FEBRUARY 2012 (from Newsletter No.6)

Greetings from Sunny Uganda! Right now it is one of the two dry seasons, it is hot, dry and very dusty here at Kamuli. We have settled into our rented house quite well and are reasonably comfortable.

(see below for Picture Gallery)

"SOME SMALL PROBLEMS, IT WILL PASS"

The heading above is a quote from one of our young Ugandan friends (‘small’ = ’not so small’). We have been struggling with some issues including communication problems. This is not to be unexpected as we have only been in Uganda for 4 months and one week. Apart from the expected language problems there are also culturally based miscommunications. Even words in ‘English’ can mean different things to us and Ugandans. For example, a number of times in church we have heard anecdotes in ‘English’ that evoke hilarious laughter and we haven’t had a clue what it was about or what was so funny.

However we are very grateful to be here and feel privileged to know some of the people we are able to know and spend time with. Our time is mostly spent with young people who are desperate for education. They live for the next term’s school fees, trying to work for any money they can. The start of the first term when school fees are highest is a very challenging time for a lot of parents, children and young people. It has been and remains a very tense time for us as we are approached by desperate people wanting help with school fees and requirements. Who should we help? This person or that person? How much can we afford? If we help first term will we be expected to help second term and all through high school? Are we being told the truth about situations? etc. We have also been able to employ some young High School students for small amounts (small by Western standards) which helps them come closer to their education goals.

The community suffers many stresses from the results of poverty, but also from some attitudes from some we find hard to fathom that have caused us some problems.

FRIENDS

For example, Joel (a neighbour) 15 yrs, is waiting to see if his father is able to pay off last years education dept by buying maize and milling it and giving it to Joel’s previous school. The school will not give results to his next school, High school, if the debt is not paid. Then of course the new school has to have fees paid. Many of the Public schools are not considered to provide reasonable education as there are so few teachers to teach. A headmistress we know said she has 936 pupils and 5 teachers (about 185 pupils per teacher!). Joel has worked for us during the school holidays, gardening, watering and odd jobs but still it is not enough. We also have Joel’s friend Linika, young Gloria next door, two friends both called Marjory and others doing odd jobs for us at different times. They are all conscientious and work very hard (Ugandan kids really know about hard work). We get on very well with our live-in help Christine. One high school student Budahla (refered to as ‘Sayjabi’ in our Christmas letter, we found out he prefers ‘Budahla’) has spent a lot of time with us. He is sponsored by a lady in Canada. He has become like a 4^th son - his story is too long to include here (there is hilarity in the kitchen as Pam, Christine and Budahla discuss the bed bugs and food Budahla has to face when he returns to his school boarding section next week) . We have paid or helped with ‘requirements’ and first term fees for a number of students and have more requests to consider but have exceeded our budget already (actually we didn’t really budget for this).

BLESSING IN DISGUISE

The container has not yet arrived. If it had come earlier we could not have coped with that extra load of work and responsibility while trying to settle in. Our Heavenly Father knows how much we can handle and in what order. The shipping container has just reached the port of Mombasa in Kenya. This port is heavily congested and so may take a time to clear. It then has to come overland to Jinja in Uganda where it will clear customs. It then needs to be transported on to Kamuli (where we are).

FELLOWSHIP LIFELINE

As per our agreement with Pioneers (mission agency) we spend two days per month in Jinja (nearest large town, on Lake Victoria and the Nile River) and meet with Jinja Interdenominational Missionary Fellowship for ‘Western’ fellowship. They are mainly Americans but other nationalities as well. We stay at Calvary Chapel with a wonderful couple Jesse and Beverly Rich who have been in Uganda for 30+ years. They are wonderful people, extremely hospitable and a deep mine of information and experience with Uganda and Ugandans. They have been a real lifeline for us. We love meeting others in the fellowship and it’s great to attend a more ‘normal’ church service (more like home) once a month. We also have had great fellowship with Roger & Jean from the U.K. who live in Kampala and look after Uganda for Pioneers.

VISITORS

We have recently spent time with two young Australians here on some youth projects. Also Alan and Geoff from Orange (Alan comes to Kamuli each year) stayed with us a few nights and Alan was doubly welcome because he also brought some jars of vegemite! An English couple who are involved in prison ministry in Africa came for lunch recently, Laurie is 84 yrs old - no retirement for followers of Jesus! Having Aussie visitors is a real treat - easy and relaxed communication in a language and cultural background we understand!

NEED FOR FURTHER CROSS CULTURAL TRAINING

We are booked to go to Yei in Southern Sudan 3rd-10th March for further Cross Cultural training with PIONEERS. The main speaker is a Kenyan man but there will be other experienced people to help us ‘newcomers’ (although we have already learnt a lot in our 4.5 months here).

NEVER A DULL MOMENT

Apart from our regular activities, over the past week we have visited our sponsored children in their villages to meet them and their families. We are always given something from these families so came away with - a rooster, young hen and a bag of fruit and vegetables. We gave away the chickens to a family to breed from as we couldn't eat our gifts and could not keep them as they dug up our tomato plants etc. Allan spoke at the Pastor’s conference held at the end of January and Allan and Pam did some presentations at the three day Children’s Camp held early January. We also ran games for about 150 children over the three days with the help of some young Ugandan friends. The games were a real challenge as we were drastically ‘understaffed’.

EPILOGUE

There is much more we could say in the way of observations and issues but won’t for the sake of brevity and not wanting to commit certain things to a newsletter. However for the pray-ers reading this we would appreciate your prayers.

 PICTURE GALLERY

We often can’t take photo’s because we either know the Ugandans we would be taking photos of would object (some object very strongly, you have to be careful or could get into trouble), or we don’t have a camera, or are two busy with something else. But here are a few that might give at least an idea of our life here.

   

Some members of Budahla’s group ‘Youth Victory Tower of Life’ meeting in our home. Budahla is in the centre next to the girl with the blue top. Next to Budahla is Solomon who we also have seen a bit of.  

The group cutting the cake made in the cake cooking lesson. We cooked a cake in a solar oven that Budahla made from instructions we had, but I’m not sure if this cake is solar or oven cooked.

Taste test for the cake lesson!

Pam with the solar cooker in our front yard.

Budahla finishing of a fuel efficient stove with Christine and Pam looking on. This stove is far more efficient than the usual three stones with a pot sitting on them with a fire underneath.

Budahla with some of the arts and crafts produced by his self-help group. We supplied a small amount of personal finance for some of the raw materials. He has managed to sell about 300,000 shillings worth (about $140) to various visiting Mzungus (white people) recently!

In the home of one of the ladies doing some of the craft work (this is Christine, somehow we missed getting a picture of the lady herself - we have lost Pam’s camera and so are missing photos)

 

 The church held a three days Pastor’s conference. Allan got the opportunity to speak on the first day. The last afternoon was ‘sports and games’. Here is a foot race - with all the walking and hoeing etc. that most people do Ugandans are generally very fit!

Sports and games afternoon for the Pastor’s conference held on the grounds of a large public school in Kamuli. I (Allan) was (mis-)matched against young and fit people in the sack race and so came very last. I ran some games of poison ball but don’t have any photos to prove it.

Sports and games afternoon for the Pastor’s conference, women’s sack race. Much enthusiasm for all the events with a very enthusiastic commentator on a very loud PA system describing each event.  

Sports and games afternoon for the Pastor’s conference main event - Soccer game of Pastors vs Youth. This was taken very seriously. Note the bare feet. The Youth won.

Visit from James and Eva - James 3^rd from left with the black and white shirt, then Eva. We met James in Sydney where he has now completed a PHD in political science at Sydney University. He travels all over the world attending conferences and also lecturing. He still lives in Australia. His wife Eva works for Oxfam in Africa - they don’t see too much of each other! James was a great source of information about Uganda before we left. He comes from the Kamuli district.  

A visit from an English couple who visit various African countries to do prison ministry. Laurie is 84 - never too old to serve the Lord!

 More visiting Mzungus - On the left Sam on short term project for a Catholic organisation, and Alan from Orange who has been visiting Africa and Kamuli each year for a number of years now. He and his friend Geoff very generously carried the last five second hand laptops from Australia as luggage as Ugandan Customs allow 2^nd hand computers through as luggage (but not in shipping containers!)

Alan’s friend Geoff visiting with Alan (see last photo). We have had visits from six Aussies recently. Sam (last photo), his friend Caitlyn (no photo), Alan and Geoff, and in the last week two Aussie girls working on projects. It is so wonderful to have received these visits from fellow Aussies! Just to be able to speak the same language with the same accent and cultural background is a real boost.

Alan and Geoff brought Vegemite. This made them doubly welcome! Here I am doing a taste test (I have lost a lot of weight since coming to Uganda - not sure why).

One of the high school age neighbours, Linika, who has been helping Pam with gardening and other things during school break. Here he is showing some of his art work. More of Linika’s art work below: 

Joel a neighbour and friends with Linika (see last two photos). Joel and Linika have been working as a team with gardening and getting the yard under control. We (especially Pam who supervises) have had a great time talking to them on various topics.

Our young friend Abbey packing for school. We paid or contributed from personal funds to fees and ‘requirements’ for a number of students for first term of high school and have thoroughly blown our budget. The beginning of the year is a very anxious time for many as people are looking for means to find school fees that they can’t afford. There has been a lot of pressure on us. The pupil needs various ‘requirements’ such as books, pens, A4 paper, uniforms etc. For boarding students the list is very long and expensive. Then there are school fees. We supplied Abbey with requirements and fees for the boarding section for his school for first term. He wanted boarding so he could concentrate on his studies.

Christine’s sister Debra with new baby named Blessing; her dad in the background. This family lives a distance from us on the other side of Jinja. It was a long and difficult birth and ex-midwife Pam was having sleepless nights worrying about it and getting updates in the middle of the night. Blessing finally arrived in good health.

We have visited the children we sponsor in their home villages where they go on school break (although one remains in the village). On the left is Julius, fairly grown up now. We got a hen and rooster as gifts from these visits - they dug up some of Pam’s garden so we gave them away! (we didn’t have the heart to eat them).

This is what I thought was an interesting photo from one of the sponsored child visits. Not sure what is going on!

Head Mistress Damahli that we met in 2008. A wonderful lady acting as a guide on a sponsored child visit (see also next photo). She lives a stone’s throw from us in Kamuli.

The village school that Head Mistress Damahli administers (See also previous photo; Damahli and Allan at a distance). This school has about 900 pupils and 5 teachers! - the classes are very large (to say the least).

Kingfisher resort near Jinja where we have stayed a few times. It over looks Lake Victoria and the Nile River at a place where the Nile starts from Lake Victoria. It is very nice but not expensive by western standards as it costs less than a motel in Lithgow (Australia) where Pam and I used to stay sometimes travelling to and from Dubbo.  

Kingfisher resort near Jinja where we can go for a break sometimes (see last photo for more information).

Allan out trying to stop the high water tank overflowing in the middle of the night (photographed by Pam for some reason). We have had hiccups with the water but it is pretty good now.

Our washing up sink. Our home is quite well set up and we are quite comfortable by Ugandan standards. We are very well of compared to many in this country. Although to clean ourselves we heat water on the stove and wash using a jug. We have showers but not hot water. We are quite used to this now though.  

Washing day! (no washing machine, apart from anything else it would use far too much water)

The washing hung out to dry.

There was a call for volunteers to move soil and gravel into the new church building to build up the floor. Pam and I turned up to help (Pastor Wilbur asked for our camera so he could take some pictures). I (Allan) ended up doing something nasty to my back that took weeks to recover.

In the dry season Samuel next door has taken over the garden as Joel and Linika have returned to school (Samuel returns soon). Here Sam has set up a clever drip irrigation system based on hanging plastic bags full of water with small holes in the bottom. 

I was cutting the back of Pam’s hair on the front porch when these two appeared to view the spectacle. One of them (in red) is Adison who is one of the one’s we sponsor and so knows us - this gave him the courage to enter the gate.

Further to last picture - an audience looking over the wall to try and view the Mzungu haircut spectacle. Our kind of haircuts are strange to Ugandans as almost all men and women, boys and girls have their heads shaved. The women then wear wigs. 

This church run by Frank and Michele Heyward of COME Uganda in Kampala. Frank and Michele (fellow Aussies!) have been very generous with their time in giving advice and pearls of wisdom as they have been in Uganda for about 12 or 13 years. The Mzngus in the picture are a visiting medical team from Aus. Apart from the church they run a school, a clinic and guest house (that we stay at) and Frank oversees about 30 village churches. Frank also runs village outreach programs. For more information see http://comeuganda.org/

Some folk viewing this will have met Anita from Kampala who visited Australia. We visited Anita’s home and her church and had a delicious lunch served us at her home. This is Anita and her family of biological and adopted children.  

Jesse and Bev Rich are a wonderful, generous and hospitable American Missionary couple in Jinja. This is Jesse but somehow we don’t have a picture of Beverly. They have been in Uganda for 30+ years and are a mine of information. They have been a big support and encouragement to us. Pam and I go to Jinja at the end of the month to attend the Missionary Fellowship meeting and stay at accommodation at Calvary Chapel.  Calvary Chapel is run by Jesse and Bev (and they have many other ministries).

A lovely lady (Esther) at the church we attend runs this little shop ‘Quench Your Thirst’. Pam and I helped clean the inside walls and supplied some paint and Pam helped paint the inside - it made quite a difference! We hope this kind of thing will help build relationships between us and church members. 

The church was used as one of the venues for the 3 days children’s camp at the beginning of the year. Bezallel primary school was the other venue. I (Allan) gave a teaching one day and Pam and I plus two young Ugandan friends Budahla and Christine gave a combined presentation another day. 

I (Allan) was supposed to run the games each of the three afternoons for the children’s camp. The task was pretty much impossible with about 150 children, 4 age groups, the need to separate boys and girls in the oldest group (I found out on the first day, the boys can be vicious to the girls) and language difficulties. However with the help of Pam, Christine and Budahla (and Sam and Caitlin mentioned above) we got through. We were generally too busy to take photos but here are a few taken at more relaxed times.

Above girls using some skipping ropes we supplied. Below Budahla and Sam running a soccer game for the oldest boys.