brownie.  How sweet and thoughtful!  It sure was a blessing to connect with her again, after meeting her briefly some years ago.

This afternoon was filled with a pretty disgusting experience.  I have used many a long –drop toilet over the years in Uganda and my mentality is if you need to go, you need to go.  However when I entered this particular toilet this afternoon and saw the maggots crawling all over the place, I questioned how desperate I was!

Each day is filled with blessings and each day has it’s challenges.  But I have been reminded this week that I have so much to be thankful for.

I am not going to bore you, as I usually do, with a blow by blow account of my week, but rather mention a few memorable moments!

Last Sunday evening Kathy and I went to church, to attend what they were calling, ‘Deeper Service’.  Well, I have to say in all my years I have never spent so long at a church service.  We were told to be there for a 5pm start, and they are normally quite good at keeping time, but didn’t actually start till half seven.  We were then on our feet for the majority of the service, which went on till after eleven.  It was wild! People had whistles and horns, chairs were being waved in the air, lots of dancing, people conga-ing round the church.  Quite the experience.  Whilst I don’t do dancing, I think it is lovely that everyone can praise and worship in their own way – indeed that’s what it will be like when we all get to Heaven!

I am continuing on with my healing hearts groups at the shelter, and I cannot thank Kenneth enough for helping me during these sessions.  Kenneth is probably about 11 years old, but his English is wonderful and he helps translate so that the others in the group can understand. It was very poignant last week as we discussed times in our lives when we felt unimportant and unloved.  They talked openly, in Luganda, about when they were on the streets and people treated them in such a way.  Please pray that these children would know – as I don’t know what Kenneth translated – that they are important and special and loved!

I visited friends in Nakawadde, where I used to volunteer, on Monday night.  Their humble little house had been destroyed by the rains and storms.  It was pitch dark, as I squelched about in the swamp, and it wasn’t until the next day that I saw the extent of the damage.  The roof had been completely ripped off and some of the brick work had crumbled.  The mama was distraught.  We prayed together and I said I would come back and see them in the morning.  Praise God that there little house is now being rebuilt.  I am amazed how fast the builders have worked, as everything in Uganda normally takes forever!  But God-willing by the middle of the week it will all be finished.  This put things into perspective for me...I had been grumbling about getting caught in the rain when out and about, but quickly realised I had nothing to complain about! 

The kids enjoyed learning about Brazil this week, or rather I should say they enjoyed making Brazilian Carnival Masks.  As they made their masks they talked away in Luganda, every so often I would hear someone say the word ‘Superhero’ in English.  After we made our masks they put them on, from the youngest to the oldest, went and got towels and tied them round their necks as cloaks and ran around the compound pretending to be superheroes.  Even if they haven’t retained much about Brazil, they got to be Superheroes for the day and that’s wonderful.  One little boy, an angry little boy, even slept in his mask.  He was still wearing it when I arrived the next morning!

Today I had a lovely time catching up with friends and children in Nakawadde.  I visited Zalika’s family, some of my healing hearts children from last time and the RUHU babies home.  I actually love these children so much and it always amazes me the things they remember – like the songs/video clips that I used to play at the babies home.  The children still remember them and sing them to me when they see me!  These children are precious; let’s pray they would know that.

As always, thank you so much for your prayers, your love and your support.  Many of you gave me gifts before I left.  Please be encouraged that your gifts have been used this week for many things, but largely for the rebuilding of Maama Zalika’s house.  Thank you for making this possible.   

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