Hello everyone!
Thank you got coming to check out our blog. We're finally going to post something of interest!
We are having a good time in Uganda so far. After a few days of being out of contact with the world, we now have phones and Internet sorted. Although the Internet can be a bit slow at times.We are living and working in a small 'suburb' called Nansana. It is rural, but lovely. The house we live in is kind of like a duplex; two small houses connected by a wall. On our first day we shared our 'house' with an American couple and a young African child which they were adopting. They left the following day, so now we have two bedrooms, a bathroom, a a family room, which is not furnished, and the entrance room, which is meant to be a kitchen but we only use it for storing our water on the bench and the sink to wash with. There is usually electricity, so there's hot water in the shower, but we don't have a washing machine, a fridge or even a cook top or oven.
The other duplex does not have these conveniences either. They do, however, have a small dodgy tv, which is useful for listening mostly, not really for viewing. Haha!The other house is where Pastor Wilfred, his wife Venna, and their (now) two children live. Venna gave birth to sweet baby Joshua last Sunday (6th of May). They returned home on Thursday this week due to Venna's recovery from a c-section and Joshua's jaundice. Graham, their first child, who is not quite two has the chicken pox, so he has been staying with Wilfred's mum who lives closer to town so the disease is isolated. Also living with Wilfred and Venna in the other bedroom is Scovia (the house mum who is in charge of cooking and cleaning and caring for the young ones) baby Scovia (who is 5 but cannot yet walk or talk due to neglect and malnutrition as a young child), baby Peter (actually a baby who is getting closer to walking than Scovia currently), Bravery, Ritah and her baby sister Gift. This is 'the girl's room'. The boys have a room in th garage, and Isaac and Hupton (not sure of the spelling on that one) live there. hupton iw Bravery's younger brother. There was another girl, Raven, living here initially, but she has left for boarding school now.Despite there being no western cooking utilities, we have been very well fed! Scovia and Bravery have cooked for us and they do a wonderful job. Mostly it has been vegetarian meals that we have eaten. I assume its cheaper that way. They cook outside in a little under-cover concreted area over coals. They use a small, kind of clay pot looking thing to hold the coals and the dishes they use to cook in rest either on the top or just inside it. It's like we're camping but with nice warm bunkbeds to sleep in.The girls take turns to walk down the road (nearly a kilometer, sorry Americans...it's not a mile, so i dont know what to say it is for you. Not very far. Maybe 15mins to walk) to get what they need for breakfast and then later at lunch and dinner. We are enjoying the food; Ac especially likes it when Bravery cooks because she puts in lots of flavour. We're discovering how many Ugandan meals are cooked, so maybe I'll be able to whip up some beans and rice for you all when I get home!The only thing very strange we have been served to eat was at the children's home. It is a meal made from what the Ugandans call 'silver fish'. They love it. Basically its lots of small little silver fish cooked in a broth type thing. It smells so strange. We tasted one just to be sure we'd like it. We didn't. Due to the relationship we have already fostered with the Ugandans here, they don't mind that we don't eat it. Luckily. You eat the heads and all.
The other children that are 'orphans' actually live at Pastor Wilfred's old house where we visited him last year. There is maybe 25 of them there. Because it is currently school holidays we have been working with the children to complete their 'holiday packages' which is basically homework for the holidays. Ac and I have had to brush up on our math skills and science stuff that we learnt back in Primary school. There is a baby called Robert staying at the children's home currently who might move in with Ac and me when the children go back to school. That will be interesting! Considering he is currently still afraid of us and our white skin. The Holiday Packages have taken us such a long time to complete that we've had hardly any time to do anything else with the children. Ac has been working very hard with Doreen, one of the children who is ten. She can hardly read a word of English at the moment (the Holiday Packages are written in English) and so it has been a slow road to help her. We are hoping that we can teach her to read during our time here. They go back to school on Monday 14th of May, Ac's birthday. When they return to school we will go to the childrens home in the afternoon to help them with their homework.
For Saturday's we are planning to have days doing things that will foster imagination, creativity and inspiration for the children, so they can discover what they are good at and come up with ideas of what they want to do when they finish school. This is pastor Wilfred's heart for his children. Other than spending time with the children at their home, we have been at the clinic with Wilfred's son Graham, getting his treatment for chicken pox. He has had to have some intravenous drugs. So that has been a bit traumatic, because it hurts him and he screams and cries through it all.
We have also been working with young Scovia, trying to assist her walking. She is such a bubbly happy child and she loves climbing all over us. I have taught her how to sit down after she has been standing. Previously she would just kind of let go, keep her legs locked, and hope for the best. Every time she would hit her head on the ground. Needless to say she was always very very hesitant to 'Tula' ('sit down' in Lugandan). I worked with her, resting her back against a wall so she had to bend her knees. Now she can sit down wherever she is; holding on to a chair, the wall, a person... Whatever. She is very proud of herself.I have also been playing 'Round and Round the Garden' on her hand (a little rhyme that you do while tracing a circle on the palm of the child's hand. It finishes with tickling the child under the arm. Fun for four year olds all over the world!). Now, when she has pulled herself to standing near me or is sitting on my lap, she holds out her hand and says 'naandy naandy' which sounds a bit like 'round and round the'. So cute!
Other than that we have made friends with many people, particularly Florence, one of the people that works for Mercy Childcare Ministry. She is 29 and is getting married during the time we are here! We're so excited be going to her wedding! She is really lovely and we are already very good friends with her.So, you can say that we have settled in well. Other than one of the children saying I look like a monkey, we have felt very welcome and appreciated. We are very privileged to be working for such a fantastic organization as Mercy. Wilfred is an amazing man of God with brilliant ideas and a big heart to see things change for orphans and under-privileged children and their families in Uganda.Thank you for your support and for tking the time to keep updated with our story.Blessings to you and thank you for your prayers!Jane and Ac
