24th - 30th November 2009

Oh my goodness - it's December tomorrow. What happened?! Can someone please tell me where the year went??? It's officially 11 weeks since we left the UK tomorrow - that means roughly halfway through our whole trip. It's a scary thought; I'm realising more and more by the day how much I LOVE this place. I now call it home! If I'm talking about England-home I say "home-home" to distinguish between the two. Leaving is going to suck :( BUT at the same time, all of you at home are such a big part of my time here. Your support, prayers, emails and letters keep me going to an extent that I really didn't expect! I wish I could take Uganda and people from home and just merge the two and mush them up so that I never have to leave either of them :) Onto this week's update...

Tuesday 24th - Sat around in PJs all morning talking about going on holiday, life, girly stuff etc. Felt like a sleepover, twas nice! Strangely normal... Schools have broken up now so there's nowhere to visit. On reflection I should have been more sensible and read more of my books for interview but I wasn't sensible, so I don't know why I'm bothering to reflect on that...! Bex stayed home from the tailoring school when we visited in the afternoon so that she could plan a big team Bible/personal time. She was really excited about it :) Tailoring school was good. The women still don't talk to us as much as we would like but it's getting better slowly by slowly. I cut some of my own dress templates and sewed them which was pretty cool; my fashion designer cousin Char would be proud! (Love you Lol and Char!)
Bex's team time was awesome; we had communion with Mirinda (purple soda) and doughnuts :D Then we all wrote something encouraging for each other on a bit of paper, did some creative stuff and listened to some music. We've been talking a lot about gifts of the spirit and praying that God shows us what our specific gifting is and that he grows them all in us more. We think mine is wise prophecy, which is pretty cool :D Bex gave me a Bible passage from Hosea 2, which keeps cropping up for me.. Interesting!

Halfway through the team time, we had some terrible news. You might remember I wrote a while ago about a tiny 18-month old baby who came to church called Derek, sister Esther's grandson. Well, he was getting gradually more healthy; even though he was insanely malnourished, he was apparently much bigger than he was when his mum first abandoned him. He died very suddenly on Tuesday from pnuemonia, which Esther couldn't afford to have treated. By the time she was on the way to a hospital it was too late and his little body couldn't deal with the illness. It's absolutely gutting to know that a baby you've cuddled and played with has died. I can't imagine how awful and painful it is for Esther. Please pray for her and for his older sister Angela, who lives with Esther. At first it just didn't sink in. I guess you never know how you're going to respond to things like that happening. We all felt strangely numb. A bit later it sunk in and I just wanted to get out of Uganda as quickly as possible. It's hard to explain. This is the little boy Ellie and I joked about taking home sitting in my flight bag so that we could buy a house and keep him forever. It sounds stupid and melodramatic but it's heartbreaking and if I feel that way, I can't begin to imagine how it is for Esther.

Wednesday 25th - Went to Lilo as usual in the morning. Not many kids there cos they've all gone back to their families in various places now that term has ended. Ellie and Lucy sorted out a game of 'Capture the Flag' for them, which they loved :) The paper flags got completely trashed and loo roll that was tied around them to show if they were in or out was left strewn across the school compound, but it was good times! Then headed back early cos we had to leave the house at 12 to go to Derek's burial. The vehicle we were expecting didn't turn up till 1, so we were insanely late esp cos we had to go into the depths of the village to pick people up! THEN the matatu we had hired broke down on a random countryside road and we had to wait another hour for a vehicle to come and get us. The burial was due to be at 2 so we were really worried about missing it. While we were waiting I played with a load of kids who lived nearby.. At first there were only a few but gradually more and more congregate to see the strange mzungus, so there ended up being about 25 of them! They taught me a load of Luganda words... "amaso" is eyes, "nindo" is nose, "omuwuumba" is mouth and "eviri" is hair. And "cubina" is bottom, which is kinda rude, but I didn't know so I was saying it and wondering why they kept bursting out laughing!!

Eventually a vehicle came to get us; we thought earlier that we were getting a truck, then turned out we had a matatu but we were gutted cos we wanted to be able to say we'd gone on the back of a lorry, so we prayed that God would send a truck, then we broke down, THEN a truck came to get us!!! WOOP! It was awesome :D :D :D We had to climb up over the wheel and sat with the wind in our hair on the bumpiest journey EVER! We really made Mama and Tata laugh :) Got to the burial late, we missed seeing the body and hearing about his life and all the talking bit. I was gutted cos I so wanted to be there for that... When we got off the truck Esther came up to us crying and wailing - it was so awful to see her grief. They're very expressive here; in some ways it's really good for them, cathartic, but it's hard for us to see cos we're not used to it. I wish I'd seen his body. I know that sounds weird, and it would have been horrible, but it doesn't feel real or properly done without seeing him. They carried the coffin to a hole that had already been dug round the back of his father's house (that's the tradition when children die) and filled it in straight away. His father wasn't even there, and his mother turned up despite abandoning him, screaming and wailing. It's hard to feel sympathy or compassion for her; I don't understand how someone can neglect their child so completely and forgo their basic mothering instinct like that, then turn up when the child has already died. I felt so angry with her! Wrong I know, but it's so hard to respond to someone like that. Mama Rachael actually shouted at her; the women were all really angry :S Got home and just rested with the family cos we were all so tired emotionally and from the crazy truck rides... On the way back there were tons of us on the back of the lorry, 46 in fact, cos they crammed a load of kids on with their school bags!

Thursday 26th - Dossy day :) Gilgal is closed now so we didn't have to go there in the morning and Home Cell was cancelled cos the person we were meant to visit wasn't there. We sat around in our PJs, did some reading and some long-term planning for V.W.G while Becky had her hair braided. It looks very cool :D It's in thick braids flat to her head with red and white beads. Took me a while to get used to the change; I kept doing double takes every time I looked at her! We saw the lady from the village who makes dresses and she brought some beautiful material round, so I drew some dress designs and she's making them to fit me in the silk material :) I'm so excited to see what they look like! Found out that the Christmas programme at Bambejja is from the 7th - 10th December, just before I come home for interview, so we have to plan for that soon... That's about it for Thurs!

Friday 27th - Went into Kampala but didn't have to go to training cos it was a public holiday. Met Maree in town cos it was our last chance to see her before she stops being our coordinator and leaves for NZ on the 3rd. Sad times :( We went to Lubbobbo's, our usual Kampala hangout (how cool are we..!) for a drink, then walked down to the craft market. She needed to go to the pharmacy so it was a kinda quick and abrupt goodbye, but I think that was how she wanted it so we didn't mind :) She wants to come back here and marry Yesen, who she's been with for over a year, but the situation is very uncertain. She needs a full-time paid job first, and that's hard to find, so please pray that she is comforted and strengthened as she goes home and that whatever happens, she would find joy in God. Bit of internet time after the craft market (where I went a bit mental and bought myself 5 pairs of insanely gorgeous earrings as a treat) then back home for samosas as normal. Not much else to tell about Friday!

Saturday 28th - Went to Lilo at half10 to help them plant some trees in the compound and around the boundaries of their piece of land. Saw a few of the kids and talked to the women who make the crafts; the 5 of us all bought a necklace then gave it to someone else on the team, so we all have vaguely matching ones :) A lot of Japanese people were there to visit cos they support the school financially and send volunteers over to live here, so it was good to see some kinda-mzungu faces! Typical African timing meant that by 12 the trees that needed to be planted hadn't arrived, so we had to leave and plan for Kids' Club at home. Before we went though we got some price quotes about sorting out an outside wall with cement and plaster so we can do a mural with the kids in Feb - exciting stuff! Planned for K.C at home, then started at about half 2. It was wicked, did some cool team games and face painted them all into the same teams as last week, so the sticker chart was brought out again. Definitely the best way of doing it! We did the flour game, where we hid bottle lids (we had no sweets!) in flour and they had to get them out with their teeth. Reds were short of team members so I had to do it but I was laughing too much and breathed flour in... I think I still have flour at the top of my nasal cavity!! Funny times... Clothes relay made them look silly and thus made us laugh like last week, wheelbarrow races and dodgeball... Ah don't you wish you were here with us having this much fun?! I love the kids :D Spent ages before we started getting a craft ready for them; we drew out keys, but round them and threaded them with ribbon so they could wear them and wrote "I am the key to the kingdom of heaven" on them. They looked very cool :) The kids decorated them with glitter and feathers etc and really enjoyed it.

Boys and girls group at Gilgal was very different - we had barely any older kids cos they've all gone home, which sucks majorly :( We basically just had the smaller ones from K.C so we just played dodgeball and netball, then called it a day. A group of men keep taking the football pitch at the same time as us and obviously we can't just kick them off so that makes boys group very difficult to run. We need to get the boys to run around and work off their energy before we can do teaching/discussion stuff, plus the footie is what attracts them to come in the first place! Please pray that this is resolved soon.. Also, please pray that we have wisdom about whether to keep running the boys and girls groups over the holidays or not. We really want to stay in touch with the young people and we believe the groups are very important but if the practical stuff isn't in place for us to carry them on then we just can't do it.

Sunday 29th - It rained all through the night and the morning so church started extremely late; we were still at home at 20 to 12!! We planned an awesome session for Sunday school but just couldn't do it cos of the rain and not having enough time... We're starting our Christmas teaching series and making crafts with the kids that they can use in their nativity on Christmas Eve. It's really exciting, we can't wait! :D Shame that we couldn't make the angels that we planned to at Sunday school though, they looked so pretty... I didn't end up going to church cos a lady came to braid my hair at 12 and I thought I would've gone to church and already arrived back home by then, but no. It's kinda 20% done now, even though I sat for HOURS yesterday! It's in really thin braids and it's a lot longer cos I have extensions being put in. I hope it'll look OK, once it's done I'll try to show you some photos on here so you can see :) Luckily meant I could do some reading for my interview though - "What the Bible Really Teaches" by Keith Ward is a really interesting, well-written book (See Mum, I'm doing the reading!!! Hehe, love you)

We visited some of the ladies from V.W.G in the afternoon - trekked out into the middle of nowhere! It was lovely though, to hear their stories and hear how encouraged and uplifted they are by the group. It gives them hope in a way that we just can't imagine. In a lot of ways, it's their lifeline as they struggle to feed and clothe their kids and pay for their school fees. They're in very difficult, stressful situations as a lot of them are dealing with bereavement of husbands or abandonment and they have nowhere to turn. It's very humbling to hear them saying thank you to us, and saying that they never imagined we would come to sit in their homes. I'm so used to it here now; I don't think twice when I sit in their houses. I don't compare it to England cos this is normality now. I don't think "Oh they have so little" or feel pity for them. Yes, they do have so little (Mama Rachael had to give one women some maize cos she literally had nothing in the house for herself and her 4 kids, not even tea leaves) but they're not weak and they're not seeking pity or anything remotely like that. I'm proud that I know these women and that I get to sit in their beautiful homes, and I'm privileged to be trusted with their stories. In the third house we visited there were some absolutely BEAUTIFUL children, particularly one little boy who was looking after his baby brother and being soooo polite and kind to us. We lack lots at home and you only realise it when you meet some of the people here. Last night we just chilled at home, I did some reading and caught up with my journal etc. The whole family are back from various schools/unis now, so the house is full and noisy and lovely :)

And so now it's today, Monday 30th and I'm sitting in Mukono with backache and wristache. Ouch :( Writing this much is never a good plan! It's just gone 11am; we need to leave at 12 so I can be back for 1 cos the lady's coming to finish my hair braiding and I need to go to the supermarket in a mo to buy much needed team supplies! We have some of our household budget leftover so we're going luxury and buying some really nice coffee and hot choc today :D We're currently drinking disgustingly old/crystallised "Good African Coffee" which is good cos it's fairtrade, but good in NO other sense, especially not taste!!! I should probably stop rambling now. Thank you for reading this far again lovely people :) One last prayer point actually: It's 10 days till I'm home for my Cambridge interview. Pleeease cover me with prayer for that! Please pray that the journeys are easy and safe and that the culture shock isn't too intense and that I don't get too panicky or scared about the actual interview. Also, please pray that I'll be able to leave my family for the second time without too much emotional upheaval or loneliness. Thank you :)

Right I really am off now - sending you all tons and tons of love *HUG*
Flick
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