This week's blog is going to be in the form of a letter to my lovely sister Immy, who has read every single one of my blogs and sent me very excited emails in response to them :) Immy - I love you!! This one is extra specially for you...
It's Monday as I write and we're in Mukono for the last time. It's so weird getting used to doing things for the last time, seeing people for the last time and all of that... Today I'm really excited about coming home :D Sometimes feeling sad outweighs it but today it's all happiness and excitement :) I need to finish my packing tonight and sort out all the mess in the house. It looks like a rubbish dump at the moment - sort of like my room at home! We need to clean out the cupboard tonight and dust the table and sort out the craft boxes under the sofa so that they're nice and clean for the next team that comes. When we arrived it was pretty dirty, and it wasn't very nice for us to start cleaning and disinfecting things as soon as we arrived... If another team comes it won't be till October but hopefully it'll stay quite clean.
I'll do the usual blog thing now and tell you about my week :) Ims, you would've loved doing the mural at Lilo! We got all the handprints finished on Wednesday and it looks really colourful. It catches your eye whether you walk into the school from the front or the fields at the back. The kids had fun doing it and we played some games with them too; Nicky and Ell took some stuff so they could draw pictures of themselves then talked to them about how special and unique they are. That's one of the most important things we've been teaching them. Cos some of them are disabled, sometimes they're laughed at and treated not very well. It's just not fair, and that's why the school is so good for them - it teaches them in a way that works well for them :) We didn't have V.W.G in the afternoon cos there was some other meeting going on, so we're having it tomorrow instead. A few days we talked to Ugandan-Dad about all the plans for the group so we just need to remind the women tomorrow. It's very cool to think that they're trained now and know more than they did 5 months ago. It's a big achievement for them!
One lady called Rose always turns up on time and she's lovely, doesn't speak English but you can tell that she's over the moon to see us. She came round yesterday afternoon - Mama Rachael and some other ladies who live nearby cooked LOOOOADS of food for people from a few local churches and some teachers from the schools we've worked at so we could spend the afternoon with them and say goodbye. It was lovely but also quite sad :( They made some really kind speeches and said they want us to come back soon, only go home for a short time then come back and see the fruits of the work we've been doing! We had to give a few speeches, which obviously resulted in us crying then they prayed for us. We've made some good friends here :)Some of the older kids from Gilgal School came along - a boy called Kenneth, who's AWESOME and helped do translating for Saturday Boys Group and Sarah and Florence, who came to Girls Group and are 2 of my closest friends here. I'll miss those three a lot :( It was good to have time to say goodbye though. We prayed with them and Sarah gave me a watch to remember her by... I didn't want to take it cos it obviously meant a lot to her, but she was being really kind so I couldn't say no. I miss them already :( Church in the morning was a bit sad too, the last bit of all-singing-all-dancing African worship that I'll have for a while. It's so free in church here, you can do whatever! I know it's the same at home, but I always feel a little bit more nervous! We gave the church their presents (communion cups and a bread basket) and did David and Goliath in Sunday School. I'm looking forward to returning to Transformers at church :) I've missed the space you all have to play games! At church in Uganda we don't really have much space at all, but sometimes we sit under the mango tree (remember that song Nick sang from Zambia about the mango tree and how he made us laugh with it?!?!)
Hmmm what else did we do this week... We had Kids Club on Saturday, which was very cool cos we did a treasure hunt all around the compound. I made proper treasure maps of the compound and made them brown with a teabag then burned the edges and wrote out some challenges for the kids and did the same with them. They looked wicked! :D We hid the challenges round the compound then gave the kids a clue about the area they were hidden in, then they had to come back to the front and do the challenge before we gave them the next clue to find the next challenge. The best challenge was to run round and catch a chicken!! And we had another one where they had to stick their hands in some gunk and guess what was hidden in it :) The big prize at the end (hidden in the shower) was a crate of soda and some biscuits for them. They had so much fun! It took ages to get ready but it was definitely worth it... We said our goodbyes, the only one I haven't cried in so far, and then did Boys and Girls Groups at Gilgal. We played a type of rounders, except we didn't have a rounders bat so we used a washing bowl...!! But it worked surprisingly well! Girls vs. Boys, guess who won ;) Girls all the way! We talked to the girls about being strong women of God again and it was really good. A bit like the email I sent to you earlier, about how strong and brave they can be and how they can make good choices for themselves because they're free and loved by God. It was good - some of the deaf girls from Lilo came and one of them tied Becky's scarf round my head so I looked like a Muslim! Some of the kids asked me if I'd become a Muslim lol... It was a little bit worrying cos none of the older girls from Gilgal were allowed to come :S Pastor Murenzi was there and cos of that I think he made them stay in their dorm room. Mama Rachael went to talk to them to get them to come but they weren't allowed. It was a real shame...
I'm running out of time, not sure how much more I can write.. I'm trying to make sure I talk about what we've been up to this week so that everyone else who also reads this blog is updated! Maybe I'll just talk about food instead.... I CANNOT WAIT for tomato soup, crusty white bread fresh from the bakery and cheddar cheese :O I might explode if I think about it too much! Yummy yummy yummy :) Ooo I also can't wait for lasagne and salad. Esp that bacon, pear, tomato and avocado salad that Mum does! Mmmmm. Only six days!!!!! :D :D :D
Anyway! Is there anything else I can talk about? Gilgal on Thursday, we talked to the kids about prayer and why it's important and how we can pray. They all have this idea that you HAVE to raise your hands up in the air when you don't! It was great to hear what they thought about it though. When we said goodbye in the praise and worship session I tried to say something then started crying halfway through and had to stop :S So embarrassing! Leaving gives us an excuse to say really important things to them though, like talking about how wrong prosperity gospel is (that's when people say you're a bad Christian if you're not rich because God doesn't think you're good enough to give you money) and telling the kids how awesome they are. It's good to be able to tell them all of that :)
I have to go now, gotta go get lunch then head home. Busy evening and afternoon ahead! I'm quite dehydrated, I really should drink more water (don't tell Mum!) Love you millions Imo, not long till we get a hug! :D *does excited dance*
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And to everyone else - thank you for keeping in touch with me and reading my blog the whole time I've been here. It means a lot :) This is my last blog that'll be written in Uganda so the next time you hear from me I'll be at home! Please pray that our last few days are full of God's peace and that he protects us on the journey home. Please pray that our family gets used to us not being there and that we'll have fun today, tomorrow and Weds morning and that our last bit of time together will be full of God's grace and that we'll be able to show them how much we love them. Please also pray that our families at home are prepared for our return, that the culture shock doesn't knock us to the ground and that our debrief time in Kampala goes well from Weds - Saturday. Sorry I know there's a lot of prayer requests there! Please also hold the projects and schools we've been working at in your prayers; they need practical and spiritual provision so that they can keep on running. We'll be praying that God pours his love and life into the kids we've met and the women and families we've spent time with :)
Lots of love to you all - very excited to see you so soon xXx
Monday 15 February 2010
Monday 8 February 2010
27th January - 8th February 2010
Helloooo everyone :)
First of all, apologies about the lack of bloggage - internet has been hard to come by for the last few weeks. Cos of the crazy amount of time I've missed, this will be pretty long :S But I'll miss out days where nothing much happened, so don't fear, you won't be here reading this for hours! Secondly, thank you for all the birthday emails and texts and Facebook messages I got; I really appreciate it. Even though I didn't get them on my actual birthday, they're making me smile today as I read them. I'm planning on having a big fake birthday celebration when I'm back, so you'd better get your dancing shoes on :) Now, onto the actual blog...
Wednesday 27th - Not much happened, got back home and it was lovely to see the family as usual. Mum had three deaths in the family, so she still wasn't back from Kampala sorting out the burials and had been away with Josh, Junior and Esther the whole time that we were on holiday. The family all seem ok, none of the deaths were unexpected, so they're being strong and getting on with it as all Ugandans do. Please pray that they have the time and space to deal with their grief and support one another in the wider extended family unit.
Thursday 28th - Pretty standard day; went to Mukono and chilled, had lunch at a nice hotel then went home and watched Doctor Who :) It was still our holiday till the 31st so we had nothing much to do. Was lovely to be able to lie in and relax and have nothing to think about!
Friday 29th - Ell and Nick went to Kampala to sort some stuff out while the rest of us stayed at home and watched Doctor Who :D We seriously are addicted to the thing; we've somehow managed to watch all four series AND all the specials from the last few years in the space of a month and a half!!! You guys know what I'm like with music, it's essential to my survival, and I thought I'd write the words to a song that I really love at the moment:
"When the night has come and the land is dark, and the moon is the only light that we're gonna see.. No I won't be afraid, no I won't shed no tear, just as long as you stand by me. If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall, or the mountains should crumble and fall into the sea, I won't cry. No I won't shed a tear just as long as you stand by me. So stand by me, stand, Oh stand by me. Oh stand, stand by me..."
That's Jason Mraz's cover - you can get it off iTunes and it's WICKED!! Ooo also have a look for Black Swan by Athlete; it's a fantastic album, and the bonus album also called Black Swan that comes with it is great too.
Saturday 30th - Bex, Luce and I went into Jinja to do some final present shopping and have some yummy coffee at Flavours :) The matatu on the way was MENTAL - 27 people all crammed in when they're only meant to sit 14! Plus it was really old and barely managed to chug its way to Kayunga, where we had to change onto another matatu.. Bit of a crazy journey but it was worth it when we got there. When we were having lunch, Alison (one of the Oasis International Placements) randomly walked in with her friend Dawn so we ended up eating with them! Small world :) Alison, Helen, Zoe (other Oasis IPs) and Dawn were staying at Explorers Camp where we were on holiday the week before, so we decided to go stay there for the night on a whim. Ell and Nick brought all our stuff from home and we ended up booking another trip white water rafting the next day! It's half price if you do it a second time so we figured it was worth it... Not that we needed much of an excuse. Plus we got our room completely free cos we did the rafting. Good times... I've been reading an awesome book called "Glittering Images" by Susan Howarth, read it if you get the chance. It's a really clever, intricate book (Thanks Sam L! Good choice of present :D) Aaaanyway, had a chilled evening at Explorers enjoying the view and chatting with the IPs. I love that place!
Sunday 31st - White water rafting day :D Had the same safety talk from Arrogant-John, the guy who took us rafting last time, ran out of life jackets and helmets though so that was a bit of a worry but they sorted us out! Becky decided to come rafting too this time, which was very cool. The group going was MUCH bigger than last time; there were 11 boats on the river, about 70 people altogether, which made the whole day take a lot longer. We got to watch all the other boats coming down each rapid, which was pretty funny.. Our guide was a Ugandan called Juma, who was HILARIOUS and had the worst sense of political correctness ever. I am honestly not joking when he yelled at another Ugandan on a different boat to "Pass the anti-nigger cream" i.e. suncream :O We didn't know whether to laugh or cry with embarrassment! How English of us?! People here just don't have any concept of P.C.ness, it's very funny :) He was a nice guy though, we had a laugh with him all day. The water level was much higher than usual so the rapids were all huugeeee. We flipped on a Grade 3 rapid called Retrospect and were all heading for some rocks which was a rather worrying moment! We also flipped on another one called Jaws, straight after the waterfall rapid, and I got stuck under the side of the boat where there was no air to breathe. That panicked me a bit, I have to admit! It was probably only for about 5 seconds but it feels so much longer when you're struggling to get out. The boat was heavy so I couldn't move it, was a bit worrying... Anyway! Bex flew out on a massive Grade 5 one called Silverback with these big waves. If she hadn't fallen out, the boat would've flipped completely. When she surfaced she looked so worried bless her! She enjoyed it though, had an awesome day. The funniest episode was on the waterfall rapid - before you go over it there's a lot of fast moving water leading up to it, which is really shallow over some rocks. Basically, they tell you not to fall out there at any cost. So guess what I went and did: We hit a big wave and the boat tipped onto its side and I fell out and almost went over the waterfall on my own :S It was terrifying! Juma grabbed a paddle and I managed to get it and he pulled me back into the boat :S Bad times! All the other guides were panicking cos I was literally a metre away from going over the falls on my own. Funny times! What a story though :) I sat out with Bex on the last one cos I was shattered after the waterfall episode and getting stuck under the boat straight afterwards. The others did it without flipping though and even surfed a few waves right at the end! All in all a brilliant day :D
Monday 1st Feb - Pinch punch first of the month! We went into Kampala with Jona and Timo to visit the Kasubi Tombs cos they've been wanting to take us there for ages. The journey into town was epic cos all the kids are going back to school, so matatus were packed and the centre of townw as HEAVING. Getting round the new taxi park was crazy; we nearly got lost and this was in the heat of the day after 45 minutes of walking without having lunch. Not good.... Anyway, eventually we got to the tombs but (no joke) we had to pay 10,000sh to get in because we're white. Seriously I'm not even kidding - because we're not local, we have to pay more. Now that's fair enough, but they assumed we weren't local cos we were white. We've lived here for FIVE MONTHS and we're broke students doing voluntary work!!! We should've been allowed to pay 5000sh like Jona and Timo. I have to admit, I nearly lost my temper with the woman. What about mzungus who live here full time working?? Must have been 35deg that day too, so I wasn't in the best of moods! It was nice spending time with J&T though, even though the tombs weren't amazing - we saw a stuffed leopard though :S And this massive grass roofed palace where the king used to live with all his portraits and spears there. Very different to how it is now! The Kabaka of the Buganda tribe still exists but he doesn't have political power anymore, although his tribe want to change that. He lives in a palace near the Tigers Club project's football pitch that I visited a few months back (Wow, can't believe how fast those few months have gone..) After that we got some internet time at Steers cos we had to send our team project off to Oasis UK and I caught some highlights of the Premiership weekend matches - Arsenal lost to Man U :'( AND now we've lost to Chelsea too. CRINGE. Shattered and dehydrated, we returned home and had sausages and salt bread for tea :)
Tuesday 2nd - Drunk THREE litres of water during the day and yet was still dehydrated; that's how hot it's been lately! We had a nice, slow start to the day which I spent in bed reading, then after lunch we got a load of planning done. Wrote V.W.G's funding proposal and I typed it up in the evening, then planned the final design for the mural at Lilo and Ell and Nicky drew the outline onto the wall so that we could get it painted on the 3rd. Also sorted out speakers and arrangements for the V.W.G. seminar afternoon on the 3rd and generally got our lives into some semblance of order! When I was walking down the road to give an announcement about V.W.G. to the local shop, I had one of those loving Africa moments :) Groups of kids kept popping out of the undergrowth, saying hi and singing songs that we'd taught them at school. It was lovely :D A little group of kiddies came up to me on my way back, all trying to hold my hands and walked all the way home with me - Very cute! The air had that warm Africa smell of burning and flowers and car dust and the sun looked beautiful cos it was setting in those gorgeous burnished golden colours that you get, like in autumn at home-home :) Molly and Jessica and Kevin ran up to us to say hi... Little things like that are what I treasure about the village and will take home with me.
We've been praying more as a team lately, which has really helped us to plan more effectively and generally feel more peaceful about leaving Namaliri and the family. It's a very weird time; I'm so excited to come home, but at the same time I get really upset and cry all the time! I know it's to be expected but I can't find my feet, can't get a proper measure of how I'm feeling. I just want to know that we did everything we could here, that we've given all the love that we could to the children and the people who we've shared time with. I don't want to go home with any regrets or worries - I know God works in amazing ways, that we can't even begin to understand. He was already working in the people in Namaliri before we got there, and he'll safeguard the work we've done and it'll carry on if it's right for that to happen. Please pray that the last few days in the village will be full of joy for us, our family and friends and that we can really enjoy the time. Please pray that boys and girls group, V.W.G and kids club will flourish even when we've gone and that God will do wonderful things in the community. Lastly, please pray that we complete the purpose God has for us there and that he changes us in exactly the way that he wanted to when he brought us here :) This is such a beautiful country, such a special place, and I already can't wait to come back... I'm going to miss the sun and the colours, the smell of the air, the people who are so open and generous with themselves and their time. It's a privilege to get to live here and spend so much time with the people...
Wednesday 3rd - Birthday, woop! To be honest, it didn't feel much like my birthday; I was thinking how weird it is that a year ago I was surrounded by snow and ice, going to Loch Fyne for dinner with Mum, Dad, Nick and Ims. I'm going to have an awesome proxy birthday when I'm home :) In the morning the girls gave me some lovely glittery cards that they made for me, then I bought some kerosene from the petrol station, sorted out paint stuff and we went to Lilo to do the mural. We had a load of medical gloves for some reason so we used them to do the kids' handprints on the wall - we decided to do the prints in rainbow colours coming out around the school crest in the middle and we're going to write a Bible verse over the top. Not sure what yet... The wall isn't totally done but it looks fantastic! :D They really enjoyed doing it. I'm so glad that they'll have something to be proud of that they made when we leave, so that they can remember how gifted they are and how unique they all are. Plus handprints are pretty easy :) We've left quite a lot of space for next week cos a load of the kids weren't back at school yet - Ugandans are as lax with timing returning to school as in every other area of life! I saw Isaac at the shop near our house (he's one of the guys who used to go to Lilo) and he said he's finished P7 now so he's not at school anymore. Exciting news for him! I'm really going to miss him actually; he always says "how are you Madam" when he sees me and gives me a big smile and a hug. I wish he could speak more English then we could actually get to know him a bit better, hear about his family and stuff.. I want to learn Luganda better for when we come back!
After that we came home and Pastor Kernicky came from Kabimbiri (the next village along the main road from us) to do the V.W.G. seminars. None of the women came at 2, so we started the HIV/AIDS one at 3 and it went awesomely - he talked in a lot of detail, brought learning aids and all sorts. We had some drinks and doughnuts halfway through, then started the financial management talk at 5 and it ended up carrying on till half past 7!! Thankfully people rang me to wish me happy birthday so I could escape :) The women really enjoyed it though and learned a lot; it's going to help them manage the business side of the group in a really good way. Hopefully it'll really take off once we leave; we've given them all the training they could possibly need so now it's up to them. We had soda in the evening with the family as a birthday treat and then watched some Doctor Who before going to bed :)
Thursday 4th - We went to Gilgal in the morning as their term started again this week. There weren't as many kids as usual, so it was quite chilled, only about 30 or 40 in nursery.. We did the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet and talked about how we can love and serve one another. Acting out the story with actual water made the kids laugh a lot! We did some songs with the younger groups and different games with all of them, led different bits each time.. It went brilliantly! I was surprised by how easily we slotted back into the pattern of working there to be honest. Sarah was back at Gilgal after being in Jinja for ages so we saw her after the praise and worship session, which was nice. She's starting S1 at Kabimbiri High School next week, which is awesome. She seems sad though, there's a sadness in her eyes that always catches me when I look at her in the face - she gave me a long hug at the gate of our house when we said goodbye and I really think she's hurting about something. It's difficult because what can we say? After that, we went home and had lunch and chilled for a bit before going to Home Cell at sister Esther's place. It was quite a walk, but it was nice seeing parts of the village again. We saw Lydia and Justine again too :) We had the usual prayers, singing and talking at Esther's then she gave us a ridiculous amount of cassava, matoke and cow peas to eat until it was dark, then we walked home in the pitch black, stumbling all the way! Good times... Got home and then had to eat dinner. Seriously, I've put so much weight on there's no way I'm going to fit into my jeans at home!!! Major salad eating for all meals when I'm back in the UK I think...! :) I carried Esther home on my back, then we watched some Doctor Who and prayed for a bit as a team then hopped off to bed..
Friday 5th - Bambejja training again. Bad times getting up so early in the morning! We talked about going home and the ways that we might respond to our experience here in terms of prayer or financial giving or eventually coming back.. I know Oasis always have to plug themselves to get funding etc but sometimes it feels like we're on the receiving end of that a little bit too much! It was good to talk about it as a team though with Gill, who's the mzungu head of Oasis cos she understands the process of culture shock and going home etc. So strange to think that we'll be coping with all that in such a short space of time!! In the afternoon we led the prayer meeting and did washing of feet again, got all the staff to wash each other's feet in groups and answer questions on different parables Jesus told about serving others. It worked awesomely even though we planned it very last minute :) Nicky and Ell went to the cheap railway market at lunchtime and bought a set of table mats and an apron for Mama R and the family as some of our leaving presents. Then we headed to the post office to pick up packages - Luce got FIVE!! I got a lovely Christmas present from Auntie Lucy - thank you :D xxx
Saturday 6th - Sorted out all the craft boxes and medical box for the next team and made an inventory of everything that we really need to type up soon.. Then we all got a load of packing done. I know it seems early but there's so much rubbish and all sorts of stuff round the house that we can't leave it all til next Monday! It was very strange to pack - my black suitcase weights a ton :S I'm not sure it'll be allowed on the plane. It's got a load of toiletries in that I need to take home, presents for people, photographs and cards and stuff... I'm giving virtually all my shoes and clothes away, so they won't weigh my other bag down too much. I just hope I don't have to pay an inordinate amount of money to check my suitcase in at the airport!! Kids Club didn't start till half past 3 cos no kids were around, but when they eventually turned up we did the banner that we've been planning with them. In the morning Luce and I wrote Kids Club on it and painted the letters black, then we put the kids' handprints all around it. It looks fab :D It's for the counselling centre when Mum and Dad eventually get it built, so that they can hang it up for the kids club meetings that they do in there. They've already bought the land and cleared it of trees etc so now they're just waiting for enough funds to start the building work. We want to fundraise that money for them when we get home. Even Molly and Jessica and Kevin came to do their handprints, which was lovely :) For once Molly decided that she wasn't terrified of us! After that, we cleared up reeeeally quickly and went down to Gilgal for boys and girls groups. They went awesomely too! We talked about being strong men and women of God - I did girls group with Bex and Luce and we played a few games then got the girls to say qualities that a woman of God should have and wrote them on the board. The hot potato game made sure that they all said something rather than just sitting in silence! Then we looked at some of the Bible stories about women that we did before Christmas and the qualities that they had, and then looked at how the girls could all be strong women of God in a practical way too. It doesn't feel quite finished yet though, so I want to buy some mirrors for them to write the qualities on next week at our last meeting, so that they have something to keep to remind them who they are in God :) I'm going to miss those girls so much - Florence, Sarah, Bright, Victo, Mercy, Sarah no.2 (!) and Precious were all there with a load of other girls too. How nice are their names?! It's like that Quaker tradition of naming your kids after characteristics... Aaanyway that's about it from Saturday!
It's now Monday and my internet time is almost up, so I have to go. No time to talk about Sunday School! Sorry for how long this entry has been - congratulations for getting to the end!! :) We're in Kampala today, buying medication and having health checks done before coming home, having our last nice lunch at Cafe Javas before we go home too :D Can't wait, I'm hungry! 3 mins left.... Sending tons and tons of love to everyone at home and really looking forward to seeing you all again, especially lovely little Maggie who I haven't met yet :D Take care of yourselves and I'll try to write again before we leave the country. Millions of love and the biggest hug ever especially for Mr Dan Bentley, who I know will pull through the latest saga in his soap opera life ;)
xXx
First of all, apologies about the lack of bloggage - internet has been hard to come by for the last few weeks. Cos of the crazy amount of time I've missed, this will be pretty long :S But I'll miss out days where nothing much happened, so don't fear, you won't be here reading this for hours! Secondly, thank you for all the birthday emails and texts and Facebook messages I got; I really appreciate it. Even though I didn't get them on my actual birthday, they're making me smile today as I read them. I'm planning on having a big fake birthday celebration when I'm back, so you'd better get your dancing shoes on :) Now, onto the actual blog...
Wednesday 27th - Not much happened, got back home and it was lovely to see the family as usual. Mum had three deaths in the family, so she still wasn't back from Kampala sorting out the burials and had been away with Josh, Junior and Esther the whole time that we were on holiday. The family all seem ok, none of the deaths were unexpected, so they're being strong and getting on with it as all Ugandans do. Please pray that they have the time and space to deal with their grief and support one another in the wider extended family unit.
Thursday 28th - Pretty standard day; went to Mukono and chilled, had lunch at a nice hotel then went home and watched Doctor Who :) It was still our holiday till the 31st so we had nothing much to do. Was lovely to be able to lie in and relax and have nothing to think about!
Friday 29th - Ell and Nick went to Kampala to sort some stuff out while the rest of us stayed at home and watched Doctor Who :D We seriously are addicted to the thing; we've somehow managed to watch all four series AND all the specials from the last few years in the space of a month and a half!!! You guys know what I'm like with music, it's essential to my survival, and I thought I'd write the words to a song that I really love at the moment:
"When the night has come and the land is dark, and the moon is the only light that we're gonna see.. No I won't be afraid, no I won't shed no tear, just as long as you stand by me. If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall, or the mountains should crumble and fall into the sea, I won't cry. No I won't shed a tear just as long as you stand by me. So stand by me, stand, Oh stand by me. Oh stand, stand by me..."
That's Jason Mraz's cover - you can get it off iTunes and it's WICKED!! Ooo also have a look for Black Swan by Athlete; it's a fantastic album, and the bonus album also called Black Swan that comes with it is great too.
Saturday 30th - Bex, Luce and I went into Jinja to do some final present shopping and have some yummy coffee at Flavours :) The matatu on the way was MENTAL - 27 people all crammed in when they're only meant to sit 14! Plus it was really old and barely managed to chug its way to Kayunga, where we had to change onto another matatu.. Bit of a crazy journey but it was worth it when we got there. When we were having lunch, Alison (one of the Oasis International Placements) randomly walked in with her friend Dawn so we ended up eating with them! Small world :) Alison, Helen, Zoe (other Oasis IPs) and Dawn were staying at Explorers Camp where we were on holiday the week before, so we decided to go stay there for the night on a whim. Ell and Nick brought all our stuff from home and we ended up booking another trip white water rafting the next day! It's half price if you do it a second time so we figured it was worth it... Not that we needed much of an excuse. Plus we got our room completely free cos we did the rafting. Good times... I've been reading an awesome book called "Glittering Images" by Susan Howarth, read it if you get the chance. It's a really clever, intricate book (Thanks Sam L! Good choice of present :D) Aaaanyway, had a chilled evening at Explorers enjoying the view and chatting with the IPs. I love that place!
Sunday 31st - White water rafting day :D Had the same safety talk from Arrogant-John, the guy who took us rafting last time, ran out of life jackets and helmets though so that was a bit of a worry but they sorted us out! Becky decided to come rafting too this time, which was very cool. The group going was MUCH bigger than last time; there were 11 boats on the river, about 70 people altogether, which made the whole day take a lot longer. We got to watch all the other boats coming down each rapid, which was pretty funny.. Our guide was a Ugandan called Juma, who was HILARIOUS and had the worst sense of political correctness ever. I am honestly not joking when he yelled at another Ugandan on a different boat to "Pass the anti-nigger cream" i.e. suncream :O We didn't know whether to laugh or cry with embarrassment! How English of us?! People here just don't have any concept of P.C.ness, it's very funny :) He was a nice guy though, we had a laugh with him all day. The water level was much higher than usual so the rapids were all huugeeee. We flipped on a Grade 3 rapid called Retrospect and were all heading for some rocks which was a rather worrying moment! We also flipped on another one called Jaws, straight after the waterfall rapid, and I got stuck under the side of the boat where there was no air to breathe. That panicked me a bit, I have to admit! It was probably only for about 5 seconds but it feels so much longer when you're struggling to get out. The boat was heavy so I couldn't move it, was a bit worrying... Anyway! Bex flew out on a massive Grade 5 one called Silverback with these big waves. If she hadn't fallen out, the boat would've flipped completely. When she surfaced she looked so worried bless her! She enjoyed it though, had an awesome day. The funniest episode was on the waterfall rapid - before you go over it there's a lot of fast moving water leading up to it, which is really shallow over some rocks. Basically, they tell you not to fall out there at any cost. So guess what I went and did: We hit a big wave and the boat tipped onto its side and I fell out and almost went over the waterfall on my own :S It was terrifying! Juma grabbed a paddle and I managed to get it and he pulled me back into the boat :S Bad times! All the other guides were panicking cos I was literally a metre away from going over the falls on my own. Funny times! What a story though :) I sat out with Bex on the last one cos I was shattered after the waterfall episode and getting stuck under the boat straight afterwards. The others did it without flipping though and even surfed a few waves right at the end! All in all a brilliant day :D
Monday 1st Feb - Pinch punch first of the month! We went into Kampala with Jona and Timo to visit the Kasubi Tombs cos they've been wanting to take us there for ages. The journey into town was epic cos all the kids are going back to school, so matatus were packed and the centre of townw as HEAVING. Getting round the new taxi park was crazy; we nearly got lost and this was in the heat of the day after 45 minutes of walking without having lunch. Not good.... Anyway, eventually we got to the tombs but (no joke) we had to pay 10,000sh to get in because we're white. Seriously I'm not even kidding - because we're not local, we have to pay more. Now that's fair enough, but they assumed we weren't local cos we were white. We've lived here for FIVE MONTHS and we're broke students doing voluntary work!!! We should've been allowed to pay 5000sh like Jona and Timo. I have to admit, I nearly lost my temper with the woman. What about mzungus who live here full time working?? Must have been 35deg that day too, so I wasn't in the best of moods! It was nice spending time with J&T though, even though the tombs weren't amazing - we saw a stuffed leopard though :S And this massive grass roofed palace where the king used to live with all his portraits and spears there. Very different to how it is now! The Kabaka of the Buganda tribe still exists but he doesn't have political power anymore, although his tribe want to change that. He lives in a palace near the Tigers Club project's football pitch that I visited a few months back (Wow, can't believe how fast those few months have gone..) After that we got some internet time at Steers cos we had to send our team project off to Oasis UK and I caught some highlights of the Premiership weekend matches - Arsenal lost to Man U :'( AND now we've lost to Chelsea too. CRINGE. Shattered and dehydrated, we returned home and had sausages and salt bread for tea :)
Tuesday 2nd - Drunk THREE litres of water during the day and yet was still dehydrated; that's how hot it's been lately! We had a nice, slow start to the day which I spent in bed reading, then after lunch we got a load of planning done. Wrote V.W.G's funding proposal and I typed it up in the evening, then planned the final design for the mural at Lilo and Ell and Nicky drew the outline onto the wall so that we could get it painted on the 3rd. Also sorted out speakers and arrangements for the V.W.G. seminar afternoon on the 3rd and generally got our lives into some semblance of order! When I was walking down the road to give an announcement about V.W.G. to the local shop, I had one of those loving Africa moments :) Groups of kids kept popping out of the undergrowth, saying hi and singing songs that we'd taught them at school. It was lovely :D A little group of kiddies came up to me on my way back, all trying to hold my hands and walked all the way home with me - Very cute! The air had that warm Africa smell of burning and flowers and car dust and the sun looked beautiful cos it was setting in those gorgeous burnished golden colours that you get, like in autumn at home-home :) Molly and Jessica and Kevin ran up to us to say hi... Little things like that are what I treasure about the village and will take home with me.
We've been praying more as a team lately, which has really helped us to plan more effectively and generally feel more peaceful about leaving Namaliri and the family. It's a very weird time; I'm so excited to come home, but at the same time I get really upset and cry all the time! I know it's to be expected but I can't find my feet, can't get a proper measure of how I'm feeling. I just want to know that we did everything we could here, that we've given all the love that we could to the children and the people who we've shared time with. I don't want to go home with any regrets or worries - I know God works in amazing ways, that we can't even begin to understand. He was already working in the people in Namaliri before we got there, and he'll safeguard the work we've done and it'll carry on if it's right for that to happen. Please pray that the last few days in the village will be full of joy for us, our family and friends and that we can really enjoy the time. Please pray that boys and girls group, V.W.G and kids club will flourish even when we've gone and that God will do wonderful things in the community. Lastly, please pray that we complete the purpose God has for us there and that he changes us in exactly the way that he wanted to when he brought us here :) This is such a beautiful country, such a special place, and I already can't wait to come back... I'm going to miss the sun and the colours, the smell of the air, the people who are so open and generous with themselves and their time. It's a privilege to get to live here and spend so much time with the people...
Wednesday 3rd - Birthday, woop! To be honest, it didn't feel much like my birthday; I was thinking how weird it is that a year ago I was surrounded by snow and ice, going to Loch Fyne for dinner with Mum, Dad, Nick and Ims. I'm going to have an awesome proxy birthday when I'm home :) In the morning the girls gave me some lovely glittery cards that they made for me, then I bought some kerosene from the petrol station, sorted out paint stuff and we went to Lilo to do the mural. We had a load of medical gloves for some reason so we used them to do the kids' handprints on the wall - we decided to do the prints in rainbow colours coming out around the school crest in the middle and we're going to write a Bible verse over the top. Not sure what yet... The wall isn't totally done but it looks fantastic! :D They really enjoyed doing it. I'm so glad that they'll have something to be proud of that they made when we leave, so that they can remember how gifted they are and how unique they all are. Plus handprints are pretty easy :) We've left quite a lot of space for next week cos a load of the kids weren't back at school yet - Ugandans are as lax with timing returning to school as in every other area of life! I saw Isaac at the shop near our house (he's one of the guys who used to go to Lilo) and he said he's finished P7 now so he's not at school anymore. Exciting news for him! I'm really going to miss him actually; he always says "how are you Madam" when he sees me and gives me a big smile and a hug. I wish he could speak more English then we could actually get to know him a bit better, hear about his family and stuff.. I want to learn Luganda better for when we come back!
After that we came home and Pastor Kernicky came from Kabimbiri (the next village along the main road from us) to do the V.W.G. seminars. None of the women came at 2, so we started the HIV/AIDS one at 3 and it went awesomely - he talked in a lot of detail, brought learning aids and all sorts. We had some drinks and doughnuts halfway through, then started the financial management talk at 5 and it ended up carrying on till half past 7!! Thankfully people rang me to wish me happy birthday so I could escape :) The women really enjoyed it though and learned a lot; it's going to help them manage the business side of the group in a really good way. Hopefully it'll really take off once we leave; we've given them all the training they could possibly need so now it's up to them. We had soda in the evening with the family as a birthday treat and then watched some Doctor Who before going to bed :)
Thursday 4th - We went to Gilgal in the morning as their term started again this week. There weren't as many kids as usual, so it was quite chilled, only about 30 or 40 in nursery.. We did the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet and talked about how we can love and serve one another. Acting out the story with actual water made the kids laugh a lot! We did some songs with the younger groups and different games with all of them, led different bits each time.. It went brilliantly! I was surprised by how easily we slotted back into the pattern of working there to be honest. Sarah was back at Gilgal after being in Jinja for ages so we saw her after the praise and worship session, which was nice. She's starting S1 at Kabimbiri High School next week, which is awesome. She seems sad though, there's a sadness in her eyes that always catches me when I look at her in the face - she gave me a long hug at the gate of our house when we said goodbye and I really think she's hurting about something. It's difficult because what can we say? After that, we went home and had lunch and chilled for a bit before going to Home Cell at sister Esther's place. It was quite a walk, but it was nice seeing parts of the village again. We saw Lydia and Justine again too :) We had the usual prayers, singing and talking at Esther's then she gave us a ridiculous amount of cassava, matoke and cow peas to eat until it was dark, then we walked home in the pitch black, stumbling all the way! Good times... Got home and then had to eat dinner. Seriously, I've put so much weight on there's no way I'm going to fit into my jeans at home!!! Major salad eating for all meals when I'm back in the UK I think...! :) I carried Esther home on my back, then we watched some Doctor Who and prayed for a bit as a team then hopped off to bed..
Friday 5th - Bambejja training again. Bad times getting up so early in the morning! We talked about going home and the ways that we might respond to our experience here in terms of prayer or financial giving or eventually coming back.. I know Oasis always have to plug themselves to get funding etc but sometimes it feels like we're on the receiving end of that a little bit too much! It was good to talk about it as a team though with Gill, who's the mzungu head of Oasis cos she understands the process of culture shock and going home etc. So strange to think that we'll be coping with all that in such a short space of time!! In the afternoon we led the prayer meeting and did washing of feet again, got all the staff to wash each other's feet in groups and answer questions on different parables Jesus told about serving others. It worked awesomely even though we planned it very last minute :) Nicky and Ell went to the cheap railway market at lunchtime and bought a set of table mats and an apron for Mama R and the family as some of our leaving presents. Then we headed to the post office to pick up packages - Luce got FIVE!! I got a lovely Christmas present from Auntie Lucy - thank you :D xxx
Saturday 6th - Sorted out all the craft boxes and medical box for the next team and made an inventory of everything that we really need to type up soon.. Then we all got a load of packing done. I know it seems early but there's so much rubbish and all sorts of stuff round the house that we can't leave it all til next Monday! It was very strange to pack - my black suitcase weights a ton :S I'm not sure it'll be allowed on the plane. It's got a load of toiletries in that I need to take home, presents for people, photographs and cards and stuff... I'm giving virtually all my shoes and clothes away, so they won't weigh my other bag down too much. I just hope I don't have to pay an inordinate amount of money to check my suitcase in at the airport!! Kids Club didn't start till half past 3 cos no kids were around, but when they eventually turned up we did the banner that we've been planning with them. In the morning Luce and I wrote Kids Club on it and painted the letters black, then we put the kids' handprints all around it. It looks fab :D It's for the counselling centre when Mum and Dad eventually get it built, so that they can hang it up for the kids club meetings that they do in there. They've already bought the land and cleared it of trees etc so now they're just waiting for enough funds to start the building work. We want to fundraise that money for them when we get home. Even Molly and Jessica and Kevin came to do their handprints, which was lovely :) For once Molly decided that she wasn't terrified of us! After that, we cleared up reeeeally quickly and went down to Gilgal for boys and girls groups. They went awesomely too! We talked about being strong men and women of God - I did girls group with Bex and Luce and we played a few games then got the girls to say qualities that a woman of God should have and wrote them on the board. The hot potato game made sure that they all said something rather than just sitting in silence! Then we looked at some of the Bible stories about women that we did before Christmas and the qualities that they had, and then looked at how the girls could all be strong women of God in a practical way too. It doesn't feel quite finished yet though, so I want to buy some mirrors for them to write the qualities on next week at our last meeting, so that they have something to keep to remind them who they are in God :) I'm going to miss those girls so much - Florence, Sarah, Bright, Victo, Mercy, Sarah no.2 (!) and Precious were all there with a load of other girls too. How nice are their names?! It's like that Quaker tradition of naming your kids after characteristics... Aaanyway that's about it from Saturday!
It's now Monday and my internet time is almost up, so I have to go. No time to talk about Sunday School! Sorry for how long this entry has been - congratulations for getting to the end!! :) We're in Kampala today, buying medication and having health checks done before coming home, having our last nice lunch at Cafe Javas before we go home too :D Can't wait, I'm hungry! 3 mins left.... Sending tons and tons of love to everyone at home and really looking forward to seeing you all again, especially lovely little Maggie who I haven't met yet :D Take care of yourselves and I'll try to write again before we leave the country. Millions of love and the biggest hug ever especially for Mr Dan Bentley, who I know will pull through the latest saga in his soap opera life ;)
xXx
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