Aussie Invasion Dec 2009

November 29th saw a team of 10 students and 5 teachers from Northside Christian College in Brisbane, arrive in Kabale to visit us.  They came to spend time with both the Immanuel Drop-in Centre and Akanyijuka, as well as a side visit to a nearby village for some ministry.  The time they spent here was a blessing to all; the children at the drop-in centre and Akanyijuka, the people at the village they visited, as well as Kathryn and I, Pam, Eddie and Sam.  A big thanks to all involved, the impact you had was such an encouragement to all.

Here’s Peter, their crazy leader:

Here are some photos of the team in action, some not so active:

The team was such a great blessing to everyone they met, it was fantastic to see the students so eager to do anything to help.  Donations towards the various projects were also brought with the team, which they had fundraised through the school.  There was a donation towards the Immanuel Drop-in Centre which should be able to help take it another step forward.  A donation was also made to the Akanyijuka building project, which will be enough to put the roof on one of the duplexes.  This comes at a very good time, we are looking like we are soon to run dry of available funds, so the donation is fantastic.  Thanks again guys!!!

You will all be missed, even after your short visit, as was evidenced by the teary farewell on your last evening:

Photos from November Part 2

Coming and Going!

Today we had the last Sunday with our friends Tyler and Michelle (and their son Jeremiah).  We regularly have lunch with them on Sundays after church and this was their last Sunday and our last chance to say a proper good bye.  We will miss you guys!  They don’t leave until Wednesday, but we are going to be busy up until Friday with a visiting team from a school in Brisbane, who arrived tonight.

Photos from November Part 1

Hard Times

I don’t think that I will ever understand what hard times really are. In Australia I thought it was hard if work got demanding, or Interest Rates went up, or fuel prices went up. Maybe if I was caught in traffic for half an hour I might think that things were not going well.

This week we had visitations, where we take our children back to visit their previous guardians.  It is usually a good time for the children and a good reminder to them that things were not always as good as they are now.  It is usually a really busy time for me, and though I am busier now with building as well it did not seem so hectic this time.  I did however have a couple of wake up calls for how blessed I really am.  One child, Bossa, previously just lived with an older sister who is sponsored into school through an organisation called Compassion.  She was too old for us to take in, but still lives on her own.  She has to care for herself, providing food and water for herself – though she gets help with these, she still has to carry the water up a hill that I would only imagine walking up if I had to, not because I wanted to.  She would need to walk up and down several times a day, as well as trying to go to school.  It really hit home when we were picking up Bossa after his visit, when we had to drop her back at school.  So she prepared for Bossa’s visit in the morning, and hosted him, then went back to school afterwards.

The other incident was when I saw a man I had given lifts to before around town.  This time I had seen him on a muddy road to one of the villages that some of our children were going to.  I asked him if he wanted to ride with me and then I could take him back to town when I was coming back.  But he declined and said you will catch me on the way back.  It doesn’t seem like a big thing, except for the fact that he only had a cheap pair of slip-ons to wear.  He wore these on his hands as he was crippled and could only crawl.  Usually I see him in a pedal type wheel chair, but the road was obviously too muddy for that so he had to go without it.  What was most striking though was how happy he seemed.

I will try not to complain about the hard times that I have any more – though I am sure I will soon forget and start complaining again.

Long Time Lost in Africa

It’s been a long time since my last post. I really have gotten out of the swing of keeping in touch - that’s bad, sorry. It’s been a great month since my last post. Kathryn and I have mainly been busy with end of year school and the building of new homes. We had a couple of birthdays – our twins, Justine and Vastine:

And also Bossa:

The building has progressed along well.  As we speak we have built the second duplex up to the roofing stage and started the foundation works on the third.  Here are some progress photos:

Friday 23rd & Saturday 24th October 2009

Nothing too special, just more building. I took Ben and Esther out to see the building progress, planning to stay for like half an hour or so, we ended up being there almost the whole afternoon. We continued with the foundation works on the second duplex, though we had lots of stoppages due to rain:

Thursday 22nd October 2009

Last night we went out for dinner to celebrate Ben Ward’s birthday and then went back to the Ward household for cake(thanks again to Kathryn) to celebrate his & Esther Lawson’s engagement:

And instead of photos of children, I thought I’d put up some of the mothers and one extra:

Building Progress Photos

As promised here are some progress photos from October, up to Wednesday 21st, when we cast the concrete on the bottom of the foundation of Duplex 2.

Duplex No. 1 being roofed:

The site above Duplex No. 1 where we will put Duplexes 2 & 3:

Foundation works for Duplex No.2 (notice on the right, Pastor Johnson Agaba, our volunteer storeman!!):

Tuesday 20th October 2009

Birthday time again, today was Brian Bob’s turn - no more until next month now (Kathryn is pleased about the little break from cake baking).

Some more children photos, sometimes happy. . .

Sometimes not . . .