Newsletter No.10 - May 2015

Here is newsletter No.10! We have been back in Uganda, for about 3 months since our last visit to Australia for 7 weeks. Our visit to Aus quickly became a bit of a distant memory once we settled into life here.

As usual this newsletter is mainly based on pictures, with captions and notes for those who want more detail. Again apologies to those wonderful people who take it upon themselves to print hard copies for people who can’t be reached by email – I realize that the length of the document makes printing a bit awkward.

It seems that first impressions often speak loudest. Following below is something Pam wrote when we first returned to Uganda from our wonderful country to the struggles of many people here; a ‘first impressions’ of sorts. We never got to send it to anyone so here it is now:

We are back!!

Despite our forgetting to lock all 4 of our large suitcases and having a 8-9 hr stopover in Johannesburg airport (which has a bad reputation for theft from luggage) our bags were not touched!! Thank you for praying!!

I am always amazed that here we are in this very different world with such a different culture and different level of material possessions etc.

Sometimes it is more than I can bear. Hearing the babies cry is especially hard as is the punishment metered out to children as is the abuse of children in other ways and also it is heartbreaking when we see many children who should be in school and want to be but are maybe working instead or just sitting around. Of course not all children are mistreated but many are, especially in the poorer villages.

Children are treated so differently by Christians.

The many who have given up hope of anything ever changing for them, the long distances people have to walk the heavy labour they have to do in equatorial Africa in the heat. So many people who die young, so much struggle. Why should it be so hard for them.

To-day my heart is heavy, We did not go to church as Allan has been doing heavy work to set up our FGW project on our land and I am too heart heavy to face a church full of people staring at me or wanting something.

But Satan will not win. The people of God are working to make positive change.

There are many people from many parts of the world who are here making a very positive change in many and varied ways.

There are also many amazing local people whose heart is tuned into Jesus and the needs of their country. There are many who are growing closer to Jesus and for that we are very thankful.

Pictures begin below. Note: 'Farming God's Way' sometimes abbreviated to ‘FGW’

Community Development Project .. In our last newsletter we talked about our purchase of land in Nabwigulu sub-county near Kamuli (where we live). We intended to work with to ex-prisoners first then the local community next, but things have turned around. It is now obvious to us that we need to work with the local community first. It is a typical impoverished village community. Our first aim is to promote a much better method of agriculture known as ‘Farming God’s Way’, mentioned in previous newsletters. Here in Uganda we very often hear the phrase ‘mpola mpola’ (mm-pol-ar), ‘slowly by slowly’. With this project this is how it is with us. As we visit and work on the land we are slowly getting to know the locals, and they are getting used to us. In this section is a short photographic essay of our ‘early days’ progress.	Pam greeting local ladies at a meeting we arranged.
Collecting mulch for our FGW plots.	Collecting mulch for our FGW plots. Helpers Ronald and a local called Henry (legs visible only)
The Team – Jack, Henry, Christine, Ronald, Pam, Paul; working on FWG plot.

Starting new FGW plots
Adding ‘Inputs’ – ash and manure		Planting
Allan giving directions? (or doing a dance?)	We get local people and children dropping in to see what we are doing. We encourage this. This is a boy named Julius. We found out that he was attending a certain institution near where we live (with which we don’t have any connection) which is supported by some wonderful people in the U.K. However there has been huge and continuing problems with a series of managers and staff embezzling and also tossing out orphans, such as Julius, and bringing in children of friends. Julius was ‘chased’ (ejected) at the beginning of 2015. Such things are very common here in Uganda. Julius helped us plant and we paid him a little bit of money.

		One day we had 10 children turn up and we got them helping in adding FGW inputs (ash & fertiliser). We discovered that they had been ‘chased’ (ejected) from their school because of owing fees, and no uniform for one. They attend a Government Primary School with low fees, 12,000 SH each or about $4.50 each per term! We went to the school and paid the fees for each one and the uniform. The children have returned to school. The girl without the uniform has no parents and is looked after by her grandmother (not uncommon). Here is the grandmother with her granddaughter to the right in the green skirt.
Meeting a local resident, Henry’s dad (H.D.): left, Pam talking to H.D. at his home; right, H.D. after he hobbled to our land on a very painful knee and gave us some advice on banana planting.  (‘Henry’ is a local who usually turns up to help us when we visit our land.) H.D. has been supplying us with ash and manure for our planting, through his son Henry. I gave 10,000 SH to H.D. and said it was for the inputs he has been supplying. Unexpectedly he said, no, we are together with this and gave the money back! We were very pleasantly surprised, having money rejected and handed back is very rare; in fact I don’t remember it having happened before. Pam is going to try and get some medication that might help with his painful knee and lower back.

The little Nursery School near our land … There is a small Nursery School near our land. The kids never seem to tire of waving and yelling out greetings every time we drive past. If school is over they will chase the car. They certainly make us feel welcome!
We visited the school and ‘talked’ to the pupils (actually we don’t share a common language apart from some basic greetings).	We present a box of 70 exercise books and 70 pencils to the school, gratefully received by a teacher.
The school classrooms. I don’t know how well it works in heavy rain!	If they find us stopped in the car the kids crowd around the windows to say hello.

Community Meeting … Through the local council member (a lady, called the LC1) we arranged a meeting with the local Nabwigulu community to explain ourselves. Unfortunately the meeting coincided with a ‘burial’ that much of the community was obliged to attend so we got small numbers (25-30); also mainly women. Despite the burial it was great meeting and we enjoyed interacting with the local people. In summary we explained we were not there to give out money for this and that but to teach FGW and hopefully expand to other assistance through training and providing a link to resources and training resources.
Five of us addressed the meeting (our friend Budhala was  taking the picture so doesn’t appear here).	Pam addressing the meeting with Budhala  interpreting.
Three of the few men present.	Prison Welfare Officer Wilson addressing the gathering. He has planted about 5 seasons of FGW (there are 2 growing seasons each year) so he was able to rouse a lot of interest with reports of high yields.

Community Water Problem … At the Nabwigulu community meeting we made it clear that we were not there to hand out money for this and that, but were there to assist with training and knowledge, but one of the things brought up was the problem with drinking water for the community. Locally they only had the muddy hole shown in the pics below; they insisted that this is the water they drink! It is near our land and we have observed people coming and going with 20 ltr jerry cans. There is a bore hole in  the Trading Centre but it is quite a long walk, especially carrying 20+ litres (20 kg) of water, and the queue at the pump is very often rather long. We would very much like to assist the community with a bore, preferably on our land where we can control the situation (such as stopping water sellers from using the bore). We arranged the bore at Bezallel financed by David & Barbara Hey-Cunningham a few years back and going on that cost I think it would be about $9,000 to $10,000 AUD. We will discuss this with our supporters and advisors. Pam is being shown the main source of drinking and washing water for the local community. Rather muddy and dirty.

Some of the dwellings near the water. It is a pretty poor area.

Report from Christine …

This is my plot which was offered by Allan and Pam on Nawigulu land in Kamuli. I planted some beans but in a new way of farming. (farming God’s way) this farming its good because you don’t need to put too much energy. (no ploughing and no burning). Last year I told my dad about this new farming and I directed him how to do it through a phone. He practiced it starting with planting 1 kgs of beans and he got 30kgs I thank Allan, pam and whoever puts support in this new farming and other things taking place in Uganda, may God bless you abundantly.

A serious African Health Hazard …

An old lady was living on our land when we purchased it. She has since died. Here is a picture of her cooking hut with the thatched roof removed and on the ground. The thatch is black with thick soot. The cooking huts are very smoky during cooking and are a very major health hazard in Africa. I just did a quick google search and there is a claim that 1.9 million people worldwide die annually from this problem. When we first came to Uganda we made a small start of introducing solar cookers but digressed on to other things. This is something we would still love to do.

Sponsorship Program … Managing the sponsorship program continues with its issues. It takes up a reasonable amount of our time even with a lot of help from our colleagues Christine and Budhala. Here are a few examples: Parents meeting in March: Some parents/guardians of children have an attitude of expecting the Bazung (white people) to handle and pay for everything for the sponsored child beyond school fees and some basics, e.g. party shoes and party clothes, medical bills in vacation time, extra sugar when the child feels like it etc. This is not good for the parent/child relationship and we can’t keep up paying for all these things extra things. Our helper Budhala arranged a meeting with some of the parents/guardians to explain the situation and to ask for the parents/guardians to take more responsibility. Not a large number attended but the response was generally positive and in agreement.
Some parents/guardians & children at the meeting in our home.	Budhala & Christine with some parents.
Head mistress Beatrice from Bezalell Primary school has a sponsored niece Olivier in the school who has lost both parents. Beatrice was in agreement with the message.	Another mother with her children. Ugandans love to dress well. They are very often well dressed even though very poor. They may not have a large wardrobe of clothes but make good use of what they have.

Example Sponsorship Program issues continued …
We have two young men in a mechanics apprenticeship program in nearby Jinja, plus a 3rd we help a little with (the three in the foreground). Here we are having a meeting at a restaurant where I am taking careful notes about who said what. Pam took the photo. To summarise between this meeting and one following, they had colluded to tell lies in hopes of us giving them more money. One was a ring leader, the others were persuaded to follow. We found them out and had to correct matters; we think things are under control now. This kind of scheming seems fairly common in Uganda, it is very tiring at times.	A good news story! – A sponsored girl Lamulati was failing in high school so we put her in a vocational training program where she was the star student. Here we are visiting her at an up-market (by Ugandan standards) restaurant where she is doing work experience.
	On the left: Fred (sitting on the floor), the young man in his 20’s with what we think is cerebral palsy (has appeared in previous newsletters), continues to do well after we took him from a remote village and brought him into Kamuli. He is looked after a by a lady we pay for the job standing behind him. Fred is sponsored by a member of the HT church family. James, with his hand to his face, is the last of three street children remaining in school. He suddenly escaped from school about 4 days ago (from the time of writing this) which made us rather sad, but it turned out another student asked him for help and convinced James to accompany him for a certain purpose. James dodged other street children and came back after two days. He is determined to continue with school. What started out badly ended well!

Finally the last item … The Drum Story …

In a visit to the Kamuli main prison in recent weeks a prisoner asked if we could bring some drums. This had been something we had been thinking of doing for some time. The worship and singing in the all male prison (except a few ladies in transit) is incredible!, especially in local songs in the local language where the harmony is fantastic. The Ugandan Africans have it all over us Mzungu’s when it comes to group singing. Prisoners come and go but there is also usually a choir, at the moment 7 members, which is at an even higher level. At the request for drums we had our friend Paul work on it. He went to a small village to get the work done. The drum maker had the find the correct trees and dry timber, an old cow with the right age of skin, kill a monitor lizard without damaging the body, etc. Quite a process! Finally we had the drum set. We took it to prison a few days ago on Sunday. We can’t take photographs or record sound in the prison – but I wish we could .. THE EXCITEMENT, SINGING, DANCING AND CELEBRATION WAS INCREDIBLE! Even the normally disciplined choir broke into wild dancing and singing.

The drums in the car ready to take to prison. The tall drum topped with the monitor lizard skin is especially loud. It is generally played standing with the drum held between the legs. Jack (who comes to prison with us) showing the hollow base of the tall (loud) drum.