Monday 25th to Sunday 31st May 2009

I can’t recall too much that happened in this week, but it was Mama Stella’s birthday on Monday and so on Wednesday Kathryn brought some pikelets to celebrate with the ladies at her usual Wednesday fellowship with them.

We also had a visitor – Susanna.  Susanna is visiting from America for a couple of months, she is volunteering at a secondary school in town, Trinity College, and contacted us to ask if she could come and visit.  As it turns out she has some spare time and is volunteering with us also to help teach English once a week with all three of our school classes.  She also brought some clothes that she was given, from America, which were well received by the children.

Friday 22nd May 2009 – A Girls Afternoon

Today I (Kathryn) took all the Akanyijuka girls along with two mamas and Aunty Judy (our sub matron) for a girls afternoon of fun at the White Horse Inn.  We managed to cram everyone in the van for the short drive – 22 girls and 4 women.  Yes, it was squishy but no one seemed to mind as we sang all the way there.

White Horse Inn is classed as the “fancy” joint in Kabale as this is where the president stays when he comes to town.  But our reason for going there was because they have a huge garden and grassed area out the back along with kids swings and plenty of room to run wild.  So off we went in expectation of a fun afternoon and indeed, fun it was.  The girls could not believe their eyes when we went through to the back and they saw how much room there was to run around – they are used to limited space at Akanyijuka.

I will let the photos do the rest of the talking about the afternoon.

 

Monday 18th to Friday 22nd May 2009

Late posts again sorry.  Life in Uganda is like this: carrying on from the entire weekend we had no power on Monday, then Tuesday through to Thursday we had no internet available – power was only intermittently out.  Then on Friday because the power was on and off all week, water stopped.

But on the brighter side of things, Monday was Samuel’s birthday:

 

It was the last week of school holidays so we took the chance to visit Akanyijuka as much as possible, with a highlight for the girls on Friday, when Kathryn took them for an afternoon at White Horse Inn to play on the swings and run on the big grassed area.

Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th May 2009

5 am and Hazel was on the road to Kampala, a friend of ours was heading there in a car to meet someone at the airport so they offered her a lift.  Saturday we had a garden on the upside of the house planted with potatoes and did some other general gardening.  Then late in the afternoon there was the usual music practice.  Things go slowly, but I think we are getting better with some good signs in the drum practice, the children are starting to understand how to read drum music, which will help them to be able to move on by themselves at their own pace.  They are starting to get different patterns, but once they are confident there is definite work needed on technique.  Guitar is coming slowly also, with chords and finger exercises starting to come together.  Kathryn’s keyboard students are also coming along slowly but are starting to get into the swing of reading and playing music.

Both Saturday and Sunday we were blessed by our internet provider with no internet connection at all – bonus!

Thursday 14th and Friday 15th May 2009

Thursday and Friday were spent at the drop-in centre in the mornings and Akanyijuka in the afternoons so Hazel could spend as much time as possible with the children at both places.  Friday we also gave Hazel her first ‘African’ meal by having lunch at Akanyijuka and then quickly after that we visited a few places where some of the children came from. 

Thursday the children sang at a local conference in town.  It is always fun trying to transport them in our car!  The children sang really well considering their initial facial reactions at seeing how big the audience was.  Friday happened to be Gift’s birthday so we celebrated with cake as usual, and then Hazel gave out balloons and lollies she had brought with her.

Here is some of the children’s work with the camera:

Wednesday 13th May 2009

We unfortunately had to travel to the lake again today.  Hazel was exhausted after her trip from Kampala yesterday, so we thought she might just need a restful day at the lake.  The trouble that one needs to go to when visitors are here!  Haha.  In the afternoon we popped down to Akanyijuka to drop some vegetables etc, and Hazel got to meet the children and staff.

Today also happened to be a day of competitions, first the big hair comp:

Then the who has the most ‘power’ comp:

Tuesday 12th May 2009

Today we just set about usual activities, waiting for Hazel to arrive from Kampala. Hazel is a friend from Taigum Church in Australia. Her sister is living in Kampala and we were fortunate enough for Hazel to take the time out to come and visit us. Especially the bus trip she had to get here. Not only did she have the usual long painful trip, on her own, but she also had the company of an older gentleman all the way who could not stop talking and even was after phone numbers and email address etc. Hazel managed to pull out some excuses, which afterwards you would think he would get the hint. Oh well, thanks for all that Hazel!! She left Kampala at 8am and arrived in time for dinner.

Today I was also thinking about the seeing the girls in their new dresses on Sunday at Church. They looked so good in clothes that were brand new. I have been a bit down about not appearing to be going anywhere new lately, even though we are doing things and refining, but seeing the children on Sunday renewed me a little. There is no way these children would ever be able to dream about having lives like we have in the west. What is sad is that they are no less deserving whatsoever. The children at Akanyijuka, prior to their arrival at Akanyijuka Home, had various destinies ahead of them. One was babysitting at the back of a drinking establishment; many were abandoned with relatives (usually grandmothers too old to even care for themselves), some living with single mothers who are sick with HIV/AIDS, some not wanted by new partners and abandoned, some living with siblings just a few years older etc. Not much hope of schooling and decent jobs for life were in stall. Now they have a brighter future, and I am determined to do all that is in my power/resources to give them the best possible future. Just because they were born into a poor country on a poor continent that not many care about does not mean they are less deserving than anyone else. It’s a sad but true story that circumstances determine the extent of one’s possibilities in life, so why not try to give better circumstances to others if we can. Trust me it is so much more rewarding than trying to improve your own circumstances or chances in life.

Saturday 9th – Monday 11th May 2009

What a few days!! Saturday was ok, though I spent a lot of time preparing for preaching at church on Sunday.  We also had a visitor at Akanyijuka – a lady from America who is here to speak at a conference in town this week.  She kindly gave some of the girls some dresses that ladies in America had made.  The girls were very happy with their new dresses – of course!  In the afternoon was music lessons.  At night we went out for dinner with Ash and Amie and it was great to just sit and have some interaction with some Aussies – especially when they thought we were younger than we actually are!!!  Sunday we had lunch with Eddie and Ben Ward, Pam is still in England so we thought we would catch up with them, then we said goodbye to Ash and Amie as they were due to leave on the 7 am bus and we weren’t seeing them off at that hour.  The two bad things about Sunday were, firstly my sharing at church was well below par, but the pastor was gracious to me afterwards.  Secondly it was Mother’s Day back in Australia and the phone network was down ALL day.  By the time we could arrange another network it was too late to call.

Monday things did not get better, there was still no mobile network, and my phone went flat, and power was out at our house all day.  We were supposed to have some things ready for Edward in the afternoon as he was heading to Kampala in the evening, but we just had to do them and email them the next day.  We did manage to call our mothers to apologise for not calling – hope they don’t think we were making excuses!!!

Tuesday 5th – Friday 8th May 2009

Tuesday we escorted the girls down to the drop-in and then left them to themselves while we went to Akanyijuka for Kathryn to do a bit of work – matron training.  Wednesday we had our first trip to the lake since being back, Ash and Amie were heading out there so we thought we would go out of our way and help them out.  Thursday and Friday we left the girls to themselves and did a little bit of work.

Here are a few recent snaps:

Monday 4th May 2009

Birthday time again. Today we celebrated birthdays for Agnes and for Deborah:

After the celebrations, Ash and Amie stayed behind to play with the children, they seem to be enjoying their rest here in Kabale and I think with Akanyijuka also.