Saturday 29th – Monday 31st March 2008

This weekend we headed off with George & Dot to visit Queen Elizabeth National Park.   The road was bumpy and it was a long trip there and back, but we had a great time to relax and enjoy God’s creation.  We took Dominic with us also, he is staying with the Wards for two months.  He had come to see if he can help out a little and will most likely come back again some time, not sure when though.  Africa gets into the heart and it’s hard to get it out. Here is a little of what we saw at the National Park:

Dominic had a drive on the game drive as you can get better photos from the front; he could not help but to take the ranger guide up on going off track and chasing these two pussy cats:

Some local fishermen that live in the National Park heading out for the night:

There are an abundance of Hippos at QENP:

And this one came up outside our room, the noise of him eating and grunting woke us up:

Of course when travelling on African roads one always comes across different sites along the way.  This one is a display of how well things in Africa work:

 

Thursday 27th March 2008

George and I headed down to town on foot and visited the drop-in centre.  Some of the boys had been to the dentist; they had a visit last week from a volunteer dentist who was arranging for free dental treatment for them.  This week was the start of them going and getting teeth checked out.  Some made an effort to try and avoid, probably never been before and only ever heard bad things, but they are getting chased up about it.

Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd March 2008

This week has been a slow week on the activity front, but a big week for the progress of Akanyijuka.  This week’s activities included taking Dominic down to Akanyijuka for a look around.  Dominic is a friend of the Wards that has come over to work with children for a couple of months, before going home again and preparing for a move into ministry.  The car has been having a few troubles this week and we have been trying different people around town to try and help fix it.  I also had a couple of usual mornings at the drop-in.

The big news is however that in the end of the week Pastor Edward and Henry did some final negotiations on a block of land.  So Akanyijuka now has possession of some land, which has changed all of our thought patterns.  How are we going to do this or that, what about such and such, etc.  We have not been to the land to take pictures to post yet as we have been steering clear to help with the possibility of acquiring a couple of neighboring plots.  If they find out foreigners are involved the prices go up. With Pastor Edward going away with the Roberts I expect another quiet week as we need to sit with him before we start planning a way forward from here.

I have added another photographic profile to my photo site.  This time it is Andrew; See www.davesphotos.destinations.org.au.

Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th March 2008

 On Saturday George and I went for a walk up the hill beyond our house to get a better look around.  We only got half way but the views were great, another day we will have to try to go all the way.  Kathryn and Dot walked to the White Horse Inn for a fruit platter.  Sunday, however, was the highlight of the weekend.  We took the presents that the Gap Baptist Church had sent, down to Akanyijuka and handed them out.  These were the results:

Monday 10th to Friday 14th March 2007

It’s birthday season, or so it seems.  Tuesday was Christian’s birthday, after waiting and seeing almost everyone else have a birthday, she was definitely happy to have her turn:

 

Tuesday also was a day out for us all; we headed to Lake Bunyonyi with the Roberts as well as Pastor Edward and Peace.  I think that it was an overload of people as lunch took extra long today.  All else at Akanyijuka is travelling along well, school is going well and all the staff and children are well.  I am not sure if I mentioned, as we were in Kampala when it happened, but the land we were looking at purchasing fell through.  There were some complications with the owner and his family, so we decided it would be safest to stay clear.

Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th March 2008

This weekend was very relaxing taking it easy with George and Dot.  We went to Pastor Jackson’s church, and G&D really seemed to enjoy the service.  We went for dinner on Sunday night to visit the new restaurant in town that the Siddans’ sampled for us while we were away.  Saturday however was Emmanuel’s Birthday; here is a photo of the happy boy:

Friday 7th March 2008

Today I went with Pam to visit the boys from the drop-in centre who people from back in Australia, had sponsored to go to school, to take some photos to post for them to see. 

Here are the boys, before and after shots.

Gilbert (Gillie Gillie)  

 

Andrew

 

 

Masco  

Job  

 

Godwin   

Arnold  

Hannington

To all the people who sent money to put these boys in school, a big thank you from the boys and from all involved in the drop-in.

Friday 29th February to Thursday 6th March 2008

Friday Kathryn and I headed off to Kampala to pick up Kathryn’s parents, who are visiting for a couple of months, and to try and sort out working visas and collect a box that someone was sending with presents for the children at Akanyijuka.  It was a quick drive as we wanted to get there early enough to try and sort out immigration and some things with our car.  We had a busy, expensive week running around trying to sort things out, but also spending some good time with George and Dot.     

We managed to sort out everyone’s visas, except mine.  For some reason it got deferred even though it was the same as everyone else’s.  We had planned for a short stay but had to stay longer as the shipment that had been sent with presents was delayed and did not come in until Wednesday night.  We took the chance to show George and Dot around Kampala as well as taking a trip to Jinja on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.  They wanted to visit the babies’ home that Phil helped out at, and also took them to see the source of the Nile.  Then it was back to Kampala to try and sort out all the things that needed to be sorted out.   

While away we got new tyres and other things for the car that you can not get in Kabale, a computer for Akanyijuka, we sorted out visas and eventually on Thursday morning we got the shipment from Australia and headed straight back to Kabale.  For us it was great to get back to Kabale, it was like coming home.  George and Dot are settling into life here very well. 

Here are some photos to show that George and Dot actually did make it here safely!